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394509 01: U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to Vice President Dick Cheney by phone aboard Air Force One September 11, 2001 after departing Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. (Photo by Eric Draper/The White House/Getty Images)

F354390 075: President Ronald Reagan Waves Goodbye As He Leaves Aboard Air Force One On His Last Day As President, Washington, Dc, January 20, 1989. (Photo By The White House/Getty Images)

GRAND FORKS, UNITED STATES: US President Bill Clinton (L) and Federal Emergency Management Administration Director James Lee Witt (2nd-L), meet 22 April with a delegation from North and South Dakota Aboard Air Force One on the way to Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Clinton will tour the flooded town of Grand Forks by helicopter and then address area residents at the air base. Most of the 50,000 residents of Grand Forks have been evacuated from their homes because of the worst flooding this area has ever seen. AFP PHOTO/WHITE HOUSE (Photo credit should read LUKE FRAZZA/AFP/Getty Images)

UNSPECIFIED - AUGUST 31: In this handout photo provided by the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush looks out over devastation from Hurricane Katrina as he heads back to Washington D.C. August 31, 2005 aboard Air Force One. Bush cut short his vacation and returned to Washington to monitor relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. (Photo by Paul Morse/White House via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT - APRIL 7: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama's Staff including Senior Advisor David Axelrod (2nd-L) looks on as National Security Advisor Gen. James "Jim" Jones (L) talks on the phone, while Rahm Emanuel (3rd-L), and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (6th-L) look on aboard Air Force One during the flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Baghdad, Iraq on April 7, 2009 in flight. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT - APRIL 5: In this handout provide by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) talks with his staff aboard Air Force One during the flight from Prague, Czech Republic en route to Ankara, Turkey on April 5, 2009 in flight. Obama is serving as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African-American to be elected to the office of President in the history of the United States. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT - JUNE 5: In this photo provided by The White House, President Barack Obama talks to Head Speech Writer Jon Favreau (L) aboard Air Force One June 5, 2009 enroute to Paris. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT - NOVEMBER 14: In this handout provided by the White House, President Barack Obama confers with aides aboard Air Force One November 14, 2009 en route to Singapore. Obama made an official nine-day, four-nation, Asia tour during which he visited Japan and attended the APEC Summit in Singapore before heading to China and South Korea. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House via Getty Images)

US President George W. Bush talks on the phone with New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani and Gov. George Pataki aboard Air Force One. Bush gave a statement about the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and one that crashed into the Pentagon in Washington DC earier 11 September. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read DOUG MILLS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 19: In this handout provided by the White House, President Barack Obama (R) and first lady Michelle Obama (L) greet the family of Senior Master Sgt. Roland Paramore (not pictured) aboard Air Force One prior to departure to New York September 19, 2011 in Washington, DC. President Obama is traveling to New York City for the United Nations General Assembly meetings, to attend the Open Government Partnership Event and to deliver remarks at the Clinton Global Initiative. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT- JULY 24 In this handout from the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama holds a conference call with advisors aboard Air Force One July 24, 2012 during a flight to Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images)

IN FLIGHT, JULY 13: In this handout image provided by the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama listens to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., while (L-R) Senior Advisor David Plouffe; Jon Favreau, Director of Speechwriting; and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine look on aboard Air Force One during a flight on July 13, 2012 to Norfolk, VA. (Photo by Pete Souza/White House Photo via Getty Images)

BERLIN, GERMANY - JUNE 18: An American soldier salutes as Air Force One, carrying U.S. President Barack Obama, rolls by upon its arrival at Tegel airport on June 18, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Obama is visiting Berlin for the first time during his presidency and his speech tomorrow at the Brandenburg Gate is to be the highlight. Obama will be speaking close to the 50th anniversary of the historic speech by then U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Berlin in 1963, during which he proclaimed the famous sentence: Ich bin ein Berliner. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

BEIJING, CHINA - NOVEMBER 10: Air Force One arrives with U.S. President Barack Obama onboard at the Beijing Capital International Airport on November 10, 2014 in Beijing, China. The APEC 2014 Summit will bring together leaders and senior administration from 21 countries November 7-11. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

A member of the Air Force One crew looks out the front door of Air Force One after US President Barack Obama returned to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, January 8, 2015. Obama returns from a 2-day trip to Detroit, Michigan to speak about the economy before traveling to Phoenix, Arizona to speak about housing. AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

The US embassy defence attache salutes as the Air Force One aircraft prepares to taxi with US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama on board at Palam Air Force station in the Indian capital New Delhi on January 27, 2015. President Barack Obama said the United States could be India's "best partner" January 27 as he wrapped up a three-day visit to New Delhi by highlighting the shared values of the world's biggest democracies. AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH SINGH (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama signs a bill that will give the Congressional Gold Medal to the Foot Soldiers who Participated in Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, in his office aboard Air Force One as he flies to Alabama on March 7, 2015. Obama is traveling to participate in an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, when civil rights marchers attempting to walk to the Alabama capital of Montgomery to end voting discrimination against African Americans clashed with police. AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama (L) arrives in the conference room aboard Air Force One to sign an Executive Order on Streamlining the Export/Import Process for Americas Businesses on February 19, 2014. AFP PHOTO/Jewel Samad (Photo credit should read JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Air Force One is seen during a snowstorm at Andrews Air Force Base January 20, 2016 in Maryland following the return of US President Barack from Detroit, Michigan. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

There he was, the leader of the free world, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, aboard Air Force One standing in front of reporters, naked as a jaybird.

To be fair, it was a hot, sunny day.

Johnson, who wasn’t a shy man, had just finished delivering a stump speech during his 1964 presidential election campaign.

He’d invited White House reporter Frank Cormier and two colleagues to an impromptu news conference in the presidential quarters, according to Cormier’s 1977 book, “LBJ: The Way He Was.”

It’s not every day that the president of the United States takes off his shirt and pants while answering your questions about the economy.

As Cormier described it, Johnson “shucked off his underwear.” Then, as if nothing unusual were going on, the President continued talking to the reporters while “standing buck naked and waving his towel for emphasis.”

No big deal. Just another day on Air Force One.

The plane that was carrying Johnson and the reporters that day was special. “A person could justify that it’s the most important historical airplane in the world,” Air Force historian Jeff Underwood said in 2013. The Air Force gave it the code name Special Air Mission (SAM) 26000.

Why so historic?

In a nutshell, a lot of history has taken place aboard that airplane.

A president was sworn in aboard it

Less than a year before his memorable interview, Johnson had become president aboard the very same airplane.

It was November 22, 1963 — a date millions of Americans remember well — when Johnson was sworn in just hours after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

He was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, the only woman ever to swear in a U.S. commander in chief.

It flew JFK’s body from Dallas to Washington

With a newly sworn-in President Johnson aboard, Kennedy’s widow, Jacqueline, accompanied the former President’s body, which was in a casket that had been placed in the rear of the aircraft.

A portion of the plane’s wall had to be cut away to make room.

A few days after SAM 26000 landed in Washington, the aircraft performed a high-speed flyover at Kennedy’s funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

It flew Nixon on his historic mission to China

In 1972, the first meeting between leaders of China and the United States opened the door to diplomatic relations between the two nations, eventually giving Washington geopolitical leverage during arms treaty negotiations with the Soviet Union.

It flew three former presidents simultaneously to Egypt

In 1981, SAM 26000 flew former Presidents Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford to the funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

They felt “somewhat ill at ease,” Carter wrote years later. And they certainly had their reasons — especially Carter and Ford. Just five years earlier, Carter, a Democrat, had delivered a stinging election defeat to the GOP’s Ford. Tension also ran high among staffers aboard the flight. They endured long waits to use the lavatories and got upset about who received bigger cuts of steak at dinner, according to author Ronald Kessler.

Then Nixon “surprisingly eased the tension” with “courtesy, eloquence and charm,” Carter revealed in a memoir. Aboard SAM 26000, the two former enemies developed a camaraderie and then a friendship, wrote historian Douglas Brinkley.

Royal visit and presidential deaths

The plane also flew Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II around the United States during her visit in 1983. It carried LBJ’s body after his death in 1973, and after Nixon’s death in 1994, it ferried his casket home to California.

Where you can see it

Folks who are used to seeing the president fly on giant 747s might be surprised about the relatively small SAM 26000. It seats only about 40 passengers. A military version of a Boeing 707, it’s a narrow-body, single-aisle, four-engine jetliner.

The plane is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, and you can walk down the aisle and look through plexiglass to see the office where the commander in chief took phone calls. You can also see the area where White House staffers worked during long flights.

And, yes, you can see the tiny sleeping quarters where LBJ, um, waved “his towel for emphasis” on that hot day in 1964.