On October 20, 1965, in one of the more colorful moments of his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson, recovering from gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, pulled up his shirt and jacket to show off his abdominal scar to reporters and photographers.

Apr 1, 1998 · URINATING in a sink, inviting people into his bathroom, showing off his abdominal scar, exposing his private parts: after a while nothing surprises a biographer of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

He was a man who was not afraid to show his healing cholecystectomy scar to the press. Famous political cartoon of scar drawn as a map of Viet Nam. Had sudden unexpected death. He was alone. He was found stretched out on his bed, reaching for the telephone [Califano]

In 1966, Johnson underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder, and in a display of characteristic crassness, he lifted his shirt and exposed a foot-long scar to the press just days after the operation. This cartoon combines both of the President’s predicaments by making the scar resemble the country of Vietnam. Source:

On October 20, 1965, in one of the more colorful moments of his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson, recovering from gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, pulled up his shirt and...

Oct 2, 2017 · He famously yanked up his shirt to show photographers the scar from his gallbladder surgery. And, as five journalists from Look magazine learned when visiting the White House in 1964, LBJ occasionally enjoyed entertaining guests with a display of presidential nudity.

"We suggested that the President continue to follow a graduated exercise program trying to obtain adequate rest and limit his activities until the first of the year. His physical examination at this time was satisfactory in every way. There remains some sensitivity in the scar area which is to be expected at this time following an operation."

Lyndon B. Johnson was in Bethesda for a gallbladder operation, and we had seen the famous picture of him pointing at his scar, presumably to reassure the American people that he was healthy and fit to run the country. The young lieutenants and enlisted men sat dressed in their blue hospital garb, awaiting a thank-you or even a pep talk.

The image of Johnson pulling up his shirt was recreated by political cartoonists across the country. The best known of these was published by the satirist David Levine in 1966, a drawing in which an obviously anguished President shows a scar that appears to be in the shape of the country of Vietnam.

Encapsulating Johnson's media image as a shameless, boorish hick, the scar-showing moment took on iconic status almost immediately, showing up in editorial cartoons and countless sly references and becoming perhaps the single best-remembered incident of …