In 1960, Alger organized a protest at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas against Lyndon Johnson, by then the U.S. Senate majority leader, who was campaigning to become vice president as John F. Kennedy's running mate. Alger held a placard which stated, "LBJ Sold Out to Yankee Socialists." The rally turned ugly, and Lady Bird Johnson was spat upon by a protestor, and her white gloves were yanked from her and thrown into a gutter. Vice President Richard M. Nixon believed that the incident caused him to lose Texas's then twenty-four electoral votes to Kennedy and Johnson. Columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak said that the protest also impacted the votes of white southerners in other states. Nixon later said, "Well, we lost Texas in 1960 because of that a**hole congressman in Dallas".