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I couldn’t find out anything about what The Beatles were doing today, but in the course of my research I came across the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum website, which can tell you a shitload about what the POTUS was up to.
Here’s the short version:
President Johnson began October 26, 1966, in the Philippines. The Manila Conference, a three-day meeting to discuss the situation in Vietnam with officials from American allies in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, had concluded the previous day. While in Manila on the 26th, the President and Mrs. Johnson toured with President and Mrs. Ferdinand Marcos. In the afternoon the President flew to Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, where he was greeted by General William Westmoreland, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky, and President General Nguyen Van Thieu. The President reviewed the troops; awarded service decorations, including awarding the Distinguished Service Medal to General Westmoreland; visited with wounded troops at the base hospital; and ate dinner at the NCO mess hall. Following dinner, the President met with top military commanders from all over Vietnam, returning to Manila in the evening.
I wonder, in the conversations between LBJ and the Marcoses, did the subject of those disrespectful Beatles — whose recent visit to the Philippines had been a complete fiasco — come up? I don’t imagine Lyndon had a lot of use for shaggy-haired limeys like our boys (in fact, back in 1964 he has turned down his daughter Luci’s request to invite The Beatles to the White House). Is it possible he could have used this shared distaste to score some diplomatic points?
We’ll never know, as none of the major rock groups in mentioned in the presidential diary for that day. But we do know, for instance, that
And that
And it goes on like that for 16 pages. If only someone had seen fit to record all The Beatles’ activities in such detail; your humble scribe’s job would be much easier. Or maybe just much bigger. Maybe I should count my blessings and leave it at that.