1865 and 1937: The Two Key Dates

[John Simkin]

Part 2: The Deep South and the Assassination of JFK

The Ku Klux Klan was reformed in 1915 by William J. Simmons, a preacher influenced by Thomas Dixon's book, The Ku Klux Klan (1905) and the film of the book, Birth of a Nation, directed by D.W. Griffith.

In November 1922 Hiram W. Evans became the Klan's Imperial Wizard. Under his leadership the organization grew rapidly and in the 1920s Klansmen were elected to positions of political power. This included state officials in Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon and Maine. By 1925 membership reached 4,000,000. Even on the rare occasions they were arrested for serious crimes, Klansmen were unlikely to be convicted by local Southern juries.

One of the main methods that the Ku Klux Klan used to keep control was by lynching. Dr. Arthur Raper was commissioned in 1930 to produce a report on lynching. He discovered that "3,724 people were lynched in the United States from 1889 through to 1930. Over four-fifths of these were Negroes, less than one-sixth of whom were accused of rape. Practically all of the lynchers were native whites. The fact that a number of the victims were tortured, mutilated, dragged, or burned suggests the presence of sadistic tendencies among the lynchers. Of the tens of thousands of lynchers and onlookers, only 49 were indicted and only 4 have been sentenced."

Lynching was not only used against blacks. The other target were white radicals who were involved in trade union and civil rights activities. The Ku Klux Klan was used as a means of retaining political control of the Deep South.

Liberals hoped that the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 would bring an end to lynching. However, they were to be disappointed. Robert F. Wagner and Edward Costigan agreed to draft a bill that would punish the crime of lynching. In 1935 attempts were made to persuade Roosevelt to support the Costigan-Wagner bill. However, Roosevelt refused, arguing that the white voters in the South would never forgive him if he supported the bill and he would therefore lose the next election. Lynching continued to take place throughout Roosevelt’s term in office.

Lyndon Johnson first made his mark in politics as a supporter of Roosevelt. As a result, he was hated by the right-wing in the Deep South. This included Herman and George Brown, the owners of a small construction firm called Brown and Root in Texas. When Johnson tried to get funds for his campaigns, the Brown brothers refused to contribute (in fact, they refused to talk to him).

In 1937 Brown and Root was doing badly and was expected to go under. Ed Clark (the man named by Barr McClellan as the organizer of the assassination of JFK) was friends with Herman Brown. He arranged for a meeting to take place between LBJ and the Brown brothers. LBJ claimed that he shared their racist views. He also explained why he was in favour of the New Deal. According to Robert Caro, LBJ said to Herman Brown: “What are you worried about? It’s not coming out of your pocket. Any money that’s spent down here on New Deal projects, the East is paying for.” (1)

Herman Brown gradually agreed that although these New Deal policies were being advocated by a liberal (Roosevelt) they were in fact helping the economy of the Deep South.

However, Brown had another problem with LBJ. In 1937 he began advocating the knocking down of Austin’s tenements and replacing them with modern apartments. Some of these tenements were owned by Brown, who was making a good profit out of them. LBJ began negotiating with the brothers. As a result they agreed for the tenements to be knocked down. In return, LBJ arranged for Brown & Root to get the contract to enlarge the Marshall Ford Dam. This was worth $27,000,000. In a letter written to LBJ by George Brown, the company was set to make a $2,000,000 profit out of the deal. (2)

In 1938 Herman Brown told Ed Clark that in future LBJ would “not have to worry about finances in this campaign – that the money would be there, as much as was needed, when it was needed”. (3)

This deal led to further contracts. For example, Brown & Root was given a contract in 1941 to build sub-chasers and destroyers. This contract was eventually worth $357,000,000. Yet until they got the contract, Brown & Root had never built a single ship of any type. (4)

During the Second World War the Brown brothers and LBJ became central figures in what Eisenhower was later to call the Military Industrial Congressional Complex (5) . Another key figure in the MICC was John McCone, the head of the CIA when JFK was assassinated (6). However, during the war he was the owner of the California Shipbuilding Company. This was a successful move and in 1946 it was recorded that the company made $44 million in wartime profits on an investment of $100,000. Two years later Eisenhower appointed McCone as Deputy to the Secretary of Defense. Later he became Under Secretary of the Air Force. While in these posts McCone gave contracts to Standard Oil and Kaiser Aluminum, two companies in which he had financial connections.

In June, 1957, Eisenhower agreed to appoint another close friend of LBJ’s, Robert Anderson, as his Secretary of the Treasury (7). As Robert Sherrill points out: “A few weeks later Anderson was appointed to a cabinet committee to "study" the oil import situation; out of this study came the present-day program which benefits the major oil companies, the international oil giants primarily, by about one billion dollars a year.”

The civil rights issue become a big political issue in 1961. The Freedom Riders had caused significant embarrassment to the Kennedy administration. Robert Kennedy was furious when he discovered that J. Edgar Hoover had failed to take action when he received information from Gary Rowe (an undercover FBI agent) that the Ku Klux Klan planned to beat up the riders in Birmingham, Alabama. Rowe later told Henry Wofford, Kennedy’s special adviser on civil rights, that instead of stopping the violence, FBI agents had been “taking movies of the beatings.” (8)

Robert Kennedy began to realize that it was impossible to come to any acceptable agreement with the political leaders of the Deep South. (9) He decided to send in marshals to protect the Freedom Riders. He was pleased to discover that this action was popular with the public. A Gallup poll showed that 70% approved of Kennedy’s action. More importantly, around 50% of those question in the Deep South also thought Kennedy was right to do this. (10) Kennedy began to wonder whether it would be possible for a strong civil rights bill to get through Congress.

Kennedy had also started to take on the oil industry. The Kennedy Act, passed on 16th October, 1962, removed the distinction between repatriated profits and profits reinvested abroad. While this law applied to industry as a whole, it especially affected the oil companies. It was estimated that as a result of this legislation, wealthy oilmen saw a fall in their earnings on foreign investment from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. (11)

On 17th January, 1963, President Kennedy presented his proposals for tax reform. This included relieving the tax burdens of low-income and elderly citizens. Kennedy also claimed he wanted to remove special privileges and loopholes. He even said he wanted to do away with the oil depletion allowance.

The oil depletion allowance permitted oil producers to treat up to 27.5 per cent of their income as tax exempt. It was originally introduced to compensate for the depletion of fixed oil reserves. In reality, it gave the oil industry a lower tax rate. It was estimated that oilmen might lose nearly $300 million a year if the depletion allowance was diminished. Kennedy defended this action by arguing that “no one industry should be permitted to obtain an undue tax advantage over all others.” (12)

As Donald Gibson has pointed out in his book Battling Wall Street: “He (Kennedy) “focused on large oil and gas producers who were manipulating a 1954 law to avoid taxes and gain an advantage over smaller producers. He also proposed changes in foreign tax credits which allowed U.S. based oil, gas, and mineral companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes.” (13)

The white power elite in the Deep South had realised since 1865 that to protect the “southern way of life” they needed to form alliances with conservatives in the North. This policy had been successful for a hundred years. In 1963 this strategy was under threat from a president who had developed liberal opinions while in office. They had no choice. JFK had to be removed. Like Abraham Lincoln before him, Kennedy was replaced by a southerner named Johnson.

Notes

1. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 472

2. George Brown, letter to Lyndon Johnson (17th January, 1938)

3. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 475

4. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 406

5. Dwight Eisenhower, television speech (17th January, 1961)

6. John McCone: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmccone.htm

7. Robert Sherrill, The Accidental President (1967) page 145

8. Henry Woffard, Of Kennedys & Kings (1980) page 152

9. Robert Kennedy, In His Own Words (1988) pages 82-102

10. Gallup Poll, June, 1961

11. Jim Marrs, Crossfire (1989) page 277

12. John F. Kennedy, speech (17th January, 1963)

13. Donald Gibson, Battling Wall Street (1994) page 23

[Tim Gratz]

Part 2: The Deep South and the Assassination of JFK

The Ku Klux Klan was reformed in 1915 by William J. Simmons, a preacher influenced by Thomas Dixon's book, The Ku Klux Klan (1905) and the film of the book, Birth of a Nation, directed by D.W. Griffith.

In November 1922 Hiram W. Evans became the Klan's Imperial Wizard. Under his leadership the organization grew rapidly and in the 1920s Klansmen were elected to positions of political power. This included state officials in Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon and Maine. By 1925 membership reached 4,000,000. Even on the rare occasions they were arrested for serious crimes, Klansmen were unlikely to be convicted by local Southern juries.

One of the main methods that the Ku Klux Klan used to keep control was by lynching. Dr. Arthur Raper was commissioned in 1930 to produce a report on lynching. He discovered that "3,724 people were lynched in the United States from 1889 through to 1930. Over four-fifths of these were Negroes, less than one-sixth of whom were accused of rape. Practically all of the lynchers were native whites. The fact that a number of the victims were tortured, mutilated, dragged, or burned suggests the presence of sadistic tendencies among the lynchers. Of the tens of thousands of lynchers and onlookers, only 49 were indicted and only 4 have been sentenced."

Lynching was not only used against blacks. The other target were white radicals who were involved in trade union and civil rights activities. The Ku Klux Klan was used as a means of retaining political control of the Deep South.

Liberals hoped that the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 would bring an end to lynching. However, they were to be disappointed. Robert F. Wagner and Edward Costigan agreed to draft a bill that would punish the crime of lynching. In 1935 attempts were made to persuade Roosevelt to support the Costigan-Wagner bill. However, Roosevelt refused, arguing that the white voters in the South would never forgive him if he supported the bill and he would therefore lose the next election. Lynching continued to take place throughout Roosevelt’s term in office.

Lyndon Johnson first made his mark in politics as a supporter of Roosevelt. As a result, he was hated by the right-wing in the Deep South. This included Herman and George Brown, the owners of a small construction firm called Brown and Root in Texas. When Johnson tried to get funds for his campaigns, the Brown brothers refused to contribute (in fact, they refused to talk to him).

In 1937 Brown and Root was doing badly and was expected to go under. Ed Clark (the man named by Barr McClellan as the organizer of the assassination of JFK) was friends with Herman Brown. He arranged for a meeting to take place between LBJ and the Brown brothers. LBJ claimed that he shared their racist views. He also explained why he was in favour of the New Deal. According to Robert Caro, LBJ said to Herman Brown: “What are you worried about? It’s not coming out of your pocket. Any money that’s spent down here on New Deal projects, the East is paying for.” (1)

Herman Brown gradually agreed that although these New Deal policies were being advocated by a liberal (Roosevelt) they were in fact helping the economy of the Deep South.

However, Brown had another problem with LBJ. In 1937 he began advocating the knocking down of Austin’s tenements and replacing them with modern apartments. Some of these tenements were owned by Brown, who was making a good profit out of them. LBJ began negotiating with the brothers. As a result they agreed for the tenements to be knocked down. In return, LBJ arranged for Brown & Root to get the contract to enlarge the Marshall Ford Dam. This was worth $27,000,000. In a letter written to LBJ by George Brown, the company was set to make a $2,000,000 profit out of the deal. (2)

In 1938 Herman Brown told Ed Clark that in future LBJ would “not have to worry about finances in this campaign – that the money would be there, as much as was needed, when it was needed”. (3)

This deal led to further contracts. For example, Brown & Root was given a contract in 1941 to build sub-chasers and destroyers. This contract was eventually worth $357,000,000. Yet until they got the contract, Brown & Root had never built a single ship of any type. (4)

During the Second World War the Brown brothers and LBJ became central figures in what Eisenhower was later to call the Military Industrial Congressional Complex (5) . Another key figure in the MICC was John McCone, the head of the CIA when JFK was assassinated (6). However, during the war he was the owner of the California Shipbuilding Company. This was a successful move and in 1946 it was recorded that the company made $44 million in wartime profits on an investment of $100,000. Two years later Eisenhower appointed McCone as Deputy to the Secretary of Defense. Later he became Under Secretary of the Air Force. While in these posts McCone gave contracts to Standard Oil and Kaiser Aluminum, two companies in which he had financial connections.

In June, 1957, Eisenhower agreed to appoint another close friend of LBJ’s, Robert Anderson, as his Secretary of the Treasury (7). As Robert Sherrill points out: “A few weeks later Anderson was appointed to a cabinet committee to "study" the oil import situation; out of this study came the present-day program which benefits the major oil companies, the international oil giants primarily, by about one billion dollars a year.”

The civil rights issue become a big political issue in 1961. The Freedom Riders had caused significant embarrassment to the Kennedy administration. Robert Kennedy was furious when he discovered that J. Edgar Hoover had failed to take action when he received information from Gary Rowe (an undercover FBI agent) that the Ku Klux Klan planned to beat up the riders in Birmingham, Alabama. Rowe later told Henry Wofford, Kennedy’s special adviser on civil rights, that instead of stopping the violence, FBI agents had been “taking movies of the beatings.” (8)

Robert Kennedy began to realize that it was impossible to come to any acceptable agreement with the political leaders of  the Deep South. (9) He decided to send in marshals to protect the Freedom Riders. He was pleased to discover that this action was popular with the public. A Gallup poll showed that 70% approved of Kennedy’s action. More importantly, around 50% of those question in the Deep South also thought Kennedy was right to do this. (10) Kennedy began to wonder whether it would be possible for a strong civil rights bill to get through Congress.

Kennedy had also started to take on the oil industry. The Kennedy Act, passed on 16th October, 1962, removed the distinction between repatriated profits and profits reinvested abroad. While this law applied to industry as a whole, it especially affected the oil companies. It was estimated that as a result of this legislation, wealthy oilmen saw a fall in their earnings on foreign investment from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. (11)

On 17th January, 1963, President Kennedy presented his proposals for tax reform. This included relieving the tax burdens of low-income and elderly citizens. Kennedy also claimed he wanted to remove special privileges and loopholes. He even said he wanted to do away with the oil depletion allowance.

The oil depletion allowance permitted oil producers to treat up to 27.5 per cent of their income as tax exempt. It was originally introduced to compensate for the depletion of fixed oil reserves. In reality, it gave the oil industry a lower tax rate. It was estimated that oilmen might lose nearly $300 million a year if the depletion allowance was diminished. Kennedy defended this action by arguing that “no one industry should be permitted to obtain an undue tax advantage over all others.” (12)

As Donald Gibson has pointed out in his book Battling Wall Street: “He (Kennedy) “focused on large oil and gas producers who were manipulating a 1954 law to avoid taxes and gain an advantage over smaller producers. He also proposed changes in foreign tax credits which allowed U.S. based oil, gas, and mineral companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes.” (13)

The white power elite in the Deep South had realised since 1865 that to protect the “southern way of life” they needed to form alliances with conservatives in the North. This policy had been successful for a hundred years. In 1963 this strategy was under threat from a president who had developed liberal opinions while in office. They had no choice. JFK had to be removed. Like Abraham Lincoln before him, Kennedy was replaced by a southerner named Johnson.

Notes

1. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 472

2. George Brown, letter to Lyndon Johnson (17th January, 1938)

3. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 475

4. Robert Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002, page 406

5. Dwight Eisenhower, television speech (17th January, 1961)

6. John McCone: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmccone.htm

7. Robert Sherrill, The Accidental President (1967) page 145

8. Henry Woffard, Of Kennedys & Kings (1980) page 152

9. Robert Kennedy, In His Own Words (1988) pages 82-102

10. Gallup Poll, June, 1961

11. Jim Marrs, Crossfire (1989) page 277

12. John F. Kennedy, speech (17th January, 1963)

13. Donald Gibson, Battling Wall Street (1994) page 23

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

John, I've enjoyed reading your posts and the Part I about the Lincoln assassination was most interesting and informative. I do not believe, however, that the "white power elite" was the organization behind the JFK assassination. If it was, it consisted of a bunch of dam (sorry--couldn't help it) fools because LBJ probably did more to advance the civil rights movement than JFK ever dreamed of. Take, for instance, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that, I submit, over a number of years did much to reform the South. LBJ's views on civil rights should not have been a big surprise to the "white power elite" since (as so well documented in Caro's book Master of the Senate) LBJ was largely responsible for the passage of the civil rights bill of 1957.

Let me make clear that I do not argue that the Southern "white power elite" had nothing to do with the assassination out of any sympathy for these people. Let me digress to add a little personal history. I was a teen-ager in the 1960s and I remember how repulsed I was with the tv pictures of the aggressive police tactics against the civil rights workers. I used to almost hate the deep south because of segregation and its mistreatment of blacks. When I was in high school, my home town had a very small percentage of blacks. I'm quite sure there was only one black family in my high school, and the oldest member of that family was the smartest student in his class.

Tremenduous civil rights progress has occured in our country in the last forty years and a large part of the progress is attributable to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Whatever else may be said (rightly) about him, LBJ must be given credit for that.

LBJ once remarked that his support for civil rights would probably cause the Democrats to lose the South forever (words to that effect--I do not recall the exact quote with precision). He was correct. A political realignment did start in the late 1960s with the "Southern strategy" of Richard Nixon.

JFK was the last Democrat elected President whose home state was north of the Mason-Dixon line.

I was never a fan of LBJ. I read A Texan Looks at Lyndon when it was first published (in 1964. I believe) and I knew he was corrupt. I remember the Bobby Baker and Billie Sol Estes scandals. I dxo not believe LBJ's War on Poverty accomplished much. And we can all agree on how he mishandled the War in Vietnam. But he deserves credit for championing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 even when he realized his party would probably pay a dear price for it.

Many historians argue that the good will that LBJ had as a result of the assassination of JFK helped the passage of the Civil Rights Act. It may also be true that only a Southern Democrat was in a position to accomplish the passage of controversial civil rights (just as only a Republican conservative could make the opening to Red China).

So if the motive behind the assassination was to preserve the "Southern way of life", the conspirators were a bunch of dam fools!

[John Simkin]

John, I've enjoyed reading your posts and the Part I about the Lincoln assassination was most interesting and informative.  I do not believe, however, that the "white power elite" was the organization behind the JFK assassination.  If it was, it consisted of a bunch of dam (sorry--couldn't help it) fools because LBJ probably did more to advance the civil rights movement than JFK ever dreamed of.  Take, for instance, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that, I submit, over a number of years did much to reform the South.

I agree, that if my theory is to stand up, that JFK was assassinated because of his change in position on topics such as civil rights, the Cold War and the MICC, then I have to explain why LBJ forced Richard Russell and his fellow racists to accept the 1965 Civil Rights Act. This is even more surprising given LBJ long record of public hostility to civil rights. Caro makes the point that LBJ was able to remove the effectiveness of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. This is why the civil rights activists were so upset when LBJ was selected as JFK's running mate.

The fact that LBJ was a racist is not only shown by his political record. It is also supported by information from his friends who claim he was a nasty racist in private (apparently he called his black servants “niggers” in front of people).

There is two possible reasons for this action. LBJ was being blackmailed by a liberal in JFK’s government who knew who was responsible for the assassination. This helps to explain why Richard Russell changed his mind on the subject.

When the bill was first introduced Russell told the Senate: "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states." Russell organized 18 Southern Democratic senators in filibustering this bill. With the help of conservatives in the Republican Party he would have had no difficulty in blocking the bill.

Although in public LBJ and Russell were in great conflict over the civil rights bill, this is not reflected in the taped telephone conversations between the two men. In fact, they appear to be the best of friends and the issue is never raised.

On the 15th June, 1964, Russell privately told Mike Mansfield and Hubert Humphrey, the two leading supporters of the Civil Rights Act, that he would bring an end to the filibuster that was blocking the vote on the bill. This resulted in a vote being taken and it was passed by 73 votes to 27.

Why did Russell do this? Had he been converted to the issue of civil rights? No. One answer is that both Johnson and Russell were being blackmailed into passing this legislation.

There is another possibility. When LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act he made a prophecy that he was “signing away the south for 50 years”. This proved accurate. In fact, the Democrats have never recovered the vote of the white racists in the Deep South. This is the electorate that now gives its support to the Republican Party. A new alliance has therefore taken place between the white racists, right-wing conservatives and Christian fundamentalists.

Maybe that was the long-term objective. It has resulted in the liberals in America losing all political power. Was that the long-term objective of the conspiracy?

[Shanet Clark]

Where does he get this stuff? He just posted the Richard Russell Lyndon Johnson material.

Yes, the Sixties were all about the civil war, because reconstruction was a failure and the northerners left in 1876, Jim Crow and sharecropping serfs held out until the modern era, then the crisis of modernity struck the South and the threat of insurrections: civil rights legislation ended the revolt potential, but hotspots of the sixties were tied to the failures of reconstruction; and the loss of will after the war between the states, the war of northern aggression, the war of southern independence, the war to preserve the Union, the war to free the slaves, the war to secure industrial hegemony, the war of victorian calvinism, the war of manifest expansion. A powder keg was left a mouldering, called white supremacy in the United States.

[Tim Gratz]

John, I've enjoyed reading your posts and the Part I about the Lincoln assassination was most interesting and informative.  I do not believe, however, that the "white power elite" was the organization behind the JFK assassination.  If it was, it consisted of a bunch of dam (sorry--couldn't help it) fools because LBJ probably did more to advance the civil rights movement than JFK ever dreamed of.  Take, for instance, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that, I submit, over a number of years did much to reform the South.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, that if my theory is to stand up, that JFK was assassinated because of his change in position on topics such as civil rights, the Cold War and the MICC, then I have to explain why LBJ forced Richard Russell and his fellow racists to accept the 1965 Civil Rights Act. This is even more surprising given LBJ long record of public hostility to civil rights. Caro makes the point that LBJ was able to remove the effectiveness of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. This is why the civil rights activists were so upset when LBJ was selected as JFK's running mate.

The fact that LBJ was a racist is not only shown by his political record. It is also supported by information from his friends who claim he was a nasty racist in private (apparently he called his black servants “niggers” in front of people).

There is two possible reasons for this action. LBJ was being blackmailed by a liberal in JFK’s government who knew who was responsible for the assassination. This helps to explain why Richard Russell changed his mind on the subject.

When the bill was first introduced Russell told the Senate: "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states." Russell organized 18 Southern Democratic senators in filibustering this bill. With the help of conservatives in the Republican Party he would have had no difficulty in blocking the bill.

Although in public LBJ and Russell were in great conflict over the civil rights bill, this is not reflected in the taped telephone conversations between the two men. In fact, they appear to be the best of friends and the issue is never raised.

On the 15th June, 1964, Russell privately told Mike Mansfield and Hubert Humphrey, the two leading supporters of the Civil Rights Act, that he would bring an end to the filibuster that was blocking the vote on the bill. This resulted in a vote being taken and it was passed by 73 votes to 27.

Why did Russell do this? Had he been converted to the issue of civil rights? No. One answer is that both Johnson and Russell were being blackmailed into passing this legislation.

There is another possibility. When LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act he made a prophecy that he was “signing away the south for 50 years”. This proved accurate. In fact, the Democrats have never recovered the vote of the white racists in the Deep South. This is the electorate that now gives its support to the Republican Party. A new alliance has therefore taken place between the white racists, right-wing conservatives and Christian fundamentalists.

Maybe that was the long-term objective. It has resulted in the liberals in America losing all political power. Was that the long-term objective of the conspiracy?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Understand again that I was never a fan of LBJ but perhaps, just perhaps, he was not the racist you think he was, despite his use of the "N" word. Consider this quotation from Johnson's biographer Robert Dallek when he appeared on the PBS program Booknotes (September 22, 1991):

"I told a lot of unpleasant things about Johnson in this book, but I also see him as a man of great vision and thoughtfulness about what needed to be done to change the South, to improve the condition of the South, to bring the South into the mainstream of American economic and political life. What Johnson wanted to do from very early on in his career -- see this was the impulse that came out of the New Deal. In 1938 there was a famous report issued by the New Deal saying that the South was the country's number one economic problem and that changes had to be made. Johnson saw this. He jumped onto this report and tried to use it as a springboard to help the South. The objective was to take these New Deal programs, to take the federal government largess -- the CCC and the NYA, the PWA, the Rural Electrification Administration, the Tennessee Valley Authority -- and build a new infrastructure in the South, change the condition of the tenant farmers, improve the standard of living of laborers and in that way, help the South's economy and bring it into the mainstream of the country's life.

"But there was something else Johnson understood early on, which was that the South couldn't do this fully until it ended racial segregation. He understood that segregation in the South not only segregated the races, but segregated the South from the rest of the nation. So from early in his career, he was thinking about this. Now, this is not to say that Lyndon Johnson got on a soapbox in 1937 or '38 running for Congress and began shouting in Texas, 'Well let's have a civil rights bill that will overcome segregation.'

"He was too much the politician to ever do that. What he does is behind the scenes. For example, when he's head of the National Youth Administration, he would occasionally spend the night at a black college. He wanted to see how the programs were working and how they were helping the young black students. If this were known in this era of strict segregation, it would have been severe injury of his chances for running for a congressional office. But it does it out of a kind of compassion, and he's not doing it because New Dealers are so committed to black rights at this time. They're not. The Roosevelt administration was not making great advances at all on the civil rights front.

"So Johnson does it out of a genuine compassion, I think, for the suffering of these people. He gets to Congress. One New Deal farm administrator says, In '38 the'Johnson began to raise unshirted hell about the fact that black farmers were getting a smaller share of the pie than the white farmers.' There's the first federal housing act passed, and Johnson's one of the three congressmen that takes advantage of this. He gets public housing for Austin, Texas, and he wants to have public housing built not only for poor whites, but for blacks and Hispanics. He tells the city fathers, 'This is what you've got to do. Let's go for this, and we'll improve the well-being of the poorest people in our city.' So there is a genuine compassion on this man's part." [Emphas supplied.]

Or consider these words from Johnson's first State of the Union Address:

"Let me make one principle of this administration abundantly clear: All of these increased opportunities -- in employment, in education, in housing, and in every field -- must be open to Americans of every color. As far as the writ of Federal law will run, we must abolish not some, but all racial discrimination. For this is not merely an economic issue, or a social, political, or international issue. It is a moral issue, and it must be met by the passage this session of the bill now pending in the House.

"All members of the public should have equal access to facilities open to the public. All members of the public should be equally eligible for Federal benefits that are financed by the public. All members of the public should have an equal chance to vote for public officials and to send their children to good public schools and to contribute their talents to the public good.

"Today, Americans of all races stand side by side in Berlin and in Viet Nam. They died side by side in Korea. Surely they can work and eat and travel side by side in their own country."

Lyndon Johnson was also, of course, the first president to appoint a black man to the Supreme Court.

I respectfully submit that LBJ's unpublicized acts in the thirties and the clear passion of his langauge in his State of the Union demonstrate that he was not the typical Southern Democrat racist.

The idea that LBJ was blackmailed into supporting the Civil Rights Act by a liberal who had evidence to link him to the assassination makes little sense. First, where did the liberal get the evidence? Second, why would the liberal decide that rather than immediately bringing the evidence to the attention of the chief law enforcement officer of the United States (who happened to be the victim's brother) or to the Warren Commission he will instead use the evidence he has so quickly acquired to blackmail LBJ into supporting the Civil Rights Act (an act of blackmail that must have occured before LBJ's State of the Union address). Well, unlike most blackmailers, this blackmailer is a man of his word, for not only does he not come forward with his evidence after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, he does not come forward with it after LBJ is no longer president; in fact, he does not come forward with it even after LBJ is dead. What a man of integrity this blackmailer must have been! Perhaps, after all, there is honor among blackmailers, if not among thieves!

Any thoughts on who this blackmailer was? Maybe the blackmailer was in fact behind the assassination; planted the evidence to frame LBJ; and then used the evidence to get LBJ to force passage of the civil rights acts, which was his ultimate motive in the assassination. (No--this is tongue-in-cheek.)

If LBJ could kill Kennedy and cover it up, why couldn't he just kill the blackmailer--a fate often met by blackmailers, after all. And it wouldn't even take a presidential commission to cover it up.

Again, remember, there is no question in my mind that LBJ was vile, corrupt, uncouth, and maybe even an abuser of dogs. But I do not see him embracing the civil rights legislation out of blackmail. I think he wanted to secure his place in history (which is probably the primary objective of most presidents) and, as Dallek noted, he recognized that if the South was to become an economic power in the United States it would have to end segregation.

Lyndon Johnson was right about civil rights.

Edited December 8, 2004 by Tim Gratz

[Tim Gratz]

I agree, that if my theory is to stand up, that JFK was assassinated because of his change in position on topics such as civil rights, the Cold War and the MICC, then I have to explain why LBJ forced Richard Russell and his fellow racists to accept the 1965 Civil Rights Act. This is even more surprising given LBJ long record of public hostility to civil rights. Caro makes the point that LBJ was able to remove the effectiveness of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. This is why the civil rights activists were so upset when LBJ was selected as JFK's running mate.

. . . .

When the bill was first introduced Russell told the Senate: "We will resist to the  in our (Southern) states." Russell organized 18 Southern Democratic senators in filibustering this bill. With the help of conservatives in the Republican Party he would have had no difficulty in blocking the bill.

Although in public LBJ and Russell were in great conflict over the civil rights bill, this is not reflected in the taped telephone conversations between the two men. In fact, they appear to be the best of friends and the issue is never raised.

. . .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Remember the song, Looking For Love in All The Wrong Places? Well, the answer to why there is no record of a phone conference between LBJ and Russell abounbt the 1964 Civil Rights Bill in The Assassinations Tape is simple: it was not about the assassination.

Such a phone conference did in fact occur. The conversation is reported at page 44 of Margolis, The Last Innocent Year.

LBJ to Russell (re the civil rights bill):

"I'm not going to cavil and I'm not going to compromise. I'm going to pass it just as it is. Dick, and if you get in my way, I'm going to run you down. I just want you to know that, because I care for you."

The book, Before the Storm, by Rick Perlstein, details the story of the draft Goldwater movement and the Goldwater candidacy. It is highly praised and anyone interested in the politics of the 1960s ought to read it. The book has interesting information on Johnson's advocacy of the civil rights bill:

(I have it in paperback; quotes are from Ch 14):

"Johnson had hardly returned from the Kennedy funeral when he [decided to make] civil rights his strategic priority--the South in 1964 be damned. He called Martin Luther King and told him: 'I'm going to try to be all of your hopes.' King's head spun; the only times that Kennedy had callled him [presumably while President] were to work him over to fire his one Communist-associated deputy.

[source, Bechloss, Taking Charge, p 37].

. . .

"When black leaders spoke with the President, they steeled themselves for the inevitable request for this or that compromise. It never came. He told them it would pass 'without a word or a comma changed.'" [source: Branch, Pillar of Fire, p. 180.]

. . .

The book claims that Republican conservatives may have helped pass the bill in the House expecting it would be watered down under the threat of filibuster. But Johnson was true to his word. The reason why Russell's filibuster did not work is because Johnson, expertly, in his usual style, twisted enough arms to obtain votes sufficient for cloture. The book notes that "clouture" votes rarely succeeded. And goes on:

"But then, the Senate had never seen a lobbyist as obstinate as Lyndon Baines Johnson. Getting two-thirds of the senators meant getting four-fifths of the Republicans. 'You're either for civil rights or you're not; you're either for the party of Lincoln or you're not,' [LBJ] told [Republican Senators]."

The book also pints out that LBJ pointed out shortly after WWII that black soldiers had served their country well and desreved better treatment. Moreover, Johnson was one of only a few Dixie congressmen who did not sign the 1956 Southern manifesto protesting the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

Of course, Johnson was able to pass the civil rights bill in large part due to the good will that came to him as a result of the Kennedy assassination. Ironically, JFK may very well not have been able to pass the civil rights bill had he lived. So, in one sense, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a legacy to his martydom. But LBJ supported the bill and worked so effectively for it, even being willing to "run over" his long-time friend Russell to pass it, because it reflected his long-held beliefs and because he wanted to be considered a great President.

So if white racists were behind the assassination, they got what they dam deserved, and our country, and the South, is much better off for it!

I do have to add, however, that I consider LBJ's legacy here mixed. There were provisions in his Great Society program that, unintentionally, but tragically, contributed to the break-up of black families, with very unfortunate results for black children, and our society.

Edited December 9, 2004 by Tim Gratz

[John Simkin]

Tim, you have made a lot of great points. As I am trying to keep all the material on LBJ located in one place. I am trying to reply to all your points here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2310

[Thomas H. Purvis]

As you can tell, a lot of people are awaiting you thoughts on the connection between events in 1865 and the assassination.  All I can think of is that the Lincoln assassination was definitely a conspiracy (forget all that nonsense about Lincoln being shot in a Ford (theatre) and Kennedy being shot in a Ford (car), etc.  But I know you're getting at something more than the Lincoln assassination, so I for one am waiting for your post!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Part 1: The Deep South and the Assassination of JFK

By 1865 the white ruling elite of the Deep South knew they were going to be defeated. They would no longer be allowed to have slaves. However, they were determined to hold onto their power.

The first step they took was assassinating Abraham Lincoln. He was replaced by his vice president, Andrew Johnson. The name is just a coincidence but there are indeed parallels between these two men.

The important thing about Andrew Johnson was that he did not see slavery as a moral issue. Before the Civil War he had made speeches in favour of slavery.

On 22nd September, 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. He told the nation that from the 1st January, 1863, all slaves in states or parts of states, still in rebellion, would be freed. Johnson complained to Lincoln about this decision and as a result it was agreed that this proclamation would not apply to Tennessee.

In February, 1863, Johnson decided to travel to Washington. On the way he stopped at several Northern cities where he made speeches about slavery. Johnson made it clear that under the right conditions he would be willing to accept the abolition of slavery. He stressed the economic rather than the moral arguments against slavery. He told his audiences that he owned slaves and told the story of how two had run away but later returned as free men to work for wages. Johnson argued that they were more productive as free men than they had been as slaves.

Southern newspapers criticised Johnson for these speeches and claimed he was making a bid for higher office. The Nashville Daily Press pointed out that: "No man in Tennessee has done more than Andrew Johnson to create, to perpetuate and embitter in the minds of the Southern people, that feeling of jealousy and hostility against the free States, which has at length culminated in rebellion and civil war. Up to 1860, he had been for 20 years among the most bigoted and intolerant of the advocates of slavery and Southernism". The newspaper accused him "of having but one aim, the Vice Presidency of the United States, on any rabid ticket likely to be successful."

After Johnson's successful speaking tour leading members of the Republican Party began to suggest that Lincoln should select Johnson as his running mate in the 1864 presidential election. His vice president, Hannibal Hamlin was a Radical Republican and it was felt that Lincoln was already sure to gain the support of this political group. It was argued that what Lincoln needed was the votes of those who had previously supported the Democratic Party in the North.

Lincoln originally selected General Benjamin Butler as his 1864 vice-presidential candidate. Butler, a war hero, had been a member of the Democratic Party, but his experiences during the American Civil War had made him increasingly radical. Simon Cameron was sent to talk to Butler at Fort Monroe about joining the campaign. However, Butler rejected the offer, jokingly saying that he would only accept if Lincoln promised "that within three months after his inauguration he would die".

It was now decided that Johnson would make the best candidate for vice president. By choosing the governor of Tennessee, Lincoln would emphasis the fact that Southern states were still part of the Union. He would also gain the support of the large War Democrat faction. At a convention of the Republican Party on 8th July, 1864, Johnson received 200 votes to Hamlin's 150 and became Lincoln's running mate.

During the election Johnson made it clear that he supported what he called "white man's government". However, when faced with black audiences he spoke of the need of improved civil rights and on one occasion during a speech in Washington offered to "be your Moses and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer future of liberty and peace."

White racists in the Deep South realized that Johnson was controllable. While Lincoln was alive, they had no chance of maintaining white rule.

Abraham Lincoln died at 7.22 on the morning of 15th April. Later that day a group of Radical Republicans led by Benjamin Wade met with Johnson. It was suggested that Henry G. Stebbins, John Covode and Benjamin Butler should be appointed to the Cabinet to make sure that laws would be passed that would benefit former slaves in the South.

Johnson was unwilling to change the Cabinet. It soon became clear that Johnson was surrounding himself with advisers such as Preston King, Henry W. Halleck and Winfield S. Hancock, who were well known for their reactionary views. Johnson also began to clash with those cabinet members such as Edwin M. Stanton, William Dennison and James Speed who favoured the granting of black suffrage.

Southern politicians began to realize that Johnson was going to use his position to prevent reform taking place. One Confederate senator, Benjamin Hill, wrote from his prison cell: "By this wise and noble statesmanship you have become the benefactor of the Southern people in the hour of their direst extremity and entitled yourself to the gratitude of those living and those yet to live."

Johnson now began to argue that African American men should only be given the vote when they were able to pass some type of literacy test. He advised William Sharkey, the governor of Mississippi, that he should only "extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars."

In early 1865 General William T. Sherman set aside a coastal strip in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida for the exclusive use of former slaves. A few months later, General Oliver Howard, the head of the new Freeman's Bureau, issued a circular regularizing the return of lands to previous owners but exempting those lands that were already being cultivated by freeman. Johnson was furious with Sherman and Howard for making these decisions and over-ruled them.

Johnson also upset radicals and moderates in the Republican Party when he issued an amnesty proclamation exempting fourteen classes from prosecution for their actions during the American Civil War. This included high military, civil, and judicial officers of the Confederacy, officers who had surrendered their commissions in the armed forces of the United States, war criminals and those with taxable property of more than $20,000.

Johnson became increasingly hostile to the work of Howard and the Freeman's Bureau. Established by Congress on 3rd March, 1865, the bureau was designed to protect the interests of former slaves. This included helping them to find new employment and to improve educational and health facilities. In the year that followed the bureau spent $17,000,000 establishing 4,000 schools, 100 hospitals and providing homes and food for former slaves.

In early 1866 Lyman Trumbull introduced proposals to extend the powers of the Freeman's Bureau. When this measure was passed by Congress it was vetoed by Johnson. However, the Radical Republicans were able to gain the support of moderate members of the Republican Party and Johnson's objections were overridden by Congress.

In April 1866, Johnson also vetoed the Civil Rights Bill that was designed to protect freed slaves from Southern Black Codes (laws that placed severe restrictions on freed slaves such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against white men, carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations). On 6th April, Johnson's veto was overridden in the Senate by 33 to 15.

Johnson told Thomas C. Fletcher, the governor of Missouri: "This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men." His views on racial equality was clearly defined in a letter to Benjamin B. French, the commissioner of public buildings: "Everyone would, and must admit, that the white race was superior to the black, and that while we ought to do our best to bring them up to our present level, that, in doing so, we should, at the same time raise our own intellectual status so that the relative position of the two races would be the same."

In June, 1866, the Radical Republicans managed to persuade Congress to pass the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The elections of 1866 increased the Republican Party two-thirds majority in Congress. There were also a larger number of Radical Republicans and in March, 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act. This act forbade the President to remove any officeholder, including Cabinet members, who had been appointed with Senate consent. Once again Johnson attempted to veto the act.

In 1867 members of Radical Republicans such as Benjamin Loan, James Ashley and Benjamin Butler, began claiming in Congress that Johnson had been involved in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln. Butler asked the question: "Who it was that could profit by assassination (of Lincoln) who could not profit by capture and abduction? He followed this with: "Who it was expected by the conspirators would succeed to Lincoln, if the knife made a vacancy?" He also implied that Johnson had been involved in tampering with the diary of John Wilkes Booth. "Who spoliated that book? Who suppressed that evidence?"

Much was made of the fact that John Wilkes Booth had visited Johnson's house on the day of the assassination and left his card with the message: "Don't wish to disturb you. Are you at home?" Some people claimed that Booth was trying to undermine Johnson in his future role as president by implying he was involved in the plot. However, as his critics pointed out, this was unnecessary as it was Booth's plan to have Johnson killed by George Atzerodt at the same time that Abraham Lincoln was being assassinated.

On 7th January, 1867, James Ashley charged Johnson with the "usurpation of power and violation of law by corruptly using the appointing, pardoning, and veto powers, by disposing corruptly of the property of the United States, and by interfering in elections." Congress responded by referring Ashley's resolution to the Judiciary Committee.

Congress passed the first Reconstruction Acts on 2nd March, 1867. The South was now divided into five military districts, each under a major general. New elections were to be held in each state with freed male slaves being allowed to vote. The act also included an amendment that offered readmission to the Southern states after they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteed adult male suffrage. Johnson immediately vetoed the bill but Congress repassed the bill the same day.

It was clear that the Southern states would prefer military rule to civil government based on universal male suffrage. Congress therefore passed a supplementary Reconstruction Act on 23rd March that authorized military commanders to supervise elections and generally to provide the machinery for constituting new governments. Once again Johnson vetoed the act on the grounds that it interfered with the right of the American citizen to "be left to the free exercise of his own judgment when he is engaged in the work of forming the fundamental law under which he is to live."

Radical Republicans were growing increasing angry with Johnson over his attempts to veto the extension of the Freeman's Bureau, the Civil Rights Bill and the Reconstruction Acts. This became worse when Johnson dismissed Edwin M. Stanton, his Secretary of War, and the only radical in his Cabinet and replaced him with Ulysses S. Grant. Stanton refused to go and was supported by the Senate. Grant now stood down and was replaced by Lorenzo Thomas.This was a violation of the Tenure of Office Act and some members of the Republican Party began talking about impeaching Johnson.

At the beginning of the 40th Congress Benjamin Wade became the new presiding officer of the Senate. As Johnson did not have a vice-president this meant that Wade was now the legal successor to the president. This was highly significant as attempts to impeach the president had already began.

Johnson continued to undermine the Reconstruction Acts. This included the removal of two of the most radical military governors. Daniel Sickles (the Carolinas) and Philip Sheridan (Louisiana and Texas) were replaced them with Edward Canby and Winfield Hancock.

In November, 1867, the Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 that Johnson be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. The majority report written by George H. Williams contained a series of charges including pardoning traitors, profiting from the illegal disposal of railroads in Tennessee, defying Congress, denying the right to reconstruct the South and attempts to prevent the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment.

On 30th March, 1868, Johnson's impeachment trial began. Johnson was the first president of the United States to be impeached. The trial, held in the Senate in March, was presided over by Chief Justice Salmon Chase. Johnson was defended by his former Attotney General, Henry Stanbury, and William M. Evarts. One of Johnson's fiercest critics, Thaddeus Stevens was mortally ill, but he was determined to take part in the proceedings and was carried to the Senate in a chair.

Charles Sumner, another long-time opponent of Johnson led the attack. He argued that: "This is one of the last great battles with slavery. Driven from the legislative chambers, driven from the field of war, this monstrous power has found a refuge in the executive mansion, where, in utter disregard of the Constitution and laws, it seeks to exercise its ancient, far-reaching sway. All this is very plain. Nobody can question it. Andrew Johnson is the impersonation of the tyrannical slave power. In him it lives again. He is the lineal successor of John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis; and he gathers about him the same supporters."

Although a large number of senators believed that Johnson was guilty of the charges, they disliked the idea of Benjamin Wade becoming the next president. Wade, who believed in women's suffrage and trade union rights, was considered by many members of the Republican Party as being an extreme radical. James Garfield warned that Wade was "a man of violent passions, extreme opinions and narrow views who was surrounded by the worst and most violent elements in the Republican Party."

Others Republicans such as James Grimes argued that Johnson had less than a year left in office and that they were willing to vote against impeachment if Johnson was willing to provide some guarantees that he would not continue to interfere with Reconstruction.

When the vote was taken all members of the Democratic Party voted against impeachment. So also did those Republicans such as Lyman Trumbull, William Fessenden and James Grimes, who disliked the idea of Benjamin Wade becoming president. The result was 35 to 19, one vote short of the required two-thirds majority for conviction. The editor of The Detroit Post wrote that "Andrew Johnson is innocent because Ben Wade is guilty of being his successor."

On 25th July, 1868 Johnson vetoed the decision by Congress to extend the activities of the Freeman's Bureau for another year. Once again Johnson decision was speedily overturned.

Johnson continued to issue pardons for people who had participated in the rebellion. By the end of his period in office he gave 13,350 pardons, including one for Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

On 25th December, 1868, Johnson used his last annual message as president to attack the Reconstruction Acts. He claimed that: "The attempt to place the white population under the domination of persons of color in the South has impaired, if not destroyed, the friendly relations that had previously existed between them; and mutual distrust has engendered a feeling of animosity which, leading in some instances to collision and bloodshed, has prevented the cooperation between the two races so essential to the success of industrial enterprise in the Southern States."

Johnson received considerable help from the Deep South in helping to return power to the white elite.

The first branch of the Ku Klux Klan was established in Pulaski, Tennessee, in May, 1866. A year later a general organization of local Klans was established in Nashville in April, 1867. Most of the leaders were former members of the Confederate Army and the first Grand Wizard was Nathan Forrest, an outstanding general during the American Civil War. During the next two years Klansmen wearing masks, white cardboard hats and draped in white sheets, tortured and killed black Americans and sympathetic whites. Immigrants, who they blamed for the election of Radical Republicans, were also targets of their hatred. Between 1868 and 1870 the Ku Klux Klan played an important role in restoring white rule in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.

At first the main objective of white supremacy organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, the White Brotherhood, the Men of Justice, the Constitutional Union Guards and the Knights of the White Camelia was to stop black people from voting. After white governments had been established in the South the Ku Klux Klan continued to undermine the power of blacks. Successful black businessmen were attacked and any attempt to form black protection groups such as trade unions was quickly dealt with.

Radical Republicans in Congress urged President Ulysses S. Grant to take action against the Ku Klux Klan. In 1870 he instigated an investigation into the organization and the following year a Grand Jury reported that: "There has existed since 1868, in many counties of the state, an organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, or Invisible Empire of the South, which embraces in its membership a large proportion of the white population of every profession and class. The Klan has a constitution and bylaws, which provides, among other things, that each member shall furnish himself with a pistol, a Ku Klux gown and a signal instrument. The operations of the Klan are executed in the night and are invariably directed against members of the Republican Party. The Klan is inflicting summary vengeance on the colored citizens of these citizens by breaking into their houses at the dead of night, dragging them from their beds, torturing them in the most inhuman manner, and in many instances murdering."

Congress passed the Ku Klux Act and became law on 20th April, 1871. This gave the president the power to intervene in troubled states with the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in countries where disturbances occurred. Ulysses S. Grant used this legislation several times, the Ku Klux Klan. However, because its objective of white supremacy in the South had been achieved, the organization practically disappeared.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAjohnsonA.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk.htm

At first the main objective of white supremacy organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, the White Brotherhood, the Men of Justice, the Constitutional Union Guards and the Knights of the White Camelia was to stop black people from voting. After white governments had been established in the South the Ku Klux Klan continued to undermine the power of blacks. Successful black businessmen were attacked and any attempt to form black protection groups such as trade unions was quickly dealt with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_White_Camelia

THE TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA

JAMBALAYA---------------------------------------(College Yearbook)

1923

From the cover sheet page for Fraternities of Tulane.