Means of Ascent (96 page)

Herman Brown’s pledges:
Brown, Clark, Corcoran interviews.

“The way to play”
:
Gunther, p. 834.
Politics in San Antonio on the West Side:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 718–20; Gunther, pp. 832–35; Henderson, pp. 177, 180, 181, 185; White, “Machine Made.”
Johnson buying votes for $5:
Caro, p. 277; Connally, Quill, Hardeman, Maverick, Jr., interviews.
Johnson buying votes wholesale:
Caro, pp. 719–20. His failure to personally oversee the voting there in 1941, however, meant that West Side politicians “got Johnson’s money—but Johnson didn’t get the votes,” at least not as many as he had been promised. His overall edge over O’Daniel in the Mexican slum was 3,058 to 1, 110 in the 1941 election, but he had been promised many more than 3,000 votes (Caro, pp.
736–37).

Towns along the river:
WPA, pp. 460–66, 509–12. Literacy rates: Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.” In
Sam Johnson’s Boy
(p. 259), Steinberg says that Duval ranked 253rd among the 254 Texas counties in literacy.
“Only”
: Key, p. 272.
“From time immemorial”
:
Weeks, “The Texas-Mexicans,” p. 609.
“Lords protector”
:
Weeks, p. 610.
“As hard-bitten”
:
Philadelphia Record
, Nov. 2, 1939.

“The Valley”
:
The overall picture of politics in the Valley comes from Key, pp. 271–74; Lynch; Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast”; Shelton, “Political Conditions”; Weeks, “The Texas-Mexicans”; Green, pp. 4–5;
Philadelphia Record
, Nov. 2, 1939; interviews with three of George Parr’s lawyers—L. E.
Jones, Emmett Shelton, and Gerald Weatherly; with Frank B. Lloyd, District Attorney in Alice in the 1940s and with Luis Salas. Interviews with Boyett, Clark, Connally, Kilgore, Lawson, Rowe, Stevenson, Yarborough, Young.

(In his thesis, as was shown in
The Path to Power
, Shelton says that much of the material comes from “personal interviews with men who know politics,” including “ex-Governors, candidates for high state offices, campaign managers, local politicians.… For obvious reasons, these men could not be quoted directly. Their identity must remain a secret.” This thesis is valuable nonetheless because of the identity of the author. Edgar
Shelton, Jr., was the son of Edgar Shelton, Sr., one of three Shelton brothers—the other two were Polk and Emmett—who were three of George Parr’s attorneys, as well as attorneys for other financial and political interests in the Valley. Through them, Edgar, Jr., had entrée to the politicians in the state, and the Valley, most familiar with its political machinations. And the only survivor among the three elder Sheltons, Emmett, not only confirms the
statements in the thesis, but gives further details of many of the incidents involved. In some of them, he was himself a principal; he knew of others through discussions with his brothers, and with Valley political figures.)

Keeping receipts in safes:
Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 107.
“Insure discipline”:
Key, p. 273.
“The Mexican voter”
:
Lynch, p. 23.
Description of voting procedures:
Jones, Hardeman interviews; the herding image is used by Weeks, “The Texas-Mexicans,” p. 611.
“Poll list”
:
For example, Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” pp. 36–37.

Checked only irregularly:
Philadelphia Record
.
“The ‘machine’ votes the dead men”
:
Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 7.
“An excellent location”:
Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 74.
Dolores:
Philadelphia Record
.
Ten to one:
For example, Table 27, in Key, p. 275, shows that in Duval County, “over a 20-year period … almost invariably the leading candidate received over 90% of the vote.”

Between 20,000 and 25,000 votes:
This estimate was given to the author by Quill, Lawson. Salas’ own estimates range as high as 35,000 votes.

A decisive consideration:
“In negotiating with some
jefes
, an ample supply of campaign funds is no handicap,” Key, p. 273; Lynch, pp. 30, 41, 53.
The State candidates:
Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 113.
“To withstand”
:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”

“A siege”
;
“bodyguards”
;
“practiced charm”
:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”

“In counties like”
:
Connally interview.
“Denies”
;
“the facts”
:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”
Murders are not uncommon:
For example, Rowe, p. 180, quotes a longtime resident of Duval County, Dr. John Sutherland, as saying that during his lifetime “I personally have counted 103 murders.” Lynch, pp. 69 ff., chronicles a number of murders that began in 1952.
“It is not easy”
: Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” p. 75.

Beer license:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”
Extra nickel:
Lawson interview. Oil wells: Schendel said he had an interest in “no fewer than 200 wells.”
Erasing clauses:
Steinberg, p. 260; Lynch, p. 45.
$25,000 in cash:
Lynch, pp. 39–41; Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” p. 14.
Formed own construction company:
Dugger, p. 324; Schendel,
“Something Is Rotten.”
$406,000 income:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”
“Despite”
; race track; $15,000 bets:
Schendel, “Something Is Rotten.”

Two $25,000 “loans”:
Lynch, pp. 52–53, 89.
“Therefore”
:
Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” p. 21. See also Schendel, “Something Is Rotten”; Dugger, pp. 324–25.

Divorce:
In the actual settlement, she was awarded not only oil wells and other property but $425,000 in cash (Schendel, “Something Is Rotten”).

“Little is known”
:
Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 44.

Revolt in Jim Wells County:
Lynch, pp. 60–62; Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” p. 33; Ben Kaplan, “Inside the Parr Empire: Opposition to Duval’s Emperor Develops in Jim Wells County,”
HP
, Sept. 9, 1948. Rowe interview.
Salas’ biography:
Salas, “Box 13”; Salas interview.
“Stop! Don’t
you know?”
:
Salas, “Box 13,” p. 44.
“He used to tell me”:
Ibid.
, p. 38.
“Spend this money”
;
“Through my hands”
:
Ibid.
, pp. 44, 36. “We never said no”:
Ibid.
, pp. 34, 38. For accounts that tally with Salas’, see, for example, Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 107; Key, p. 273; Lynch, p. 23 and
passim;
and Rowe, “Mesquite Pendergast,” pp. 56 ff.

“‘Indio, I want his place closed’”
:
Parr, quoted in Salas, “Box 13,” p. 37.
80 percent:
Ibid.
, p. 44.
“The right hand”
:
Ibid.
, pp. 32, 33.
“Stood there like a king”
:
Ibid.
, p. 37.

Wirtz negotiating with Archie Parr:
Lynch, p. 37. And Steinberg, p. 172, says: “Along the Rio Grande, Wirtz was competing with friends of O’Daniel to buy off county political dictators.”
Wurzbach charged fraud:
Steinberg, p. 60.
He would never:
Lloyd interview.
In 1941, Johnson himself had telephoned:
Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 739.
95 percent to 5 percent:
Texas Almanac
, 1941–42, p. 385; Heard and Strong, pp. 177–79.
“It was nauseous”
:
unidentified source quoted in Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 72.
“Worse than Pendergast”
:
Quoted in
Ibid.
, p. 25.

Stevenson had been the exception:
Boyett, Hardeman, Lawson, Quill, Shelton interviews.
“Straight behind”
:
Quoted in Shelton, “Political Conditions,” p. 45.
“Why shouldn’t”
:
Boyett interview.

Stevenson’s refusal to appoint Kazen:
Lynch, p. 56; Boyett, Stevenson, Jr., interviews; Callan Graham, quoted in Miller, pp. 125–26, says he was present when Parr and other border dictators told Stevenson, “Coke, we’ve liked you … but we cannot tolerate a Governor” refusing an “important patronage request.” Parr himself was to tell reporters flatly: “I have nothing against Coke
personally. We went to him and asked him to appoint Jim Kazen. [He refused.] This election is the first time we have had an opportunity since then to vote against him” (
CCC-T
, Sept. 14, 1948). Also see
AA-S
, Aug. 30, 1977.

“For years”
; “double the meat”:
“A source completely inside Parr’s circle,” quoted in Dugger, p. 323.
“Everybody knew”
:
Lloyd interview.
Others say:
Quill, Shelton interviews. Moreover, on Feb. 16, 1948, Johnson wrote
Parr, “John Lyle and I tried to reach you by telephone the other afternoon. He came by my office, and we got to talking about
our friends and just decided to call you. We got as far as Dallas, but they said the lines to San Diego were busy, and we never did get to talk before we had to leave. I still haven’t made any definite decision. Expect to be back in Texas the later part of the month, and hope to talk to you then.… Take care of yourself
and if there is anything I can do at any time, let me know.”

Parr himself was to say, in a tape-recorded interview for a projected documentary on the campaign, when asked why he had supported Johnson in the election, “Oh, yes, I had met Lyndon himself and talked to him, and I was for him” (Parr, quoted in
AA-S
, Aug. 30, 1977).
“Very close”
:
Lloyd interview.
“Style and guts”
: Lynch, p. 56.
“Good friends, dear friends”
:
Jones interview.
Johnson helping Parr obtain pardon:
On Aug. 7, 1943, Parr applied for a presidential pardon for his 1932 income tax conviction. On Aug. 31, 1943, John Connally wrote Johnson: “I talked to [White House
Administrative Assistant] Jim Rowe about George Parr. He tried to do what he could before he left. All the papers are in order—they are down with Dan Lyons of the Pardon Board now. On the face of things there is no reason why his civil liberties should not be restored. Jim left last night after talking with the President about an hour” (Connally to Johnson, “LBJ Family Financial Records,” Box 12, PPCF). Parr’s application was denied on Jan. 22,
1944. On Feb. 28, 1945, Parr requested the U.S. Board of Pardons and Paroles to reactivate his application for a pardon. In Tom Clark’s papers is an undated letter from Parr to Lyons, apparently written about this time, stating that Parr had asked Johnson about his earlier application, and Johnson had given him information about the reason it had been denied (Parr to Lyons, undated, Box 8, Tom Clark Papers, HSTL). President Truman granted Parr a full and unconditional pardon
on Feb. 20, 1946. Although various accounts have credited newly elected congressman John Lyle of Corpus Christi with obtaining the pardon, Parr himself felt differently.

“We helped him”
:
Brown interview.
“Listen, Indio”
:
Salas, “Box 13,” p. 53.

Polling:
Clark, Connally, Hardeman interviews.
“We didn’t care”
:
Whiteside, quoted in Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 177.

Johnson’s new plans for radio:
Bolton, Hardeman interviews.
“Have to say something over and over”
:
Connally interview.
“The dawn of a whole new era”
:
Connally interview.
Bright young men felt:
This feeling was described to the
author by many of the bright young men, including Bolton, Kilgore, and Oltorf.
“‘He can win!’”
:
Kilgore interview.

SOURCES

The description of Lyndon Johnson’s illness, and his struggle against it, is based on the author’s interviews with Paul Bolton and Warren G. Woodward, and on their oral histories. They are the source of all quotations unless otherwise indicated.

The scenes in which Bolton was absent, and Woodward and Stuart Symington present, are based on the author’s interviews with Woodward and Symington, and on their oral histories.

Books:

Cochran and Brinley,
Jackie Cochran;
Kearns,
Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream;
McKay,
Texas and the Fair Deal, 1945–1952;
Miller,
Lyndon
.

Oral Histories:

Paul Bolton, James Cain, Jacqueline Cochran, Stuart Symington, Warren G. Woodward.

Interviews:

Paul Bolton, John B. Connally, Walter Jenkins, Stuart Symington, Warren G. Woodward.

NOTES

Illness in first campaign for Congress:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 433–36.

“Surging blood-red tide
,” etc.:
AA-S, DMN, HP
, May 23, 1948.
“Several shots”
:
Dr. Morgan, quoted in Woodward OH.

Arrangements with Symington:
Symington, Jenkins interviews.
Campaigning in Panhandle:
AA-S
, May 24, 25, 1948.

Reports of his hospitalization:
DMN, HP
, May 27, 1948; Connally, quoted in Miller, p. 119; Jenkins interview; Busby to Jenkins, June 6, 1948, “Austin-Miscellaneous, 1948,” Box 1, PPMF, LBJL.