President Lyndon B. Johnson once sought a way to remove J. Edgar Hoover from his post as the head of the FBI. When the problems involved in such a plan proved insurmountable, LBJ philosophically accepted Hoover's presence: "It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out," he reasoned, "than outside pissing in."
["I want real loyalty," Johnson remarked on another occasion. "I want someone who will kiss my ass in Macy's window, and say it smells like roses."]
[The FBI was founded in 1908 by U.S. attorney general Charles Bonaparte -- Napoleon's grandnephew.]
Sources
Paul Boller, Presidential Anecdotes
