Lyndon Johnson’s Campaign by Helicopter (2016)

If anyone hasn't read Robert Caro's books about Lyndon Johnson, give them a try. They are a truly exceptional achievement in both storytelling and research. I had no concrete understanding of what the New Deal actually was until I read the (fourteenth chapter) of the first book. The stories about it are insane: judges being kidnapped, stripped and beaten by farmers etc. There is a whole book, Means of Ascent, that's devoted to this short period in LBJ's life – the Senate primary campaign that he ran against Coke Stevenson. The helicopter features heavily.

I was amazed recently to read about some of the seamier aspects of Lyndon Johnson - aggressive bullying, sexual predator, wholesale corruption, etc., but perhaps the most eyebrow raising thing was Johnson's apparent habit of breaching taboo as a way of asserting control - continuing meetings through an open bathroom door while defecating, and waving his penis around in public.

See for example:

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/lyndon-b-johnson-penis

https://historycollection.com/lbj-used-one-thing-control-oth...

Obviously a vocal online minority has an interest in smearing a champion of civil rights. I wonder how true these stores are really?