Reporter: What were your thoughts when you knew you had to take over the White House and become the mistress of this place and this job?
记者：当你知道你将要入主白宫，成为 这里的女主人，你当时的想法是什么？
Mrs. Johnson: And I don’t suppose，in all, there ever was another President who saw the man—when he was Vice President—who saw the man he served assassinated in front of his eyes, and in his own State, and it was a wound and it was very hard. And so, that time that is usually supposed to be a time of merriment and ringing of bells and wearing of ball gowns，but in our case was very different. We came here and I think my particular feelings were intense resolution, that I would live up to it, I would do my job, here. And second, an overwhelming sympathy for the family that had been struck, and sympathy beyond expression for my husband that was taking up the job at that point, and with that sympathy they must go on through the years with an increased understanding, and —to back him up.
约翰逊夫人：我想，从来不会有一个总 统会在他还是副总统的时候，看到他效 力的总统在自己的家里在他眼前遭到暗 杀。那是永远的伤痛，很难忘记。所 以，在那个通常充满快乐，到处是铃 声，到处都是穿着晚礼服的人的时刻到 对我们来说这儿，完全是另一种情况。 来到这里后，我想的就是要有一个紧急 的计划，要完成这个计划，我要在这里 工作。第二，我对遭到这种打击的总统 的家人非常同情，我丈夫接任工作时我的同情溢于言表， 我想到他们那些 年的痛苦经历， 我就会更加理解 我的丈夫，我要 支持他。
Reporter: I think about the most impressive ceremonies that take place in the White House is the welcoming occasions and dinners and luncheons for visiting chiefs of state. I have seen some from the outside. What are they like from the inside?
记者：我想白宫 让我印象最深刻 的典礼就是访问国家元首的欢迎 仪式还有晚宴、 午餐。我在外面 看过这样的场合， 你身临其境是什 么感觉？
Mrs. Johnson: Well, it is in this them room that we receive. Actually this has always been the room where this country has dispensed hospitality to foreign visitors. John and Abigail Adams, in January of 1801，invited the six countries, the six ministers recognizing the United States, then, here. And now they have grown to 117, I think it is, and oh, the visits are very, very many, because we are just, I think it is 16 hours away by jet from any capital in the world, isn’t it? Before dinner the visiting prime minister, or king, or president and his wife come to this room, the Yellow Oval Room. You see they have already put in a good hard working day. There is an exchange of gifts. So this is the hospitality that adds to the glitter or the warmth of the occasion. After about 30 minutes the honor guard comes in and says, “We request permission to remove the flags,” and the President says, “Yes.” So they pick up the flags and march out.
约翰逊夫人：喂，我们就是在这间屋子接见他们。实际上我们也常在这间 屋子里，对外国使者进行热情接待。 1801年1月，约翰和阿比盖尔?亚 当斯在那里邀请了当时认可美国的六 国部长。而现在，这一数目已经增加 到了 117个，我想，哦，访问是很频 繁的，因为，那个时候我们想坐飞机 到任何国家的首都都是16个小时，是 吗？来访的总理、国王、总统和夫人 在晚宴开始前来到了这间黄色的椭圆 形房间。你知道，他们都忙了一天了。 他们会交换礼物，这给这个场合增加了 温馨和亮点。30分钟后，仪仗队走过 来说，“我们请令移动国旗。”总统说， “好。”他们就举着国旗正步踏出去。
Reporter: Does this room have any special meaning for your family? You must use it for family purposes, also.
记者：这个房间对你们家庭有什么特殊意 义吗？你一定也在这个房间办家人聚会。
Mrs. Johnson: Yes. I remember especially dear occasions here. One was Christmas of ‘67. We spent it in the White House. It was significant for many reasons. Lyndon just got back on Christmas morning from a trip around the world. It was just fraught with everything— the sorrow of burying a close friend, Prime Minister Holt of Australia, seeing our troops in Southeast Asia. But he got back on Christmas morning and, oh, it was just the most glorious Christmas I probably will ever have. Of course we had a new grandson, and all eyes were on him, and he was just making a shambles out of all the lovely wrappings. The most beautiful tree right over there and the red velvet stockings hanging at the mantel, and of course, every time we looked at our two sons-in-law, there was the unspoken thought that next Christmas they probably would not be with us. And so it was a precious, warm time, just as fragile as a bubble. And one hilarious time was Patrick Lyndon’s first birthday, which he celebrated right over there. I had the rug protected with a white cloth underneath it, fortunately, also, because he all at once planted not his hands but his foot in the birthday cake. And there was a fine stuffed tiger standing behind him, one of his birthday presents. So this room has seen personal as well as state affairs that the Johnsons will always remember with affection and laughter.
约翰逊夫人：是的，我还记得几次温馨的场面。一次是1967年的圣诞节，我 们当时是在白宫过的。这个节日意义重 大主要有几个原因。林登当时刚进行完 国际访问，圣诞节早上刚回来。当时心 情被悲伤笼罩着，我们的一个密友澳大 利亚总理辞世了，东南亚的部队也遭受 了打击。但是他还是在圣诞节早上回来 了，那可能是我这一生中度过的所有圣 诞节中最光荣的一次了。当然，也因为 那个时候我们添了个外孙子，大家都关 注着他，当时他在裹着他的小衣服里动 来动去。最漂亮的圣诞树立在那里，壁 炉架上挂着红色天鹅绒的袜子。每次我 们看着我们的两个女婿，就会想下个圣 诞节他们可能就不能和我们一起过了。 所以那是个很珍贵、很温暖的时刻，但 是却脆弱的像泡沬一样。还有一个开心 的时刻就是帕特里克?林登一岁的生 曰，我们也是在这儿庆祝的。当时我们 给他披了个白色的小毯子，因为他手脚 都扑到蛋糕上了。他旁边还有一个小布 老虎，很精致，是他收到的一个生曰礼 物。所以这间房子不光有国家大事还有 家庭温情，让我们每次想起来都会觉得 温暖、快乐。
Reporter: Do you have any past First Ladies who inspire you or at least provide you with pointers about how to do your work?
记者:你有没有从过去的 第一夫人那里学到了什 么？或者至少就怎么做好 自己的工作得到过指点？
Mrs. Johnson: I think about many of them, with admiration and keen—much keener interest. I think each person must hew her own road in the society. I like to read about Abigail Adams who had an intense interest in politics, bold and unusual for her day，and a sense of history, too—a sense of where they were, and the importance of it, and who wrote it. And then I like, very much, Dolley Madison, because she enjoyed life so much and enjoyed this house, and one should enjoy this beautiful house. You know, she was a hostess here for 8 years for Thomas Jefferson and then she returned again as First Lady.
约翰逊夫人：我都是怀着 尊敬和极大的兴趣去回忆 她们。我想她们每个人一 定都在这个社会上砍断了 自己的路。我喜欢读阿比 盖尔?亚当斯相关的东 西，她对政治很感兴趣的， 读那些时对她那时候来说 都是很不寻常的，有历史 观念，会想进行到哪里了，有什么重要 性，是谁写的。我很喜欢多利?梅德 森，因为她很会生活，很喜欢这间房 子，一个人应该喜欢这幢漂亮的屋子。 你知道，她在这里为托马斯?杰弗逊 做了8年女主人，后来又再次作为第_ 夫人回到了这里。
Reporter: Didn’t she, after she left this house, have a home just across the square?
记者：她离开白宫后，是不是在广场对 面有了一处房子？
Mrs. Johnson: Yes, and held court, and everybody went to see her. And then, of course, as so many in this century do, I look to Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt with admiration because she expanded this role, and she took it out to the whole country, with such compassion and energy. So you look at them but, you must, within your own limitations, hew your own path.
约翰逊夫人：是的，很多人去拜访她。 当然，和这个国家的很多人一样，我也 怀着崇敬的心情去研究富兰克林?罗 斯福夫人的生活，因为她的职责大了， 怀着满腔热情关照着整个国家。研究她 们，但是一定因为精力有限，也斩断了 我自己的路。
Reporter: With the possible exception of Mrs. Roosevelt you are considered the most active First Lady who has ever been here-the most involved in business and in all your husband’s affairs as well. Where do you do all your work?
记者：除了罗斯福夫人外，你可能被认 为是参与政治的最活跃的第一夫人了。 你都是在哪里办公的？
Mrs. Johnson: At my desk, which is the center, and things emanate out from there. Would you like to go in to see it?
约翰逊夫人：办公桌是中心，其他的事 情都是从那里延伸开来，你想去看看 吗？
Reporter: I would love to-
记者：我想去。
(Mrs. Johnson enters her small office adjacent to her bedroom)
(约翰逊夫人走进和她的卧室相连的房 间）
Reporter: Is this where you work?
记者：这是你办公的地方？
Mrs. Johnson: Yes. Won’t you sit down?
约翰逊夫人：是的，请坐吧。
Reporter: Mrs. Johnson, it is not much space，but it looks like a lot of work. Can you tell us exactly what happens here at this desk?
记者：约翰逊夫人，这里空间并不大， 但是看起来有很多工作要做。你能不能 告诉我们在这张办公桌上都做什么？
Mrs. Johnson: I read and dictate mail, sign autographs and pictures, read briefings about visitors when we are having a visit. The State Department sends me a thorough briefing on the country and the people. Work on guest lists with Bess; work on trips with Liz. To read the mail is a marvelous thing in itself. It is sort of like having the pulse of the country, the thinking, and feeling.
约翰逊夫人：我阅读邮件，口述邮件内 容，在自传和照片上签字，当有客人来 访时，我要阅读他们的简介。国务院会 给我做关于国家和人民的介绍。我要和 贝斯一起做客人名单，和利兹研究访问 路程，阅读邮件本身就是很神奇的事情 了。就像摸着国家的脉搏，知道人们在 想什么，有什么感受。
(The President enters)
(总统走了进来）
Reporter: Mr. President, how are you, sir? Mr. President, we have been talking about the purpose and usefulness of First Ladies and we have had an expert telling us, but now you are an expert. How useful is a First Lady to a President?
记者：总统先生，您好。总统先生，我 们一直在讨论设立第一夫人的目的及其 重要作用，已经有个专家给我们讲了， 现在该您了。对总统来说，第一夫人是 如何发挥重要作用的？
Johnson: Well, I am not familiar with the First Ladies in our early history, but the First Ladies that have been here during the time that I have been in Washington, some six of them，I think, I have seen the assignments and responsibilities grow and grow and grow. I did not know Mrs. Hoover, but I was very intimately acquainted with the other First Ladies. Certainly I knew Mrs. Roosevelt very well, even before I came to Washington. And I think that she did a great deal to expand the horizon of the job and to make it an implement of force in the country, a force for good, for social progress, for bettering the good causes like education and health and conservation. And the other First Ladies who have followed her have had particular and peculiar interests, but each have made their own outstanding contribution to the history of the place and the development of the country.
约翰逊：我不太熟悉我们国家早期的第 一夫人，但是从我来到华盛顿后，我 想，已经有6位第一夫人了，我看到她 们的任务和责任 一直在逐渐增 力0。我不认识胡 佛夫人，但是我 对其他的第一夫 人很熟悉。我在 来华盛顿之前， 当然也很了解罗 斯福夫人。我想 她在扩展她的工 作面，贯彻实施，推动社会的进步，推进教育、健康和国家保护方面做了很多事情。她之后 的第一夫人都有自己的特点，但是每个 人都在第一夫人 的历史进程和国 家的发展上做出 了自己贡献。
Reporter: Mr. President, I noticed when you made your first State of the Union Message many years ago that the first thing you did when you were finished was to look up in the gallery to see whether you had made a mistake or had her approval. What did that mean?
记者：总统先 生，我注意到你 很多年前第一次 发言的时候，你 首先做的就是在 走廊上看自己是 否犯了错误或者是否得到了她的支持。 那有什么意义吗？
Johnson: Well, first of all, I looked up several times as I went through the speech, as well as after I had finished, because Mrs. Johnson has been my most careful and dependable reporter, and I think she reflects the judgment of the average American, and I find that after 35 years of living with me, she can still be objective about me.
约翰逊：嗯，首先，我在演讲中和演讲 结束后抬头看了很多次，是因为约翰逊夫 人是最仔细的、最可信赖的听众，我想她 代表了美国大众的评判态度，和我生活了 35年之后，她对我的看法能很客观。
Reporter: Do you listen to her advice?
记者：你听她的建议吗？
Johnson: All the time. More than any other person I know. A former President said one time that, “after you come to the White House, a President doesn’t make friends any more. He has to have his friends made before he gets here because he just loses them after he gets to the place.” And I think it is very good that the President be on quite good terms with his wife, at least under such circumstances. One of the great blessings that has been mine is four quite important women in my life: my mother, my wife，and my two daughters. All of them counsel me and guide me and strengthen me and support me. And, except for that, the job would be much more lonely, and I am afraid I would be much weaker.
约翰逊：一直都听。比听其他我认识的 任何人的建议都要多。一位前任总统 说过，“你来到白宫之后，就结识不到 任何朋友了。必须在当总统之前结识朋 友，因为当了总统后就会失去那些朋 友。”我想总统能和妻子保持良好的关 系是很好的，至少是在这种情况之下。 上帝对我的最大的恩赐之一就是给了我 生命中最重要的4个女人：我的妈妈、 妻子、两个女儿。她们都会给我提建 议，给我力量，给我支持。除此之外， 当总统会比以前孤独得多，我担心我会 变得脆弱。
Reporter: Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. It is good to hear that. Kind of you to drop in.
记者：嗯，很感谢你，总统先生，很感 谢你的回答。谢谢你参加我们的节目。