From the Archives 80: Donald L. Jackson, Will the Real Lyndon Johnson Please Stand Up? (~1964)

In about 1964, Donald Lester Jackson (1910-81) recorded an LP titled "Will the Real Lyndon Johnson Please Stand Up?" for Key Records. Jackson was a former member of the United States House of Representative from California, who was first elected in 1946. Jackson was a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee, appointed to replace Richard Nixon, when he was elected to the Senate. Among other things, Jackson accused Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam of being a communist. Jackson declined to run for re-election in 1960, ostensibly to protest the policies of then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Democratic party. He worked as a radio and television commentator from 1960 to 1968, and in 1969, President Nixon appointed him to the Interstate Commerce Commission.Key Records was a Los Angeles, California based record label, owned by Vick Knight, and loosely associated with the John Birch Society. Knight founded the label in about 1955, and initially released kitschy music with a light political theme. But it soon shifted to spoken-word records on political themes, typically anti-communist, anti-drug, anti-tax, and anti-civil rights. Among other things, Key released LPs of key right-wing political figures like Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch Society, and Ronald Reagan.Jackson's LP reflected the typical Key Records message, with a particular focus on LBJ as the embodiment of all that ailed America. The record was endorsed by the actor Randolph Scott, best known for his rugged persona in many popular Westerns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.