The Path to Power (146 page)

Books and articles:

Ludeman,
History of La Salle County
.

Vulcan Mold & Oil Co.,
Pit and Pour
, April, 1964, pp. 1–2; Louis B. Engelke, “Our Texas Towns: Cotulla,” San Antonio
Express
Magazine, Sept. 21, 1952; Carol Hinckley, “LBJ—Teacher Turned President,”
The Texas Outlook
, March, 1972;
Houston Post
, Jan. 27, 1964.

Johnson’s speeches:

“Remarks of the President at the Welhausen Elementary School, Cotulla, Texas,” Nov. 7, 1966, PP 1966, Vol. II, pp. 1347–1350.

“Remarks of the President to the National Conference on Educational Legislation,” March 1, 1965, PP 1965, Vol. I, pp. 226–31.

Interviews:

Carol Davis, Ethel Davis, Leland Derrick, Boody Johnson, RJB, SHJ, Sarah Tinsley Marshall, Alfred Nolle.

Description of Cotulla in 1928:
Ludeman, pp. 30–56; Engelke, “Our Texas Towns”; Pool, pp. 137–45; Mrs. Marshall.

Unable to lure:
To persuade Johnson to come, Donaho had offered him an unusually high salary: $125 per month for nine months—a total of $1,125—compared to an annual income of $842 for male teachers in Texas in 1929 (Pool,
LBJ
, p. 141).

Arrived early and stayed late:
Thomas Coronado, janitor at the Welhausen School at the time, says that Johnson was always the first to arrive and the last to leave the school each day,
HP
.
Arranging games at recess and meets with other schools:
Johnson, 1965 and 1966 speeches (they contain some exaggerations); Hinckley, “LBJ”; Mrs. Marshall; Steinberg, p. 47; Pool, pp. 142–43.

No teacher cared:
Johnson, 1965 speech; Mrs. Marshall; Pool, p. 143.
“He spanked”:
Hinckley, “LBJ”; Juan Rodriguez, quoted in Vulcan Mold,
Pit and Pour; HP
.
Making them learn English:
Hinckley, “LBJ”;
HP
.
“As soon as we understood”:
Juanita Ortiz, quoted in
HP
.
Scant respect for their culture:
Steinberg, p. 47.
“If we hadn’t done”:
Juanita Hernandez, quoted in
HP
.
“He used to tell us”:
Daniel Garcia, quoted in
HP
.
“The little baby in the cradle”:
Juan Ortiz, quoted in
HP
.

“He put us to work”:
Manuel Sanchez, quoted in
HP
.
Lying in his room:
Johnson, 1966 speech. [Statements of Lyndon Johnson, Box 221.]
Christmas trees:
Ludeman, p. 124.
Johnson’s relations with other teachers:
Elizabeth Johnson (no relation), quoted in
HP
.
Johnson’s relationship with Coronado:
Coronado, quoted in
HP
.

He was aware:
Nolle, Derrick.
“This may sound strange”:
HP
.
“I still see”:
Johnson, 1966 speech.

The song:
Hinckley, “LBJ”; Steinberg, p. 45.
Garcia’s imitation:
Newlon,
LBJ
, p. 37; Pool, p. 144; Garcia quoted in
HP
.
“He told us”:
Amanda Garcia, quoted in
AA-S
, Jan. 8, 1964.

“Broke”:
Mrs. Marshall, SHJ.
“Lyndon confided in me”:
Mrs. Marshall.
Lonely in Cotulla:
Mrs. Marshall, Boody Johnson, RJB.
“A little dried-up town”:
Lady Bird Johnson interview, March 1, 1976.

Carol Davis relationship:
Mrs. Marshall, Carol Davis, Ethel Davis.
“She sat down in the back room”:
Ethel Davis.

See Sources for Chapter 8.

Again summer editor:
And again using blaring headlines. He was to be the editor for nine issues, the first of which appeared June 12, 1929. Previously, banner headlines across the entire six-column width of the paper had been used infrequently. But he used them in eight of the nine issues of which he was editor, sometimes for subjects that would not normally have merited such attention; for example, COLLEGE THEATER TO PRESENT MEDIEVAL PLAY.
“Capable management”:
Star
, June 12, 1929.
Demoted; fistfight with Kennedy:
Whiteside to Johnson, April 14, 1937, Box 3, JHP; Kennedy, Whiteside, Richards.

Black Stars in politics:
Berry, Knispel, Boody, Spinn; Pool, pp. 104–5.
Formation of White Stars; admitting Johnson; the first election:
Interviews with all five of the founding members of the White Stars
—Whiteside, Richards, Deason, Woods, and Harzke—and with Spinn; Deason OH I, p. 9. Also, Johnson, on Scott Tape. For the Blanket Tax, see, for example, Star, Jan. 15, April 9, 23, 1930.
“They made fun”:
So Relle.
“Buttonholing”:
Harzke.
“His greatest forte”; “The night before”:
Deason OH II, pp. 5, 6.
“The day I won”; “Lyndon’s strategy”:
Deason.

Johnson’s own election:
Richards, Whiteside.

Ruth Lewis episode:
So Relle, Richards.

“I had to rely”; “We took the keys”:
Johnson, on Scott Tape.
“Lyndon’s idea”:
Woods, Whiteside, Richards.

“Those wonderful conversations”:
SHJ,
My Brother
, pp. 27–28; more details furnished by SHJ in interview.
White Stars’ secrecy:
Richards, Whiteside, Deason, Harzke; Deason OH.

Star
and
Pedagog
editorships:
So Relle, Kyle, Puis, Richards, Hofheinz, Boody Johnson. See
Star
editorial of April 30, 1930, which states that “some of our student legislators are busy angling about for a suitable candidate,” and wonders why, since “there are several persons on the campus who are capable of handling the situation and are willing to undertake the job. … there is no dearth of capable editors. So why not cut out all the bickering and wire-pulling and elect the best qualified applicant regardless of political whims or party affiliations.”
“To a standstill”:
Derrick; and see Pool, p. 95.
“I befriended”; “I thought”; “two of his henchmen,” etc.:
Kyle.
“All the time,” etc.:
Puis.
“Very smart”:
So Relle.

“Thinking back”:
SHJ,
My Brother
, p. 28.
“His penchant”:
SHJ.
“Joe Bailey”:
Nolle, RJB. And see SHJ, pp. 31–2.
Johnson’s reminiscences:
Preserved on the Scott Tape. Scott was the young man present.

Frank Arnold episode:
Hofheinz, Whiteside.
Acne episode:
Whiteside.

Evans more friendly to Lyndon than to anyone else:
Nolle, Derrick, Strahan.
“As he was”:
Strahan.
Deans wary:
Nolle.

Bales necessary:
Nichols, p. 38.
Professors helping:
Nichols, pp. 39, 92–93; Nolle.
“Sacrifices”:
Star
, Dec. 17, 1929.
“Twenty cents”:
Richards.

Giving his friends jobs:
Richards; Nail, quoted in Pool, p. no; Boody Johnson.
“Always willing”:
Casparis.
“If he’s got too much pride”:
Richards.

“Head-huddling”:
Hopper, So Relle.
“Anathema”:
Berry.
“He’d avoid us”:
Kennedy.
“After Carol”:
Hofheinz, Kvle.

“Cut your throat”:
Hofheinz.
“Wasn’t straight”:
So Relle.
“Just like everything else”:
Richards.
“He had power”:
So Relle.

Editorials:
Woods.
“Why?”:
So Relle.
“Didn’t just dislike”:
Yarborough.
“By the end”:
So Relle.

“My dear Mother”:
Johnson to Rebekah Johnson, Dec. 13, 1929, “Family Correspondence,” Box 1, LBJL.
Frequent trips:
SHJ.

“Stop the presses!”:
Kennedy, confirmed by Richards.
Pedagog references:
1930
Pedagog
, pp. 210, 236, 235, 226–27.

Pages excised:
Nichols, pp. 214–15, where Evans’ letter is also quoted; Nolle, Derrick. Nichols says that the pages were excised from copies sent “to all high school libraries, to the other [college] presidents, and to the members of the board of regents,” but Nolle and Derrick, who were among those who cut out the pages, say that they were removed as well from copies remaining on the campus.
Graduation Day scene:
Nichols, pp. 439–40.
Mother weeping:
SHJ. Evans’ fondness for Johnson was documented in his Redbooks. For ten years after Johnson’s graduation, each year’s notebook contains Johnson’s current address (Nichols, p. 27).
“The enduring lines”:
Johnson, quoted in
Houston Press
, Dec. 10, 1963. His years at San Marcos, he also said, were “the most formative period of my life.”

Articles, transcript:

WPA, Texas:
A Guide
.

“The Printer’s Devil,” student newspaper of Sam Houston High School, 1930, 1931.

“Transcript of an Exclusive Interview Granted by President Lyndon B. Johnson to Robert E. McKay on May 21, 1965” (McKay Transcript).

Oral Histories:

Ruth Booker, Welly K. Hopkins, L. E. Jones, Carroll Keach, Gene Latimer.

Interviews:

Willard Deason, William Goode, Welly K. Hopkins, Boody Johnson, Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt (RJB), Sam Houston Johnson (SHJ), L. E. Jones, Gene Latimer, Horace Richards, Ella So Relle, Wilton Woods, Yancy Yarborough.

Lyndon speaking at the barbecue:
Hopkins to Craddock, Dec. 3, 1964, WHCF Exec. GI 2-8/M; The scene is described by Wilton Woods and Welly Hopkins in interviews, in Hopkins’ OH, and in many Johnson biographies, including Pool and Steinberg. See also “Town Talk,”
AS
, April 15, 1938.
“Lyndon, get up there”:
Woods; Rebekah Johnson, quoted in undated and unidentified newspaper clipping, “Family Correspondence (Mother): Box 1, LBJL.
Johnson coming to the platform:
Hopkins OH, p. 9; Woods; Hopkins, quoted in Pool, Lyndon B. Johnson, pp. 165–66.
“He talked in the dark”:
Woods.
“His reply I’ve never forgotten”:
Hopkins OH, p. 10.

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” (
R
uth 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.