This Peter Benchley story isn’t about Great White sharks.
Benchley was hired away from Newsweek in 1967 to be a speechwriter for President Lyndon Johnson. The White House speechwriters were used to deadlines, demands and long hours, yet Benchley (in his mid-twenties) worked at a different pace, still finding time for tennis and other pursuits.
As the story was told to me in 1975 by former speechwriter, and then Johnson Library Director Harry Middleton, the writers finally went to Chief of Staff Joseph Califano and insisted he do something about the fact that Benchley was not working as hard as they. One thing lead to another and Califano eventually told Benchley he was fired.
Benchley refused to be fired. He said, “I was hired by the President of the United States, and only the President can fire me.”
Califano went to the President. The timing couldn’t have been worse. Califano had been featured in Time or Newsweek as “the second most powerful man in America.” LBJ told Califano, “You’re the second most powerful man in America, and you can’t even fire a speechwriter.”
As Middleton told it, Califano went back to Benchley, who still refused to be fired. And so it continued. Benchley working less-and-less, but staying adamant that only the President could fire him. LBJ having too much fun with Califano to step in and actually fire Benchley.
Benchley lasted until the end of the Johnson Administration.
I asked Middleton what he thought about Benchley. His reply was that the speechwriters all resented that he was a slacker and that they had to work all the more to take up that slack, but they sure all had to admire his ability to stand up to Califano and Johnson.
RIP Peter Benchley.