Texas President Demanded Texas-Sized Spray in White House Shower

As newly-sworn-in President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is no doubt discovering the current amenities offered at his new residence, the White House, may need updating to accommodate the specific needs of the current tenants of America's most famous home. Each President has a distinct personality and not surprisingly, specific needs. Never was this more crystal clear than when Texas's very first inhabitants of the people's house moved in after the tragic events of November 22, 1963.  And given his massive ego - as large or larger than even Trump's - Lyndon Baines Johnson was bound to have a few, ahem, special requests.

As written in the stellar series of books by historian Robert Caro, I had been aware for years that LBJ was a very demanding taskmaster, holding his staff and his fellow legislators during his time in the Senate to very high expectations at all times. According to author Kate Andersen Brower’s book on the First Families called "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House," that extended all the way to the plumbing inside the shower within the official residence on the third floor. Among the requirements:

--a light switch which turned the water from fully cold to burning hot instantaneously. LBJ had no time or use for anything inbetween like lukewarm water;

--One shower head with a firehose-like power pointed directly at Johnson's privates;

--A second shower head shooting a needlenosed-sized stream of forceful H2O between the backside cheeks of the President with pistol precision.

When presented with the uncertainty of achieving his wishes. Johnson reminded the plumbers that if he could order 100k troops across Asia in no time they could certainly give him what he wanted...indeed, something he had at his previous residence when he was Veep. I can't imagine the pressure- water or otherwise - he would have placed on his staff had Apollo 11 landed on the moon during his presidency.

Johnson kept pushing the staff to give him what he wanted up to the point where he would not be attempting "another term as your president."

No sooner was Richard Nixon sworn in as President on that day in January 1969 that he was informed of the special apparatus inside the presidential shower. Looking on the cumbersome setup, his directive was swift: “Get rid of this stuff.”

Then again, Nixon always knew what he wanted from his plumbers. ;)