The Path to Power

by Robert A. Caro

  The reason Hopkins won; Johnson’s services in the campaign: Hopkins OH, pp. 10–12. “A very unusual ability”: Hopkins to Miller, Nov. 25, 1931, Box 19, LBJA SN. “I always felt that he was the real balance”: Hopkins; Richards, Woods, Deason.

  “This wonder kid”; enlisting Johnson in Witt’s campaign: Steinberg, p. 53. “Never have I seen better work”: Hopkins to Miller, Nov. 25, 1931, Box 19, LBJA SN. Spree: Hopkins OH II, p. 12.

  George Johnson’s reverence for Jackson, Bryan, etc.: Pool, pp. 147–48. George trying to get Lyndon a job: Johnson to George Johnson, May 19, 1930, Box 73, LBJA SF. Only three graduates: So Relle. Lyndon’s letters of recommendation to the Brenham School Board: All these can be found in the folder “Teaching Certificates, Letters of Recommendations,” Box 73, LBJA SF.

  Description of Pearsall: WPA, Texas: A Guide. Carol Davis’ wedding: San Marcos Record, June 20, 1930, p. 10. Feelings in Pearsall: SHJ, RJB.

  “In the event”: Johnson to George Johnson, May 19, 1930, Box 73, LBJA SF, “A bit stunned”: George P. Barron in SAE. Jan. 30, 1966.

  “You were sort of encouraged”: Goode. “I have a memory”: Jones. “We had to do”; “The idea”; “Mr. Johnson wanted”: Latimer. Parker remembers: Undated Houston Press clipping: “LBJ in Houston,” Box 73, LBJA SF.

  “Smart as hell”; “An Irish charmer”: Goode. “Not the ones”: Latimer’s impressions of Johnson: Latimer OH, pp. 1–2. “The best friend”: Latimer OH, p. 1.

  Training: Latimer, Jones, Goode. “He worked the life”: Ellana Eastham Ball, quoted in Pool, p. 151.

  The practice debates—unprecedented schedule: Pool, p. 164; Houston Press, Dec. 10, 1930, p. 3; March 6, 1931, p. 12. Once, a fellow teacher congratulated Johnson on the good sportsmanship exhibited by one of his students who had lost a debate. Johnson replied, “I’m not interested in how they lose. I’m just interested in how they win” (Ruth Daugherty, quoted in Pool, p. 151). The trip: Jones, Latimer; Latimer OH, p. 2. The (Houston) Aegis, March 18, 1931, p. 1. $100 prize: Houston Press, Dec. 10, 1930, p. 1; The Aegis, Dec. 19, 1930. Only seven; auditorium jammed: Johnson, in McKay Transcript, p. 20. More coverage: An example is Houston Press, Dec. 10, 1930, p. 8. “Silver-tongued students”: HP, date missing but appears to be Dec., 1930. “Two of the best”: Houston Chronicle, April 3, 1931, p. 34. “Almost too easy”: Latimer OH, p. 20.

  State championships—“It is evident”: Latimer OH, p. 3. Sixty-seven victories: HP, Oct. 4, 1938. “I just almost cried”: Johnson, in McKay Transcript, pp. 10–11. “Disbelief”: Latimer OH, p. 3. Never knew: Latimer, Jones. Vomited: Time, May 21, 1965.

  “The splendid work”: Houston Chronicle, April 3, 1931, p. 34. Banquet: Houston Post-Dispatch, May 24, 1931, Sec. 1, p. 10; Pool, pp. 157–58. $100 raise: Board Minutes; The Houston Independent School District, Book E, 121, 170, quoted in Pool, p. 158. Daugherty’s opinion: “Everett Collier, Sidebar #2—LBJ,” General PP 13–5, WHCF, attached to Collier to Valenti, January 21, 1964; she is quoted in a draft of a “proposed article” for the Houston Chronicle written by Everett Collier. “Pleasing in personality”: “The Printer’s Devil,” April 10, 1931. “To see them”: Johnson quoted in McKay Transcript, p. 18. “Every time”: McKay Transcript, p. 17.

  Dale Carnegie course: So Relle. Heckling: Johnson, quoted in Steinberg, p. 700.

  Lonely in Houston: So Relle, Boody Johnson, RJB. “‘What can I do next?’” So Relle.

  Wanted to go into politics: Hopkins, Jones. “When I go into politics”: Bess Scott to Johnson, July 1, 1941, “Harris Co.,” Box 19, JHP. Notes in margins: Jones.

  Phone call from Kleberg: Hopkins, SHJ. Johnson “was so excited”: Helen Weinberg, quoted in Pool, p. 159. Weinberg says he said he “would consult with his uncle and call back in a few minutes.” Hopkins and SHJ, both of whom had the story from Kleberg, say he agreed without hesitation to come for the interview. Leave of absence: Oberholtzer to Hofheinz, May 3, 1931, Box 73, LBJA SF. The first night in the Mayflower: Johnson to Jones, Dec. 6, 1931.

  13. On His Way

  SOURCES

  The description of the daily routine in Kleberg’s office, and of Johnson’s activities as Kleberg’s secretary, is based primarily on interviews with the other persons in that office: Estelle Harbin, Luther E. Jones, and Gene Latimer. Unless otherwise noted, the description comes from these interviews.

  Johnson’s letters to Jones and Latimer are in their respective possession.

  Oral Histories:

  Russell Brown, Luther E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Gene Latimer.

  Other Interviews:

  William Goode, Welly K. Hopkins, Dale Miller, J. J. Pickle, James Van Zandt.

  NOTES

  Running: Harbin.

  Garner’s election; Texas coming to power: “King Ranch in Garner’s House,” Time, Dec. 7; “The Congress: Sitting of the 72nd,” Time, Dec. 14; “Work of the Week,” Time, Dec. 28; Samuel G. Blythe, “How Congress Mixes In,” Sat. Eve. Post, Nov. 21, all 1931.

  Kleberg: “Richest Cowboy Now Serves in Congress,” NYT, Dec. 20, 1931; Time, “King Ranch in Garner’s House,” Dec. 7, 1931; “New Faces in Congress,” Washington Herald, Dec. 9, 1931; “Texas’ Kleberg,” Washington Herald, Oct. 31, 1933; CCC, Oct. 11, 1932, Nov. 27, 1933; “Kleberg, Richard M.,” Vertical File, Barker Texas History Center, Univ. of Texas; “Texas Kingdom That Blocks a Road,” Washington Sunday Star, Oct. 15, 1933; “The World’s Biggest Ranch,” Fortune, Dec., 1933. Kleberg’s campaign: American Business Survey, Jan., 1932, p. 3; Harbin, Jones, Latimer, Hopkins, Miller.

  “The trouble”: Kleberg, quoted in CCC, July 21, 1932; Dec. (date unreadable), 1932. “Whittling down”: CR, 72 Cong., 1 Session (Jan. 21, 1932), p. 2446. “Un-American”: CCC, Oct. 9, 1932. In June, 1932, Kleberg declared himself “unqualifiedly opposed to the constant and shameless encroachment of the federal government upon state and local authority, [to] the continued and increasing use of federal authority to control the business as well as the social and private affairs of our citizens” (CCC, June 24, 1932).

  “Hello, Dick”: Johnson to Jones, Dec. 6, 1931. Miller’s carte blanche: Dale Miller.

  Capitol Hill life: Charles McLean, “Typical Day in the Life of a Congressman,” NYT, Sec. 5, p. 9, April 17, 1932; R. L. Duffus, “Congress: Cross Section of the Nation,” NYT, April 10, 1932. Employing relatives: G. F. Nieberg, “All in the Congressional Family,” Atlantic Monthly, Oct., 1931; “Nepotism,” Time, May 30, 1932.

  Dodge Hotel description: Hopkins, SHJ; Keach OH, Brown OH. “Two bits”: Brown, quoted in Newlon, LBJ, p. 46. Johnson shooting questions: Perry, quoted in Mooney, LJ Story, p. 38.

  Incident in the gallery: Robert Jackson, quoted in Edwin W. Knippa, “The Early Political Life of Lyndon B. Johnson” (unpublished Master’s Thesis), San Marcos, 1967, pp. 10–11. Knippa says this incident occurred in December, but Johnson to Jones, Feb. 26, 1932, puts the date in February. “I remember”: Van Zandt. Inscribed photographs: Johnson to Latimer, Feb. 25, 1932.

  “Have you forgotten me?”: Johnson to Jones, Feb. 13,1932. “Thanks”: Johnson to Jones, Feb. 26, 1932. “Burn this”; “Hope”: Johnson to Jones, Dec. 6, 1931. “Have not been out”: Johnson to Jones, April 18, 1932.

  Motives of Latimer and Jones for coming: Latimer, Jones. “I know”: Johnson to Jones, April 18, 1932. Latimer’s salary: Latimer; Latimer OH, p. 8; “Civil Service Retirement System—Individual Retirement Record—Latimer, Gene”; Latimer to author, Oct. 19, 1978; Johnson to Latimer’s parents, “Jan. 31, 1933,” and “Tuesday evening,” 1933.

  “Saint Paul”: Johnson to Fore, April 13, 1939 (letter in possession of Mrs. Sam Fore).

  “As if his life”: Goode. Graduation congratulations letters: Latimer OH, pp. 10–11. “No compunction”: Jones OH I, p. 6.

  Mail swelling: For example, Dirksen, “Mr. Dirksen Goes to Congress,” New Outlook, March, 1933; Hal Smith, “A Deluge of Mail Falls on Congress,” NYT, Jan. 21, 1934, Sec. 9, p. 2.

  “When the pain had been severe”: La
timer OH, p. 9.

  “Probably the finest”; “lawyer’s lawyer”: Bowmer, Texas Parade, May, 1968, p. 45, which also said: “As a money earner he is probably in the top five percent of Texas lawyers; as a legal scholar he is second to none. Many colleagues consider him the finest appellate lawyer in the country.” “Any kind”: Latimer. Making him take dictation: Latimer, Pickle.

  14. The New Deal

  SOURCES

  Books, articles:

  Albertson, Roosevelt’s Farmer; Burner, Herbert Hoover; Burns, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox; Farley, Behind the Ballots and The Roosevelt Years; Freidel, Launching the New Deal; Henderson, Maury Maverick; Lash, Eleanor and Franklin; Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal; Lord, The Wallaces of Iowa; Manchester, The Glory and the Dream; Phillips, From the Crash to the Blitz; Nourse, Three Years of the AAA; Schlesinger, The Age of Roosevelt: I, The Crisis of the Old Order; II, The Coming of the New Deal; III, The Politics of Upheaval; Smith, The Shattered Dream; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers in a Changing World.

  Lionel V. Patenaude, “The New Deal and Texas” (unpublished Master’s Thesis), Austin, 1953.

  Charles A. Beard, “Congress Under Fire,” Yale Review, Sept., 1932; James E. Boyle, “The Farmer’s Bootstraps,” The Nation, Jan. 11, 1933; Garet Garrett, “Notes of These Times—The Farmer,” Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 19, 1932; J. H. Kolb, “Agriculture and Rural Life,” American Journal of Sociology, Nov., 1933; Jonathan Mitchell, “The Farmer is Financed,” The New Republic, June 30, 1937; William Allen White, “The Farmer Takes His Holiday,” Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 26, 1932; “Bounty,” Fortune, Feb., 1933; “Mr. Roosevelt’s Man,” Fortune, April, 1934; “The Department of Agriculture,” Fortune, April, 1936.

  Corpus Christi Caller, 1931–1935.

  Interviews:

  Benjamin V. Cohen, Thomas G. Corcoran, Luther E. Jones.

  NOTES

  “Not seen”: Smith, p. 223. Farm prices in 1932: Manchester, pp. 36–38; Freidel, p. 84. Inflation, debt: Davis, “The Development of Agriculture Policy Since The End of the World War,” and Genung, “Agriculture in the World War Period,” in U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers in a Changing World; White, “The Farmer Takes His Holiday.” $3 to $10 billion: White, “The Farmer Takes His Holiday.” One out of eight: Freidel, p. 84.

  Deaf to their pleas; “on the very day”: Freidel, pp. 85–87; Schlesinger, Crisis, pp. 107–9. 4,000 thrown off: Time, Jan. 4, 1932. Federal Farm Board: Garrett, “Notes of These Times–The Farmer”; Schlesinger, Crisis, pp. 239–40; Freidel, p. 88. “Surplus is ruin”: Garrett, “Notes of These Times.” Surprising agreement: White, “The Farmer Takes His Holiday.” Hoover’s solution: Freidel, p. 88. 20,000 per month: Freidel, p. 84. ¼ of Mississippi: Manchester, p. 37. “Even though”: White, “The Farmer Takes His Holiday.”

  Nueces County cotton production and unsold bales for 1930, 1931; “In many instances”: CCC, Oct. 26, 1934. 683,000: Manchester, p. 21. “For strangers”: CCC, Feb. 14, 1933; see also Feb. 18. Gulf Coast farmers in trouble: CCC, 1931 passim. “My boy”: T. W. Newman, in CCC, Feb. 15, 1935. Going on relief: CCC, Nov. 22, Dec. 30, 1932; by Jan. 20, there were 1,795 on relief (CCC, Jan. 20, 1933). “No need”: Mrs. Berry, in CCC, Nov. 18, 1931. 500 schoolchildren: CCC, Feb. 25, 1932. Relief funds running out: CCC, 1931–1932 passim.

  Unemployed: Manchester, pp. 35–36. “Washington, D.C., resembled”: Manchester, p. 3. Congress returning: “Relief after Recess,” Time, Jan. 4, 1932. Situation in Congress; Bonus Marchers: Schlesinger, Crisis, pp. 256–61. “Have we gone mad?”: Sen. Millard Tydings of Maryland, in “Taxation Time,” Time, May 30, 1932. “Looking on”: The Forum, Sept., 1932. “The Monkey House”: In Pearson’s “The Washington Merry-Go-Round,” quoted by Charles A. Beard, in “Congress Under Fire,” Yale Review, Sept., 1932. “Representative government”: Time, May 16, 1932.

  “Hoover locks self”: Manchester, p. 3. Hoover’s statements: Schlesinger, Crisis, p. 231; Manchester, pp. 26–27. Visitor authorized: Rep. Strong of Kansas, in Time, April 25, 1932. “They won’t get by”: Smith, p. 80. Couldn’t bear: Manchester, p. 22. “The nation’s needy”: Time, May 23, 1932. “Nobody”: Manchester, p. 41. Hoover dining: Smith, pp. 96–97; Manchester, p. 23. “Unexampled”: Schlesinger, Crisis, p. 232. “Cannot squander”: Time, May 30, June 6, 1932. RFC: For example, Manchester, p. 46. “Set his face”: Long, quoted in Smith, p. 175. Hoover’s campaign: Smith, pp. 199–201.

  Winter of despair: Schlesinger, Crisis, pp. 448 ff; Manchester, pp. 54–55. Farm revolt: Schlesinger, Crisis, pp. 459–60; Manchester, pp. 58–60; Smith, p. 221. “Wholly unworkable”: Freidel, p. 100. Banking crisis: Manchester, pp. 72–75.

  Revolt on the Gulf: CCC, Jan. 27, 1933; Patenaude, p. 259; CCC, May 17, Nov. 4, 1932. 38%: CCC, June 10, 16, 1934. Out of funds: CCC, Feb., March, 1933 Bonds for relief: CCC, March 6, 1932, Jan. 6, 1933. Eleven bills defeated: CCC, Feb. 11, 1933. Although: CCC, Feb. 2, 1933. “I know”; vowed: CCC, Feb. 26, 1933. “Crisis”: Burns, p. 161.

  Ended the banking crisis: Freidel, pp. 229 ff.

  AAA’s organizational confusion: “Mr. Roosevelt’s Man,” Fortune, April, 1934; Lord, pp. 358–400; Albertson, Nourse, passim. “The despair”: “Mr. Roosevelt’s Man,” Fortune, April, 1934.

  Would have voted against: Newlon, pp. 46–47.

  “Smiling and deferential”: Corcoran.

  Wallace announcing: Jones.

  Exceeding the quota: CCC, July 12, 1933.

  White House ceremony: NYT, July 29; CCC, July 28, 30, Aug. 1, 4, 6, 1933.

  Saving the farms: AA-S, March 11, 1937; CCC, Sept. 27, Oct. 26, 28, 29 (editorial), Nov. 5, Dec. 11, 1933; Jones.

  “Almost to the cent”: CCC, June 17, 1935. Johnson urging repayment: CCC, Nov. 19, 1933. Best loan-repayment record: CCC, Nov. 19, 1933. The first district: CCC, March 21, 1934; see also CCC, May 31, 1934. Federal Land Bank applications: CCC, March 21, 1934. HOLC loans: CCC, July 30, Aug. 3, 1935. Other programs: CCC, Sept. 9, Oct. 6, 1932, 1933, 1934, passim, esp. Nov. 30, 1933, Jan. 10, March 10, 1934.

  15. The Boss of the Little Congress

  SOURCES

  Books, articles:

  Steinberg, Rayburn.

  Edwin W. Knippa, “The Early Political Life of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1931–1937” (unpublished Master’s Thesis), San Marcos, 1967.

  Hope R. Miller, “The ‘Little Congress’ Speaks,” Washington Post Magazine, Feb. 11, 1934.

  Oral History:

  Russell M. Brown.

  Interviews:

  James P. Coleman, Jessie Hinzie, Luther E. Jones, Gene Latimer, Wingate Lucas, W. D. McFarlane, William Howard Payne, Lacey C. Sharp, James F. Swist.

  NOTES

  History of Little Congress: Miller, “The ‘Little Congress’ Speaks,” p. 6.

  Johnson’s plan: Payne, Latimer, Taken by surprise: Washington Evening Star, April 28, 1933. Questions: Lucas, Latimer, Coleman, Payne.

  “A New Deal”: Washington Evening Star, April 28, 1933. “An excuse”: Latimer. “The first time”: Payne. Persuading newspapers to cover: Sharp. “One of the most”: Miller, “The ‘Little Congress’ Speaks.” “Every week”: Payne. “None of us”: Lucas. “Just crowded”: Brown OH, pp. 29–30.

  New York trip: NYT, May 6, 1934; Payne. After the stage show at the Music Hall, Johnson and the sergeant-at-arms on his ticket, William Howard Payne, were shown backstage to see the show’s star, Jessica Dragonette. Greeting the two young men, she said, “Hello, Oklahoma,” “Hello, Texas.” Other events: Payne, Lucas, Latimer. Keeping control: Payne, Sharp; Miller, “The ‘Little Congress’ Speaks,” p. 6. “That’s the Boss”: Coleman, Payne.

  Getting Brown a job: Brown OH, p. 55; Jones. Fifty jobs: CCC, Aug. 5, 1935.

  “Me and my wife”; his son’s loan: Undated clipping, Garner Papers, Box 3L298, Barker Texas History Center. The redistricting fight: CCC, Jan. 13, 14, 1934. Johnson had a suggestion: Robert M. Jackson, quoted in Knippa, pp. 35–36. The text of the agreement is in CCC, J
an. 17, 1934. Reminding Kleberg: CCC, Jan. 16, 1934. Leaking to the AP: White, The Professional, p. 110. Headlines: For example, CCC, Jan. 13, 1934. “Political orphans”: CCC, Jan. 16, 1934.

  Unconditional surrender: CCC, Jan. 17, 1934, in which the Garner letter to Farley is quoted. See also WP, Jan. 17, 1934. “For days”: White, p. 110. “Who in the hell”: Steinberg, Rayburn, p. 159. Not half amused: McFarlane, Young.

  16. In Tune

  SOURCES

  The description of Lyndon Johnson’s activities and philosophy as Kleberg’s secretary, and of his relationship with Roy Miller, is based primarily on interviews with Luther E. Jones and Gene Latimer. Unless otherwise noted, the description comes from these interviews.

  Books and articles:

  Adams, Texas Democracy.

  Edwin W. Knippa, “The Early Political Life of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1931–1937” (unpublished Master’s Thesis), San Marcos, 1967.

  Corpus Christi Caller, 1931–1935.

  Oral Histories:

  Malcolm Bardwell, Mary Elliott Botsford, Russell M. Brown, Ben Crider, Sam Fore, Welly K. Hopkins, Luther E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Gene Latimer.

  Interviews:

  Edward A. Clark, Willard Deason, Thomas C. Ferguson, Mrs. Sam Fore, Welly K. Hopkins, RJB, SHJ, Carroll Keach, Dale Miller, Ernest Morgan, Daniel J. Quill, Mary Rather, Horace Richards, Emmett Shelton, Wilton Woods.

  NOTES

  Description of Roy Miller: Jones, Latimer, Dale Miller, Quill; Brown OH; Texas Under Many Flags, Vol. IV, p. 37; Adams, pp. 65–66; AA, undated, 1917; “Miller, Roy,” Vertical File, Barker Texas History Center, Univ. of Texas; “Roy Miller—Texas Builder,” Pic-Century Magazine, Feb. 1938; Roy Miller, “The Relation of Ports and Waterways to Texas Cities,” an address delivered at the Eleventh Annual Convention, League of Texas Municipalities, May 10, 1923, Texas Municipalities, 1923.

  Seemingly unlimited: Miller told the Texas Board of Tax Equalization in 1936 that he spent $148,000 annually for “good will.” Populist Congressman W. D. McFarlane reported to Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 that photostatic copies of Miller’s “expense accounts for 1934–5 show that Miller spent more than $250,000 from two sulphur companies before the Legislatures at Austin and Washington and they are but one of many employments of such a nature that he has. His expenses the past few years according to his increased activities have greatly increased” (McFarlane to Roosevelt, May 15, 1939, OF 300–12, Roosevelt Papers). As will be seen later, Miller was also receiving funds from Brown & Root. “Perhaps the most effective”: AA-S, Dec. 14, 1946. “A surprising number”: Miller Vertical File, Barker History Center. “Carry only”: Time, Oct. 30, 1933. “Roy Miller would call”: Brown OH, p. 39. Adams’ advice: For example, on Feb. 21, 1934, Adams wrote Johnson: “… I am very much interested in seeing your artistic side developed, and for this reason am enclosing for you two tickets for an evening in the Historic Homes and Gardens of Virginia” (“Public Activities–Biographic Information–Secretary to Congressman Kleberg,” Box 73, LBJA SF).