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NPR Interview with Ben Barnes
“Ben Barnes and the Inside Story of American Politics.” All Things Considered. 18 June 2006 Copyright NPR 2006
Ben Barnes was once a rising star in Texas politics, serving as speaker of the state House and lieutenant governor by the age of 30. He also was a protege of President Lyndon Johnson, who once declared that Barnes would be the next president of the United States. But the fallout from a bribery scandal, which he says was trumped up by Richard Nixon, cut short his thriving political career. He has since become a lobbyist and fundraiser.
Barnes, 68, has released a memoir called Barn Burning Barn Building. He recently sat down for an interview with NPR. Here are some excerpts:
On Lyndon B. Johnson
Question: When you look at today's politicians, is there anyone who compares to LBJ? And what do you think you learned from him?
Answer: It's very difficult to make a comparison of President Johnson with today's U.S. senators and governors; they all have some similar traits. But Johnson probably understood the legislative process better than anyone in recent political history. I learned from Johnson that politics is a contact sport that takes whole devotion to accomplish your goals. And that there's no substitute for personal contact, cajoling, and being willing to give and take on difficult issues.
On Scandal
Question: What was the scandal that brought you down? And when you say Nixon was involved -- how so? Answer: The scandal that ended my political career was an investigation at President Nixon's request of a gentleman named Frank Sharp, and an insurance company and bank he owned in Texas. The speaker of the House and the governor were involved with Mr. Sharp and they bought stock with loans from his bank, and he then bought the stock back at a profit.
I never met Frank Sharp, and as you can hear at my Web site, Barn Burning, Barn Building, you can hear clips of Nixon's Oval Office tapes, where the president talks to his Attorney General, John Mitchell, about Sharpstown.
Attorney General Mitchell apologized to me after he got out of prison. The evidence has been clear that Nixon's primary goal in Texas politics was to end my political career -- which he succeeded in doing. Question: In today's Reliable Source column, you imply that "Nixonian dirty tricks" brought your career down. How so? What would Nixon have had to do with things happening in Texas?
Answer: The U.S. attorney in Houston years later revealed to a friend of mine that he was put under tremendous pressure by the Justice Department to try to use his powers to involve me in the Sharpstown scandal -- or some other scandal. They wanted to bring my political career down, because at that time I was the strongest Democratic politician in Texas, and Nixon had lost Texas in the 1968 election. Also, President Johnson had said about me in 1970 that I would be the next U.S. President to come out of Texas. That was a wonderful compliment coming from him, but it also put a big target on my back.
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