Means of Ascent
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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.
10. “Will!”
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.
Flight to Mayo Clinic: Woodward, Symington; AA-S, May 28, 30, 1948. In her autobiography, Jackie Cochran, Miss Cochran, on pp. 252–59, gives an account of this incident in which her role in the decision to go to Mayo’s is portrayed somewhat more prominently than by the others involved.
At Mayo Clinic: Cain OH; Woodward interview; AA-S, HP, May 28, 1948; AA-S, DMN, May 31, June 1, 1948.
“No clippings”; “Again”: Wade to Johnson, June 1, 2, 1948, “Austin-Miscellaneous, 1948,” Box 1, PPMF, LBJL.
Stevenson’s campaigning: McKay, pp. 188–90; HP, May 28, 1948; Murphey interview. “Could give no account”: McKay, p. 190. “Candidate Stevenson”: HP, June 6, 1948.
Stevenson’s speech; DMN, June 1, 1948.
“I know you didn’t send that”: Busby to Jenkins, June 6, 1948, “Austin-Miscellaneous, 1948,” Box 1, PPMF, LBJL.
“I just could not bear”: Johnson, quoted in Kearns, p. 100.
11. The Flying Windmill
SOURCES
More than seventy boxes of documents at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library contain about 56,000 pages of material on Lyndon Johnson’s 1948 senatorial campaign. These include letters and memoranda from campaign headquarters in Austin to district leaders and campaign aides in the field; confidential intraoffice memoranda; communications between the Austin headquarters and Johnson’s congressional office in Washington, and reports from local campaign managers on Johnson’s activities and behavior in their districts. These boxes also contain memoranda sent back to Austin from Horace Busby, who traveled with Johnson during part of the campaign. Some of these memoranda describe Johnson’s behavior. Also in these boxes are Busby’s “suggested releases” and speech drafts, including releases to be issued and speeches to be given by others. These boxes also contain poll tax lists, lists of the candidate’s supporters, “contacts” and potential financial contributors (with notes about them), briefing papers for the candidate, newspaper clippings, schedules, and expense accounts. They include scribbled notes from one headquarters worker to another. These papers provide part of the basis for the description of Lyndon Johnson on the campaign trail. Other collections at the Library that include relevant material are Box 1 of the Pre-Presidential Memo File and the Mildred Stegall Files.
The description of Johnson during the campaign is based also on the author’s interviews with men and women who accompanied him. The author interviewed at length his two helicopter pilots, James E. Chudars and Joe Mashman, the helicopter’s chief mechanic, Harry Nachlin, and members of the campaign entourage such as Paul Bolton, Horace Busby, J. J. (“Jake”) Pickle, Mary Rather, and Warren G. Woodward. I also interviewed campaign aides and strategists who remained back in Austin at either the Hancock House or the Brown Building headquarters, but who received telephone reports on the candidate’s behavior from the field. These aides include Edward A. Clark, John B. Connally, Charles Herring, Walter Jenkins, and Joe M. Kilgore. Also interviewed were reporters who covered the Johnson campaign, most importantly Margaret Mayer.
Many newspaper articles give details of Johnson the campaigner, and this chapter is also based on the daily accounts in the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Post and, when relevant, on other newspapers such as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, State Observer, Houston Chronicle.
While the sources of specific quotations or incidents are individually identified below, the general description of Johnson’s behavior is based on all these sources.
The following list of sources includes all interviews and oral histories relating to the campaign, including those above.
Books, articles and documents:
Dugger, The Politician; Gantt, The Chief Executive in Texas; Green, The Establishment in Texas Politics, 1945–1957; Kahl, Ballot Box 13; McKay, Texas and the Fair Deal, 1945–1952; Miller, Lyndon; Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy; Texas Almanac, 1949–50; WPA, Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State.
Joe Phipps, “Tell ’em About Me, Joe,” “Charlie [June-July],” Box 99; JHP.
Papers of Charles Marsh (LBJL).
Governor Coke Stevenson (Records), RG 301, Archives Division, Texas State Library.
Oral Histories:
Malcolm Bardwell, James H. Blundell, Charles K. Boatner, Paul Bolton, H. S. (“Hank”) Brown, Raymond E. Buck, Horace Busby, Bo Byers, James Cain, Robert Calvert, Leslie Carpenter, Margaret Carter, James E. Chudars, Tom C. Clark, Ann Fears Crawford, Price Daniel, Sr., Willard Deason
, Charles W. Duke, Lewis T. (“Tex”) Easley, James Elkins, O. C. Fisher, Mrs. Sam Fore, Reynaldo Garza, E. B. Germany, Callan Graham, Walter G. Hall, Mack Hannah, Jr., Charles Herring, Welly K. Hopkins, W. Ervin James, Walter Jenkins, Sam Houston Johnson, Luther E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Vann M. Kennedy, Sam Kinch, Sr., Fred Korth, Stuart Long, J. C. Looney, Sam D. W. Low, George Mahon, Clarence C. Martens, Crawford Martin, Joe Mashman, Margaret Mayer, William Hunt McLean, Sarah McClendon, Marshall McNeil, Booth Mooney, Robert W. Murphey, Dorothy J. Nichols, Robert Oliver, Frank C. (“Posh”) Oltorf, J. R. Parten, Wright Patman, Harvey O. Payne, Drew Pearson, Carl Phinney, J. J. (“Jake”) Pickle, Sam Plyler, W. R. Poage, Paul A. Porter, Ben H. Powell, Jr., C. W. Price, Harry Provence, Daniel J. Quill, Mary Rather, Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Juanita Roberts, Ray Roberts, Fenner Roth, James H. Rowe, Jr., James M. Rowe, Emmett Shelton, Polk Shelton, Bailey Sheppard, Allan Shivers, John V. Singleton, Sr., Byron Skelton, Adrian A. Spears, Max Starcke, Arthur Stehling, Stuart Symington, Antonio J. Taylor, Homer Thornberry, Bascom Timmons, Edwin Weisl, Sr., Claude Wild, Sr., A. M. Willis, Mrs. Alvin J. Wirtz, Wilton Woods, Warren C. Woodward, Eugene Worley.
Interviews:
Ray Arledge, Paul Bolton, Ernest Boyett, George R. Brown, Horace Busby, James E. Chudars, Edward A. Clark, John B. Connally, Thomas G. Corcoran, Ann Fears Crawford, Charles W. Duke, Lewis T. (“Tex”) Easley, Tom Ferguson, Mrs. Sam Fore, D. B. Hardeman, Charles Herring, Welly K. Hopkins, Walter Jenkins, Sam Houston Johnson, Edward Joseph, Vann M. Kennedy, Joe M. Kilgore, William J. Lawson, R. J. (“Bob”) Long, Wingate Lucas, Gerald C. Mann, Joe Mashman, Margaret Mayer, Ernest Morgan, Robert W. Murphey, Harry Nachlin, Frank C. (“Posh”) Oltorf, J. J. (“Jake”) Pickle, Mary Rather, James H. Rowe, Jr., Luis Salas, E. Babe Smith, Arthur Stehling, Coke Stevenson, Jr., Stuart Symington, Tom Whitehead, Claude C. Wild, Sr., Warren G. Woodward, Harold Young, Mary Louise Glass Young.
NOTES
(All dates 1948 unless otherwise noted)
“Because he had been”: Woodward OH; Brown interview.
“While I was sick”: AA-S, June 6.
Advisers appalled: For example, one Johnson district chairman, Lloyd Croslin of Lubbock, wrote Wild: “Everyone is against Johnson insulting Stevenson,” and another, J. Ed Johnson of Brownwood, wrote, “A great many people that I have talked with think that Lyndon is hurting himself by jumping on Coke.” Typical of Wild’s assurances is his reply to Croslin: “We agree with you … that we should lay off Coke Stevenson.” Croslin to Wild, June 9; Wild to Croslin, June 12, “District 19 Chairman-Lloyd Croslin (Lubbock),” Box 107, JHP. J. Ed Johnson to Wild, June 9 (“District 21 Chairman-J. Ed Johnson [Brownwood]),” Box 107, JHP. “A very tricky thing”: Pickle, quoted in Miller, p. 117. “A man ought to have”: Johnson, quoted in AA-S, June 17. Sales of pardons: For a typical charge, and Stevenson’s reply see DMN, Aug. 22; HP, Aug. 17; HP, AA-S, Aug. 23, quoted in McKay, p. 233. Stevenson said that in every state, convicts were released through a generous pardon policy so that they might serve in the armed forces. Hectored by pro-Johnson reporters, Stevenson would say at a press conference: “A lot of people have the whole thing mixed up. There is such a thing as a five-day clemency, when a prisoner is permitted a few days to visit his sick mother” (“Full Text of Les Carpenter’s Story,” “Austin-Miscellaneous, 1948,” Box I, PPMF). Bolton, Brown, Boyett, Stevenson, Jr., interviews. When Johnson attempted to resurrect this charge shortly before the close of the campaign (HP, Aug. 18; AA-S, Aug. 20), T. N. Whitehurst of Beaumont, a member of the State Prison Board, repeated that the figure given by Johnson’s campaign was false and released figures to prove it, said even the smaller figure included clemencies, and added that if Stevenson had freed as many prisoners as Johnson charged, “the prisons would have been emptied, and we would have had to lock it up” (DMN, Aug. 25). Charges on Magnolia lease: Bolton, Boyett, Busby, Stevenson, Jr., interviews. “As my private life”: Stevenson, quoted in DMN, June 16. “I was sure wrong”: Busby interview; confirmed by Bolton, Boyett interviews.
Problems in using the helicopter; decision to use it despite the risks: Interviews with Woodward, with Wingate Lucas, the Congressman from Fort Worth who accompanied Johnson to the Bell Helicopter demonstration, with the two pilots who flew it during the campaign, Joe Mashman and Jim Chudars, and with the chief mechanic responsible for its servicing, Harry Nachlin. Special train: The candidate who chartered it, in 1938, was Attorney General William McCraw (Gantt, p. 291). Chudars noticed: Chudars interview.
Previous week bad: AA-S, June 10; HP, June 12, 13; Brown, Clark interviews. Stevenson shrugging off: DMN, June 16. “A withering lack”: AA-S, June 13.
“The first candidate … in history”: AA-S, June 13. Defusing the cost issue: For example, AA-S, June 10; HP, June 13; State Observer, June 14; DMN, June 15. Misgivings from staff: For example, Croslin to Wild, “District 19 Chairman-Lloyd Croslin (Lubbock),” Box 107, JHP. But on June 12, Wild wrote Croslin, “He [Johnson] insists on trying the helicopter idea.”
“JOHNSON TO GIVE ’EM”: HP, June 16. “LOOKEE, MAW”; “No comment”: HP, June 13. “I hope”: Peddy, quoted in HP, June 13.
“First day in the helicopter: Busby, Chudars interviews; AA-S, DMN, HP, June 16. “Flitting around”; Campaigning by helicopter in East Texas: AA-S, DMN, HP, June 16, 17.
Naming the “Windmill”: The first use of that nickname that I could find is AA-S, June 16. Third day of campaigning: AA-S, DMN, HP, June 18. Wild’s news: Jenkins interview.
Campaigning by helicopter: Busby, Chudars, Mayer, Nachlin, Pickle, Rather, Woodward interviews; Nichols OH; Phipps, “Tell ’em About Me, Joe”; articles in AA-S, DMN, FWS-T, HP, State Observer, other newspapers, June 16-July 26. “Can’t wipe your ass”; “He meant every”: Caro, Path to Power, p. 404; Morgan interview. “Coming down”: Mayer interview, which supplements her articles in AA-S. Flinging the hat: DMN, July 4; Pickle interview. Although he threw the Stetson into the crowd, Johnson wanted it back. One of his aides would be assigned to retrieve it from the person—usually a small boy—who had received it. On July 4, the DMN could report that though he “flung his hat out of the craft at every stop, [he] hasn’t lost his hat yet.” “Come meet Congressman Johnson”: Phipps, “Tell ’em About Me, Joe.” “They all wanted”; “the blades”: Nachlin interview. Johnson’s speech and reaction: Chudars, Woodward, Mayer, Busby, Mashman interviews.
Cotton-choppers’ terror: Time, June 28. “Two people and a big dog”: Chudars OH. Among many instances of Johnson landing to talk to two or three people, see HP, July 9. “The chickens thought”: Busby interview. “Hello, down there”: Chudars interview; Dugger, p. 318.
“Hovering”: HP, July 14. “Johnson brought people”: DMN, July 7. Headlines: AA-S, June 25; HP, July 7; DMN, July 9; FWS-T, July 19. “Long Lyndon Johnson”: Time, June 28. “Campaign of the Flying Windmill”: DMN, July 2. Appearances in Bangs, Coleman: AA-S, July 1.
Johnson’s view from helicopter: Chudars, Mashman interviews.
Touring the Hill Country: AA-S, June 25; AA-S, DMN, HP, June 27. “It gives me confidence”; “Happy tired”; “That thing”: HP, June 27.
AFL endorsement: AA-S, DMN, HP, June 23–27; McKay, pp. 200–1. Labor’s feelings about Johnson: DMN, HC, HP, June 25; AA-S, Aug. 10. Hopkins, Corcoran interviews. The AFL said that Johnson “by his own actions, vote and continued support of the Taft-Hartley and Case bills has disqualified himself in the eyes of the working people of Texas,” HP, June 25. Anti-union sentiment in Texas: Green, pp. 103–7. “He just seemingly”: Boatner OH. Stevenson’s reasoning: Boyett, Murphey interviews; Boatner OH. Boatner was with Stevenson “the day he got word that labor had endorsed him.”
Johnson’s instinct for the jugular: Graham, quoted in Caro, Path to Power, p. 154. A “secret deal”: Johnson, quoted in Steinberg, p. 248. Johnson’s attack, like his earlier attacks on Stevenson’s reputation, came in the face of advice of more timid campaign aides, who advised him to try to put as good a face as possible on the endorsement. F
or example, Claude Wild told him: “You should be cheerful about it—say that the actual laborers are for you; the political leaders are not.… I would not use the expression ‘stabbed in the back.’ It sounds to the outsider like you are crying over losing your former friends. At least, it is defensive” (Wild to Johnson, June 24, “Austin-Miscellaneous, 1948,” Box 1, PPMF). Johnson “has disqualified himself”: Reilley, quoted in HC, HP, June 25. “Deliberate lie”; “INFURIATED”: DMN, June 25.
Johnson’s charges of “secret deal”: For example, DMN, June 24. In this statement, Johnson also attacked Stevenson for his actions on the Manford Bill, which Johnson called “the state’s vicious anti-labor law,” a rather cynical statement, since it was two of the men who were advising Johnson on this statement—Alvin Wirtz and Edward Clark—who had drafted that law. “Labor dictators”: CCC, Aug. 11.
Johnson’s charge untrue: Stevenson’s advisers—Boyett, Murphey, Stevenson, Jr.—say this unanimously in interviews. And so do Johnson’s advisers including Bolton and Jenkins. “We knew it wasn’t true”: Bolton interview. Not Stevenson but Johnson was receiving secret labor support: Corcoran, Hopkins, Rowe, Harold Young interviews. “He was saying”: Hopkins interview.
Abilene press conference: HP, July 3. “My policy is”: Abilene Reporter-News, July 3. Quoted in DMN, Aug. 13. “Repeatedly”: Stevenson, quoted in McKay, pp. 227–28. Refusing to listen to advisers: Boyett, Murphey, Stevenson, Jr., interviews.
Johnson’s continuing attacks: AA-S, CCC-T, DMN, HP, June 24-Aug. 11. “Anyone who knew”: Murphey interview. Leach demand: AA-S, June 24. Stevenson’s refusal to reply: DMN, July 18, 30. Not “be drawn”: DMN, June 27.