LBJ Visits Truman in Hospital

Oct. 21, 1964 - Former President Harry S. Truman told President Johnson today that he wanted to see Mr. Johnson elected even more than he wanted to win in 1948.

The remark was made when President Johnson paid a hospital visit to Mr. Truman to receive the “advice and counsel” of his friend and predecessor from Independence, Mo.

The President interrupted a campaign swing through Ohio and Missouri to call on the 80year‐old Mr. Truman who came to the Presidency as Mr. Johnson did—through the line of succession—and then went on to win it in his own right. This, Mr. Johnson hopes and expects to do in November.

Mr. Truman received the President in his suite at Research Hospital here, where he is recovering from two broken ribs and a head cut suffered in a bathroom fall in his home eight days ago.

The meeting lasted 25 minutes. Others in the room were Mrs. Truman, Mrs. Johnson and Gov. John B. Connally of Texas, who was accompanying the President today.

The President said afterwards that he and Mr. Truman talked about world affairs and the campaign. Mr. Johnson said he reviewed the political situation in each state for the former President.

Mr. Johnson told reporters that he had wanted to consult with Mr. Truman for some time, and had called him three or four weeks ago before Mr. Truman's mishap.

“He wrote me some letters,” Mr. Johnson said, “and told me he wanted to see me elected even more than he wanted to win in 1948. He offered to do anything he could.” Mr. Truman told the President the same thing today.

Mr. Truman was sitting up in his two‐room suite, clad in pajamas and a robe. The President said he “looks good, feels fine and is cheerful.”

The President said he had invited the Trumans to visit in the White House “when he is feeling better.”

After the meeting, during which Mrs. Truman and Mrs. Johnson repaired to the other room for a short talk, Mr. Truman walked President Johnson to the door of the room. The Truman suite is on the maternity floor of the hospital. It was the only available two‐room suite when Mr. Truman entered the hospital.

Hospital authorities said that the former President would be released in a few days.

Tomorrow, President Johnson, having canceled all political appointments, will pay his last respects to another former President when he attends the funeral service for Herbert C. Hoover in St. Bartholomew's Church in New York.

The President indulged in some public politics during his visit here. He greeted several hundred well‐wishers along the fence of the Kansas City Municipal Airport, where his Jetstar plane landed. There was a police‐escorted motorcade covering the several miles from the airport to the hospital.

The crowds along the route were moderately large, but the President did not make use of them for any of his usual politicking. Neither on the route to the hospital, nor on the return trip, did he stop at any point to “visit with the people” or speak to them.

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