AUSTIN, Texas, July 11 (UPI) -- Robert Hardesty, a speechwriter for President Lyndon Johnson who later served as president of Johnson's Texas alma mater, has died. He was 82.
The LBJ Presidential Library in Austin said Hardesty died Monday at his home in the Texas capital of congestive heart failure, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Hardesty, a native of St. Louis, moved to Washington to study at George Washington University. He published trade newspapers, reported for the Army Times and wrote speeches for the postmaster general before Bill Moyers brought him into the Johnson administration.
Johnson was demanding, Hardesty later said. He wanted his speeches to be short -- no more than 400 words -- and to include breaking news.
Hardesty spent four years in the White House. He moved to Austin to help Johnson organize his presidential library and write his memoirs.
President Gerald Ford made Hardesty a member of the U.S. Postal Service board of governors and he became chairman. In 1981, Hardesty became president of Texas State University.
Hardesty sued after the regents fired him in 1988 at the instigation of Gov. Bill Clements. He won, getting a new title, and described it as going "from the disgrace of being a fired president to the honor of being President Emeritus."
Hardesty is survived by his wife, Alice, two sons and two daughters. A memorial service is to be held Monday at the LBJ Library.
