Truman-Rayburn relationship: Steinberg, Sam Rayburn, pp. 227–35; Donovan, Tumultuous Years, pp. 19–20.
Mayflower Hotel luncheon: CBS Johnson–Cronkite interview, p. 23. Once a dinner guest: “1945 Chronology,” Reference File, Jan. 22, 1945, LBJL. “Those of us who”: Johnson to Truman, Apr. 16, 1945, PPF 723, HSTL. Truman’s reply: Truman to Johnson, May 5, 1945, PPF 723, HSTL.
FCC: Houston Harte to Clark, Dec. 14, 1944, Jan. 23, 1945; Clark to Harte, Dec. 19, 1944, Jan. 24, Feb. 1, 1945, Box 4; Albert Jackson to Clark, Aug. 18, 1945, Box 47, Tom Clark Papers, HSTL. Lobbyist for Safeway; “tremendous and startling”: Quoted in Current Biography, 1945, p. 108. Testimony before the Texas Senate Committee showed that after William McGraw, Clark’s partner in a Dallas law firm, became Attorney General in 1934, the earnings of the law practice, now carried on by Clark alone, increased from $12,000 in 1934 to $60,000 in 1935 and to $70,000 in 1936, and, as the Saturday Evening Post put it, “that Clark had done some lobbying at Austin against a chain-store-tax on behalf of a chain-store system.” Clark was to respond that the Senate investigation was an attempt by McGraw’s political enemies to smear the Attorney General by attacking his ex-partner (Jack Alexander, “The President’s New Lawyer,” Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 29, 1945). Persuaded Safeway to advertise on KTBC: Edward Clark to Johnson, Aug. 25, 1944, folder 2 of 4, Box 15, LBJA SN; Clark, Jenkins interviews. Because KTBC’s records have not been opened, the extent of Safeway’s advertising has not been determined, but during two periods—one in 1945 and one in 1953—for which records are available, the chain sponsored the same fifteen-minute show five days a week (“Advertising schedules—KTBC,” Feb. 18-Mar. 3, 1945, Apr., 1953, RG 173, FCC Records, NA, Washington, D.C.). Johnson lobbying for Clark: Tom Clark to Johnson, Nov. 14, 1941, Rowe to Clark, Dec. 1, 1941, Box 9, Clark Papers, HSTL; Johnson to Rowe, May 11, 1944, Box 32, LBJA SN. On June 16, 1945, Rowe wrote Johnson about Clark’s appointment: “I think I detect your fine Italian hand in it” (Box 32, LBJA SN). DT-H, Feb. 28, Mar. 14, 1944; Corcoran, James Rowe, Harold Young interviews.
“It is a different town”: Johnson to Rowe, July 10, 1945, Box 32, LBJA SN. A far reach: Johnson to Matt Connelly, Nov. 6, 1945, PPF Box 150, File 66, “A-W,” HSTL. “Because of your friendship”: Johnson to Truman, Dec. 15, 1945, PPF Box 67, “G to J,” HSTL. Inscriptions: Connelly to Johnson, folder PPF 66-A(J), Box 1232, GF, HSTL. Thanks: Truman to Johnson, Dec. 19, 1945, PPF Box 67, File 9, HSTL. In Oval Office only once: Appointment index; Files of Matthew J. Connelly, Presidential Appointments, Box 7, 8; Social Office Card File, Card 8, HSTL; “Contacts with President Truman,” Box 8, WHFN, LBJL.
“You’ve got to have a reason”: Rowe interview. Roosevelt’s “spy”: Caro, Path to Power, pp. 571–74.
A “professional son”: Caro, Path to Power, pp. 145, 150–51, 153, 271, 294, 445, 477, 486–88. As a professional son with Rayburn: Caro, pp. 33–34, 452–53, 757–62. “But Truman had watched him”: Bolling interview. “A pretty sharp judge”: Symington interview. “Never quite trusted him”: Margaret Truman interview.
Ickes’ resignation: See, for example, Donovan, Conflict, pp. 181–84. Truman tapping Corcoran’s telephone: Bird and Holland, “The Tapping of ‘Tommy the Cork’ ”; The Nation, Feb. 8, 1946; Lichtman, “Tommy the Cork.” For a description of the changed atmosphere in Washington, see, for example, Phillips, “Where Are They Now?” NYT Magazine, Sept. 26, 1946.
“First Mother of the Land”: Johnson to “Librarian, Grandview Public Library,” Aug. 2, 1947, PPF Box 276, HSTL. “I regret”: Truman to Johnson, Aug. 6, 1947, PPF Box 276, HSTL. “A slowly developing”: Clifford OH. Symington relationship: Symington interview; Symington OH.
A “farce and a sham”: AA-S, May 23, 1948. Johnson’s votes on Taft-Hartley Act: “Complete House Voting Record of Congressman Lyndon Johnson, By Subject, from May 13, 1937 to December 31, 1948,” pp. 233–34, Box 75, LBJA SF. “Gutted us”: Brown, quoted in Miller, p. 114. Easley interview: AA, Apr. 23, 1947. Starting to believe: Clark interview. “He was for the Niggers”: Brown interview. And Dale Miller, Washington representative of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview: “He gave the impression of being much, much more liberal than he actually was—his manner personified the New Deal—he looked the part: he was young, dynamic, outgoing. But … he gave a lot more impression of being with the New Deal than he actually was.”
On one cruise: Guest Book, USS Potomac and USS Williamsburg, HSTL; CBS Johnson-Cronkite interview, p. 27. Poker games: CBS Johnson-Cronkite interview, p. 27. But Symington says, “Johnson was just never part of Truman’s inner circle at all.” Busby noticed: Busby interview. “The first thing he did”: Johnson to Truman, Mar. 20, 1948, Johnson to Truman, Apr. 5, 1948, GF, Box 124, HSTL; Truman to Johnson, Mar. 22, 1948, PSF, Box 288, HSTL; Chicago Tribune, Apr. 6, 1948; Busby interview.
Appointed to two new committees: AA, Mar. 30, 1944; Georgetown Sun, Mar. 31, 1944. “An able young man”: Quoted in Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 231.
Johnson’s legislative record in House: Caro, Path to Power, pp. 544–51, 658–59.
He and Magnuson had talked: Magnuson interview; Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 140. Resentment among other congressmen: Van Zandt, Izac, Lucas, Mahon, Fisher, Keogh, McFarlane, Cole interviews. See also Ray Roberts, quoted in Miller, p. 76. For his standing on Capitol Hill over this period, including the time when he had been able to funnel contributions to other congressmen, interviews with the above congressmen and with Douglas, Celler. Also Douglas, Magnuson, Poage OHs. Also congressional staff members, such as Lucas (later a congressman), Sharp, Jenkins, S. H. Johnson. Also persons who observed Congress, including Barth, Easley, Corcoran, Holton, Brown. The gratitude of other congressmen in 1940 is described in Caro, Path to Power, pp. 655–59. Smathers not “aware”: Quoted in Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 235. “Just could not stand it”: Harbin interview. “He never spoke”: Douglas OH, interview. Take me to the Johnson School: Harlow, Jenkins interviews. For a different description of Harlow’s second run-in with Johnson, see Evans and Novak, p. 20. “Don’t wait”: Robert B. Semple, Jr., “Nixon’s Inner Circle Meets,” NYT Magazine, Aug. 3, 1989. “Respected to the point”; “It takes courage”: Lynne Cheney, “A Quality of Judgment,” Washingtonian Magazine, Apr., 1985. “Lyndon would maneuver”: Harlow interview. “After Abe got”: Douglas interview.
Humiliation over office space: Taylor to John L. Nagle, Deputy Commissioner for Real Estate Management, Public Buildings Administration, May 6, 1947; Tom Clark to Steven Heffington, Travis County Tax Collector, Aug. 15, 1947, Box 48, Tom Clark Papers, HSTL; Jenkins, Shelton, Joseph interviews.
Hollers campaign: Clark, Connally, Gideon, Hollers, Joseph, Pickle, Shelton, Smith interviews; Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, pp. 227–28; Dugger, pp. 298–302. Vote Total: Texas Almanac, 1947–1948, p. 403. “A crusade”: Hollers, typed transcript of Hollers’ public statement, “Hardy Hollers—24 July,” Box 55, JHP. “Enriched”; “an errand boy”: Hollers, quoted in Dugger, pp. 300–301. “If”: Hollers, quoted in Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 227. “A watershed”: Mrs. Johnson interview with author. “That’s simple”: Clark interview. “He simply”: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 228. “Never again”: Dugger, p. 300.
Johnson’s belief that he would die young: Caro, Path to Power, p. 544; S. H. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, Jenkins, Rowe, Young, Mary Louise Young interviews. Uncle George’s death: AA, Mar. 12, 1940. Uncle Tom’s heart attacks: Cox interview. “Too slow”: Johnson used this phrase to numerous people, including McFarlane and Young.
Consequences of one mistake: S. H. Johnson interview. “When a man reached forty”: Busby interview.
Telephoning Rayburn and Vinson: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 210; Dugger, p. 255.
Doctor suggested: Miller, p. 113. “She insisted”: Johnson, quoted in Montgomery, p. 35. Instructions to Mrs. English: English OH. 105 degrees, blood transfusion, operation: AA-S, June 15, 16, 1945. “It’s cheaper
”: Johnson, quoted in Montgomery, p. 36. “FDR-LBJ”: Busby interview. His moods: Among many who describe them: S. H. Johnson, Jenkins, Busby, Rowe interviews. “He lost some of his drive”: S. H. Johnson interview. “Driving himself late at night”: Latimer interview. “Really sucking it in”: Jones interview.
1946 illnesses: AA-S, Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 1946; see also Chronology, Jan. 12, 19, 26; Feb. 2, 4, 7, 12; Mar. 2; Oct. 13, 15, 21, 30; Nov. 5, 1946; S. H. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, Bolton, Jenkins, Shelton interviews.
“Hopes to return”: Jenkins to Bellows, Jan. 19, 1946, “Bellows, W. S.,” Box 141, JHP.
Wrote his cousin: Johnson to Oriole Bailey, Feb. 7, 1946, “Bailey, Mrs. Oriole, Stonewall, Texas,” Box 140, JHP.
“Could not bear the thought”: Johnson, quoted in Kearns, p. 100.
Pose of indecision: Connally, Pickle, Oltorf, Brown, Clark interviews.
O’Daniel’s unpopularity: McKay, pp. 171–73.
8. The Story of Coke Stevenson
SOURCES
Books and articles:
Allen, ed., Our Sovereign State; Banks, Money, Marbles and Chalk; Fehrenbach, Lone Star; Gantt, The Chief Executive in Texas; Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics, 1945–1957; Heard and Strong, Southern Primaries and Elections, 1920–1949; Jenkins and Frost, “I’m Frank Hamer”; Lynch, The Duke of Duval; McKay, W. Lee O’Daniel and Texas Politics and Texas Politics, 1906–1944; Mooney, Mr. Texas; Tolbert, Tolbert’s Texas; Webb and Carroll, Handbook of Texas; Wyatt and Shelton, Coke R. Stevenson: A Texas Legend.
Paul Bolton, “Profile—Sheep Rancher,” State Observer, July 28, 1941; George Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson: Horatio Alger of the Llano,” SAE, 1974 (otherwise undated), Barker Collection; Mitchell McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson, of Kimble County,” West Texas Today, Sept., 1941; Walter Moore, “Stevenson Practiced Economy,” DMN, July 18, 1963; Lewis Nordyke, “Calculatin’ Coke,” Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 28, 1944; Ed Rider, “Hon. Coke R. Stevenson Becomes Governor,” Frontier Times, Aug., 1941; Charles E. Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman,” Texas Parade, Mar., 1942; Byron C. Utrecht, “Coke Stevenson, Ranchman Candidate,” Sheep and Goat Raiser, July, 1948.
Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Times-Herald, State Observer, 1941–1944.
Barker Texas History Center.
Oral Histories:
Charles K. Boatner, Eugene B. Germany, Callan Graham, Josh H. Groce, Robert W. Murphey, Coke R. Stevenson.
Interviews:
About the more intimate, personal portions of his life, interviews with a number of persons close to him were helpful. These include his son, Coke Stevenson, Jr., and Coke’s wife, Edith Wills Scott Stevenson; his nephew, Robert W. Murphey, and Murphey’s wife, Nada; his executive assistant, Ernest J. Boyett; Congressmen O. C. Fisher and Wingate Lucas.
Among the state officials, newspapermen and political observers who were in Austin during the 1940s and dealt with Stevenson during his lieutenant governorship and governorship, the most helpful in interviews were Paul Bolton, Edward A. Clark, Ann Fears Crawford, William J. Lawson (O’Daniel’s Secretary of State), R. J. (“Bob”) Long, Gerald C. Mann, Margaret Mayer, Frank C. (“Posh”) Oltorf, Emmett Shelton, Arthur Stehling, E. Babe Smith, Ralph Yarborough.
NOTES
Coke Stevenson’s youth, his self-education and early political career are drawn from Wyatt and Shelton; Mooney; Nordyke, “Calculatin’ Coke”; Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson”; Bolton, “Profile”; and from Stevenson’s Oral History. Among hundreds of newspaper articles, the most valuable include DT-H, July 3, 1941; Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941; DMN, July 2, 1941; Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson.” Also valuable are interviews with Coke Stevenson, Jr., Ernest J. Boyett and Robert W. Murphey, and Murphey’s Oral History.
Only twenty-two months: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; DT-H, July 3, 1941. Work as youth: Wyatt and Shelton, p. 17. “Never any doubt”: Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson.” His experiences running the freight line: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Wyatt and Shelton, pp. 23–24; McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson.” “The task”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” “I saw opportunity”: DMN, July 3, 1941. Riding the lead horse: Stevenson, Jr., interview; DT-H, July 3, 1941. “Seldom traveled trails”: McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson.”
“Rare”; “anything”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” “Evenings of loneliness”: McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson.” “The president laughed”; “work up to something”: Stevenson, quoted in DT-H, July 3, 1941. Finding the ranch; “as pretty”: Stevenson, Jr., Murphey, Boyett interviews; Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson.”
“The Southwestern stare”: Fehrenbach, p. 561. “Sense of humor”; “slow to speak”: Bolton, Murphey, Boyett, Lawson interviews. “That shone through”: Lucas interview.
Capturing the rustlers: Mooney, p. 10; Wyatt and Shelton, p. 35; Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; DMN, July 3, 1941; Stevenson, Jr., Boyett interviews.
Had never considered: Stevenson was to say that as a young man he had become interested in politics, but he thought of politics as political philosophy and issues; he was to say that he “felt an urge to get into politics” because of “wonderfully eloquent speeches” he had heard during the debates that were then a feature of political campaigns. But, he was to say, while he was to be active in sparsely settled Kimble County in the campaigns of various candidates, he had never wanted to run for political office (Stevenson OH, a recollection confirmed by his son and other interviews).
Repairing the trail; building the roads: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Mooney, pp. 11–13. Taught himself engineering; “testimony”: McLendon, “Coke R. Stevenson.”
“My public life”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; see also Stevenson OH.
During the next eight years: During these eight years, his only connection with politics was in the campaigns in Kimble County of various gubernatorial candidates. And, he was to say, “about running for the Legislature in the first place I got into all these races by accident.” In another place in his Oral History, he explains that he would not have run for the Legislature had not other potential conservative candidates refused: “I tried to get Claude Glimer” to run, “but he refused” (Stevenson OH). Would never defend: Nordyke, “Calculatin’ Coke.” Once, when an accused sheep stealer asked Stevenson to represent him, Stevenson replied: “I won’t defend you, but I’ll help prosecute you” (Bolton, “Profile”). Docket for a single term: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. “One of the greatest”: Wyatt and Shelton, p. 37; DT-H, July 3, 1941. “Best all-round”: Martin, quoted in Wyatt and Shelton, p. 37. Try more lawsuits: Wyatt and Shelton, p. 37.
“A sincere tribute”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Mooney, p. 9.
“Treats his books like friends”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.”
Building the ranch house; “baronial”; “unbelievable”: Tolbert, “Tolbert’s Texas”; Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson”; Wyatt and Shelton, pp. 47–48; Stevenson, Jr., Murphey, Boyett interviews. “A Dream Ranch”: Carmack, “Calculatin’ Coke Stevenson.” “I don’t suppose”: Stevenson, quoted in DMN, July 2, 1941. Driving down the river: Rider, “Hon. Coke Stevenson Becomes Governor.”
“Mother believed”: Stevenson, Jr., interview. “The most beloved”: State Observer, July 28, 1941.
“He buried himself”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” And see Mooney, p. 8. “An anti-government instrument”: Fehrenbach, pp. 434–36. “Everything possible”: Gantt, p. 32. “An ingrained hatred”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” Sheltering the Bowie cabin: Stevenson, Jr., interview; Wyatt and Shelton, p. 96. Raising the flag: Kathryn Duff, HP, Jan. 19, 1964. “Ranch people need”: Stevenson, quoted in DT-H, July 3, 1941. “I did not approve”: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. Trying to persuade others to run: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Boyett interview; Stevenson OH.
“A marked man”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” Coke as a legislat
or: Nordyke, “Calculatin’ Coke”; Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. Shooting the horse: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. “You just instinctively knew”: Clark interview. “Truly hated it”: Lucas interview.
Auditing, bookkeeping bills: Moore, “Stevenson Practiced Economy”; Mooney, pp. 18–19; Stevenson OH. “Glaringly simple”: Mooney, p. 18.
Highway bond fight: Bolton, “Profile”; Mooney, pp. 18–20. “Gradually”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.” Prison reforms: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941; Stevenson OH.
“The darn thing”: Stevenson, quoted in Murphey interview.
Coke as Speaker: Nordyke, “Calculatin’ Coke”; Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman”; Mooney, pp. 20–22. “As long as”: Stevenson, Jr., Clark interviews. “Hot and heavy”: Mooney, pp. 25–26. “On your own”: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. “They have never”: DMN, July 2, 1941.
“Whenever”: Murphey interview. “Hardly a man”: Amarillo Sunday News, Aug. 3, 1941. “That worked”: Lawson interview. “It’s a country of laws”: Murphey interview. “His legion”: DT-H, July 2, 1941. “Borders on genius”: Simons, “Log Cabin Statesman.”
Fight for second term: Gantt, pp. 240–42; Murphey, Stevenson, Jr., interviews; Stevenson OH. Only Speaker to succeed himself: Webb and Carroll, Handbook of Texas, p. 930. “A landmark period”: Wyatt and Shelton, p. 51.
Decision to run for Lt. Governor: Stevenson OH.
“Not easy”: Murphey interview. Pappy O’Daniel as campaigner: Caro, Path to Power, pp. 695–703. “I’ve got a record”: Boyett, Lawson, Stevenson, Jr., interviews.
Stevenson’s style of campaigning: Bolton, Boyett, Lawson, Lucas, Murphey, Stevenson, Jr., interviews; AA-S, DMN, DT-H, 1942–1944. A typical article on a Stevenson public appearance describes it this way: “There was no wooing, no waving, no shouting, but ‘Howdy, Coke,’ or ‘Hello, Governor.’ No ostentation. But plenty of love. Texas is in love with Coke Stevenson. From the humblest to the highest, Texans feel that Coke is ‘my Governor’ ” (DMN, Apr. 3, 1942).
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