The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984 Page: 61
468 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Caro and Reedy on Lyndon Johnson
make a speech for Pat Neff," because of the help Neff had given his
father. He made such a good speech that Hopkins, himself a candidate
for the state senate, asked Johnson to run his own campaign. Caro is
breaking no new ground here. Doris Kearns, Merle Miller, and Ron-
nie Dugger all recount essentially the same sequence of events, based
on Hopkins's version, the president's own memory, and other oral
accounts.9
The Neff Papers, which are readily accessible at Baylor, reveal a more
interesting reason for Johnson's presence at Henly on June 26, 1930.
Pat Neff was appointed to the Railroad Commission in late 1929 to re-
place a deceased commissioner, and Sam Ealy Johnson sent him warm
congratulations. Calling the elder Johnson "My Dear Sir and Friend,"
Neff helped secure him a post as bus inspector.10 When Neff ran for
a full term on the commission in the Democratic primary in 1930, he
called on Sam Johnson, then living in San Marcos, to assist his campaign
in Hays County. "I have been working industriously, and I expect to
get my son to assist me as he can find time out of school hours. As he
gets out of school at i P.M., he will make all the country schools and
towns nearby," Sam Johnson wrote on June 18, 1930. "P.S.," he added,
"I have just learned that the annual barbecue at Henly will be on the
26th inst." Neff could not afford "to miss this splendid opportunity
to get your candidacy before the people." 1
Pat Neff had a speaking engagement in East Texas on June 26 and
could not be at Henly. "I will try, however, to have some one go from
Austin, to aid in the distribution of literature, and to look after things
generally on the occasion of this barbecue," Neff said. The Neff Papers
do not reveal that Lyndon Johnson was that person, but it is reason-
able from subsequent evidence in the Neff Papers to assume that he
was. On July 15, Sam Johnson told Neff that "My son will go to Barbe-
cue of Hye Sat, and will also attend Barbecue at Dripping Springs."
After running first in the primary but still facing a runoff, Neff wrote
oCaro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, 202 (quotation), 203; Doris Kearns, Lyndon
Johnson and the American Dream (New York, 1976), 69; Merle Miller, Lyndon: An Oral
Biography (New York, 1980), 35-36; Dugger, The Polatzcian, 122-123. Steinberg, Sam
Johnson's Boy, 50-52, has the best grasp of the situation, but is still off the mark on
many points.
10Sam Ealy Johnson to Pat M. Neff, Oct. 16, 1929, Blanco County Folder, Pat M. Neff
Papers (Texas Collection, Baylor University); Neff to Sam Johnson, Oct. 24, 1929 (quota-
tion), ibid. Neff's letter carries the pencilled notation "Now Bus Inspector."
11Neff to Sam Johnson, June 7, 193o, Hays County Folder, ibid.; Johnson to Neff, June
18, 1930 (quotations), ibid.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984, periodical, 1983/1984; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117150/m1/81/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.