Nelson's LBJ Mastermind book

[Robert Morrow]

There are 2 versions of the George Smathers' quote about "Johnson wants Jackie to ride with him;" one where Smathers mentions LBJ telling Kennedy that he wants to ride with JFK or Jackie; and another were Smathers says LBJ was lobbying to only ride with Jackie on the Texas trip. In either case, LBJ is making weird and bizzarre requests. The bottom line, and significantly, LBJ was lobbying to get Jackie placed in his car and out of the kill zone.

George Smathers retold his story and changed it slightly in two different documentaries. The version that Phil Nelson uses in his book is the "Johnson wants Jackie to ride with him" version.

See p. 362 of LBJ: Mastermind of JFK's Assassination" - George Smathers relaying John Kennedy talking about Lyndon lobbying him before the Texas trip:

JFK: "Gee, I really hate to go to Texas; I gotta go to Texas next week and its just a pain in the rear end and I just don't want to go, I wish I could get out of it."

GS: 'I said, well what's the problem?'

JFK: "Well, you know how Lyndon is, Johnson wants Jackie to ride with him, and all these fights were going on.... I hate to go into all that mess and I hate to go and I wish I could think of a way to get out of it."

That source is from a "Johnson wants Jackie to ride with him" video on YouTube that has since been removed. It is not from the PBS documentary. Smathers was wearing different clothes in the 2 different documentaries.