Master of the Senate (226 page)

Byrd funeral:
Busby interview.

“You know”; “made it”:
Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy
, p. 347.
With Taft:
Steinberg, pp. 347–48. Steinberg says Johnson used this tactic after Taft became Majority Leader in January 1953, but others say it started in 1951 and 1952. Wherry died in November, 1951.
Johnson had Baker:
Reedy interview.

“Sometimes”:
Symington interview.
“He frequently”:
Smathers OH.
“Schoolteacher habit”:
Busby interview.
“People like”:
Woodward interview.

“I like to”:
“The Humor of LBJ—25th Anniversary” audiocassette, LBJL.
“genius for”:
Evans and Novak, p. 104.

General description of the ranch, its history, and the Johnsons’ life on it:
from Newlon,
LBJ;
Reedy,
LBJ;
Smith,
President’s Lady;
Montgomery,
Mrs. LBJ;
Russell,
Lady Bird;
Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy;
Bearss,
Historic Resource Study;
Dugger,
Politician;
Bill Davidson, “Texas Political Powerhouse,”
Look
, Aug. 4, 1959; Flora Rheta Schreiber, “Lady Bird from Texas,”
Family Weekly
, Sept. 10, 1961; Robert B. Semple, Jr., “The White House on the Pedernales,”
NYT
, Oct. 3, 1965; Tom Wicker, “LBJ—Down on the Farm,”
Esquire
, Oct. 1964.

Also from Kowert, “Johnson Finds Escape from Senate Worries,”
SAE
, Sept. 12, 1954; unidentified clipping, “Lyndon Johnsons Improve Farm on Pedernales River,” December 1951, LBJA Sen F, Box 2016; “The LBJ Ranch,” “Interpretive Training” (post-Pres), LBJ National Historic Site, LN-1;
The Home Place
, LBJ Ranch, “Reference File,” LBJL;
The Hill Country: Lyndon Johnson’s Texas
transcript, NBC-TV, May 9, 1966, “Reference File,” LBJL. “A President’s Legacy,”
Southern Accents Magazine
, Summer 1983.

Also from oral histories of Reedy, Evie Symington, and Stuart Symington, and interviews with Busby, Burg, Ed Clark, Cox, Jenkins, SHJ, Lindig, Mayer, Rather, Reedy, Stehling, Tiff.

The original Johnson Ranch and original Johnson brothers:
Caro,
Path
, Chapter 1.
Sam paying too much, going broke:
Caro, Chapter 6.

Martin’s relationship with Sam Ealy Jr.:
Dugger, pp. 68–69; SHJ, Cox interviews.
Feeling that:
Dugger, p. 81; SHJ interview.
“The
big
house”:
Cox interview.
Looking for a buyer:
Dugger, p. 356; Russell,
Lady Bird
, p. 161.

“A haunted house”:
“Addams Cartoon,”
Southern Accents
, Summer 1983;
WS
, July 19, 1960.
“Oh, my Lord”; “appalled”:
Evie Symington, quoted in Montgomery, p. 44.
Visit with Symington:
Symington interview, OH. “
To my horror”:
AA-S
, Jan. 20, 1965.
“How could you”:
Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in Russell,
Lady Bird
, p. 161.
“You’re not”:
WS
, July 19, 1960.
Purchased the ranch:
Russell, p. 161; Montgomery, p. 207;
NYT
, Dec. 26, 1966.

Sam Johnson as legislator:
Caro,
Path
, Chapters 3, 5, 6.
Lyndon Johnson’s selling of airtime for influence:
Caro,
Means
, Chapter 6.
$3,000 per week:
In 1951, KTBC had revenues of $345,115 and expenses of $212,400, leaving a profit for the year of $132,715. That did not include $13,210 written off for depreciation. Mrs. Johnson took a salary for that year of $23,000 and interest of $4,800 on $80,000 in KTBC debentures that she held. At the end of 1951, the station had assets of $439,310, of which $133,465 was in cash (1951, “Financial Reports—FCC General Correspondence [KTBC], FCC Records, RG 173, NA).
Television profits:
This topic will be dealt with in detail in Volume IV.

“Used to run dry”:
Johnson, quoted in Dugger, p. 86.
Building the dam:
Burg, Lindig, Tiff interviews;
DT-H
, Aug. 26, 1953.
“The first thing”:
Lady Bird, quoted in Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy
, p. 419.

Building up the soil:
Lindig, Tiff interviews.

“Spiritual home”:
Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in Smith,
President’s Lady
, pp. 45–46.
“Horror turned”:
Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in
AA-S
, Jan. 1, 1965.

“Only one picture”:
Lady Bird Johnson interview; she said it in writing, in tour, p. 2, “There is only one picture in the room—our dear friend, Speaker Rayburn.”
Scratching “Welcome”:
Burg interview.
“When it wasn’t much”:
Symington OH.

1952 storm:
Russell,
Lady Bird
, pp. 161–63; Lady Bird Johnson interview.
“Lucy and I”:
Russell, p. 162; Burg, Cox interviews.
Contacted Stehling:
Stehling interview. When Lady Bird came to the door, she said to Stehling: “Dr. Livingston, I presume.”
“Just where”:
Burg, Stehling interviews.
“The only time”:
Lucy, quoted in Russell, pp. 161–62.

“Every man”:
DT-H
, Aug. 26, 1953.
“All my life”; “lonesome”:
“The Hill Country: Lyndon Johnson’s Tapes,” NBC-TV, May 1966, transcript.

“Haven’t thought”:
DT-H
, Aug. 26, 1953.
“Best people”:
SAE
, Sept. 12, 1954.
Wicker portrait:
Wicker, “LBJ—Down on the Farm,”
Esquire
, Oct. 1964.

The gully:
Caro,
Path
, pp. 87–88.
Filling it in:
Cox, SHJ, Lindig interviews; Robert B. Semple Jr., “The White House on the Pedernales,”
NYT
, Oct. 3, 1965.
“Fixation”:
Lindig interview.

Portrayed her life:
Rebekah Johnson,
A Family Album
, pp. 25–26, 28–32. Her life is described in Caro,
Path
, Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Sam’s funeral:
Caro, pp. 542–43.
What she did:
RJB, SHJ interviews.
Had been rented:
Lyndon Johnson to Rebekah Baines Johnson, Jan. 15, 1938.
“There is”:
LBJ to J. Frank Kendall, March 30, 1938—both from “Family Correspondence, Johnson, Mrs. Sam E., Dec. 1929-Dec. 1939,” Box 1,
Family Correspondence
.
She never did:
RJB, SHJ interviews. The author has not been able to determine if that is literally true, but the first lease she gave on the house, to Ross B. Jenkins and his family, was from Jan. 1, 1938, to Dec. 31, 1940. Mrs. Betty Prehn lived in the house “from 1943 until 1947,” according to the
Historic Resource Study
made for the Department of the Interior. “Oscar Foss rented” the house from Mrs. Johnson “in 1949–1951.” And it was in 1951 that Aunt Frank took possession of the house. The author has not been able to determine who lived in the house during the years not covered by these leases; during at least part of them, Lyndon’s sister Josefa lived there. Blanco County Deed Book, 53, pp. 326–27; Book 55, pp. 407–08, cited in Bearss, pp. 136–37. During those years, Mrs. Johnson rented various apartments in Austin.
Died intestate:
Bearss, p. 137.
Relinquished; Lyndon bought:
Blanco County Deed Book, 53, pp. 326, 327; Deed Book, 55, pp. 407–408, quoted in Bearss, p. 137.

“I have been”:
RBJ to LBJ, July 24, 1951.
“Courage”:
RBJ to LBJ, May 29, 1952, “Family Correspondence, Johnson, Mrs. Sam E., March, 1950-August, 1958,” Box 1,
Family Correspondence
.
Written by staff:
Busby, Jenkins, Latimer interviews.
“He used”:
Latimer interview.
“Next Sunday”:
Henderson to LBJ, May 12, 1939.
“She was”; “would case”; “I liked”:
“The First Lady Talks About Her Mother-in-Law,”
McCalls
, Dec. 1965.
“If I had”:
Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon
, pp. 13, 14.
Visitors:
Among those who noticed this were Corcoran and Rowe.

Rebekah’s ulcer; “highly precarious”:
RBJ to Lyndon Johnson, March 7, 1950; July 24, 1951.
Stories about Josefa:
Busby, Knispel, Kyle, Smith, Stehling interviews.
Called on:
Stehling interview.
“If there”:
Mayer interview.

“Josefa situation”:
Busby interview.
If she wasn’t:
Lyndon Johnson to RBJ, Jan. 6, 1940, Box 1,
Family Correspondence
.

“These wonderful”:
Caro,
Path
, p. 183.
“He worships”:
RBJ to Lyndon Johnson, undated but among 1937 letters, “Family Correspondence, Dec. 1929-Dec. 1939,” Box 1.
“Smarter”:
Deason interview.
“More than”:
Mooney,
LBJ
, p. 195.
“He didn’t”:
Brown OH.
New York trip:
SHJ interview; Johnson,
My Brother Lyndon
, pp. 50–51.
“Alcoholic haze”:
Lloyd Shearer,
Texas Parade
, March 9, 1975.
NYA:
SHJ interview.
Wirtz trying:
Wirtz to Johnson, July 3, 1940, Box 5, AWPP, LBJL.
“When”:
Brown OH.
Seeing Sam on TV:
Sunday Hereford
(Tex.)
Brand
, Sept. 28, 1958.
“Just a flunky”:
SHJ interview.
Would disappear:
Koeniger interview.

Rodney, Sam’s son:
Rodney Baines interview.
“The 1948”:
Baines interview.
Died of AIDS:
William M. Adler, “A Death in the Family,”
Texas Monthly
, April 1989.

120:
SHJ OH.
“A shrunken”:
Mooney,
LBJ
, p. 192.
“Shattered nerves”:
RBJ to LBJ, Feb. 4, 1953, “Family Correspondence, Johnson, Mrs. Sam E., March, 1950-August, 1958,” Box 1,
Family Correspondence
.
Hardshell; “Sneaking”; “almost”:
Caro,
Path
, pp. 91–93.
“I don’t”:
Caro, p. 163.

“Didn’t sleep”:
Rather interview.
Picture of Johnson on ranch:
Busby, Cox, SHJ, Rather, Reedy, Stehling interviews.

“A wild drinking bout”:
Reedy,
LBJ
, p.
53.
More often on the ranch:
Jenkins, Rather interviews.

“Her constant pacification”:
Sidey,
Time
, Jan. 14, 1985.
Incident in car:
Busby, quoted in Russell,
Lady Bird
, p. 205.
“Slapped”:
Busby, quoted in
Texas Monthly
, Aug. 1999; interview with author.
“Harem”:
Janeway, quoted in Dallek,
Lone Star
, p. 189.

“Johnson fixed”:
White,
Professional
, p. 201.

“His native strength”:
Hawthorne, quoted in Schlesinger,
Age of Jackson
, p. 42.

Convention scene, Humphrey speech:
Eisele,
Almost to the Presidency;
Griffith,
Humphrey;
McCullough,
Truman;
Ross,
The Loneliest Campaign;
Solberg,
Hubert Humphrey
.
“The very air”:
McCullough, p. 636.
“Interpret”:
Ross, p. 117.
Their first look; “dazzled”:
Solberg, pp. 12–13.
“Lead”:
Humphrey,
The Progressive
, April 1946.
“Who does”; “sellout”:
Solberg, p. 14.
Only his:
Griffith, p. 153.
“Joe, you”:
Niles, quoted in Solberg, p. 16.
“ADA bastards”; “not at all”:
Griffith, pp. 152, 153.
“Sacrificing”:
Ross, pp. 119–20.

“It was sobering”:
Humphrey,
Education
, pp. 112, 113.
Freeman:
Goulden,
Best Years
, p. 385.

“Shining”:
McCullough, p. 639.
“I can see”; “hard-boiled”:
Douglas,
Fullness of Time
, p. 133.
“The audience”:
Solberg, p. 17.
Not in text:
Solberg, p. 18.
“Parade”:
Douglas,
Fullness of Time
, pp. 133–34.
“The latter”:
Ross, p. 122.
“In part”:
Humphrey,
Education
, p. 115.
“Can you”:
Anderson, quoted in Solberg, p. 119.

“At the”; “the fact”:
McCullough, p. 640.
“The only”:
Solberg, pp. 18, 19.
“It was”; “on fire”:
Douglas, quoted in Eisele, p. 68.
“The orator”:
Douglas,
Fullness of Time
, p. 133.

“Glib, jaunty”:
“Education of a Senator,”
Time
, Jan. 17, 1949.
“Well-knit”:
New Republic
, Oct. 18, 1948.
“I had”:
Humphrey, pp. 115–16.

Press conference; “I’ll knock”; Howard speech:
Solberg, pp. 135–39.
“My God”:
Rowe interview.
Taking King to lunch:
Humphrey, p. 121.
“I would be”:
Humphrey, p. 147.