The Passage of Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #4)

by Robert A. Caro

The delight was soon to fade. Reynolds never spoke to Johnson again, but he did speak to Jenkins, because Jenkins called him in to tell him that in return for being allowed to write the policy and obtain the commission, about $2,500 per year, he would be required to purchase advertising time on the television station in Austin, KTBC-TV. When, Reynolds said, he protested that it made no sense for a Maryland insurance broker, unknown in Austin, to advertise on television there, Jenkins said that didn’t matter. Baker, Reynolds said, “prodded” him to buy the time. And after Reynolds made the purchase, buying $1,208 of airtime, another type of purchase was required. The Johnsons wanted a new stereo set, Baker told Reynolds, and Reynolds would have to supply it. Reynolds did, obtaining catalogs from various companies and giving them to Baker to give to the Johnsons; Lady Bird selected a Magnavox S-44 model in a cherrywood cabinet, an expensive set selling for about $900 in stores. Reynolds managed to buy it wholesale through a friend for $542.25; when Lady Bird wanted it delivered quickly for a party she was giving, he had it delivered airfreight, which cost an additional $42.50. Although Jenkins would later deny, again and again, the advertising time and stereo set demands, Baker would confirm them—“He [Johnson] took the stereo, and he required Don Reynolds to buy the … advertising.… It was a kickback pure and simple,” he was to say—as would Reynolds, who called the demands a “...