The Path to Power (148 page)

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.

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Edwin W. Knippa, “The Early Political Life of Lyndon B. Johnson, 1931–1937” (unpublished Master’s Thesis), San Marcos, 1967.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

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
, Jan. 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.

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.

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).

Child labor:
See, for example,
CCC
, Jan. 28, 1935.
Tarring the liberal:
Hopkins; Miller, quoted in
CCC
, July 22, 1932.
Advocating federal sales tax:
CCC
, July 21, 1932.
“His manner”:
Miller.

Dancing only with the wives:
Harbin, quoted in Knippa, p. 28; Brown OH, p. 86; Latimer.
“I can’t call him Henry”:
Brown OH, pp. 7–8.
“Executive type”:
Brown OH, p. 8.
“Lyndon goes”:
Brown OH, p. 86.
“Basic orientation”:
Brown OH, pp. 39–40. Excerpts from Oral History interviews conducted by Michael L. Gillette, Chief of Oral History at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, with Jones and Brown are revealing. Jones OH—Gillette: “He seems to have been considerably more of a liberal than Representative Kleberg in the early thirties.” Jones: “I know that would be easy to imagine, but I’m not sure that’s true. Not really more liberal.” Brown OH—Gillette: “Did you get the feeling that [Roy Miller] was sort of a mentor for
Kleberg?” Brown: “No. He was a mentor for Lyndon Johnson.” Gillette: “Oh, was he?” Brown: “Yes … He didn’t agree with Roosevelt and the Roosevelt policies at all. I would have to say that Lyndon was really getting himself oriented politically at the time. I think Lyndon’s earliest orientation was on the conservative side, you know, with Kleberg and Roy Miller and those people. He didn’t become a great liberal until quite a bit later.”
“I don’t think”:
Jones OH II, p. 9.
“Winning,” etc.:
Jones interview.

“The brightest secretary”:
Maverick, quoted in
San Marcos Daily News
, March 5, 1934. Sam Johnson’s handwritten note is found on a copy of the clipping, in “Public Activities–Biographic Information–Secretary to Congressman Kleberg,” Box 73, LBJA SF.

“Your own man”:
Brown OH, pp. 57–58.
Moving his desk:
Latimer interview and OH, p. 6.
Grabbing the credit:
For examples of how his press releases were reprinted in the press, see
CCC
, 1933–1934. An article on April 12, 1934, begins: “Information contained in a telegram last night from Lyndon B. Johnson, secretary …”
Building up his own organization in the district:
Latimer, Jones, Quill, Mrs. Sam Fore; Sam Fore, in Knippa, p. 29.
Boat trip:
Patman, quoted in Steinberg,
Sam Johnson’s Boy
, pp. 80–81.

Ambassadorship resolution:
CCC
, Feb. 28, March 5, 1933. See also
CCC
, Oct. 21, 1933.

San Antonio postmastership:
Kleberg to McIntyre, Feb. 18, 1934, Roosevelt to Garner, March 12, 1934, Howe to Farley, March 12, 1934, OF 400-Texas, Roosevelt Papers; Quill; CCC, June 15, 1934; among the influential persons whom Johnson persuaded to support Quill was Roy Miller.
“A first-class war”:
Brown OH, pp. 52–53.
“That’s what”; “way above”; immediately handling:
Quill.

Becoming friends with Maverick:
Brown OH, pp. 89–90.
Patronage post:
CCC
, Dec. 7, 1934.

“Do you suppose?”:
Wirtz, quoted in Brown OH, pp. 64–66.
Elmer Pope:
Brown OH, p. 63.
“Like youngsters”:
Hopkins.
Wirtz and Ferguson coming to Washington:
Ferguson.
“Knew Washington”; “could get you in”:
Hopkins, Clark, Ferguson.

Getting jobs:
Keach, Latimer, Crider OH, RJB; Brown OH.
Bell:
to Johnson, 1937.

“Didn’t make you rich”:
Deason.
“The best job”:
Crider OH, p. 9.
“Very appreciative”:
Morgan.
“Had sense enough”:
Deason.
Deason’s career shift:
Deason, Richards.
Kellam’s personality:
Woods, SHJ, Shelton.
Racing to Austin:
Latimer.
Shuffling papers:
Deason.
Johnson’s domination:
Clark.
Kellam crying:
Latimer.
“I remember”:
Brown OH, p. 59.

Passing on Deason’s job to Richards:
Deason, Richards.
Federal Land Bank jobs:
Deason, SHJ; Crider OH.

The primary source of information for this chapter is the author’s ten interviews with Mrs. Johnson.

Books and articles:

Two biographies—Montgomery,
Mrs. LBJ
, and Smith,
The President’s Lady
—present an idealized picture of her life, at variance with that given by other sources.

Helpful is the script of “A National Tribute to Lady Bird Johnson, on the Occasion of Her Sixty-Fifth Birthday,” presented at the LBJ Library, Dec. 11, 1977.

Among scores of magazine articles on Lady Bird Johnson, the most revealing are Blake Clark, “Lyndon Johnson’s Lady Bird,”
Reader’s Digest
, November, 1963; Elizabeth Janeway, “The First Lady: A Professional at Getting Things Done,”
Ladies’ Home Journal
, April, 1964; Barbara Klaw, “Lady Bird Remembers,”
American Heritage
, December, 1980; Flora Rheta Schreiber, “Lady Bird Johnson’s First Years of Marriage,”
Woman’s Day
, December, 1967; “The New First Lady,”
Time
, Nov. 29, 1963; “The First Lady Bird,”
Time
, Aug. 28, 1964.

Oral Histories:

Sherman Birdwell, Russell Brown, Ellen Taylor Cooper, Daniel J. Quill.

Other interviews:

Mary Elliott Botsford, Willard Deason, D. B. Hardeman, Rebekah Johnson, Sam Houston Johnson, L. E. Jones, Gene Latimer.

Democratic primary results:
1931, Blanco County Clerk’s office; 1932,
SAE
, July 25, 1932.
Because it was Johnson’s home:
Among those who report this feeling
are Stella Gliddon, Clayton Stribling, Gene Latimer.
“But they just didn’t”:
Latimer.
“Same old Lyndon”:
Stribling.
A familiar figure:
Knispel, Richards.