Means of Ascent

by Robert A. Caro

  “Lyndon sort of”: Clifford Durr OH. Late-night calls to James: James, Durr OHs. Fly’s purported affair and Johnson’s taking it up with Rayburn: James OH. “Unusual and bold”: Leigh, “Politicians vs. Bureaucrats.” For Durr’s appeals to Rayburn, see also Wilson, pp. 58, 61, 63; and Leigh. “This voice says”: Johnson, quoted in James OH. The price Rayburn paid: Wilson, pp. 65–68; Leigh, “Politicians vs. Bureaucrats.” Championing FCC’s cause in White House: Daniels, p. 168.

  Johnson seeing Durr and James socially: See Chapter 1. Bringing Wirtz to see James: James OH. “Government between friends”: Johnson, “The Saga of Tommy the Cork,’ ” Oct. 13, 1945. Harvard Law School Professor Louis L. Jaffe was to put it in different words in 1957: “what begins in amiability can end in corruption,” he said. “In our administrative life …, compromise, camaraderie and trafficking are eating away at the fabric of the legal structure” (Jaffe, “The Scandal in TV Licensing,” Harper’s magazine, Sept., 1957).

  “Lyndon never had a thing to do with it”: Durr, quoted by Dugger, p. 267.

  “Bird came to me”: Durr OH. “Wasn’t any skullduggery”: Durr OH. “A perfect right”: James OH.

  “He wanted to get”: Barr interview. “I helped him out”; “I told you”: Corcoran interview. This statement cannot be verified, but on everything Corcoran said about Johnson’s early career that could be checked, he proved to be reliable.

  “Bill Drake … made an offer”: Joseph OH.

  Lawson and KBWD in Brownwood: “Annual Financial Report, KBWD, Brownwood, Texas,” 1940, 1941, “F.C.C. Financial Reports,” Box 7, FCC Records, RG 173, NA; Brownwood Bulletin, Aug. 17, 1941; Lawson interview. Lawson in Austin: Lawson died before he could furnish further details about his attempt to purchase KTBC, but his interest in the station (and that of Drake) is confirmed by other businessmen from Austin and nearby communities, to at least two of whom Lawson showed the “odd” letter (Boyett, Jenkins, Joseph, Lawson interviews).

  Application to operate at night: File No. B3-ML-1168, FCC Records, RG 173, NA. The crucial importance of this change to KTBC’s fortunes is shown by details furnished on the application. The “estimated monthly revenue” was still only $3,500, and, Mrs. Johnson stated, since her purchase of the station, “there has been no substantial change in KTBC’s ‘financial condition’ ” (p. 5). Granting of permission: File No. B3-ML-1168, Official No. 1007, “Radio Broadcasting Station License, Modified as of July 20, 1943, KTBC,” FCC Records, RG 173, NA. New frequency: Weedin, in his OH (p. 16), says that the change “makes the thousand watts actually at least five thousand or more.” 38 counties: Reproduced from an advertisement, AA-S, Feb. 14, 1945, FCC Records, Accession #162, A55, Box 61. “Where the dominant station was WOW”: James OH. “They looked at the thing”: James OH. James also says in his Oral History: “I can truthfully say … that I never observed Lyndon B. Johnson get anything that he wasn’t entitled to in every way, on the merits of the case, apart from any politics.”

  Marks reported: If Lawson was philosophical about his loss of KTBC to Lyndon Johnson, Ulmer was not. On Marks’ return from the radio convention, he telephoned Walter Jenkins to report on an incident that occurred there. Jenkins relayed Marks’ message to Johnson: “While there he [Marks] ran into Dr. Ulmer, who was formerly connected with KTBC. Dr. Ulmer told him a fellow in Texas had recently asked him to ‘document’ the story of the Johnson entry into the radio business. Ulmer went on to say that he had completed all the engineering on 590 and that you came in and stole it from him” (Jenkins to Johnson, May 20, 1948, “Memos to Johnson,” Box 329, JHP). Also angry was Elliott Roosevelt: Connally to Johnson, Aug. 31, 1943, “LBJ Family Financial Records,” Box 12, PPCF.

  Knew in advance: Weedin interview, OH. Confirmed by Hicks, who says that when Weedin asked him, in April, 1943, to join him in Austin, he demurred because of the nighttime restrictions; Weedin, Hicks says, responded, “Don’t worry, we’re going twenty-four hours.” Increase to 5,000 watts: File Number B3-L-1977, Official Number 1007, “Radio Broadcasting License, modified as of July 29, 1946,” FCC Records, RG 173, NA.

  “Took one look”: Kellam, quoted in Steinberg, p. 204. “The staff”: Mrs. Johnson, quoted in Miller, p. 108. For other accounts portraying Mrs. Johnson as the moving force in KTBC’s success, see, for example, Montgomery and Smith. Johnson’s visit to Paley; “announced that”: Halberstam, pp. 439–40. “This is life and death”: Johnson to Latimer, Aug. 11, 1943, “Latimer, Gene,” Box 2, PPCF. CBS affiliation: “Agreement between Columbia Broadcasting System and State Capital Broadcasting Assn., Inc., Aug. 27, 1943,” FCC Records, RG 173, NA.

  Paley’s relationship with FCC and Congress: Pringle, “The Controversial Mr. Fly”; Leigh, Politicians vs. Bureaucrats.” For Johnson’s later, long relationship with Stanton, who became the chief lobbyist for CBS, see, for example, Halberstam, pp. 326–27, 431, 438–42. KNOW’s attempts to get CBS affiliation: Weedin interview; Weedin also wrote that KNOW “had tried for years to get CBS, but KTSA had always been successful in defeating an Austin affiliation” (Weedin ms. p. 205). In his OH he says that when he worked for KNOW, “we had tried to get it [the CBS affiliation] in those days unsuccessfully. KTSA was always able to circumvent it and make it impossible for us.”

  “We twisted”; Interstate Theater Chain: Brown interview. In his OH and manuscript, Weedin understandably attempts to argue that his own energy and initiative (which were, of course, considerable) were the key elements in obtaining the advertisers: “National advertisers claimed they were already covering Austin with KTSA. Why should they spend more money to buy something they already owned? There was only one answer. I had to make a trip to Chicago and New York and personally sell these advertisers.…” (ms., p. 206). He says that “I think that he [Johnson] and Bird were very reluctant to try to sell the station to any of their friends or advertise it or anything. If they did, I was not that aware of it.” In the Oral History taken by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Weedin was asked if Johnson “used his position as a Congressman in order to sell ads for the station.” Weedin replied, “I heard rumors later from people that I talked to that he did after I left. He did not do it while I was there. Other than, as I say, to give me a prospect to talk to. Now what he said to those people before I got there, I don’t know. Usually I didn’t talk to the person. I’m sure that he had mentioned and set up the appointment. But he was not blatant in any way with it.” To some extent Weedin was unaware of what was going on, a fact that caused Clark some amusement. After the GE advertising contract came through, Clark wrote Johnson that Weedin apparently felt he deserved credit, but actually, “I am sure that he [Weedin] was quite surprised when [a GE official] advised him that KTBC was being added” (Clark to Johnson, Oct. 27, 1943, “Clark, Edward [1 of 4],” Box 14, LBJA SN). But in his interviews, Weedin was more frank, and indeed even in his OH reveals more awareness than he claims for himself. Immediately after he says in his OH that “he and Bird were very reluctant to sell the station to any of their friends or advertise it,” he adds: “But it was awfully easy for me to sell Paramount, because he was Karl Hoblitzelle up in Dallas, and Bill O’Donnell knew what Lyndon was doing for the theater industry in Washington, and they were very anxious to help him any way they could. So Louis Novy, who was the head of the interstate circuit in Austin, had never bought radio before. He didn’t like it at all. But I found it very easy to sell it” (p. 25). Weisl, key and longtime fund-raiser for Johnson in the northeast, was, of course, counsel for Paramount. Although it is very important to him that his own contributions to the sale of airtime be recognized, he noted that “A lot of people like to advertise on a radio station that a congressman owned. It’s the easiest way in the world to make a contribution.”

  Weedin also says in his OH that his efforts in collecting letters from listeners were a key factor in persuading CBS to make KTBC a part of its network. But he also adds, in the same OH: “To get back to the CBS thing, where you were asking me how did they get it
, I don’t really know. I’d like to say that I got it, but I didn’t, because either Bird or Lyndon made the deal and I presume right directly with Bill Paley.…” Poignantly, in his OH, Weedin also says, when asked about his salary, “I also had 10 percent of the profits, too.”

  Clark’s relationship with Johnson: Bolton, Clark, Oltorf interviews; Caro, Path to Power, pp. 362–63.

  “I knew”: Clark interview. So, Clark says, “I got Mr. Butt to advertise.… That was their [KTBC’s] first real account.” “I am today writing”: Clark to Johnson, Oct. 27, 1943, “Clark, Edward [1 of 4],” Box 14, LBJA SN. “I was happy”: Clark to Johnson, Feb. 3, 1944, “Clark, Edward [2 of 4],” Box 15, LBJA SN. In the same folder is an undated transcript of a telephone conversation between Johnson and an OPA official. In it, the official tells Johnson, “This will make him [Butt] 150,000 extra that we have granted,” and later Johnson says: “We gave him 150.” On the memo is written: “File Clark, Ed.” In 1945, an official of the H. E. Butt Grocery Company, writing to Clark about the OPA’s rejection of “our application for a quota” and hoping for “changes” in the situation, said “I know that Congressman Johnson has worked hard on this.…” (Clapp to Clark, July 13, 1945), all from “Clark, Edward [2 of 4],” Box 15, LBJA SN. The Butt-Johnson relationship would remain close, and Clark would continue to be an intermediary. In 1960, for example, after Johnson’s vice-presidential campaign, he wrote Butt: “You’ve been so fine—so helpful to Ed Clark and especially to me—I want you to know you are in my mind and in my heart. I am deeply grateful to you for everything you’ve done” (Johnson to Butt, Nov. 19, 1960, “Bus-Bz, 1960,” Senate Master File, Box 29, LBJL).

  General Electric: Clark to Johnson, Oct. 27, 1943. “Thanks”: Johnson to Clark, Oct. 30, 1943, both from “Clark, Edward [1 of 4],” Box 14, LBJA SN. The Gulf program: On March 29, 1944, Clark wrote Johnson: “The Gulf program came through and will begin April 3,” “Clark, Edward [2 of 4],” Box 15, LBJA SN. Clark says that the Gulf Company itself was not his client, “but I had friends there. I spoke to them about it, and they understood.” Asked how they knew that advertising on KTBC might help them with government agencies in Washington, Clark said: “This wasn’t a Sunday School proposition. This was business” (Clark interview). Humble: AA-S, Nov. 8, 1986; Jenkins, Bolton interviews.

  “Everybody knew”: Unidentified person quoted in memo to Lambert, June 10, 1964, Lambert Papers. Jaques advertising: “KTBC-590 on Your Dial,” Feb. 18, 1945-Mar. 3, 1945, Accession No. 162, A55, Box 61, FCC Records, NA. Little business: Former associate of J. C. Jaques, Lambert Papers. $1,250,000 RFC loan: Jenkins to Johnson, May 20, 1948, “Memos to Johnson,” Box 329, JHP; Jenkins interview. Other businessmen observed: Bolton, Jenkins interviews. Among the businessmen, Joseph, Lawson interviews. Those who failed to observe were prodded by Johnson associates. For example, in his Oct. 27, 1943, letter to Johnson in which he told the Congressman that he had advised Butt about advertising on KTBC, Clark added: “I am wondering if anyone is asking Theo Davis and other wholesale grocers here to do likewise.” Eventually, Clark himself did the asking. Clark, Jenkins interviews.

  “Mrs. Johnson knew”: Benjamin interview. “Over the years”: Marks, quoted in Miller, p. 108. “I believe he came to trust”: Jenkins interview. “He trusted”: Clark interview. “I’m not sure”: Kingsbery, quoted in Dugger, p. 269.

  $2,600 per month; “A little over $3,000”; “but in December”: The monthly incomes for the last three months before the CBS affiliation began to be felt were September, $3,194; October, $3,183; November, $3,180. Then, in December, the income jumped to $5,645. “KTBC Files, 1940–1950,” “Financial Reports of Broadcast Stations—KTBC,” FCC Records, RG 173, NA.

  By the end of the war: The financial figures for KTBC for the years Mrs. Johnson owned it come from the annual financial reports the station submitted to the FCC: “Financial Reports—FCC General Correspondence (KTBC),” FCC Records, RG 173, NA.

  With rare exceptions: The most notable is Kohlmeier, who wrote that the law “is complex in its application, according to the state’s legal scholars, but they say that unless Mr. Johnson has signed away his rights, he almost certainly retains a legal as well as sentimental share in the broadcasting fortune.” Under Texas law, as Kohlmeier pointed out, the spouse of a person who purchases a property with her own “separate” funds—a spouse such as Lyndon Johnson, the spouse of Lady Bird Johnson, who bought KTBC with her own inheritance—has indeed no interest in that property. But, as Kohlmeier wrote, he has a “half-interest in the income” from that property, and unless he signs away that half-interest (and Johnson never claimed that he had), he owns half of that income (WSJ, Nov. 23, 1964). Didn’t sign away rights: Clark, Jenkins interviews.

  “One day”: Rowe interview. Showing to many friends: Among those who recall him doing it are Corcoran, Rowe, Young.

  “Now, Bill”: Johnson to Deason, undated, “Deason, Willard-KTBC,” Box 21, LBJA SN.

  Relationship with staff: Interviews with Benjamin, Clark, Joseph, Weedin, Hicks, Durrum Robinson, Gwyn, Jenkins, Dodd, Latimer.

  No contract: Mrs. Johnson to FCC, Apr. 4, 1946, Kohlmeier Papers. “An oral one”; “station ownership”: Kellam to FCC, Nov. 15, 1949, Kohlmeier Papers.

  Relationship with Kellam: Latimer, Shelton, Clark, Gwyn interviews, For the revealing correspondence between the two men, see “Kellam, J. C.,” Box 22, LBJA SN. Man on airplane: Shelton interview.

  7. One of a Crowd

  SOURCES

  Books, articles and documents:

  Brinkley, Washington Goes to War, Burns, Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom; Daniels, Frontier on the Potomac and White House Witness; Donovan, Conflict and Crisis and Tumultuous Years; Douglas, A Full Life; Dugger, The Politician; Goldman, The Crucial Decade—And After; Goulden, The Best Years; Hassett, Off the Record with FDR; Ickes, Secret Diary, Vols. II and III; Sam Houston Johnson, My Brother Lyndon; Kearns, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream; Manchester, The Glory and the Dream; Mann, La Guardia: A Fighter Against His Times; McKay, Texas and the Fair Deal, 1945–1952; Miller, Lyndon; Montgomery, Mrs. L.B.J.; Mooney, The Politicians; O’Neill, American High; Phillips, The Truman Presidency and The 1940s: Decade of Triumph and Trouble; Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy and Sam Rayburn; Texas Almanac, 1947–48; Truman, Harry S. Truman and Bess W. Truman; Tully, My Boss FDR.

  Kai Bird and Max Holland, “The Tapping of ‘Tommy the Cork,’ ” The Nation, Feb. 8, 1946; Kenneth G. Crawford, “Everyman in the White House,” American Mercury, Feb., 1946; Walter Davenport, “The New White House Boys,” Collier’s, Nov. 17, 1945; Arthur Krock, “The President: A New Portrait,” NYT magazine, Apr. 7, 1946; Allan J. Lichtman, “Tommy the Cork: The Secret World of Washington’s First Modern Lobbyist,” The Washington Monthly, Feb., 1987; Milton MacKaye, “Things Are Different in the White House,” Saturday Evening Post, Apr. 20, 1946; Cabell Phillips, “How the President Does His Job,” NYT Magazine, Jan. 4, 1948; Richard H. Rovere, “President Harry,” Harper’s, July, 1948.

  CBS interview of LBJ by Walter Cronkite, “An Assessment of Harry S. Truman, the Man,” recorded May 7, 1971, LBJL.

  Papers of Harry S. Truman (HSTL).

  Papers of Tom C. Clark (HSTL).

  Papers of Alvin J. Wirtz (LBJL).

  Oral Histories:

  Sherman Birdwell, Richard Bolling, Paul Bolton, George R. Brown, H. S. (“Hank”) Brown, Emanuel Celler, Oscar L. Chapman, Tom C. Clark, Clark Clifford, W. Sterling Cole, John B. Connally, Ernest Cuneo, Jonathan Daniels, Willard Deason, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Clifford Durr, Clifford and Virginia Durr, Virginia Wilke English, O. C. Fisher, Gordon Fulcher, Arthur (“Tex”) and Elizabeth Wickenden Goldschmidt, Elizabeth Wickenden Goldschmidt, D. B. Hardeman, Charles Herring, John Holton, Welly K. Hopkins, Welly K. and Alice Hopkins, W. Ervin (“Red”) James, Walter Jenkins, Sam Houston Johnson, Edward Joseph, Jesse Kellam, David E. Lilienthal, R. J. (“Bob”) Long, John E. Lyle, Jr., Warren Magnuson, George H. Mahon, Dale and Virginia Miller, D
orothy J. Nichols, Frank C. (“Posh”) Oltorf, Wright Patman, Edwin W. Pauley, J. J. (“Jake”) Pickle, W. Robert Poage, Mary Rather, Ray Roberts, Elizabeth Rowe, James H. Rowe, Jr., Emmett Shelton, Polk and Nell Shelton, George Smathers, Stuart Symington, Grace Tully, Carl Vinson, Warren G. Woodward.

  Interviews:

  Alan Barth, Rebekah Johnson Bobbin, Richard Bolling, George R. Brown, Horace Busby, Emanuel Celler, Edward A. Clark, Benjamin V. Cohen, W. Sterling Cole, John B. Connally, Nellie Connally, Thomas G. Corcoran, Ava Johnson Cox, Willard Deason, Helen Gahagan Douglas, Lewis T. (“Tex”) Easley, O. C. Fisher, Sim Gideon, Arthur (“Tex”) Goldschmidt, Elizabeth Wickenden Goldschmidt, Ashton Gonella, Estelle Harbin, D. B. Hardeman, Bryce Harlow, Mary Henderson, Charles Herring, Hardy Hollers, John W. Holton, Alice and Welly K. Hopkins, Edouard V. M. Izac, Eliot Janeway, Walter Jenkins, Lady Bird Johnson, Sam Houston Johnson, Edward Joseph, Eugene J. Keogh, Eugene Latimer, William J. Lawson, Wingate Lucas, Warren Magnuson, George H. Mahon, Margaret Mayer, W. D. McFarlane, Dale Miller, Frank C. (“Posh”) Oltorf, J. J. (“Jake”) Pickle, Mary Rather, Elizabeth and James H. Rowe, Lacey Sharp, Emmett Shelton, E. Babe Smith, Margaret Truman, James Van Zandt, Tom Whitehead, Harold Young, Mary Louise Glass Young.

  NOTES

  “You had to ask”: Caro, Path to Power, p. 193. Coming to realize: Brown, Clark, Corcoran, Hopkins interviews. Speculation over 1946 gubernatorial race: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, pp. 226–27; Connally, Jenkins interviews. “What do you want”: Connally interview. “By God”: Hopkins interview.

  “I was just looking up”: William S. White article in NYT, Apr. 13, 1945. “From the Master”: Dugger, p. 255. “Where’s everybody?”: Deschler, quoted in Steinberg, Sam Rayburn, p. 226. “Honey, we’ve got Truman”: Nichols OH II.