Means of Ascent (90 page)

Oral Histories:

Sherman Birdwell, Russell Brown, Ellen Taylor Cooper, Virginia Durr, Daniel J. Quill.

Other interviews:

David Benjamin, Mary Elliott Botsford, Ashton Gonella, D. B. Hardeman, Rebekah Johnson, Ann Durrum Robinson, Emmett Shelton, O. J. Weber.

NOTES

Girlhood and early married life of Lady Bird Johnson:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 294–305.
Nellie Connally at the University:
Crawford and Keever, p. 25.
“That’s a pretty dress, Nellie”
:
Mrs. Connally interview. “I don’t know how she stands it”: A number of Texans who had been in Washington at the
time made this remark, but asked not to be quoted by name. Virginia Durr said, “I don’t know how she lived through it” (Durr OH I).

An obstacle to Alice’s happiness:
Mary Louise Glass Young, Harold Young, Hopkins interviews.
“My eyes”
: Mrs. Johnson interview.

“I thought I was the leader”
;
“one of the most determined”
:
Solomon and
Benefield, quoted in Schreiber, “Lady Bird’s First Years of Marriage.”

Despite his avowals:
Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 303.
Visiting Mount Vernon;
“I early learned”
:
Mrs. Johnson interview.
Hints at Longlea:
Caro, pp. 489–92.
Mein Kampf
: Mrs. Johnson interview. “I still remember his chapter on propaganda, which is worth rereading,” she said.

No connection with politics:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 489–90.
“I went around”
;
“this little speech”
;
“didn’t want to be a party”
: Mrs
. Johnson interview.

Desire for a home:
Mrs. Johnson interview.
Operation:
Mrs. Johnson interview.
“A sadness”
;
“If I had a son”
:
Schreiber, “Lady Bird’s First Years of Marriage.”
“Like a sightseeing bus”
:
Mrs. Connally interview.
“Dull, drab”
:
Mrs. Johnson interview.
“The women liked her”
:
Mrs. Connally interview.

Trip to West Coast:
Mrs. Johnson interview.
Decision to have her take over office:
Mrs. Johnson, Connally, Deason, Rather, Jenkins interviews.

No vote of confidence:
Rather interview. And see Weber to Johnson, and Johnson to Weber, Box 35, LBJA SN.
Her first days in office:
Mrs. Johnson, Rather interviews.
“Lady Bird is very industrious”
:
Weber to Johnson, Feb. 6, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN.

That changed:
Mrs. Johnson, Rather interviews.
“Some people were already hollering”
:
Weber to Johnson, Mar. 25, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN.
“Looking as if”
:
Rather interview.
Ickes revoking the order:
Mrs. Johnson interview. And see Weber to
Johnson, Mar. 25, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN.

“Since she doesn’t get pay”
:
Johnson note on Weber to Johnson, Feb. 26, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN. And Connally wrote Weber: “The only gripe he [Johnson] has had in several days is about Mrs. Johnson not writing for 3 or 4 days at a time. You might mention it to her.…” (Connally to Weber, Feb. 28, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN).

“Splendid”
:
Johnson to Mrs. Johnson, Feb. 17, 1942, quoted in “A National Tribute to Lady Bird Johnson,” p. 14.
“Invincible”
:
Johnson to Mrs. Johnson, undated, quoted in
Ibid.
, p. 15.

Letter of
“instruction”
:
Weber to Johnson, Mar. 2, 1952, Box 35, LBJA SN. On Mar. 6, Weber wrote Johnson that “there seems to be a better esprit de corps in the office.”

Telephone calls:
Mrs. Montgomery, quoted in Schreiber, “Lady Bird’s First Years of Marriage.”

“She was wonderful”
:
Clark interview.

“I was more prepared”
:
Montgomery, p. 30.

“I think she changed”
:
Mrs. Connally interview.

“We’ll see you later, Bird”
:
Corcoran interview.

“Kidding, you know”
:
Clark interview.
“I’d call”
:
Goldthwaite Eagle
, undated, but with clippings from March, 1942, Scrapbook 7, Series 1, JHP. Mayor Tom Miller said, “I personally feel that the Tenth District is fortunate in having two such valuable servants as
Congressman and Mrs. Johnson,” a remark which also irritated the Congressman
(AA-S
, Apr. 18, 1942). He may also have heard that, as Alvin Wirtz wrote to Lady Bird, “Dr. Ross [a prominent Austin physician] says he thinks you would make a better congressman than Lyndon” (Wirtz to Mrs. Johnson, Mar. 10, 1942, Box 37, LBJA SN).

“Talk my problems over”
:
Joseph, Jenkins interviews. In later years, Johnson would express a far higher opinion of his wife’s political judgment. But for many of those years—until, in fact, he was President—he also expressed the opinion of her judgment that he had expressed in that remark. Shortly after he became President, for example, he gave an
interview to reporter Bela Kornitzer of the
Dallas Herald
. Kornitzer wrote: “I asked him if, like other husbands, he ever discussed his problems with his wife. ‘Certainly,’ he replied. ‘I talk everything over with her. She is a most astute person, very wise, an excellent politician.’ … Then Lyndon Johnson added: ‘Of course, I talk my problems over with anyone I think will give me an intelligent
ear—including my chauffeur’ ”
(Dallas Herald Magazine
, Jan. 5, 1964). In earlier years, he would often use the phrase: “nigger chauffeur,” as in “I talk my problems over with my nigger chauffeur, too.”
“Birthday party”
: Alice Marsh to Johnson, Aug. 19, 1942, “Marsh, Charles E.,” Box 26, LBJA SN.
Weekends started again:
Mary Louise Glass Young, Harold Young, Hopkins interviews.

Buying the house:
Mrs. Johnson interview; Schreiber, “Lady Bird’s First Years of Marriage.”

SOURCES

Books:

Burns,
Soldier of Fortune;
Crawford and Keever,
John B. Connally: Portrait in Power;
Daniels,
White House Witness;
Donovan,
Conflict and Crisis
, Vol. I; Henderson,
Maury Maverick;
Ickes,
Secret Diary
, Vol. III; Mann,
La Guardia Comes to Power;
Schlesinger,
The Politics of Upheaval;
Steinberg,
Sam Rayburn
.

Oral Histories:

Helen Gahagan Douglas, Warren Magnuson, W. Robert Poage.

Interviews:

Alan Barth, Richard Bolling, Emanuel Celler, W. Sterling Cole, Thomas G. Corcoran, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Lewis T. Easley, O. C. Fisher, D. B. Hardeman, Charles Herring, Welly K. Hopkins, Edouard V. M. Izac, Eugene J. Keogh, Wingate Lucas, George H. Mahon, W. D. McFarlane, James H. Rowe, Jr., O. J. Weber, Harold Young, James Van Zandt.

NOTES

Lobbying to become Secretary of the Navy:
Washington Daily News
, Oct. 14, 1942;
AA
, Oct. 16, 21, 1942; Pearson in
Abilene Reporter-News
, Nov. 3, 1942; Stimpson in
Abilene Reporter-News
, Oct. 22, and Nov. 3, 1942.
“Secret government mission”
:
HP
, Oct. 24, 1942. For other leaks designed to inflate his importance in the war, see, for example, “The Mirrors of Austin” in
AA
, Nov. 23, 1942.

“He regarded”
;
“carrot juice”
:
Weber interview.
“Well, I just can’t spare”
:
Johnson quoted by Weber.
Connally’s war service:
Crawford and Keever, pp.
46–47.
“Hell, I’ll cancel”
:
Herring interview.

Johnson’s fund-raising in 1940; taste of national power:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 606–64.
Pauley’s rise: Ickes
, p. 392, 524–25; Donovan, pp. 178–83. Among many articles, especially valuable are George Creel, “Big Tooth and Nail Man,”
Collier’s
, July 20, 1946; Raymond Moley, “Perspective: Dark Democratic December,” and “Pauley and
Peanuts,”
Newsweek
, Dec. 22, 1947;
Time
, May 7, 1945;
Current Biography, 1945
.
“The great hot spell”
: Creel
, “Big Tooth and Nail Man.”
Flynn’s antagonism to Johnson:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 610, 620–21, 625–26. Johnson noted to Thomas R. Amlie, Director of the Washington Bureau of the Union
for Democratic Action: “There is much truth in what you have to say concerning the lack of work being done to re-elect Democratic members of the House,” but added, “There is little likelihood of my having any connection with either the Democratic Committee or the Congressional Committee” (Johnson to Amlie, Aug. 27, 1942, “Political Correspondence-1942,” Box 37, JHP).
Flynn’s 1940 failure to circumvent Johnson:
Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 636; Corcoran, Young interviews. And see Roeser to FDR, Oct. 28, OF-300-Texas, 1938–45, Roosevelt Papers, and Roeser to Johnson, Oct. 29, “General-Unarranged,” Box 7, JHP.
Flynn’s 1942 success in circumventing Johnson:
For example, oilman G. L. Rowsey of Taylor, Texas, at first replied to a Flynn plea for funds by saying he wanted to make his contribution through Johnson, but on October 27, he said that he
would nonetheless make it directly to the Democratic National Committee instead (Rowsey to Flynn, Oct. 23, 27, Flynn to Rowsey, Oct. 26, 1942, “Political Correspondence-1942,” Box 37, JHP). And see
Philadelphia Inquirer
, Sept. 22, 1943, for Johnson’s attempt to regain his DCCC role.

“Haven’t waked up”
:
Burns, p. 273.
October 14 incident:
Daniels, pp. 54–55.
Another appointment:
Rowe interview; and see Daniels, p. 77.
“These $200 droplets”
:
Johnson to Rayburn, Oct. 10, 1942, Box 52, LBJA CF.
Dallas Democratic dinner:
Wichita Falls Record-News
, Feb. 24, 1944;
DT-H, Dallas News
, Feb. 27, 1944.

Vinson as chairman:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 537–39.
“Is the gentleman”
: Caro, p. 554.

Johnson’s legislative record:
CR
, 1937–48;
AA, AA-S
, 1937–48. “Lyndon B. Johnson’s Congressional Activities” (compilation by OH staff), WHCF, LBJL; “Complete House Voting Record of Congressman Lyndon Johnson, By Subject, From May 13, 1937 to December 31, 1948,” Box 75, LBJA SF; Douglas OH; Douglas, Izac, McFarlane, Fisher, Cole, Lucas interviews; Caro,
Path to Power
, pp.
546–51.

Congressmen and national causes:
See, for example, Schlesinger, pp. 142–46; Mann, Henderson, Steinberg,
passim
.
“If we disagreed”
:
Cole interview. Interviews with other congressmen, including Bolling, Celler, Douglas, Fisher, Izac, Keogh, Lucas, Mahon, McFarlane, Van Zandt. Interviews with Barth, Easley, Hardeman,
Hopkins, Rowe. And Douglas, Magnuson, Poage OHs.

Fiasco over absenteeism bill:
US 78th Cong., House Naval Affairs Committee, J 74 A 23, pp. 253–614; Norton, in
CR
, Mar. 15, 1943, p. 2, 139;
NYT
, Feb. 17, 1943;
Washington Star
, Mar. 17, 1943;
Washington News, WP
, Mar. 18, 1943;
Washington Star
, Apr. 8, 1943; Kellam to Johnson, Apr. 1, 1943, “Kellam (1 of 2),” Box 22, LBJA SN.

SOURCES

Books, articles, and documents:

Barnouw,
The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States;
Daniels,
White House Witness;
Dugger,
The Politician;
Gould,
Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment;
Halberstam,
The Powers That Be;
Kohlmeier,
The Regulators;
Krasnow and Longley,
The Politics of Broadcast Regulation;
Miller,
Lyndon;
Montgomery,
Mrs. L.B.J.;
Pearson and Anderson,
The Case Against Congress;
Smith,
The President’s Lady;
Steinberg,
Sam Rayburn’s Boy;
Wilson,
Congress: Corruption and Compromise
.

A number of contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles provide details on the genesis and growth of the Johnson fortune, although their conclusions differ in many ways from mine.

The most valuable of these are “The Man Who Is the President—How LBJ’s Family Amassed Its Fortune,” by Keith Wheeler and William Lambert,
Life
, August 21, 1964; John Barron, “Special Report—The Johnson Monday—Presidential Family Holdings Estimated at $9 Million,”
Washington Evening Star
, June 9, 1964; “The Story of the Johnson Family Fortune,”
USN&WR
, May 4,
1964; Louis Kohlmeier, “The Johnson Wealth,”
WSJ
, March 23, 24, August 11, November 23, 1964; Thomas Collins, “LBJ, KTBC—and the FCC,”
Newsday
, May 27–29, 1964; Alva Johnson, “The Saga of Tommy the Cork,’ ”
Saturday Evening Post
, Oct. 13, 20, 27, 1945.

Federal Communications Commission, “Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees,” March 7, 1946, FCC; Louis L. Jaffe, “The Scandal in TV Licensing,”
Harper’s
magazine, September, 1957; Robert D. Leigh, “Politicians vs. Bureaucrats,”
Harper’s
magazine, January, 1945; Henry F. Pringle, “The Controversial Mr. Fly,”
Saturday Evening Post
, July 22,
1944; T.R.B.,
New Republic
, May 31, 1943.