Secret Tapes Reveal President Johnson’s Plans for Thurgood Marshall
President Lyndon Johnson’s plans to groom Thurgood Marshall for the U.S. Supreme Court are revealed in once-secret secret recordings and tape transcripts that have been released to CNN.
Johnson’s plan was to appoint Marshall as solicitor general, where he would get the experience that would make him one of the best-qualified candidates ever to the U.S. Supreme Court, CNN reports. The tapes were released by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, which is analyzing and transcribing secret White House tapes of several presidents.
Johnson talked about the plan with his former attorney general, Nicholas Katzenbach. “I want to build [Marshall] up where he’s impenetrable when he becomes a Supreme Court justice,” Johnson said. The president said he wasn’t sure if he would appoint Marshall, “but he’s damn sure going to be qualified.” Johnson appeared more sure of the future appointment in a conversation with John Kenneth Galbraith, however. The plan, the president said, was to nominate Marshall after he was solicitor general for a year or two and a vacancy opened up.
CNN also reveals Marshall’s response when Johnson told him he should leave his position as a federal appeals judge to become solicitor general. “Wow,” Marshall says.
Johnson continued with his pitch. “I want the top lawyer in the United States representing me before the Supreme Court to be a Negro. And be a damn good lawyer that’s done it before.” He adds, “I want to do this job that [Abraham] Lincoln started, and I want to do it the right way. …
“I think you ought to do it for the people of the world. … And if there’s not something better, which I would hope there would be, that you would be more amenable to, there’ll be security for you because I’m going to be here for quite awhile.”
