Austin American, Statesman, and American-Statesman, Johnson City Record-Courier, Blanco County News—February 23-April 14, 1937.
Oral Histories:
Sherman Birdwell, Russell Brown, Willard Deason, Virginia Durr, Welly K. Hopkins, L. E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Gene Latimer, Ray E. Lee, Daniel J. Quill, Claud Wild.
Interviews:
J. R. Buckner, Howard P. Bunger, Edward A. Clark, Ava Johnson Cox, Mary Cox, Willard Deason, Thomas C. Ferguson, Brian Fudge, Sim Gideon, Stella Gliddon, D. B. Hardeman, A. J. Harzke, Charles Herring, Welly K. Hopkins, Lady Bird Johnson, Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt (RJB), Sam Houston Johnson (SHJ), L. E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Gene Latimer, Ray E. Lee, Gerald C. Mann, Ernest Morgan, Daniel J. Quill, Mary Rather, Emmett Shelton, Carroll Smith, Warren Smith, Clayton Stribling.
NOTES
(All dates 1937 unless otherwise indicated)
“This was my chance”: Johnson, quoted in Kearns, Lyndon Johnson, pp. 85–86. Longer average tenure: Cong. Directory, 75th Cong., 1st Session. Speeding back to Austin: Keach, Mrs. Johnson. “A good ol’ boy”: Clark.
“Not known at all”: Quill OH II, p. 15. Says Birdwell: “Many of the people that were leaders in the ten counties that comprised the Tenth Congressional District at that time were people that he’d just not met” (Birdwell OH II, p. 23). Not even mentioned: AS, Feb. 23.
“Lyndon would always”: Durr OH II, p. 23; OH I, p. 8. “Just as tall”: Rather. Wirtz’s opinion of Avery: Hopkins. “Disapproved”; money would run out: Brown to Johnson, July 16, 1937, “CRA: Financing (PWA),” Box 169 JHP, Ferguson, Corcoran.
Unusual instructions: Bunger. Wirtz’s reasons for supporting Johnson: Ferguson, Hopkins, Clark, Brown OH.
Ickes’ speech: AS, Feb. 20. 7 to 1: AA, March 28. Wirtz’s advice to Johnson: From Jones, who was clerking for Wirtz’s firm and was in the room during this discussion. In his customary fashion, Jones gave a more circumspect version to the Johnson Library in OH II, p. 14. Wirtz’s true feelings on Court packing: Shelton, Hopkins, Jones.
Wirtz raising cash: Quill OH I and II. Wirtz enlisting Lady Bird: Mrs. Johnson.
Kellam letting the NYA staff know: Deason; Lee. Deason’s car: Deason. Latimer’s drive: Latimer. “No matter what”: Latimer. “Just assumed”: Deason OH II, p. 26, and see Birdwell OH I, p. 21.
Pledges to Mrs. Buchanan: AA, Feb. 28. Sam Johnson’s advice: SHJ; confirmed by Cox, Gliddon, who heard the story later that same day, RJB. Johnson and Mrs. Buchanan announcements: AA, AS, March 1, 2. “Gliddon, I want”: Gliddon. “Johnson for Congress”: JCR-C, March 4.
Sam Johnson’s speech: Johnson, quoted in Kearns, p. 87. Blanco County caravan: Cox, Gliddon.
“The late Mr. Buchanan”: AA, March 9. “When Miller came out”: Quill OH. Analysis of Johnson’s chances: Shelton, Clark, Ferguson, Quill, Lee, Deason; Wild, Birdwell, Quill, Deason OHs; Austin newspapers.
“He has never voted”: Avery, quoted in AA, April 7. Misleading about his age: “He soon will be 30,” in AA, March 1. See also JCR-C, March 4. “A young, young man”: Judge Will Nunn, quoted in AA, April 8. Austin Trades Council: AS, March 20.
Using his men: Morgan, Harzke, Deason, Herring, Keach. “Dear Mr. Carson”: Johnson to Carson, March 10, “Briggs,” Box 1, JHP. Or Johnson to Ratliff, March 18: “Dear Mr. Ratliff: My platform is very simple. I am heartily in favor of the entire broad program of President Roosevelt.”
“The paramount issue”: AA, March 1. “Jesus Christ”: Shelton. “I’m no hypocrite”: Shelton.
“He felt”: Clark. The Governor’s Stetson: Keach OH I, p. 8
“I am enclosing”: Lee to editors, March 2. “We appreciate”: Lee to editors, March 6. “Here are”: Johnson to editors, March 15. “If this is not”: Lee to editors, March 23—all from “Form Letter to All,” Box 1, JHP. “I called on”: Willie Riggs to Johnson, March 11, “Burnet,” Box 1, JHP. Weeklies coverage: Author’s analysis.
“Who the hell”: Wild OH, p. 4. $5,000 fee: Jones OH II, p. 32. Lady Bird did not know: Mrs. Johnson.
“All the barbecue”: Clark. “A giving away”: Shelton. Negro, Czech votes: Clark.
“I kept”: Mrs. Johnson. Sheltons spent $40,000: Shelton. Clark raising money: Clark. $2,242.74: Lee to County Judge, Travis County, “Statement … of Lyndon Johnson’s … expenses,” April 20, Box 3, JHP; also AS, April 23.
He started early: Keach; AA, AS, March 2, 3, 5, 6. Late openings for other candidates: AA, March 9, 19; AS, March 28; JRC-C, March 25. “I don’t ever”: Mrs. Johnson.
Sketchy or incorrect directions: Found in “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP; Keach. “Grassyville”: Johnson’s handwritten notations on “Jarrel.” Cassens: “Jarrel.” “Gomillion”; “unknown”: “Memorandum—Lytton Springs”—all from “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP.
“Get on record”: Halcomb to Wild, March 20. “Too young”: For example, Halcomb to Wild, March 16, March 20, “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP. “Too elaborate”: Keach; Keach OH I, p. 12, OH II, pp. 21–22. Awkwardnes with a prepared text: Gliddon, Cox, SHJ.
Shaking hands: Gliddon, Cox, Lee, Keach. “He kissed me!”: Fudge. His unprepared speeches: To reconstruct Johnson’s basic impromptu speech—no complete printed text or recording of one exists—the author took paragraphs and phrases from descriptions of this speech that were printed in the district’s daily and weekly newspapers. Then he asked some dozen Hill Country residents who not only heard these speeches, but who were familiar with Johnson and his way of speaking—mainly relatives and boyhood friends from Johnson City—and asked them to give their recollection of what he said, and to try to recall the phrases he used. Those phrases which recurred most often were combined with the written material to reconstruct the speech. Particularly helpful in doing this was Ava Johnson Cox. “When the Chief would start talking”: Keach. “Listened unusually attentively”: Halcomb to Wild, March 17. “Not a man moved”: Halcomb to Wild, March 20. “Started folks talking”; “a go-getter”: Halcomb to Wild, March 18, 19—all from “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP.
Visiting Low and Miller: Keach. “Prime mover”: AA, April 8, 1937.
Burnet: Lee, Keach. The description of Johnson’s campaigning in the countryside comes from Keach, who was, of course, his chauffeur, from campaign aides such as Deason, Lee, and Birdwell, who occasionally accompanied him, from Hill Country politicians such as Ferguson, from Halcomb’s daily reports to Wild, and from Johnson’s schedules, which can be found in Boxes 2 and 3, JHP. Campaigning in Beyer’s Store; in beer joint; in blacksmith shop: Halcomb to Wild, March 20. Gas-station campaigning: Shelton. “Deaf old German; “That’s the first candidate”: Halcomb to Wild, March 18—all from “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP. “He went”: Cox.
“How’s our money?” Latimer. Johnson in the evening meetings: Jones, Latimer, Keach, Clark.
Visiting Burleson: AA, March 26, 28. His father’s inspiration: Cox, SHJ. The Henly rally: AA, March 27. Avery deciding to rest; Johnson’s day in Hays County; “Everywhere I go”: AA, March 26; AA, AS, March 27, 28; Cox.
“Back-stabbers”: AA, March 31. “Love, admire”: AA, March 31. Shelton debate: AA, April 8; Shelton.
Use of radio: His schedules are found in the Austin and weekly newspapers, and in his campaign files, Boxes 2 and 3, JHP. “Judge N. T. Stubbs Broadcast, Station KNOW, 8 to 8:15 pm Wednesday,” Box 2, JHP. “Small savings” was a phrase of which Johnson was evidently fond. He used it himself. On one occasion, for example, he said that he was paying for radio time “personally out of my own small savings” (AA, March 12). SHJ, Cox, Gliddon. Johnson’s heavy expenditures repeatedly drew fire from other candidates. Attacking the “young secretary who claims that as a secretary he got things done,” Brownlee said: “Some of the candidates in this race are spending too much money. … Where is this money coming from” (AA, March 23). Avery took an indirect slap at Roy Miller’s financial participation in the campaign in AA, March 26. AA reported
on May 24: “Congressman Lyndon Johnson, we’re glad to note, still maintains his sense of humor. During his campaign, there were lots of wisecracks made about his speeches saying that his campaign was financed from ‘my own meager savings.’ We received a package of radish seed from him in yesterday’s mail with this note in it: ‘Enclosed purchased from my own meager savings.’”
Harbin’s reaction: Harbin to Johnson, April 12, “Correspondence A-L,” Box 2, JHP. Latimer’s: Latimer OH, p. 18. Black mask: Keach. “Very angry”: Mrs. Johnson. Vomiting, other symptoms: Mrs. Johnson; Lee; Birdwell OH. Courthouse rally: AS, April 6; AA, April 9. “Waited too long”: in AA. Rebuffed by Miller: Keach. Campaigning in Austin: Birdwell OH I, p. 22; AS, March 29.
Appendicitis attack: Lee OH, p. 19; Birdwell OH I, p. 24; Mrs. Johnson.
Vote: Official tabulation of the state canvassing board, reported in AA, April 27.
22. From the Forks of the Creeks
SOURCES
See Sources for Chapter 21.
NOTES
(All dates 1937 unless otherwise indicated)
Fewest votes: Cong. Directory, 76th Cong., 3rd Sess., pp. 251–57. “In the byways”: Deason OH I, p. 27. “That’s what”: Cox. Among the newspapers which made this point: “Capitol Jigsaw” in Nachogdoches Sentinel, April 20.
Lost 40 pounds: AA reported on May 15: “He weighed 181 pounds” at the start of the campaign, and “seemed thin; then, when he left the hospital bed, he weighed 151 pounds.”
Congratulatory letters: Summy to Johnson, April 30; Whiteside to Johnson, April 14; Perry to Johnson, April 12—all from Box 3, JHP. His replies: To Avery, April 13; to Shelton, April 13 and undated; to Stone, undated—all from “General: Campaign Memo, 1937,” Box 1, JHP. Miller’s visit to Washington: Quill OH I, pp. 13–14; Quill; SHJ; Bardwell to Johnson, April 14, “Correspondence A-L,” Box 2, JHP. Giving Shelton a lift: Shelton, Kellam. Miller’s $100: “Statement … of Lyndon Johnson’s … expenses,” April 20, Box 3, JHP.
“Congratulations”: Nichols to Johnson, April 13; Johnson to Nichols, April 17, Box 3, JHP. 50 form letters: Author’s analysis of letters in Boxes 2 and 3, JHP. Supporting Kellam: For example, Johnson to Brown, April 15; Sheppard to Johnson, April 21, Box 3, JHP.
“Your father”: House to Johnson, April 15, “Correspondence A-L,” Box 2, JHP; Meador to Johnson, April 30, Johnson to Meador, May 24, Box 3, JHP.
Setback: AS, April 18; AA, April 25.
“Not progressing”: Frazer to Johnson, April 20; Jones to Frazer, April 21, “Correspondence A-L,” Box 2, JHP. Going to Karnack: Mrs. Johnson; Marshall Messenger, April 28. Scene at station: Austin Dispatch, April 28. See also photographic section following page 358.
23. Galveston
SOURCES
See Sources for Chapter 20, and the following.
Books and articles:
Alsop and Catledge, The 168 Days; Burns, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox; Douglas, The Court Years and Go East, Young Man; Freidel, The Launching of the New Deal; Ickes, Secret Diary, Vols. I, II; Koenig, The Invisible Presidency (“Tommy the Cork” and “Lord Root of the Matter” chapters); Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal; Manchester, The Glory and the Dream; Schlesinger, The Age of Roosevelt: I, The Crisis of the Old Order, II, The Coming of the New Deal, III, The Politics of Upheaval; Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins; Shogan, A Question of Judgment; Simon, Independent Journey; Steinberg, Sam Rayburn; Woodward and Armstrong, The Brethren.
Blair Bolles, “Cohen and Corcoran: Brain Twins,” American Mercury, Jan., 1938; Blair Bolles, “The Nine Young Men,” Washington Sunday Star, Aug. 29, 1937; Walter Davenport, “It Seems There Were Two Irishmen,” Collier’s, Sept. 10, 1938; Alva Johnston, “White House Tommy,” Saturday Evening Post, July 31, 1937; “The Saga of Tommy the Cork,” Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 13, 20, 27, 1945; Cabell Phillips, “Where Are They Now,” The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 26, 1946; William S. White, “Influential Anonymous,” Harper’s, May, 1960.
Oral Histories:
Robert S. Allen, Ernest Cuneo, Clifford Durr, Virginia Durr, Abe Fortas, D. B. Hardeman, Welly K. Hopkins, Carroll Keach, Gould Lincoln, Elizabeth and James H. Rowe, Edwin Weisl, Sr.
Interviews:
Benjamin V. Cohen, Thomas G. Corcoran, Abe Fortas, Arthur (Tex) Goldschmidt, Elizabeth and James H. Rowe, Elizabeth Wickenden.
Richard Bollins, George R. Brown, Oscar Chapman, D. B. Hardeman, John Holton, Alice and Welly Hopkins, Eliot Janeway, W. D. McFarlane, Elizabeth Wickenden, Edwin Weisl, Jr.
The description of Johnson’s relationship with the young New Dealers is from interviews with them, unless otherwise noted.
NOTES
“I never”: Clark. “Hope it suits”: Jamieson to Johnson, April 16, 1937, Box 2, JHP. AP story: In WP, April 11, for example. The TEXAS SUPPORTER OF COURT CHANGE headline is in an early edition; the headline in the later edition said, BACKER OF COURT EXPANSION PLAN WINNER IN TEXAS. Telegram: Lockett to Roosevelt, April 11, 1937, OF 300-Texas (J), Roosevelt Papers. “When we get down”: Unsigned “Memorandum for the Trip File,” April 20, 1937, 200-LL, Roosevelt Papers.
Johnson asking Allred: Allred to Johnson, May 3, Allred to McIntyre, May 6, 1937, 200-LL, Roosevelt Papers.
Galveston handshake and rally: Galveston Tribune, Houston Chronicle, May 11; AA, May 12, 1937; Keach OH; Clark. “Went unassisted”: AA, May 12. Hands on the rail: Johnson’s subtle maneuver can be seen in newsreels of the occasion in the National Archives. Texas A&M Review: NYT, May 12. Conversation with Roosevelt: Corcoran; Kintner, quoted in Miller, Lyndon, p. 63; Steinberg, pp. 119–20. Showing Roosevelt Burleson’s brown bag: CR, 75th Congress, 2nd Session, Nov. 24, 1937, p. 354. “Young man”: Vinson, quoted in Steinberg, p. 121. “Remarkable young man”: Corcoran, Weisl, Jr., Janeway. “What is a government?”: Corcoran, quoted in Schlesinger, Politics, p. 227.
Johnson’s relationship with the young New Dealers: Cohen, Corcoran, Fortas, Goldschmidt, James and Elizabeth Rowe, Brown, Alice and Welly Hopkins, Wickenden. “Cohen’s the brains”: Holton. “The most brilliant”: NYT, May 16, 1969. “Honorary uncle”: Elizabeth Rowe to Johnson, Sept. 16, 1941, Box 32, LBJA SN. “Crossed with a beef”: Elizabeth Rowe. “If I owned”: Johnson to Rowe, July 13, 1939, Box 32, LBJA SN.
Johnson’s relationship with Rayburn: Corcoran, Rowe, Fortas. Practical jokes: Fortas, Brown.
Recommendations: Rowe, Hopkins. “Born old”: Goldschmidt.
Ickes glad: Ickes, II, p. 643. Party for Ickes: Fortas, Hopkins. Falling asleep at parties: Fortas, Elizabeth and James Rowe, Alice Hopkins, Corcoran.
“His native strength”: Hawthorne, quoted in Schlesinger, The Age of Jackson, p. 42
“Has never been specifically authorized” … and legality in question: House, 75 Cong. 1 Session. Report No. 885, May 24, 1937, p. 41. “Is hereby authorized”: Act of Aug. 26, 1937, 50 Stat. 850, Sec. 3.
Cash running out: Herman Brown to Johnson, July 16, 1937, “CRA (1) Financing, PWA,” Box 169, JHP. Delaying approval: Brown. Rumors—and dampening them: Corcoran. “Cabinet officers”: Johnston, “White House Tommy.” “Give the kid the dam”: Corcoran. The refusal abruptly ended: Page to Burlew, June 29, 1937, Ickes File; Corcoran.
Second appropriation: (Signature illegible), “Budget officer,” to Hopkins, June 30, 1937; Page to Burlew, June 29, 1937, RG 48. “At a standstill”: Davis to Johnson, July 29, 1937, “CRA: Davis, T.H., Box 169, JHP. Connally attempting; James Roosevelt intervention: AA, June 22, 23, 30, July 21, 22, 1937; AS, July 23; Floresville Chronicle-Journal, July 30, 1937; Johnson to James Roosevelt, Aug. 9, 1937, JHP.
Rotary Club maneuver; reaction: Bunger’s untitled speech; Bunger; Lee to Johnson, Wirtz to Johnson, Nov. 30, 1937, McDonough to Johnson, Dec. 12, 1937, “#3 (Marshall Ford Dam),” Box 167, JHP; Ferguson, Gideon. Wirtz to Johnson, March 22, 1938, Box 36, LBJA SN. Johnson to Davis (and attachments), Dec. 7, 1937.
Alliance shaky: See, for example, Wirtz to Johnson, Aug. 12, 17, 1937, Johnson to Wirtz, Aug. 1
3; Bunger.
Fortas the sharpest weapon: Johnson knew it. Said a Johnson aide: “Johnson always said Abe Fortas was the smartest guy he ever knew, for sheer brains” (Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1982).
Maneuvers to secure high dam: Bunger, Fortas, Brown, Corcoran, Goldschmidt, Gideon. “Statement of Hon. Lyndon Johnson, A Representative in Congress from the State of Texas,” House of Representatives. 75 Cong. 3 Session. Interior Department Appropriation Bill, 1939. Hearings Before House Appropriations Committee, Vol. 92, pp. 916–17. Page to Ickes, Jan. 3, 1938; Ickes to Burlew, Jan. 11, 1938; Burlew to Foreman, Feb. 7, 1938; Ickes to Goeth, Feb. 11, 1938; Ickes to Johnson, undated, but appears to be March 1, 1938; Burlew to Johnson, Jan. 17, 1939; Williams to Mansfield, March 9, 1939—all from RG 48, Ickes file. “Contract Between the Lower Colorado River Authority of Texas and the United States Concerning the Operation and Maintenance of Marshall Ford Dam … March 13, 1941”; Bardwell to Johnson, July 5, 1938, JHR Bunger, however, did not escape unscathed for his part in the episode. Johnson quietly moved against him in Washington. “I have talked to the proper authorities here (this is quite confidential),” he wrote, “and I think we can expect a goodbye from our Reclamation friend before long” (Johnson to Wirtz, Dec. 3, 1937, Box 36, LBJA SN); and he was quietly transferred off the project (Ickes to Burlew, Feb. 23, 1938, Ickes File). So effectively did Johnson move in covering his tracks that Bunger told the author that he did not know why he had been transferred but was sure that Johnson, who Bunger was sure was his friend, had nothing to do with it.
Committee of the whole: Cong. Record, 75 Cong. 3 Session (March 2, 1938), pp. 2707–9 (Rich actually used the figure $15,000,000 instead of $10,000,000 the second time he mentioned it, but from the context it is apparent that he meant to repeat $10,000,000); McFarlane. “I felt”: Boiling. “The gentleman is correct, yes”: CR, p. 2708. “I had at least 19”: Johnson to Wirtz March 5, 1938; Accomplished “the impossible”: Wirtz to Johnson, March 8, 1938, “Mighty glad”: Rayburn to Wirtz, March 9, 1938—all Box 36, LBJA SN.
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