I'm currently reading Vol. 1 of Robert Caro's biography on LBJ. The introduction has an anecdote about LBJ that tries to illuminate to the reader some of the sources of LBJ's insecurities and ambitions. Here's an excerpt:
He talked repeatedly about his realization that a seat in Congress was no hedge against that fate; so many times since he had come to Washington, he said, he had seen former Congressmen, men who had once sat in the great Chamber as he was sitting now, but who had lost their seats—as, he said, he himself would inevitably one day lose his—working in poorly paid or humiliating jobs. Again and again, he harked back to one particular incident he could not get out of his mind: while riding an elevator in the Capitol one day, he had struck up a conversation with the elevator operator—who had said that he had once been a Congressman, too. He didn’t want to end up an elevator operator, Johnson said."
It sounds like an embellishment on LBJ's part. Caro's notes don't say anything about who the Congressman was nor does he express any skepticism in the text. Anyone have any idea as to the validity of this story? What about any other possible similar situations?
I don't have any verification of that anecdote, but it is worth noting that Congressmen didn't get a pension for their service until the expansion of the Civil Service Retirement System in 1946. Since Johnson entered the House in 1937, the lack of financial security might have been a concern for him.
Depending on the time period, the experience of former President Harry Truman might have also given Johnson pause. Truman was actually facing poverty after leaving office, because the Presidency did not offer any sort of pension, and he did not want to take a job in the private sector because he felt it would cheapen the office of President. He was actually living on his army pension of ~$112/month for a while. As a result, the system was expanded in 1958 to include the President in order to ensure some income after their return to private life. The legislation was passed while Johnson was the Senate Majority Leader, meaning he would have been familiar with Truman's issues, and it might have made him think about his post-congressional career, even though he was assured some degree of support by that point.
In terms of sources, the Congressional Research Service has some useful documents about federal pensions. The one that is must useful for this is called "Retirement Benefits forMembers of Congress, " and is available by googling "Order Code RL30631"