Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: Lyndon Johnson and Walter Jenkins
(Originally posted on October 15, 2014 as part of a series entitled Presidents and Their Advisers.)
Although Walter Jenkins was once Lyndon Johnson's chief of staff, he was by no means Johnson's closest adviser. That was probably Clark Clifford or Abe Fortas. But Jenkins is memorable for a famous scandal, which occurred in the homestretch of the election campaign of 1964. The scandal had no effect on the election results however, in which Johnson defeated his Republican challenger Barry Goldwater in a landslide.
Walter Wilson Jenkins was born in Jolly, Texas on March 23, 1918. He attended Hardin Junior College and spent two years at the University of Texas, but did not earn a degree. In 1945, he married Helen Marjorie Whitehill and the couple had six children together. Jenkins began working for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1939 when Johnson was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives as the member from Texas's 10th congressional district. For most of the next 25 years, Jenkins served as Johnson's top administrative assistant, working for Johnson as he rose to become a Senator, Vice President under John F. Kennedy, and President. From 1941 until 1945, Jenkins served in the Army during World War II. In 1951, he ran for the House of Representatives, but lost the election in a contest in which he was attacked because of his Roman Catholic faith.
Jenkins was famous among his fellow White House staffers for his even temperament and his ability to tolerate and work for the volatile LBJ. Bill Moyers, a former Johnson aide and press secretary, wrote of Jenkins: "When they come to canonize political aides, [Jenkins] will be the first summoned, for no man ever negotiated the shark-infested waters of the Potomac with more decency or charity or came out on the other side with his integrity less shaken. If Lyndon Johnson owed everything to one human being other than Lady Bird, he owed it to Walter Jenkins." Joseph Califano described Jenkins as "the nicest White House aide I ever met in any administration. He was never overbearing. It was quite remarkable." Lady Bird Johnson was very fond of Jenkins and his family. In 1963 the Johnsons celebrated Mrs. Johnson's fifty-first birthday at a party at Jenkins' home in December 1963.
Then, a month before the 1964 presidential election, Jenkins' career came to a crashing halt as he was at the center of an embarrassing scandal. On October 7, 1964, District of Columbia Police arrested Jenkins in a YMCA restroom for committing an indecent act. He and another man were booked on a disorderly conduct charge. (Precisely what it was that the two men were doing is something that news reports are too polite to say). Jenkins paid a $50 fine and he hoped that the incident would not become public. Apparently he had been fortunate that an earlier similar incident was never publicized. But Jenkins was not as lucky this time.
Rumors of the incident made their way to Republican Party operatives, and in the midst of an election campaign, they passed the information to the press. (To his credit Barry Goldwater was opposed to his party making any use of the story.) Some newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Cincinnati Enquirer, refused to run the story. But when members of the media learned that Jenkins had been arrested on a similar charge in 1959, it much harder for them to ignore the story or to explain it away as the result of overwork.
Finally, on October 14, a Washington Star editor called the White House for Jenkins' comment on a story it was preparing. Jenkins referred the matter to White House lawyers Abe Fortas, the President's personal lawyer, and Clark Clifford, who unofficially was filling the role of White House Counsel. They immediately lobbied the editors of Washington's three newspapers not to run the story, but the editors refused to do so. Fortas and Clifford told Johnson about the incident. Johnson's press secretary, George Reedy, had tears in his eyes when he confirmed the story to reporters. Johnson told Fortas that Jenkins needed to resign. Johnson later said of the incident: "I couldn't have been more shocked about Walter Jenkins if I'd heard that Lady Bird had tried to kill the Pope." Jenkins resigned later that day (October 14th), the same day that the story hit the press.
Johnson ordered an FBI investigation, in order to dispel the notion that the incident may have been used to blackmail Jenkins. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued a report on October 22 which concluded that security had not been compromised. Johnson also ordered a poll to determine the public's reaction to the affair and learned the next day that it did not effect how people would vote.
Lady Bird Johnson, issued a statement of support for Jenkins. According to author Jonathan Darman, she told her husband to hire Jenkins to work in one of the radio stations that the Johnsons owned.
The incident had virtually no impact on the campaign. Jenkins' arrest was quickly overshadowed by international affairs: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was deposed on October 14, an election in Great Britain elected a Labour government on October 15, and China successfully tested a nuclear weapon on October 16.
Johnson's Republican opponent in the 1964 presidential election, Barry Goldwater, knew Jenkins from the Senate and from serving as commanding officer of his Air Force Reserve unit. He did not comment on the incident while campaigning. However someone in the Republican campaign distributed bumper stickers reading "ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ, BUT DON'T GO NEAR THE YMCA". Goldwater's running mate, William E. Miller, was more exploitive of the incident, but Goldwater later said "it was a sad time for Jenkins' wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn't everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important."
On November 17, Lady Bird visited Walter Jenkins and his wife Marjorie, who were preparing to move home to Texas. Johnson did not replace Jenkins, but instead divided his responsibilities among several staff members. Johnson's White House Press Secretary George Reedy told an interviewer: "A great deal of the president's difficulties can be traced to the fact that Walter had to leave." Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark said that Jenkins' resignation "deprived the president of the single most effective and trusted aide that he had. The results would be enormous when the president came into his hard times. Walter's counsel on Vietnam might have been extremely helpful."
After leaving Washington, Jenkins returned to Texas and lived the rest of his life in Austin, where he worked as a Certified Public Accountant and management consultant and ran a construction company. He died in 1985, at the age of 67, a few months after suffering a stroke.
Although Walter Jenkins was once Lyndon Johnson's chief of staff, he was by no means Johnson's closest adviser. That was probably Clark Clifford or Abe Fortas. But Jenkins is memorable for a famous scandal, which occurred in the homestretch of the election campaign of 1964. The scandal had no effect on the election results however, in which Johnson defeated his Republican challenger Barry Goldwater in a landslide.
Walter Wilson Jenkins was born in Jolly, Texas on March 23, 1918. He attended Hardin Junior College and spent two years at the University of Texas, but did not earn a degree. In 1945, he married Helen Marjorie Whitehill and the couple had six children together. Jenkins began working for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1939 when Johnson was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives as the member from Texas's 10th congressional district. For most of the next 25 years, Jenkins served as Johnson's top administrative assistant, working for Johnson as he rose to become a Senator, Vice President under John F. Kennedy, and President. From 1941 until 1945, Jenkins served in the Army during World War II. In 1951, he ran for the House of Representatives, but lost the election in a contest in which he was attacked because of his Roman Catholic faith.
Jenkins was famous among his fellow White House staffers for his even temperament and his ability to tolerate and work for the volatile LBJ. Bill Moyers, a former Johnson aide and press secretary, wrote of Jenkins: "When they come to canonize political aides, [Jenkins] will be the first summoned, for no man ever negotiated the shark-infested waters of the Potomac with more decency or charity or came out on the other side with his integrity less shaken. If Lyndon Johnson owed everything to one human being other than Lady Bird, he owed it to Walter Jenkins." Joseph Califano described Jenkins as "the nicest White House aide I ever met in any administration. He was never overbearing. It was quite remarkable." Lady Bird Johnson was very fond of Jenkins and his family. In 1963 the Johnsons celebrated Mrs. Johnson's fifty-first birthday at a party at Jenkins' home in December 1963.
Then, a month before the 1964 presidential election, Jenkins' career came to a crashing halt as he was at the center of an embarrassing scandal. On October 7, 1964, District of Columbia Police arrested Jenkins in a YMCA restroom for committing an indecent act. He and another man were booked on a disorderly conduct charge. (Precisely what it was that the two men were doing is something that news reports are too polite to say). Jenkins paid a $50 fine and he hoped that the incident would not become public. Apparently he had been fortunate that an earlier similar incident was never publicized. But Jenkins was not as lucky this time.
Rumors of the incident made their way to Republican Party operatives, and in the midst of an election campaign, they passed the information to the press. (To his credit Barry Goldwater was opposed to his party making any use of the story.) Some newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Cincinnati Enquirer, refused to run the story. But when members of the media learned that Jenkins had been arrested on a similar charge in 1959, it much harder for them to ignore the story or to explain it away as the result of overwork.
Finally, on October 14, a Washington Star editor called the White House for Jenkins' comment on a story it was preparing. Jenkins referred the matter to White House lawyers Abe Fortas, the President's personal lawyer, and Clark Clifford, who unofficially was filling the role of White House Counsel. They immediately lobbied the editors of Washington's three newspapers not to run the story, but the editors refused to do so. Fortas and Clifford told Johnson about the incident. Johnson's press secretary, George Reedy, had tears in his eyes when he confirmed the story to reporters. Johnson told Fortas that Jenkins needed to resign. Johnson later said of the incident: "I couldn't have been more shocked about Walter Jenkins if I'd heard that Lady Bird had tried to kill the Pope." Jenkins resigned later that day (October 14th), the same day that the story hit the press.
Johnson ordered an FBI investigation, in order to dispel the notion that the incident may have been used to blackmail Jenkins. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover issued a report on October 22 which concluded that security had not been compromised. Johnson also ordered a poll to determine the public's reaction to the affair and learned the next day that it did not effect how people would vote.
Lady Bird Johnson, issued a statement of support for Jenkins. According to author Jonathan Darman, she told her husband to hire Jenkins to work in one of the radio stations that the Johnsons owned.
The incident had virtually no impact on the campaign. Jenkins' arrest was quickly overshadowed by international affairs: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev was deposed on October 14, an election in Great Britain elected a Labour government on October 15, and China successfully tested a nuclear weapon on October 16.
Johnson's Republican opponent in the 1964 presidential election, Barry Goldwater, knew Jenkins from the Senate and from serving as commanding officer of his Air Force Reserve unit. He did not comment on the incident while campaigning. However someone in the Republican campaign distributed bumper stickers reading "ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ, BUT DON'T GO NEAR THE YMCA". Goldwater's running mate, William E. Miller, was more exploitive of the incident, but Goldwater later said "it was a sad time for Jenkins' wife and children, and I was not about to add to their private sorrow. Winning isn't everything. Some things, like loyalty to friends or lasting principle, are more important."
On November 17, Lady Bird visited Walter Jenkins and his wife Marjorie, who were preparing to move home to Texas. Johnson did not replace Jenkins, but instead divided his responsibilities among several staff members. Johnson's White House Press Secretary George Reedy told an interviewer: "A great deal of the president's difficulties can be traced to the fact that Walter had to leave." Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark said that Jenkins' resignation "deprived the president of the single most effective and trusted aide that he had. The results would be enormous when the president came into his hard times. Walter's counsel on Vietnam might have been extremely helpful."
After leaving Washington, Jenkins returned to Texas and lived the rest of his life in Austin, where he worked as a Certified Public Accountant and management consultant and ran a construction company. He died in 1985, at the age of 67, a few months after suffering a stroke.