The $120 Million President Who Had His Own Hitman: Lyndon Baines Johnson

Questions Persist Over LBJ's Means of Ascent to Power and Fortune Decades After His Death

Former President's Estate Worth $20 Million in 1973 Continues to Draw Scrutiny From Researchers

Analysis of financial records reveals broadcasting empire built through political influence

Fifty years after Lyndon B. Johnson's death, questions persist about how the 36th president accumulated a fortune that would be worth over $100 million today despite earning a government salary for most of his career.

Johnson died in 1973 with an estate valued at approximately $15-20 million, equivalent to roughly $100-120 million in today's purchasing power. According to a 1964 Life magazine investigation, the Johnson family fortune was estimated at $14 million, with the bulk tied to Texas Broadcasting Corporation holdings.

The wealth accumulation has drawn renewed attention following viral social media content examining the disparity between Johnson's public service salary and his final net worth. Throughout his career, Johnson never earned more than $100,000 annually as president, with earlier congressional positions paying far less.

Political Ascent Through Questionable Means

Johnson's path to wealth began with his rise through the political ranks, often employing methods that would later raise ethical concerns. After working as a congressional aide to Richard Kleberg, Johnson won his first House seat in 1937 on a New Deal platform, following the death of Congressman James P. Buchanan.

From the outset, Johnson demonstrated a talent for converting political influence into financial advantage through strategic relationships with business interests. His most crucial early partnership was with Herman and George Brown of Brown & Root Construction Company.

The Brown & Root Connection

The relationship began when Johnson helped secure federal approval for the Mansfield Dam project on the Colorado River near Austin. The Browns had won the contract but faced a bureaucratic obstacle: the federal government wouldn't pay for construction on land it didn't own. Johnson navigated the issue through Congress, ultimately securing approval from President Franklin Roosevelt himself.

According to Robert Caro's biography "The Path to Power," the dam project earned Brown & Root $1.5 million in profit—double what they had made in their previous twenty years of construction work. Johnson then arranged for an additional $17 million to increase the dam's height, generating even more profits for the company.

In return, the Browns became Johnson's primary financial backers. By Johnson's own admission to biographer Ronnie Dugger, much of the money came in cash. Johnson then steered additional federal contracts to Brown & Root, including naval air stations, shipbuilding contracts worth $350 million during World War II, and later the $250 million Johnson Space Center.

The 1948 Senate Election Fraud

Johnson's most controversial ascent came in his 1948 Senate race against popular former Texas Governor Coke Stevenson. Initial results showed Stevenson winning by 854 votes, but several days of "corrections" narrowed the margin.

The decisive moment came six days after the election when officials in Jim Wells County announced the discovery of 202 additional votes in Precinct 13's "Box 13" in Alice, Texas—200 for Johnson, 2 for Stevenson. Election Judge Luis Salas later admitted in 1977 that he had fabricated these votes on orders from political boss George Parr, known as "the Duke of Duval County."

Contemporary observers noted the suspicious votes were written in the same handwriting, same ink, and listed in alphabetical order. When Stevenson investigated with legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, they were blocked from examining evidence. Despite these irregularities, Johnson's legal team, led by future Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, successfully argued that federal courts lacked jurisdiction over state elections.

Johnson won by exactly 87 votes, earning the nickname "Landslide Lyndon." Without this controversial victory, his path to the vice presidency and eventual presidency would have been impossible.

Senate Mastery Through "The Johnson Treatment"

Once in the Senate, Johnson quickly allied himself with Senator Richard Russell of Georgia, leader of the powerful Southern Caucus. With Russell's backing, Johnson became Democratic whip in 1951 and minority leader in 1953—the youngest senator ever to hold the position.

When Democrats regained control in 1955, Johnson became majority leader and developed what became known as "The Johnson Treatment"—a legendary combination of physical intimidation, personal knowledge, and political manipulation.

Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee described it as feeling "like a St. Bernard had licked your face for an hour, had pawed you all over." Johnson would invade personal space, lean in close using his 6'4" frame, and deploy what reporters Rowland Evans and Robert Novak called "an incredible, potent mixture of persuasion, badgering, flattery, threats, reminders of past favors and future advantages."

Johnson meticulously maintained files on every senator's personal details—their ambitions, fears, family situations, and financial needs. He controlled the Senate's "boodle"—hideaway offices, committee assignments, and other perquisites that senators coveted. In one famous instance, he held up a roll call vote for over an hour to extract Senator Hubert Humphrey from a plane circling Washington's National Airport.

His legislative achievements were undeniable. On a single day in 1956, Johnson's Senate confirmed two appointments and passed 90 bills—a record that may never be broken. He successfully passed the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, created the interstate highway system, and established NASA.

Broadcasting Empire Foundation

The cornerstone of Johnson's wealth was KTBC, a struggling Austin radio station purchased by Lady Bird Johnson in 1943 for $17,500 using money from her inheritance. What followed was a series of favorable Federal Communications Commission rulings that transformed the modest investment into a media empire.

According to Robert Caro's biography "The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent," Johnson used his political influence to prevent the FCC from being abolished and socialized with FCC Commissioner Clifford Durr. By 1952, when television arrived, the FCC granted KTBC the only VHF television license in Austin, creating an advertising monopoly in the market.

The station eventually secured exclusive contracts with all three major networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—unlike most single-channel cities. Former FCC official William B. Ray noted in his book "FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio Regulation" that filing a competing application "would have been a waste of money" due to the Johnsons' political clout.

Controversial Associations

Johnson's wealth building coincided with relationships that later drew legal scrutiny. Among these was Malcolm "Mac" Wallace, a University of Texas economics graduate who worked for the Department of Agriculture.

On October 22, 1951, Wallace fatally shot John Douglas Kinser at an Austin golf course. Despite being convicted of "murder with malice" by a jury that voted 11-1 for the death penalty, Judge Charles O. Betts suspended Wallace's five-year sentence, allowing him to walk free immediately.

Wallace was represented by John Cofer, Johnson's longtime attorney, and his bond was posted by two of Johnson's financial supporters. According to Winston Kinser, the victim's brother, Wallace received "the first-ever suspended sentence for murder in the state of Texas".

The Henry Marshall Case

A more serious controversy emerged surrounding the 1961 death of Henry Marshall, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official investigating cotton allotment fraud by businessman Billy Sol Estes, a Johnson associate.

Marshall was found dead on June 3, 1961, with five gunshot wounds to his chest. Local authorities initially ruled it suicide, but the case was reopened in 1984. After testimony from Texas Ranger Clint Peoples and medical experts, District Judge Peter Lowry ordered Marshall's death certificate changed from suicide to homicide.

In August 1984, Estes's lawyer Douglas Caddy wrote to the Department of Justice alleging that Johnson, Wallace, and aide Clifton Carter were involved in multiple murders, including Marshall's. However, when federal agents attempted to interview Estes, he refused to cooperate unless granted immunity and a presidential pardon.

Financial Disclosure Era

Modern financial disclosure laws did not exist during Johnson's era, meaning many potential conflicts of interest remain undocumented. Johnson placed his holdings in a blind trust when he became president, officially removing himself from business operations.

Some information about Johnson's financial activities only emerged accidentally in 1975—two years after his death—during a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Gulf Oil Corporation.

Scholarly Assessment

Media critic Jack Shafer noted in Slate that the Johnson fortune represented a clear case of "honest graft"—using political connections for financial gain rather than direct theft from public coffers.

Former Johnson speechwriter Robert Hardesty called Estes "a pathological liar," stating "It is just not Lyndon Johnson. He was a complicated man but he was not a brutal man".

The New York Times wrote in 2003 that none of Estes's claims against LBJ were backed by evidence.

Legacy Questions

Johnson died of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on January 22, 1973, at age 64. Lady Bird Johnson lived until 2007, transforming the family legacy through environmental activism and philanthropy, eventually donating the ranch to the National Park Service.

The broadcasting empire was sold, and much of the fortune was dispersed to charitable causes. Yet questions about how a career politician accumulated such wealth continue to generate interest among researchers and conspiracy theorists.

Historians generally rank Johnson highly for domestic policy achievements including civil rights, health care, and education initiatives, while criticizing his foreign policy, particularly regarding Vietnam.

The Johnson case highlights the evolution of political ethics oversight, as modern presidents face far more stringent financial disclosure requirements and conflict-of-interest restrictions than existed during the mid-20th century.

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Sources

1. Spartacus Educational - John Douglas Kinser - https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKkinser.htm
2. Wikipedia - Malcolm Wallace - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Wallace (Updated February 4, 2025)
3. Celebrity Net Worth - Lyndon B. Johnson - https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/presidents/lyndon-b-johnson-net-worth/ (June 19, 2024)
4. Slate - How Lady Bird and Lyndon Baines Johnson came by their millions - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/07/how-lady-bird-and-lyndon-baines-johnson-came-by-their-millions.html (July 16, 2007)
5. Wikipedia - List of presidents of the United States by net worth - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_net_worth (Updated 2 weeks ago)
6. Time Magazine - The Presidency: The Multimillionaire - https://time.com/archive/6813738/the-presidency-the-multimillionaire/
7. Wikipedia - Lyndon B. Johnson - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson (Updated 4 days ago)
8. UPI Archives - 1961 suicide ruling changed to homicide - https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/08/14/1961-suicide-ruling-changed-to-homicide/1010492840000/ (August 14, 1985)
9. Spartacus Educational - Henry Marshall - https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKmarshallH.htm
10. UPI Archives - Investigator says victim was 'in the way' - https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/03/23/Investigator-says-victim-was-in-the-way/3819448866000/ (March 23, 1984)
11. Spartacus Educational - Billie Sol Estes - https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKestes.htm
12. Wikipedia - Billie Sol Estes - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Sol_Estes (Updated May 8, 2025)
13. Spartacus Educational - Douglas Caddy - https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKcaddyD.htm
14. Find a Grave - John Douglas Kinser - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43820420/john-douglas-kinser
15. LBJ: Master of Deceit - Lyndon Johnson's Criminal Financial Activities - https://lbjthemasterofdeceit.com/2020/08/04/lyndon-johnsons-criminal-financial-activities-1937-to-1963/ (August 24, 2020)

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