Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

by Robert A. Caro

  “On new”: Johnson to Reedy, Sept. 21, Box 566, JSP. “Dear John”: Johnson to Bricker, Sept. 16, Box 557, JSP. “Never seemed”; “going”: Palmie OH. Subcommittee reports, leaks: Newsweek, Sept. 26; NYT, Sept. 13, Oct. 9; WS, Oct. 13; Reedy to Siegel, Sept. 5, Box 555, JSP. To persuade Time: Jenkins to Carter, Aug. 25, Box 30, “Master Files,” JSP; Carpenter to Johnson, undated, Box 557, JSP.

  “Johnson’s Manso”: Rather to Moursund, Dec. 20, Box 566, JSP. “I don’t”: Jenkins OH. KANG negotiations: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 335–36; for example, Jenkins to Johnson, Aug. 31, Box 96, “Masters File,” JSP; Life, Aug. 21, 1964; WSJ, Nov. 23, 1964; WS, June 9, 1964; Jenkins interview and OH; Stehling interview. “It speeded”: Reedy OH VIII.

  Johnson’s strategy: Newsweek, Oct. 31; CSM, Oct. 18, Nov. 7; HP, Nov. 13. See notes for Chapter 35 (“Convention”). “If his”: Corcoran ms., Corcoran Papers, quoted in Dallek, Lone Star, p. 491.

  Johnson’s reaction: Reedy OH VIII, and see notes for Chapter 33. Instead: Rather OH. Press conference: “A Social Visit,” Time, Oct. 10; AA-S, NYHT, NYT, Sept. 30; H P, Oct. 2; Reedy OH VIII. “Pointedly”: NYT, Oct. 18. “I’m not”: Martin, Adlai Stevenson, p. 211. Johnson and Rayburn: Corcoran, Rowe interviews. “He spoke”: Rowe to Johnson, Oct. 26, LBJA SN. “Lyndon will be”: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 426.

  “Political capital”: Reedy to Johnson, Oct. 19, Box 3, PPMF. Polls: SA News, Dec. 9. “Backing”: Fleeson, WS, Oct. 31. “Outside of”: HC, Oct. 2. “Reasonable”: H P, Nov. 13, attached to Johnson to Rowe, Oct. 28, LBJA SN. “Here”: New Republic, Oct. 18. “Some of”: NYT, Oct. 18.

  “Unjustified”: Reedy interview. After a visit to Rayburn, Corcoran wrote that “Sam was disturbed by the way he thought the William White story might upset the calculations of convenience on which the State Chairman—favorite son—plans had been built” (Corcoran to Mrs. Johnson and Johnson, Nov. 10, Corcoran Papers). Joseph Kennedy episode: Dallek, pp. 490, 491; Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds, pp. 780–81; Johnson, Vantage Point, p. 3. “He never”; “malaria-ridden”: Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds, p. 780.

  “I am sure”: Cain to Corcoran, Nov. 14, Corcoran Papers. “Lyndon”: Cain to Johnson, Nov. 19, Corcoran Papers. “Back”: Reedy to Johnson, Box 3, PPMF. “A Program with a heart”: AA-S, NYT, Nov. 22; Baltimore Sun, Nov. 23; WP, Nov. 25; WS, Nov. 27. A glowing description of the Whitney event is in Rather to Corcoran, Nov. 27, Corcoran Papers. “It looks”: Nichols to Johnson, Nov. 23, Box 566, JSP.

  “Is talking”: Albright, WP, Nov. 27. “The Democrats”: FWS-T, Aug. 24. Met: Hughes’ representative was Noah Dietrich, one of his top aides. Reedy OH VIII; “Chronology,” 1955, LBJL; Clark, Connally interviews. Kefauver visit: Abilene Reporter News, DT-H, Nov. 24. Taking steps: Pearson, WP, Oct. 19. “I’d like”: Johnson to Stevenson, Nov. 22, Box 566, JSP.

  “Lyndon Johnson Day”: San Marcos Record, Nov. 25; Whiteside interview. Who had cut out: Caro, Path, pp. 197, 198. “I knew”: Carol Davis and Lyndon Johnson are discussed in Caro, pp. 161, 172–73, 205, 294.

  “With his feet”: Providence Bulletin, Dec. 13. Doctors’ report: NYT, Dec. 15.

  “Every time”: Johnson, quoted in Flora Schreiber, “Lyndon B. Johnson: Courageous Man of Action,” Family Weekly, Feb. 2, 1964. “Could scarcely”; “whatever”; “sensed”: Montgomery, pp. 54, 55. “Of course”; “I never”: Reedy OH VIII. “They weren’t: Rather OH. “Some of”: Flora Schreiber, “Lyndon B. Johnson: Courageous Man of Action,” Family Weekly, Feb. 2, 1964.

  Laugh: Montgomery, pp. 58–61.

  “Let’s each”: Flora Schreiber, “Lyndon B. Johnson: Courageous Man of Action,” Family Weekly, Feb. 2, 1964. “Lyndon has”: Rowe to Lady Bird, Nov. 8; Lady Bird to Rowe, Nov. 26, LBJA SN. Changing her excuse; “rediscovering”: Lady Bird Johnson, “Can You Prevent a Heart Attack?” This Week, Feb. 12, 1956. “I firmly”: Irwin Ross, NYP, March 28, 1957.

  “Her greatest achievement”: Sidey, “The Second Toughest Job,” Time, Jan. 14, 1985. “Politics was”: Lady Bird OH, RBRL. “Somebody”: Steele interview. “Deliver”: Ross, NYP, March 28, 1957. “If ever”: Mooney, p. 236. “That’s enough”; coattail; Scotch: Mooney, pp. 236, 241, 244. “Right behind you”: Tames interview. “Don’t let”: Steele, Feb. 22, 1965, SP.

  “Next to us”: Rowe, Corcoran interviews. “He enjoyed”: Reedy, Johnson, p. 52; Reedy interview. “Loved people”: Lady Bird Johnson, quoted in People, Feb. 2, 1987.

  “I felt”; “He became”: Jenkins OH. “Never seen”: BeLieu interview. “Now he had”: Connally interview.

  29. The Program with a Heart

  All dates are 1956 unless otherwise noted.

  Opening day: Baltimore Sun, NYHT, NYT, WP, Jan. 4. “Everlasting”: “Minutes of Meeting—Democratic Policy Committee,” Jan. 5, Box 364, JSP, Reedy interview. Press Club: NYT, WS, Jan. 4.

  Rowe’s memorandum: McCullough, Truman, pp. 590–92; Reedy OH IX, p. 71; Reedy, Rowe interviews.

  “I wish”: Rowe interview.

  “Napping”: Scott OH.

  “Very, very”: Smathers OH.

  “All know”: Paul Douglas, “The Case for the Consumer of Natural Gas,” Georgetown Law Review, June 1956, p. 573. Taken the stance: Elizabeth Sanders, Regulation of Natural Gas, pp. 83 ff; Walter Goodman, “Piping Hot Air to the Consumer,” New Republic, June 27. During those: Edgar Kemler, “Democratic Giveaway: The Natural Gas Bill,” The Nation, Feb. 4. FPC reversal: Richard Smith, “The Unnatural Problems of Natural Gas,” Fortune, Sept. 1959. Each one-cent increase for the price of a thousand cubic feet of natural gas would, Fortune estimated, “pour some $70 million a year into the producers’ pockets.” Superior oil: W-SJ, Dec. 22, 1955; NYT, Feb. 22. Texas Eastern: Standard & Poor’s Corp., Standard Corporate Descriptions, 1949–1956; Clark interview.

  Michigan and Wisconsin vs. FPC: Richard Smith, “The Unnatural Problems of Natural Gas,” Fortune, Sept. 1959. Two committees: WP, Aug. 8. Funds collected by Maston Nixon: “The Oil Lobby,” New Republic, Sept. 24. Distributed by: Clark, Connally, Herring, Wild interviews. “Once the lines”; “to eliminate”: Walter Goodman, “Piping Hot Air to the Consumer,” New Republic, June 27. Southerners split; had been intending: Joseph and Stewart Alsop, WP, Dec. 12; McPherson, Political Education, p. 89. “Lyndon was”; “transcended”: Oltorf interview. Estimates: Walter Goodman, “Piping Hot Air to the Consumer,” New Republic, June 27, 1955.

  Stakes: Paul Douglas, “The Case for the Consumer of Natural Gas,” Georgetown Law Reviews, June 1956, p. 585. “Very frankly”: “Minutes—Democratic Policy Committee,” July 26, 28, 1955,” Box 364, JSP. “I wanted”: “Minutes,” Jan. 5, 1956, Box 364, JSP.

  “They sent”: Oltorf interview. Mayflower scene: Connally, Dale Miller, Wild interviews. Humble paying Clark: Clark interview. Patman was informed: “The question has been raised…,” undated statement but obviously 1961, G 242, 1 of 3, Drew Pearson Papers; Wild interview. “I remember”: Miller interview. “For twenty years”: Caro, Path, pp. 269–73. “You know”: Wild interview.

  “At whoever’s”: Brammer interview. Allowed them to use: Crawford and Keever, Connally, p. 62; Brammer, Clark, Connally, Jenkins, Miller, Wild interviews. “He would call”: Clark interview. “Harder”; Bridges at Huntlands: Oltorf interview. “I was asked”: Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, p. 86. Patman’s in New Hampshire: NYT, March 8. “The reason”: Connally interview. Rubbed together: Clark interview. Patman sent Neff: NYT, Feb. 12. “I was”: Wild interview. “He got”: Oltorf interview. Enough to win: Wild interview.

  Outrage: NYT, Jan. 27; Nation, Feb. 4; New Republic, June 27, 1955; Fleeson, WS, Jan. 27. Proclaiming: Johnson, quoted in Stokes, WS, Jan. 26; NYT, Jan. 8.

  Johnson had told: “Bob has gotten word to all our folks not to question the opponents in debate” (Jenkins to Johnson, Jan. 19, Box 268, JSP). “That left”: Othman, WDN, Jan. 25. “For the”: Stokes, WS, Jan. 26. “The concentrated”: Congressional Quarterly, Feb. 7. “In droves”: WP, Jan. 27. “Never”: Pearson, WP, Jan
. 25. “Douglas gave a (long) speech against the gas bill,” Howard Shuman recalls. “No one came. Johnson wouldn’t let them come” (Shuman interview).

  Case’s speech: CR, 84/2, Feb. 3. “SENATOR TELLS”: WP, Feb. 4. “You are”: Clark interview. Vacant rooms; Connally knew: Clark, Wild interviews. “White-faced”: Pearson and Anderson, Case, p. 142. “Sat paralyzed”: Reston Jr., Lone Star, p. 170. “No attempt”: Connally with Herskowitz, In History’s Shadow, p. 147.

  “I think”: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 433. “A vague”: AP wire, PA 121 PM, Feb. 4. “Thus far”: NYT, Feb. 5. A deliberate; “a complete”; no delay; “just”: NYT, WP, Feb. 5, 6, 7. “Can ill afford”: NYT, Feb. 7. “Casting aside”: NYT, Feb. 7. An indication of how anger at Case crossed party lines is given in a memo from Jack Anderson to Drew Pearson (Feb. 15, Pearson Papers): “Postmaster General Summerfield was commenting at a cock tail party the other day…. He said that Case was like the little boy at the Sunday School picnic who spit in the lemonade. (Except he used a stronger word than spit.)”

  Hennings said: NYT, Feb. 7. “The whisper”: NYT, Feb. 19. “On reflection”: Russell Baker, NYT, March 11. “If there”: James Reston, NYT, Feb. 20. Johnson pulled: Reston Jr., Lone Star, p. 170; White, NYT, Feb. 19. Digitalis: Childs, WP, Feb. 15; Pearson, WP, Feb. 14. “I felt”: Reston Jr., Lone Star, p. 170.

  Johnson-Knowland resolution: “S. Res. 205, In the Senate of the United States,” in Report No. 1724, Select Committee for Contribution Investigation, March 29, 1956, pp. 1, 2, Box 117, LBJA SF. Krock, NYT, Feb. 9, 15; Pearson, WP, Feb. 16. “Without known”: NYT, Feb. 15. Letter: George to Case, Feb. 7, Box 400, JSP. “Mr. George just”: NYT, Feb. 9. Johnson’s meeting with Hennings, Gore: WP, Feb. 16. “Let’s go”: WP, Feb. 16. Also see Pearson, Diaries, p. 356. Attempt to gag: Stokes, WS, Feb. 9. “IT DOESN’T PAY”: NYT, Feb. 9.

  “Bored in”: NYT, Feb. 11. Neff, Patman testimony: Report No. 1724, pp. 3, 4; NYT, Feb. 12. Ross declared: Report No. 1724, p. 4; NYT, Feb. 18, 21; Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1956, p. 474. “This handful”: Time, Feb. 27. “To get in contact”: NYT, Feb. 21, 29; Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1956, p. 474. “Had $2,500”: NYT, WP, March 1, 6. “Inadvertently”: Report No. 1724, p. 6. The list: Report No. 1724; NYT, WP, March 1. “Substantial”: Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1956, p. 473. “He was worried”: Mooney, LBJ, p. 97.

  At one point; “He was not asked”; “scratching”: NYT, Feb. 14. “Only”: NYT, Feb. 22. “Or was”: Krock, NYT, Feb. 14. “Personally”: Richard Rovere, “Letter from Washington,” The New Yorker, Feb. 25; NYT, Feb. 16. It “was limited”: Report No. 1724, p. 2. Suspended sentences: NYT, Dec. 15, 1956.

  Its “strangest”: WP, April 9. “Carefully circumscribed”: Childs, WP, April 4.

  “A great stench”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, pp. 302, 303. “Doubt”: NYT, Feb. 18. Ike’s veto: Ambrose, p. 302. Ambrose notes that “Eisenhower wrote private letters to a number of his oil-industry friends, including Sid Richardson, explaining his motives and assuring that he felt the ‘questionable aura that surrounded its passing’ had been created ‘by an irresponsible and small segment of the industry.’” “Since”: NYT, Feb. 18.

  “Slippery”: Denver Post, Feb. 16. “The honor”: WP, Feb. 20. “every reason”: NYT, Feb. 15. “This city”: Reston, NYT, Feb. 20.

  “Unfairly”: NYT, Feb. 22. “Saddle your horse”: Time, March 5. “Has been”: NYT, Feb. 21. “Liveliest”: Time, Feb. 27.

  Bridges’ maneuvers: Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1956, pp. 743, 744; NYT, WP, WS, March 1–10. “Boiling”: Newsweek, March 12. “Bipartisanship”: New Republic, March 12. McClellan’s law firm: “Memo to DP from Donovan,” March 8, Pearson Papers. “Evinced”: NYT, March 1.

  “Which might”: NYT, March 12. “File clerk”: WDN, April 13. Never asked: A discussion of the committee’s work is in Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1956, pp. 743–48.

  “The big to-do”: Wild interview. “As his first assignment”: “Report of the Special Review Committee of the Board of Directors of Gulf Oil Corporation, In the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Civil Action No. 75–0325: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Gulf Oil Corporation and Claude C. Wild, Jr., Defendants,” p. 64.

  “Shirks”; “Insufficient”: Richard A. Smith, “The Unnatural Problems of Natural Gas,” Fortune, Sept. 1959. $10.7 billion: Ibid. Value of Kecks’ stock: NYT, June 20, 1959. Had Texas Eastern: Richard A. Smith, “The Unnatural Problems of Natural Gas,” Fortune, Sept. 1959; Standard & Poor, 1959–1960, p. 9051. A billion: Actually $1,045,943,000; ibid., p. 1286.

  “I don’t”: Smathers OH. “I have had”: Cain to Corcoran, Feb. 8, “Lyndon Johnson,” Thomas Corcoran Papers, LC. Johnson’s examination: NYT, WP, Feb. 20. “He could be”: Brammer interview. Rowe told Johnson: Jenkins, Rowe interviews.

  Brown could not: Clark, Oltorf interviews. “Quite sincere”: Evans and Novak, LBJ: Exercise, pp. 154, 155.

  “Over a year”: Evans and Novak, p. 157. “Clearly”: Reedy interview. “I happen”: Johnson to Meany, July 19, LBJA FN. “The Administration”: Reedy, quoted in Miller, p. 189. Malone vote: Evans and Novak, pp. 158, 159; Miller, p. 189; Oliver OH. “Dog loyal”: Mooney, p. 50. “Serious”: Smathers OH. “Bob”: Oliver OH. “Johnson fully”: Evans and Novak, p. 159. Refused: Clark interview. “Was seated”: Baker OH. “He arranged”; “infuriated”: Mooney, pp. 50, 51. “I remember”: Mooney OH. “No doubt”: Evans and Novak, p. 159. “Put a lot”: Baker OH. Johnson’s reaction: Mooney, p. 51. “Senator Clements”; “Johnson tried”: Baker OH. Does not jibe: Busby, Clark, Wild interviews. “Pointed out”: Mooney, p. 51.

  30. The Rising Tide

  Six works are the basic sources for the general background on black voter registration and on the legal situation of black Americans and the civil rights movement up to 1960. They are Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters, John Egerton’s Speak Now Against the Day, Richard Kluger’s Simple Justice, Steven F. Lawson, Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944–1969, Margaret Price, The Negro Voter in the South, and United States Commission on Civil Rights, With Liberty and Justice for All, 1959.

  Bullock County incident: Aaron Sellers et al. versus S. B. Wilson et al.—United States District Court, Middle District, Alabama, Sept. 10, 1954, 123 F. Supp. 917, in CR, 85/1, pp. 13320–322; United States Commission on Civil Rights, Dec. 8, 1958, “Hearing Held in Montgomery, Alabama,” pp. 267–81, 313–14, 321 (referred to as “1958 Hearing”); United States Commission on Civil Rights, With Liberty and Justice for All: The Report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights,” 1959; Price, Negro Voter, p. 11; Strong, Registration of Voters in Alabama; and author’s interviews with John Holt, Aaron Sellers, and Gladys Sellers Washington.

  “Voucher System”: 1958 Hearing, pp. 176–77, 313–14.

  Out of eleven thousand, five: With Liberty and Justice for All, An Abridgement of the Report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1959, p. 73; Birmingham News, Sept. 18, 1960. “Was not connected”: Kennamer, district judge, in CR, 85/1, p. 13321. “What’s your trouble”: Sellers, in 1958 Hearing, pp. 270–71; Sellers interview. “The white people”: Sellers interview. Only Wilson appeared: CR, 85/1, p. 13321. “Told us”: Sellers, 1958 Hearing, p. 272. “I just”: Sellers interview. “Whenever the plaintiffs”: Kennamer ruling, in CR, 85/1, p. 13321. “We couldn’t”: Sellers, 1958 Hearing, p. 275.

  “Fragments”: William P. Rogers, in U.S. Senate, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, p. 225. “Flashed”: Kluger, p. 88. “The Jim Crow era”: Kluger, p. 72. “Officially”: Kluger, p. 9. “Blotted out”: Bilbo, quoted in Egerton, pp. 402–03.

  “Serious consideration”; Only about 2 percent: Henry W. Grady, quoted in Kluger, pp. 62, 233. Smith v. Allwright: Egerton, p. 380; Kluger, pp. 234–36. 15 percent, “the warning siren”; “success”: Egerton, p. 397.

  “Things would be different”: Egerton, p. 329. “A lot of”: Hastie, quoted in Kl
uger, p. 294. Life covers: Egerton, p. 513. “Spreading sense”: Egerton, p. 324.

  “Stomach turned”: William E. Leuchtenburg, “The Conversion of Harry Truman,” American Heritage, Nov. 1991.

  Brown v. Board of Education: General situation from Kluger. “I have”: Kluger, p. 667. Reed looking at Marshall: Marshall, quoted in Egerton, p. 608. And see Kluger, pp. 7, 8, 9. Knelt: A vivid scene of two black preachers—the Revs. Wyatt T. Walker and Vernon Johns—kneeling by the side of a Virginia highway when they heard the news over the car radio is in Branch, p. 285.

  Confederacy rose in rage: Egerton, pp. 615–18. Martin, Deep South, passim; Stan Opotowsky, “Dixie Dynamite: The Inside Story of the White Citizens Councils,” series in NYP, Jan. 7–17, 1957. “Refuses to recognize”: Brady, quoted in Martin, Deep South, p. 16. “A separate suit”: Martin, p. 73.

  “These laws”: Egerton, p. 615; Kluger, pp. 702, 720, 723–24, 752–53, 778; Martin, pp. 72–73, 79–103. Fifty-three Negroes: Martin, Deep South, pp. 20–30; Halberstam, The Fifties, p. 430. Jackson petition: Martin, Deep South, p. 29. 1955 situation: Martin, Deep South, p. 163.

  Attempts to liberalize Rule 22 in 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953: See notes for Chapters 3, 7, 8, 19, 20. Also Douglas, Fullness of Time, p. 277. Sixty-one separate bills: Congressional Record Index, 1953, 1954, 1955.

  “In view”: Douglas, Fullness of Time, p. 281.

  Rev. George Lee murder: Civil Rights Education Project, Free at Last, pp. 36, 37. “A real”: Halberstam, p. 430. “Get the niggers”; “When I saw”: Ruby Hurley, quoted in Howell Raines, My Soul Is Rested, p. 132. Could “have been fillings”: Wilkins, Standing Fast, p. 222; Civil Rights Education Project, Free at Last, p. 37.

  Lamar Smith murder: Civil Rights Education Project, Free at Last, pp. 38–39.

  Gus Courts wounding: Price, Negro Voter, pp. 21–22. Senate Committee on Judiciary, “Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights,” 1957, pp. 532–63; WP, March 1, 1957. Brownell said: Brownell, Advising Ike, p. 204; NYT, Dec. 7, 1955. “The nation’s press”: Halberstam, p. 431.