Lyndon Johnson and AS?

[Aspieistj]

I just watched a documentary about Lyndon Johnson on the H2 cable network. It mentioned the severe criticism he received for supposed insensitive choices he made is the first few hours after Kennedy's death. There were other examples of him being badly misunderstood and I think he may have been an Aspie. Any comments?

 

[Mellotron]

I'm not sure if he was possibly an Aspie. Some of the decisions he made shortly after JFK's death were probably insensitive whether or not he realized it. I think one of the more insensitive was having Jacqueline Kennedy by his side (blood stained dress and all) while he took the oath on the plane. Its hard to say from these moments and some of the more harsh criticisms of his administration (deserved or not, really depends on personal political preference) whether or not I think he may have been an Aspie. One thing I do know was that there was definitely a power struggle in the JFK administration and that LBJ felt very slighted by the fact that even though he was VP, he took a back seat to RFK. There is some story that he even called RFK after JFK's death and made sure that RFK knew who was now in charge. All very crazy stuff that goes on in power struggles so I don't know what to attribute it to beyond that, like if he was just being very spiteful or what. It is possible though, I personally have some thoughts that Lincoln may have been an Aspie. I don't know if that has been mentioned on here or not but I think it is possible to some degree.

 

[wyverary]

While it can be fun to think about, I am not really a fan of "long-distance diagnosing" celebrities or historical figures (living or dead) with Aspergers; there is just too much we do not or cannot know about them. "Insensitive choices" could have been a result of many things--the hours after JFK's assassination were surely a chaotic mess, or it could be that LBJ was simply a jerk.