Posted on 04/01/2023 9:17:39 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
I’m sure you’ve heard people saying this before. Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself. ‘Those Democrats stole the election.’ And in this case, you’d be correct, but it’s probably not the election you’re thinking about. The Associated Press has an interesting walk down memory lane this week discovered in a set of tapes that were donated to the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum last summer. On the tapes, a former South Texas election judge told a reporter that the 1948 Texas Senate primary election was stolen in favor of LBJ and he described exactly how it was done. Democratic officials “found” some extra votes for Johnson in a box that became known as “box 13.” (Is any of this sounding familiar yet?) That allowed Johnson to move on to win the general election, ascend to the Senate, and eventually the presidency.
The story was a blockbuster: A former Texas voting official was on the record detailing how nearly three decades earlier, votes were falsified to give then-congressman Lyndon B. Johnson a win that propelled the future president into the U.S. Senate.
The audio recordings from Associated Press reporter James W. Mangan’s interviews for the 1977 story were posted this week on the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum’s archival website, Discover LBJ. After Mangan’s death in 2015 at the age of 87, his family found the labeled cassette tapes at his San Antonio home and donated them last summer to the library on the campus of the University at Texas at Austin.
Luis Salas, the former South Texas election judge, told Mangan for the story: “Johnson did not win that election; It was stolen for him. And I know exactly how it was done.”
You can read more details along with the original story that ran in June of 1977 here. It’s a sordid tale of a part of Texas run by a handful of corrupt Democratic party bosses who were able to dictate the outcomes of nearly any election and silence anyone who tried to object.
Just imagine for a moment how different history might have been if this election hadn’t been stolen. If Johnson had lost and remained in the House or even left the federal government entirely, he almost certainly never would have been selected to serve as JFK’s Vice President. Then, after Kennedy’s assassination, someone else would have wound up in the White House.
Johnson’s “great society” vision involved some of the most rapid legislative actions ever seen. He had some admirable goals in terms of protecting wilderness lands and the environment, and he created many national parks. But that also set a trend in motion of the federal government acquiring control over more and more land at the expense of the autonomy of the states.
Similarly, Johnson set about combatting racism and establishing a social “safety net” for the poor. Those proved to be very popular programs, of course. But they were also the cornerstones of increased levels of welfare and governmental “free stuff” that would later balloon completely out of control under one Democratic administration after another.
As I suggested at the top, the method of election fraud used in 1948 isn’t much different than stories that we sometimes hear in the modern era. We still have election officials “finding” boxes of ballots at the last moment. Some of those may turn out to be completely legitimate votes while others seem far more suspicious. Look no further than the boxes of ballots found in an election official’s car putting Al Franken over the top in the 2008 election. So when you see things like that happening, don’t be cowed into silence by claims that it’s all a conspiracy theory. Demand transparency. As LBJ shows us, it doesn’t take much to change the entire course of history.
There have been decent arguments over corrupted races in TX and Ill, but I would add Penn and NJ to the list that some minor corruption shifted the race to a Kennedy win.
There are many questions about the integrity of the 1960 Texas vote as well . . .
Yeah...talk anout the camel’s nose under the tent.
“JFK would have won anyway, even if Illinois electoral votes had gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy.”
The issue was possible fraud in both Texas, Johnson’s home state and Illinois. Texas had 24 Electoral votes and the Kennedy/Johnson ticket won by 46,000 votes. The GOP took the Texas results to federal court but the case asking for a recount was thrown out by a federal judge. Legal efforts to get a statewide recount in Illinois were also thrown out by a federal judge. Nixon, and the Nixon campaign, were not plaintiffs in the lawsuits asking for recounts. The Republican Party initiated the suits. Nixon, possibly warned by Eisenhower, did not personally challenge the election.
Hawaii was first called for Kennedy, but then went to Nixon after auditing errors were found in the count. However a judge ruled on December 28, 1960 Kennedy was the winner. California, Nixon’s home state, was first called for Kennedy but then went to Nixon after absentee ballots were counted.
If Texas and Illinois Electoral votes had gone to Nixon, he would have been president. The race was very close in both states. Both states had Democrat machines in power with reputations for vote rigging. The 450,000 vote margin in Cook County Illinois for Kennedy was greater than would be normally expected compared to results in other areas.
Certainly the 1960 election was very close, the GOP requested recounts in Texas and Illinois were denied, and the election went to Kennedy. Nixon, many Republican officials, and some historians believe the election was stolen. However definitive proof, the ballots, were long ago destroyed and if cheating determined the outcome, those involved stayed quiet. The reluctance of federal courts to force recounts in close state continues to the present day as we saw in the 2020 presidential election.
Ironically Kennedy visited Texas in November 1963 in preparation for the upcoming 1964 re-election campaign. He and his advisors were concerned about losing Texas, particularly if Kennedy decided to drop LBJ from the ticket. Kennedy wanted more personal visibility to the state’s voters and party heavyweights. He was assassinated in Texas, a state he might have won through the Democrat machine’s manipulation of the election. He was succeeded in office by his Texan VP who Kennedy would likely have removed from the ticket. Had Kennedy not been killed, LBJ would have been a footnote in the history books.
There was a conversation between LBJ and FDR when he was president. LBJ complained that an opponent had stuffed the ballot box late and that’s why he lost. FDR laughed and said “you have to sit on the ballot box”. Unfortunately, this game of election fraud is one that has a long history in the US.
Remember Tammany Hall? Remember all the jokes (with good reason) about the graveyards in Chicago voting?
You had to just laugh when, the corporate media in 2020 suddenly proclaimed that election fraud never happens. No siree! Why, who would even think of such a thing???? As if anybody would be fooled by this.
Growing up in Texas I became politically aware in the 60s. I soon learned that there were two things that were immutable facts in Texas politics.
1) If a political sign or ad did not state the political party of the person being touted, they were a demorat.
2) the dead did in fact vote and when their vote was counted, they voted 100% demorat.
Yes, and Nixon refused to have the election investigated because, he said, he did not want to put the nation through such an injurious ordeal.
The 2020 Presidential Election should be thoroughly investigated for possible fraud. I do not know what the truth is concerning this, but all honest people should demand a thorough, honest, and truth-seeking investigation. Anyone who opposes such an investigation is guilty of complicity if any fraud occurred.
The country went to hell in a hand basket under LBJ. Think how different the culture was at the beginning and end of his presidency: November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
A lot of that was from mishandling of Vietnam of course.
Stealing an election in 1948 (Landslide Lyndon) and possibly in 1960 would be news because it was rare and unusual back then.
In 2023, it is how the unAmerican Government is sElected and formed.
Already well covered in the Robert Caro (sp?) lengthy biography of “Landslide” Lyndon Johnson the election thief.
“The reluctance of federal courts to force recounts in close state continues to the present day as we saw in the 2020 presidential election.”
That reluctance today comes in the face of prima facie evidence of conspiracy, ie, five different states doing the exact same unprecedented thing at the exact same time which completely reversed the obvious momentum and trend of the count. At some point it ain’t reluctance.
His nickname was Landslide Lyndon.
Ping
Thanks Berosus.
IIRC Illinois plus Texas would have given the election to Nixon. I don't know that the Democrats cheated in Texas, but since Johnson had cheated before, it's not like he wouldn't do it again if he felt he had to, and since Eisenhower had already carried Texas twice, LBJ might have felt that he had to.
I suppose Kennedy did cheat in Illinois, but would have won anyway. Two more things, though. The national popular vote count is questionable because of circumstances in Alabama (and Mississippi) where people voting Democrat may not have been voting for Kennedy electors. The vote was close enough in New Jersey (and Minnesota and Delaware) that fraud isn't entirely out of the question.
“Many claim that Nixon should have been the President 8 years earlier.”
Not only the graveyards of Chicago since that would not have won it alone for JFK. However, throw in the same democrats who stole the election for LBJ in support of JFK, and the magic steal happened. There were more in some counties for JFK than people. IL and TX gave JFK the election.
Every election day in Chicago has a motto, “Vote early and vote often.”
Billy Sol. Estes
JFK would have won anyway, even if Illinois electoral votes had gone to Nixon instead of Kennedy.
Huh, you’re dead wrong. It took both TX and IL. Both had massive cheating. You you’re lying by telling half the story. This story just confirms the cheating machine in TX at the time.
“I suppose Kennedy did cheat in Illinois, but would have won anyway.”
Insanity, JFK only won IL by 11,000 votes. TX spread wasn’t much more. You’re completely blinded by the establishment.
Nixon knew he won. Republicans told him to shut up. They rewarded Nixon with the biggest electoral victory in history (up to that time). It’s cute how you know there is not one facet of government that is not corrupt (I hope), but don’t believe elections are. Ha, ha...
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