LBJ would prank guests at his ranch by driving his car into the lake.

LBJ would prank guests at his ranch by driving his car into the lake.

Not many people were lucky enough to own an Amphicar, the only mass-produced civilian amphibious vehicle, but at least one of them put theirs to good use. Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, used his Lagoon Blue model to prankunsuspecting guests at his ranch in Stonewall, Texas, by driving it into the lake without warning. On land, the Amphicar looked like any other car; once in the water, propellers turned it into a boat.

One victim of the prank, Joseph A. Califano Jr., served as LBJ’s special assistant for domestic affairs at the time. As the car began rolling down an incline at the lake’s edge with Califano in it, he recalled the president shouting, “The brakes don’t work! The brakes won’t hold! We’re going in! We’re going under!” It took him a few moments to realize he was safe, but LBJ teased him for his reaction later: “Did you see what Joe did? He didn’t give a damn about his president. He just wanted to save his own skin and get out of the car.” Good thing Califano wasn’t in the Secret Service.

DID YOU KNOW?

LBJ won his Senate primary by just 87 votes.

The future president had represented Texas’ 10th congressional district for 12 years by the time he decided to take a second go at the upper chamber, having lost a 1941 election to fellow Democrat Pappy O’Daniel by 0.23%. His next Senate race was even closer. His opponent for the Democratic nomination in 1948 was Coke Stevenson, who had just finished six years as governor of the Lone Star State.  The initial tally was 477,077 votes (39.68%) for Stevenson and 405,617 (33.73%) for Johnson. Because neither candidate reached 50%, it went to a runoff. This was the real nail-biter, as Johnson emerged victorious with 494,191 votes (50.004%) to Stevenson’s 494,104 (49.996%) — a difference of just 87 ballots. The controversial bout was rife with claims of voter fraud from both camps, with LBJ earning a tongue-in-cheek nickname in the process: Landslide Lyndon. He lived up to it in the Senate general election though, winning 66% of the vote and holding the office until becoming vice president in 1961