Editor 's note : President Lyndon B. Johnson secured passage of Medicare , the Voting Rights Act and other milestone legislation . Tom Johnson , who served as one of LBJ 's White House press secretaries , is former chief executive of CNN News Group and former publisher of the Los Angeles Times . He is an associate member of the board of visitors of the University of Texas M.D . Anderson Cancer Center . Tom Johnson says President Lyndon Johnson would have used every tool to get Congress to pass a health care bill . ( CNN ) -- LBJ would : . Have a list of every member of Congress on his desk . He would be on the telephone with members ( and their key staffers ) constantly : `` Your president really needs your vote on this bill . '' He would have a list of every special request every member wanted -- from White House tours to appointments to federal jobs and commissions . He would make a phone call or have a personal visit with every member -- individually or in a group . Charts , graphs , coffee . They would get the `` Johnson Treatment '' as nobody else could give it . He would have a willingness to horse-trade with every member . He would keep a list of people who support each member financially . A call to each to tell them to get the vote of that representative . He would have Billy Graham calling Baptists , Cardinal Cushing calling Catholics , Dr. Martin Luther King calling blacks , Henry Gonzales calling Hispanics , Henry Ford and David Rockefeller calling Republicans . He would get Jack Valenti to call the Pope if it would help . He would have speeches written for members for the Congressional Record and hometown newspapers . He would use up White House liquor having nightcaps with the leaders and key members of BOTH parties . Each of them would take home cufflinks , watches , signed photos , and perhaps even a pledge to come raise money for their next election . He would be sending gifts to children and grandchildren of members . He would walk around the South Lawn with reporters telling them why this was important to their own families . He would send every aide in the White House to see every member of the House and Senate . He would send me to see Sen. Richard Russell and Rep. Carl Vinson because I am a Georgian . He would call media executives Kay Graham , Frank Stanton , Robert Kintner , and the heads of every network . He would go to pray at six different churches . He would do newspaper , radio and TV interviews -- especially with Merriman Smith , Hugh Sidey , Sid Davis , Forrest Boyd , Ray Scherer , Helen Thomas , Marianne Means , Walter Cronkite , Phil Potter , Bob Novak . He would threaten , cajole , flirt , flatter , hug -- and get the health care bill passed . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tom Johnson .
Tom Johnson : Lyndon Johnson would use many tools to get action in Congress . He would have used staff , intermediaries to pressure legislators . He would have gained support by granting lawmakers ' special requests . He would have used every device to get the health care bill passed .