JFK picks Symington, Nixon wins the election. Is LBJ the presumptive 1964 or 1968 Dem nominee?
LBJ's biggest problem was money. LBJ had no problem raising money while IN the White House (TFX, F-4, Bell Helicopter), but not on the outside. The question is, would the Dem nomination be a catfight or primogeniture?JFK picks Symington, Nixon wins the election. Is LBJ the presumptive 1964 or 1968 Dem nominee?
You are absolutely right! And when you're right, you're right! Uh, ofcourse, you're talking about the day he died, right? Barry Goldwater was shown a series of photos on 60 Minutes once, asking him to comment on each. It's been many years, so I only remember two. Phyllis Schafley: "That woman is so conservative she makes me look like a Socialist". LBJ: (After pausing several seconds) "Probably made more money AS President than any President since Ulysses S. Grant. And that's all I'll say about that." My understanding, RogueBeaver, is this: LBJ never had an income beyond government salaries, yet he left the White House a millionaire. Google Senator "Scoop" Jackson of Washington State and how he got his nickname.Excuse me? LBJ was one of the wealthiest Presidents ever, likely exceeding the Kennedys in total assets. Without LBJ in the picture, if JFK wins WV and WI, then he gets the nomination. Nixon still wins in November.
LBJ's biggest problem was money. LBJ had no problem raising money while IN the White House (TFX, F-4, Bell Helicopter), but not on the outside. The question is, would the Dem nomination be a catfight or primogeniture?![]()
Excuse me? LBJ was one of the wealthiest Presidents ever, likely exceeding the Kennedys in total assets. Without LBJ in the picture, if JFK wins WV and WI, then he gets the nomination. Nixon still wins in November.
It wasn't shadowy defense contract deals, or oil money. And Barry Goldwater was lying thru his teeth. I guess some people just have absolute blindspots for a particular person. For Truman, it was a pair of 5 star generals. For Gary Trudeau (Doonesbury) it was Henry Kissinger and George H.W. Bush.No, no, LBJ was tapped into the spigot of Big Oil* big time, from his earliest days in the house. Brown and Root (the parent company of Haliburton) were his strongest cronies.
He funnelled huge amounts to the DCCC in the 1940 election, and was the unofficial national congressional campaign manager.
When he got to the senate the Dixiecrats from the non-oil states (which was all of them) were amazed at the cash he could raise.
*Although his first & strongest connection was with the construction/engineering industry that serviced Texas' oil sector. Same thing.
It wasn't shadowy defense contract deals, or oil money. And Barry Goldwater was lying thru his teeth. I guess some people just have absolute blindspots for a particular person. For Truman, it was a pair of 5 star generals. For Gary Trudeau (Doonesbury) it was Henry Kissinger and George H.W. Bush.
It turns out that YES all that LBJ had was his salary, but LADYBIRD died after amassing a personal fortune of $150,000,000!She did it by finagling her inheritance of approx. $50,000 to become the Rupert Murdoch of Texas! Buying out failing radio and TV stations and turning them around. Having her husband pressure the FCC into maintaining a Ladybird monopoly in Austin didn't hurt.
I think the problem may be that by 2010 standards LBJ is doing life in ClubFed, but by the standards of the 30's thru 60's, he was simply ahead of the regulatory curve (they hadn't necessarily written the laws he was breaking yet).I don't understand the above paragraph.
In the post you quote I was concerned with the money LBJ could channel from the Texas private sector (Big Oil related) to his allies in the Democratic Party, beginning in 1940, and the fact that this political leverage wasn't directly related to the fact he & Lady Bird were farting through silk.
This is all documented, even if none of it was carried out under what would now be considered McCain-Feingold accounting (or ethics).
He had sweetheart deals whereby he received great, and I mean great, investment advice from his friends the Brown brothers, and sweetheart deals in which he got fantastic advertising revenue from his stations thanks to the business of the friends of his friends.
Unethical, to be sure--unless of course we consider the ethics of the recent Citizens United case. Then it was all just an example of corporations exercising their God given rights as private citizens of the United States.
Anyway, $150 million accumulated over two generations tells me Johnson died with Mrs Rudd type money. Which isn't bad, but not exactly the same as the notorious Boss Tweed.
I think the problem may be that by 2010 standards LBJ is doing life in ClubFed, but by the standards of the 30's thru 60's, he was simply ahead of the regulatory curve (they hadn't necessarily written the laws he was breaking yet).
His record on civil rights scares away Blacks and liberals.
While Lyndon Johnson's voting records on Civil Rights while in Congress weren't pristine, his support for Civil Rights was much greater than that of either of the Kennedy brothers or any of his predecessors within the Democratic leadership.
*Although his first & strongest connection was with the construction/engineering industry that serviced Texas' oil sector. Same thing.
Magniac: To quote LBJ: "I didn't know many Negroes when I was growing up, but I knew about Mexicans and poverty." Truman, while a courageous opponent of the Missouri KKK, lived in a Midwestern state leaning Dixie (like Indiana).
Of course, those of us who LIVE down here know just what side of the oil business you're talking about when you say "Brown & Root"The sheer variety of oil businesses is quite large. Obviously most everyone has heard of the giants like Exxon or Chevron, but how many know about Schlumberger (to take one particularly prominent example)?
In 2010 I bet Halliburton dreams of having the public image Exxon does, thanks to the recent unpleasantness (the old Brown and Root is now part of the Halliburton empire).