Lyndon Johnson adviser, McPherson dies

AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) - Henry McPherson Jr., who was an adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, has died. He was 82.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas said McPherson died Thursday. The library said McPherson had cancer.

McPherson served as special assistant and special counsel to Johnson. He influenced the president on a range of policies from civil rights to bombing in Vietnam. He helped write Johnson's 1968 speech announcing a halt in bombing in Vietnam and that Johnson would not run for re-election.

After working for Johnson, McPherson worked as a lawyer and lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He wrote a 1972 memoir, "A Political Education," recalling his experience in government and the Johnson presidency.

Luci Baines Johnson considered McPherson loyal and in a statement on the LBJ Library website said, "Harry McPherson was a ‘can do’ man with sound judgment and treasured loyalty who could be counted on by generations of Johnsons. Harry was elegant in his appearance and as a wordsmith, and we will deeply miss his talent and his friendship.”

Timeline:

1956-1959: Assistant General Counsel, Senate Democratic Policy Committee
1959-1961: Associate Counsel
1961-1963: General Counsel
1963-1964: Deputy Undersecretary of the Army for International Affairs
1964-1965: Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
1965-1966: Special Assistant and Counsel to the President
1966-1969: Special Counsel to the President