Means of Ascent (88 page)

Had enrolled in the Naval Reserve:
“Public Activities—Biographic Information, L. B. Johnson, June 11,1940, Commission in U.S. Navy,” Box 73, LBJA SF.
Went to Nimitz’ office:
Magnuson OH.
“When you get back”
:
Johnson to Hopkins, Dec. 8, 1941, Personal Papers of Welly K. Hopkins, Box 1, LBJL.
Magnuson
appealed to Vinson:
Magnuson interview;
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, Dec. 20, 1941, May 10, 1942.
Magnuson’s combat service:
Magnuson interview; Magnuson OH;
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, Dec. 21, 1941-May 21, 1942;
HC
, Dec. 12, 1941.

Request for
“active duty”
:
Johnson to Roosevelt, Dec. 8, 1941, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
Pro forma:
Among those aware of the job Johnson wanted were Corcoran and Young. On the same day on which he went to see Roosevelt, he introduced a bill in the House that would create the new agency, which, under his bill, would be
headed by a $10,000-a-year director appointed by the President
(Brenham Banner-Press, DMN
, Dec. 10, 1941). During his talk with Roosevelt, it is unclear that any other type of “active duty” was even mentioned; if it was, the type Johnson had in mind may be hinted at by the fact that presidential assistant Marvin McIntyre wrote on Johnson’s letter, at the time Johnson was going to Forrestal’s office, “File—taken care
of,” and explained to Grace Tully a few days later that Johnson “is on active duty in the Navy here in Washington” (Tully to Roosevelt, Dec. 17, 1941, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers). Johnson himself was to say, “I took my oath as lieutenant commander and went to work as a deputy to Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal.” As will be seen, his lobbying for the directorship continued all during December.

Johnson’s previous proposal to merge NYA and CCC:
Memo to Roosevelt, Dec. 6, 1941, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
“Said he understood”
:
Johnson, quoted in Dugger, p. 239.
Goes to Forrestal’s office:
Barker to Bard, Dec. 16, 1941, Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
“How do you want?”
:
Forrestal to Johnson, undated, Box 4, LBJA FN.
Dispatched for inspection tour and liaison:
Forrestal to Olds, Dec. 20, 1941; “Memorandum for Commander Gingrich,” Dec. 18, 1941, Baker to Beswick, Dec. 16, 1941, Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJA SF.
“I am very
hopeful”
:
Johnson to Roosevelt, undated (acknowledged Dec. 30, 1941), PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
“Will probably get out”
:
Johnson to Tom Clark, Jan, 2, 1942, Box 5, “Je-Jo,” Clark Papers.
Note from Roosevelt:
Roosevelt to Johnson, Dec. 30, 1941, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
“Art galleries and all”
:
Mrs. Johnson interview with author.

Loathed his work:
Mooney, pp. 60–61.
“A paper-shifting job”
:
Johnson, quoted in Miller, p. 92.

Encounter with Admiral:
Johnson, quoted in Dugger, p. 239.

Not a joking matter; Vinson’s relationship with Admirals:
Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 537.
“He couldn’t stand”
:
Caro, p. 229.
“If he couldn’t lead”
; take his ball:
Caro, p. 71.
“Settle a personal problem”
:
Miller, p. 92; Steinberg, p. 189.
Roosevelt gives him no satisfaction:
Roosevelt to Watson, Jan. 22, 1942, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers; Corcoran interview.
Meeting and charming Barker:
Barker to Gingrich, Barker to Bard, Dec. 16, 1941, Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
Dispatched
as Barker’s assistant:
Barker to Pederson, Dec. 16, 1941, Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.

Restoration of relationship with Rayburn:
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 754–63.

“We would go”
:
Connally interview.
“We had a lot of fun”
: Connally interview.
Faking the photographs:
Otto Crider, quoted in Dugger, p. 240. Dugger does not identify Kellam by name, but Kellam himself often told the story in later years.
Wrestling
match;
“the next morning”
; Weisl’s arrangements
: Connally interview.

Alice Glass’s biography and relationship with Johnson: Described in
Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 476–92.
“Give Herman the dam”
:
Caro, p. 483.
Selling him land:
Caro, p. 488.
Oil deal:
Caro, pp.
xiii–xvi. Told intimates that she and Johnson had discussed marriage:
The intimates to
whom she told this include her sister, Mary Louise Glass Young, and Harold Young, who at the time was an aide to Vice President Henry Wallace and an adviser to Charles Marsh.
“A young man”
:
Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 482.

“I can write”
:
Alice Glass to Oltorf, Sept.
16, 1967
(copy in author’s possession). The letter goes on to tell Oltorf, Brown & Root’s lobbyist: “You could certainly write a very interesting chapter on his rise (we must call it from ‘rags to riches,’ nothing else would pass his approval) in the financial world. I
could also add some factual details to your original. This chapter should give hope and ambition to many a young poor Texan—we certainly owe the youth of Texas this. It is our duty. But there you are; nothing but trouble with the Historic Society.” When
The Path to Power
—and its description of Lyndon Johnson’s long relationship with Mrs. Marsh—was published, a former Johnson aide, Liz Carpenter, for example, said, “I think it is a
ridiculous charge made at a time when the man who could answer it can no longer answer.” She said she knew nothing “whatsoever” of any romantic involvement between Johnson and Glass
(AA-S
, Oct. 20, 1982).
“She was disgusted”
: Mary Louise Young interview. “Lyndon was the love”: Hopkins interview.

“An interesting time”
:
Connally interview.
Use of
“due bills”
:
Mary Louise and Harold Young interviews; Dugger, p.
239
. Mary Louise, Marsh’s secretary at the time, arranged for Johnson to use the bills.
Matsomoto episode:
Connally
interview. He showed the author the robe with great pride.

“Placed in line”
:
HP
,
Dec
. 11, 1941.
Johnson’s location being concealed from Marsh:
On Feb. 21, 1942, Johnson’s secretary, Mary Rather, telegraphed Johnson at the Empire Hotel in San Francisco:
“
MARSH AT BEVERLY WILSHIRE HOTEL, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, TODAY. ANXIOUS TALK TO YOU ON PHONE OR SEE YOU. TOLD GLASS I WOULD ATTEMPT LOCATE YOU
”
(Rather to Johnson, Feb. 21, 1942, Box 26, LBJA SN). “Glass” is Alice’s sister, Mary Louise, who was one of Charles Marsh’s secretaries. She told the author that Marsh had instructed her to locate Johnson, a task she was anxious not to carry out, since she knew Johnson was with her sister in California. Mary Louise says that when she called Miss Rather, Miss Rather panicked and not knowing what to do sent the telegram to Johnson. Miss Rather then called
her back and said she could not contact Johnson, so Miss Glass was able to tell
her
boss, Marsh, that Johnson could not be located, and the possibility of an embarrassing scene was avoided.

“We were really working”
: Connally interview.
“Where is that man?”
:
Weber quoted Barker’s remarks in his letter to Johnson, Feb. 15, 1942 (Box 35, LBJA SN).
“I’m very
glad”
:
Barker to Johnson, Feb.
16
, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
“Crossing each other”
: Johnson to Barker, Feb. 19, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
“I’ve been wondering”
:
Barker to Johnson, Mar.
10
, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.

The letters from Johnson’s congressional office:
Weber to Johnson, Johnson to Weber, Feb. 2-Mar. 26, 1942, “O. J. Weber,” Box
35
, LBJA SN.
Texarkana rentals:
Weber to Johnson, Feb. 16, 1942, “O. J. Weber,” Box
35
, LBJA SN.
Wrestling with the larger problem:
Connally interview. Had promised Allred support: Connally interview.
“Might not ever”
:
Connally interview.
Roosevelt’s feelings:
See, for example, Roosevelt to
Ickes, Feb
. 4, 1942, Box 70 (Texas, 1938–1945, G-J), OF-300-Roosevelt Papers.
Wirtz told him:
His feelings are shown in a letter he wrote to Lady Bird, which Wirtz evidently felt she would pass on to her husband: “If his
name were put on the ballot … I think it would ruin his future political career because the people would have the idea he is trying to make political capital out of his uniform.” Wirtz to Mrs. Johnson, May 14, 1942, Box 37, LBJA SN.
“War fever”
:
Connally interview.
Plans for draft:
DMN
, May 13, 14, 1942.

“All over the place”
:
Johnson to Gingrich, Feb. 27, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
“A very frustrating time”
;
“a constant stream of letters”
:
Mrs. Johnson interview.

“Something big”
:
Corcoran interview. The “something big” was no longer the directorship of a merged NYA-CCC, because by this time, it was already obvious that these two agencies were more likely to be abolished (as, indeed, they were) than merged.
“I can
appreciate”
:
Wirtz to Johnson, Feb. 23, 1942,
Box
37,
LBJA SN. Knudsen appointment:
Sherwood, p. 456.

“Things are very dull”
:
Johnson to Roosevelt, Johnson to Tully, Mar. 7, 1942; Roosevelt to Johnson, Mar. 17, 1942, OF-300-Texas-69(A), Roosevelt Papers.

Requesting transfer to Pearl Harbor:
Johnson to Barker, Feb. 21, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.
“I have no address”
:
Barker to Johnson, Mar. 4, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.

“Get your ass”
:
Marsh to Johnson, Apr. 21, 1942, Papers of Charles E. Marsh, Box 3, LBJL.
“I am doubtful”
:
Wirtz to Johnson, Feb. 23, 1942, Box 37, LBJA SN.

Lockhart’s suggestion:
AA-S
, Mar. 12, 13, 1942.
“Rendering patriotic and valuable service”
:
“government censorship”
:
AA-S
, Mar. 13, 14, 1942.
“Coming to a showdown”
:
Weber to Johnson, Mar. 16, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN.
“Have to have an answer”
:
Weber to Johnson, Mar. 14, 1942, Box 35, LBJA SN.
“I am under
orders”
:
Johnson to Blundell, “Political Correspondence, 1942,” Box 37, JHP.

“Getting it”
:
Magnuson to Parish, from “Somewhere in the Pacific,” printed in
Seattle Star
, Jan. 23, 1942.
Magnuson’s war service:
Magnuson interview; Magnuson OH;
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle Star
, Dec. 23, 1941–May 20, 1942.
Other congressmen’s service:
Maas—
Biographical Directory;
Van Zandt interview; Osmers—
NYT
, Jan. 17, 1942.
Unable to decide
: Connally interview.
Wirtz had let him know:
Wirtz to Johnson, Feb. 23, 1942, Box 37, LBJA SN. And see Magnuson OH. There may even have been pressure from the Navy. According to a memo written for his files by Johnson, he met in San Francisco on April 9 with Admiral J. W. Greenslade. Greenslade “discussed
briefly the kind of work Ensign Connally and I have been doing since entering active service.” Then, Johnson wrote, they “discussed … the desirability of extending our present work,” and Greenslade suggested an addition to their orders that would permit him to “assign additional duty such as submarine duty, bomber patrols, convoy commands.” If there was such pressure—the wording of the memo is ambiguous—Johnson
evaded it. “I told the Admiral a request for this addition to the orders would be made on my return” to Washington, he wrote. But when he got back to Washington, he made no such request.

“For the sake of political future”
: Daniels, p. 28.
Tells McIntyre:
Johnson to McIntyre, Apr. 7, 1942, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
Meeting with Roosevelt:
Apr. 26, 1942, memo, PPF 6149, Roosevelt Papers.
Nudge from Forrestal:
Johnson, quoted in Kintner to Fehr, Oct. 17, 1966, p. 2, “Public Activities-Biographic
Information-Naval Career,” Box 1A, LBJA SF.
Roosevelt assigns him:
“Chief of Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, to Lt. Cmdr. Lyndon B. Johnson,” Apr. 30, 1942, LBJ-Navy Unofficial Personnel File, LBJL.

Signs two petitions:
Connally interview.
Seals photographs in envelope:
The envelope and the photographs of Alice Glass are in Box 10, PPCF, at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin. One of these photographs is reproduced in Caro,
Path to Power
, in the photo section following p. 582, Plate 2, bottom right.

Flight across Pacific:
Newlon, pp. 87–88.