The New Team

A whirlwind President may be fine, but who provides the whirls that create the wind? At the present time their names are Moyers, Valenti, Jenkins and Reedy. Three of them are from Texas, and all have known and served Lyndon Johnson for a number of years--and right now they are very busy.

> Bill Moyers, 29, a scholarly journalism graduate whom Johnson calls "my Baptist preacher" (he was never a preacher but was ordained to teach in Baptist schools), has become the intellectual commander of the Johnson troops. He assigns the speeches, writes some himself, checks them for tone and accuracy. He plans Johnson's trips, such as his recent poverty tours, sends out advance men, coordinates it all with the President's desires.

>Jack Valenti, 42, an energetic former Houston adman, serves the personal side of the President, arranges his appointments, works out his daily schedule, frets about his public image, dogs Johnson wherever he goes. Valenti, says Johnson, "is the only man who knows everything that goes on in the White House."

> Walter Jenkins, 46, a soft-spoken fellow from Jolly, Texas, has known Johnson longer than any of the others and has been a Johnson aide since 1939. He manages the presidential office, handles Johnson's nonofficial affairs, often serves as his personal spokesman in the back corridors of Capitol Hill.

> George Reedy, 46, takes his position as press secretary so seriously that he has slimmed from some 265 Ibs. to nearly 200 in recent months. A Johnson intimate for 13 years, he was the aide about whom newsmen had the most doubts. But he has emerged as a capable performer who can provide in-depth briefings. He was particularly effective during the complex railroad labor-management negotiations.

Below the top four, whose relationship to Johnson is particularly close, the most influential member of the staff is former Kennedy Aide McGeorge

Bundy, a specialist in foreign affairs and national security. Bundy almost quit after Kennedy's death, is less of a freewheeler than he was under Kennedy, but now seems completely comfortable with L.B.J.

So far, two topflight speech writers have emerged in the Johnson stable: Kennedy's former Latin American specialist, Richard Goodwin, 32, and Horace Busby, 40, a University of Texas graduate and longtime Johnson friend. Goodwin cranks out major texts in far less time than Kennedy's Ted Sorensen did, and Johnson insists that he does it with just as much style. Busby is a quiet, discreet intellectual. Warns one experienced Washington hand: "Watch Buz. He's a comer."

Riding Herd. Two recent Additions to Johnson's staff also are being eyed closely by the others, since their roles are not yet clear. Douglass Cater, 40, former national affairs editor of The Reporter magazine, is expected to provide long-range thinking on foreign policy, will work with Bundy--although by no means at Bundy's request. Princeton History Professor Eric Goldman, 48, although not a fulltime aide, is an idea man who is supposed to draw upon the nation's intellectual talents.

As his own personal secretary, Johnson has brought in Mrs. Juanita Roberts, an attractive and efficient former WAC, who is still a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.

The Johnson team regards the President with a mixture of awe, terror and intense devotion. L.B.J. rides herd on them and needs their loyalty. As such, the operation is very different from the way it was under Kennedy, but so far it has worked with fabulous results.

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