brian cassidy bookselle

44.
[Presidents]: [Lyndon B. Johnson]
PANZER, Frederick
[Archive of White House Memorandums and Other
Documents from LBJ Pollster Fred Panzer]
(Washington, D.C.), (1965-1969)
Group of ten 3” binders containing primarily inter-office memos from
Fred Panzer, dating from January 1966 to January 1969. Most measuring
8.5" x 11”, primarily carbon, some typed and some photocopy
on a variety of paper stocks. Various other documents: photocopied
reports, newspaper and magazine articles, etc. Also includes: two 3”
binders dating from July 1966-Feb 1967 containing memos by or to Tad
Cantril; two 3” binders containing research for a position paper addressing
the “credibility gap”; two 1.5” binders containing information
on administration accomplishments from 1965; two folders containing
transcripts of the LBJ Library Oral History Project interview
with Panzer; and relating ephemera. Approximately four linear feet
in all. Original binders unsalvageable and now perished; rehoused in
new three-ring binders, maintaining original divisions and order. Two
volumes exhibiting moderate rodentia loss to page edges (not effecting
any text). Overall very good.
An exhaustive archive of polling, public opinion, and related papers
(including memos and other internal communications, research materials,
and like) belonging to Fred Panzer, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s
chief pollster. More than any other president that preceding
him, Johnson relied on polling. Similar statements could also have
been made of JFK (and arguably Truman…and even FDR), but Johnson
commissioned more than four times the number of polls as Kennedy.
And while Kennedy utilized polling primarily in crafting his message,
LBJ was the first president to extensively use polls in his decisionand
policy-making. Therefore polling — and by extension Fred Panzer
— helped shape the presidency in a way that hadn’t been seen before.
Panzer was recruited to the White House by Bill Moyers for an assignment
that was initially planned to last just two months, but Panzer
remained until the end of the administration. Throughout that time,
Panzer’s role was somewhat undefined. When asked his title as part
of the LBJ Library Oral History Project, Panzer noted with pride
his anonymity outside of the White House, and offered (somewhat
tongue-in-cheek, somewhat cagily) “He does what he’s told” as a job
description. And while his exact title may have been unspecified,
these memos make clear that Panzer’s role was not: to gather, synthesize,
interpret, and when necessary commission public opinion
polling for various administration purposes. Indeed, LBJ biographer
Robert Dallek in FLAWED GIANT described Panzer unequivocally as “the
White House pollster” (393) and this archive bears that out. Panzer
supplied information from departments, agencies, and other sources
for use in speeches by the president and messages from White House.
Additionally, accompanying memos show Panzer in frequent dialogue
with the pollsters — primarily George Gallup and Louis Harris — re-
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