What did he really say?

December 23, 2020 3:16 AM

Many commentators on the 1974 documentary film Hearts and Minds claim that the title comes from a supposed quote from Lyndon Johnson: "The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there." But there is another quote, more believable, also attributed to LBJ: "Grab 'em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow." Does anyone know whether the first quote is real or fabricated? It sounds like it was made up to put a more diplomatic veneer on what he said.
posted by megatherium to Law & Government (4 answers total)

Heart and Minds opens with the first quote from LBJ on camera, so, pics, it did happen.
posted by effluvia at 3:36 AM on December 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

The second quote is more often attributed to Chuck Colson, Special Counsel to President Nixon:

Significantly, the man who was telling Nixon what he wanted to hear at this time and who had been promoted to his inner circle was Charles (Chuck) Colson. Of Swedish extraction, the Scandinavian genius for consensus had long been hammered out of his genes. He was a political bruiser. Colson had been a Protestant on the wrong side of the tracks in Roman Catholic Boston. He had served in the marines but kept a Green Beret motto on his wall: "If you've got 'em by the balls, the hearts and minds will follow."

(From Fred Emery, Watergate, 1994.) It's also referenced in All the President's Men.
posted by verstegan at 4:13 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

On the origins:

"The phrase "hearts and minds" was first used in the context of counter-insurgency warfare by British General Gerald Templer in February 1952."

Second quote was popularized by Colson, but the 2006 book The Quote Verifier concluded "Author unknown."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 5:44 AM on December 23, 2020

Effluvia basically settled it, but I'd add that the quote *is* completely believable and in character as a public utterance from Lyndon Johnson. He's got this colorful and well deserved reputation for crudity and bullying, but he was also a politician who gave speeches that chased high-minded and optimistic goals. He's like a million miles from Trump's unfiltered id.
posted by mark k at 9:19 AM on December 23, 2020 [1 favorite]