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Now, Magnuson later became President pro tem of the Senate from the State of Washington. Magnuson was the chairman above Pastore. Pastore was chairman of the subcommittee on communications; Magnuson was chairman of the Senate commerce committee, which had a lot of agencies under surveillance, and a very key person. I had said to Johnson that I was going to go see him, and I guess almost said how well did he know him or something like that. Of course, Johnson was the kind of guy who would make it a point to know everybody who was important. He told me about “Maggie,” (he called him “Maggie,” I guess that was the first time I talked to anybody who called him “Maggie”), and told me that there were some things about him that I should know; that he was a womanizer (strange, with what's going on now!), that he was one who could hit the bottle pretty hard, and that I should see him in the morning, not after lunch. But, that he was one hell of a guy, that if he said something was going to happen, it was going to happen. Now, that was important to know.

So, then I sort of took up with “Maggie.” In fact, when he was married, I didn't go but we knew the woman he was marrying and he asked me privately, “Maggie” did, as one of the outsiders, to come to the wedding (only a handful of people went to the wedding). So, that's how well I got to know Maggie as a result of the introduction I got from Lyndon Johnson.

But, that was part and parcel of the job, keeping close to what was going on. For two reasons: To protect the company's interests, and to be on top of the news.

Robert Dallek, in his new book, Lone Star Rising [Lyndon Johnson and His Times], which is a history of Lyndon Johnson's rise to power, suggests that Johnson had a lot of strong connections with the FCC and a lot of power to advance his own business interests. He suggests that it was unusual that Austin was granted only one VHF license in 1952. Do you