The Passage of Power (138 page)

“Bobby was against”
:
Johnson, “Reminiscences.”
“ ‘that little shitass’ ”
:
Baker,
Wheeling,
p. 130.
“I’m not going
to”
:
Connally interview.
Slitting gesture:
Among those who saw it: Herring, Oltorf. Johnson would still be using that gesture in 1968, Evan Thomas relates. In a meeting on April 2 of that year with Eugene McCarthy, shortly after Kennedy had announced his presidential candidacy, “the conversation was ‘almost pro forma and casual’ … until Robert Kennedy’s name came up. Johnson said nothing,
but drew the side of his hand across his throat.” Thomas,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 366.
“I’ll cut”
:
Clark interview.

“Everything’s all right now, George”
:
Reedy OH XVI. It was the “first time I ever saw a benevolent smile on Bobby’s face,” Reedy says.

“Settled”
:
White,
The Making of the President, 1960,
pp. 251, 259.

Gallup Poll:
NYT, WP,
Oct. 5, 12, 1960.
So far behind:
NYT,
Sept. 7, 1960.
“This boy”
;
“after that”
:
Drew Pearson,
WP,
Nov. 5, 1960.

Descriptions of whistle-stop tour:
E. Ernest Goldstein, “How LBJ Took the Bull by the Horns,”
Amherst,
Winter 1985, pp. 79–8l. Reedy,
LBJ,
pp. 129–31; Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy,
pp. 540–43.
Danville Bee,
Oct. 9, 1960;
Richmond Times-Dispatch,
Oct. 9, 1960;
Spartanburg Journal,
Oct. 10, 1960;
WES,
Oct. 10–14, 1960;
Anderson
Independent,
Oct. 11, 12, 1960;
Atlanta Journal,
Oct. 11–14, 1960;
Charlotte Observer,
Oct. 11–19, 1960;
Houston Chronicle,
Oct. 11, 1960;
Jacksonville Journal,
Oct. 11, 1960;
Birmingham News,
Oct. 12, 1960;
Greensboro Daily News,
Oct. 12, 1960;
NYT,
Oct. 12, 1960;
Florida Times-Union,
Oct. 13, 1960;
Houston Press,
Oct. 13, 1960;
Jacksonville Journal,
Oct. 13, 1960;
Orlando Sentinel,
Oct. 13, 1960;
CSM,
Oct. 14, 1960;
Meriden Star,
Oct. 14, 1960;
New Orleans States-Item,
Oct. 14, 1960;
Pensacola News,
Oct. 14, 1960;
Tallahassee Democrat,
Oct. 14, 1960;
AA-S,
Oct. 15, 1960;
New Orleans Times-Picayune,
Oct. 15, 1960;
WP,
Nov. 6, 1960;
NYT,
Nov. 6, 1960.
“Potent”
:
Reedy,
Lyndon B. Johnson,
p. 130.

“The volume would be turned up”
:
Reedy,
LBJ,
p.130.
“The main thing”
;
“Are we going to sit idly by”
:
WES,
Oct. 11, 1960.
“Why, oh why”
;
“This high-talking, high-spending”
;
“We just decided”
:
NYHT,
Oct. 13, 1960.
Talking about his daddy:
Anderson Independent,
Oct. 12, 1960;
Corsicana Sun, DT-H,
Oct.12, 1960.

“Nobody asked him”
:
WES, Oct. 11, 1960; Houston Press,
Oct. 13, 1960;
NYHT,
Oct. 13, 1960.
A deep hush; description of him talking about Joe, Jr.:
Florida Times-Union, NYHT,
Oct. 13, 1960.

“Good-bye, Culpepper”
:
Reedy,
LBJ,
p. 130; Reedy OH XVII; McPherson,
A Political Education,
p. 181.
“Good-bye, Greer”
:
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, NYHT,
Oct. 13, 1960.
“What he was doing”
:
Eugene Patterson, “Johnson Is the Caboose Man,”
Atlanta Constitution,
Oct. 13, 1960.

“The Senator was doing his best work”
:
McGrory,
WES,
Oct. 11; Goldsmith,
Colleagues: Richard Russell and His Apprentice Lyndon B. Johnson.,
pp. 79–80.
“A portable smoke-filled room”
:
Birmingham News,
Oct. 12, 1960.
1,247:
WES,
Oct. 19, 1960.

“Being religioned”
:
Harlow OH, quoted in Dallek,
Lone Star,
p. 586; Harlow interview.
“Two weeks earlier”
;
“has justified”
:
McGrory,
Atlanta Constitution,
Oct.
14, 1960.
“Master”
:
Chicago Daily News,
Oct. 16, 1960.

“Judas”
:
Richmond Times-Dispatch,
Oct. 9, 1960.
Orlando Sentinel,
Oct. 13, 1960; Rowe interview.
“Deeply disturbed”
:
Johnson to Connally, Oct. 18, 1960, JSP, quoted in Dallek,
Lone Star,
p. 586.
“The ever haunting”
:
Rowe to Humphrey, Nov. 22, 1960, Rowe
Papers.
Private polls were showing:
Busby, Rowe interviews; Dallek,
Lone Star,
p. 584;
FW S-T,
Nov. 7, 1960; Busby interview.

Alger was raising:
Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy,
p. 543; WES, Nov. 11, 1960.
Spitting at Lady Bird:
Abilene Reporter-News,
Nov. 6, 1960,
WP
, Nov. 5, 1960.
Frightened expression:
WES,
Nov. 5, 1960; Moyers, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 271.
“I want you”
:
Phinney, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 271.
Thirty minutes:
NYT, WP,
Nov. 5, 1960.
“LBJ and Lady Bird”
:
Hardemann, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 271.
“He knew”
:
Moyers, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 271.
“I wanted to find
out”
:
WES,
Nov. 5, 1960.

Turned the tide in Texas:
Harlow, Rowe, Sidey, Sorensen interviews; Evans and Novak,
Lyndon B. Johnson,
pp. 302–4; Miller,
Lyndon,
pp. 271, 272; Goldsmith,
Colleagues,
p. 81.
“A mob in Dallas”
:
Abilene Reporter-News,
Nov. 6, 1960.
“We had been told”
:
Gonella interview, OH.

Vote figures:
Unless otherwise indicated, all figures in this chapter are from the
Texas Almanac, 1961–1962,
pp. 460–62.

Making a mockery:
For a description of this procedure, see Caro,
The Path to Power,
pp. 721–22.
Texas Republicans charged; new law:
DMN,
Nov. 10, 1960. Texas Republicans were eventually to say that “at least” 100,000 ballots were illegally disqualified.
NY, HT,
Dec. 4, 5, 1960;
WP,
Dec. 11, 1960; “How to Steal an Election,”
Look,
Feb. 14, 1961. “Thousands of Texas voters had their ballots invalidated for failing to mark out minor parties, reports from several cities showed” (
Texas Observer,
Nov. 18, 1960). Also see Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy,
p. 545.

94 precincts, 59,000 invalidated:
SAE,
Nov. 12, 1960; “How to Steal an Election,”
Look,
Feb. 14, 1961.
The
Texas Observer
noted:
Nov. 11, 1960.
The factor considered decisive:
Clark, Connally, Jones, Kilgore, Rowe interviews.

12,000, 19,000;
“This is a reversal”
:
Paul Kilday to Johnson, Dec. 2, 1960, “1960 Congressional File—K,” Box 372, JSP.

Kilday’s brother running the West Side:
Johnson’s long experience with vote-buying on the West Side is in Caro,
Path,
pp 277, 718–23, 736–37;
Means of Ascent
, p 181.
West Side votes; 17,017 to 2,982;
SAE,
Nov. 10, 1960, and
SAE,
Nov. 7, 1956.
1,324 to 125:
Box 25. In 1956, it voted for Eisenhower, 851 to 523.
Other West Side Boxes:
The figures cited are for Boxes 15 and 17. In Box 12, traditionally a key precinct in the Mexican-American area, the vote was for Kennedy, 523 to 61 (
SAE,
Nov. 10, 1960). John Connally was to say of the West Side, “They [low-income Mexican-Americans] went [to the polls] because the
Sheriff told them to go. ‘Sheriff Kilday wants you to vote for …’ ” Connally was talking at the time about the 1948 election, but then said the same situation had existed in the 1956 election, and in 1960 (Connally interview).

“Had little to do”
:
Caro,
Master of the Senate,
pp. 745–46. See also Caro,
Path,
pp. 720–23, 732–33;
Means,
pp. 182–83, 189–91, 321. The sources for this description of historic voting patterns in the Valley are given in
Path,
p. 83, and
Means,
pp.458–61.
“You get down”
:
Clark interview.

Between 1948 and 1960:
Clark, Connally interviews, as well as interviews with Luther E. Jones, a one-time Johnson aide who had been, for eight years, Parr’s most trusted attorney, and was, in 1960, still close to Parr. In fact, he was one of the attorneys representing him in the early stages of his 1959 court fight; with James. M. Rowe, who covered politics in the valley for the
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
and other
newspapers for more than twenty years, and with Joe M. Kilgore, the congressman for the Texas congressional district that adjoined Duval County and included most of the other counties in Parr’s sphere of influence. After the 1961 election, the
Chicago Tribune
reported that “the election procedures [in Starr County] are much the same as in George Parr’s ‘Duchy of Duval.’ ”

“Slow-motion count”
:
CCC,
Nov. 9, 1960.

“Pistols were carried”
:
Texas Observer,
Dec. 2, 1960;
NYHT
, Dec.4, 1960;
CT,
Dec. 12, 1960.

“One charge”; kept a list
:
Earl Mazo, “Texas Vote ‘Irregularities’ Listed,”
NYHT,
Dec. 4, 1960.

“Strictly L.B.J. Country”
:
Carillo, quoted in Pycior,
LBJ and Mexican Americans,
p. 118.
“The basic core”
:
Connally, quoted in Pycior,
LBJ and Mexican Americans,
p. 118; Connally interview.
“Our old friends”
:
Clark interview.

Chancery hearings cut short:
Caro,
Means,
pp. 380–84.
“I think Lyndon”
:
Master in Chancery William Robert Smith, quoted in Caro,
Means,
p. 397.

“Numerous and widespread”
:
WP,
Dec. 11, 1960.

Three of Johnson’s:
As Earl Mazo put it, “Texas Republicans … have no representation anywhere in the Texas election machinery” (
NYHT,
Dec. 5, 1960).
Steakley said:
SAE,
Nov. 26, 1960.
Hearings were simply:
DMN, SAE,
Nov. 12–Dec. 19, 1960;
Texas Observer,
Dec. 2, 1960;
CT,
Dec. 8, 1960;
Kansas City Times,
Dec. 8, 1960. “Time has been a major headache to the Republicans because the Electoral College convenes to vote on Dec. 19—and the Texas results must be overturned before then if it is to affect the outcome.”

“Republicans were stunned”
:
Evans and Novak,
LBJ,
p. 302.
Republican strategists:
Harlow interview.
Clinton Anderson was to say:
Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 273.
“Is given much”
:
“It Was a Johnson Victory,
Too,”
USN&WR,
Nov. 21, 1960. Sorensen,
Kennedy,
pp. 187–88.
“Could not have been”
:
Evans and Novak,
LBJ,
p. 302.
“The key”
:
USN&WR,
Nov. 21, 1960.

“The maltreatment”
:
Sorensen,
Kennedy,
p. 215.
“Gambled”
:
Sorensen,
Kennedy,
p. 222.
“You’ve got to admit”
:
O’Donnell, quoted
in Philip Potter, “How LBJ Got the Nomination,”
The Reporter,
June 18, 1964.

Election night call:
Sorensen interview. In his
Kennedy
(p. 211) he says that after Kennedy spoke to Johnson, he joked that “Lyndon says I hear
you’re
losing Ohio but
we’re
doing fine in Pennsylvania.” There are several other similar versions of Kennedy’s remark. See White,
Making 1960,
p. 23; Dallek,
Lone Star,
p. 589; Rowe to Humphrey, Nov 22, 1960, Box 32, LBJL.
O’Donnell says that “Kennedy hung up the telephone and told us with a smile, “I see we won in Pennsylvania, but what happened to you in Ohio?’ ” (O’Donnell and Powers,
“Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,”
p. 223).

“I do understand”
:
Johnson, quoted in McPherson,
A Political Education,
p. 450.

“Mix too much”
:
Williams,
The Rise of the Vice Presidency,
p. 19.
“In particular”
;
“any formal”
:
Katzenbach, “Memorandum for the Vice President,” March 9,
1961, pp. 10, 11, “Vice Presidency—Office Of,” LBJL.
“The only”
:
Schlesinger, “The Future of the Vice Presidency,”
The Cycles of American History,
p. 348.
Roosevelt removed:
Williams,
Rise of the Vice Presidency,
pp. 185–98.
Nothing:
Katzenbach, “Memorandum,” p. 11.
When Johnson:
Reedy OH.
“The nature”
:
Katzenbach, “Memorandum,” p. 10.