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30
Jul

College Friend Jim Reston Passes!

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My good friend from college days at the University of North Carolina died recently. Jim Rushton wrote 18 books. He was a historian and novelist, and he provided a 96-page “interrogation” memo for David Frost’s TV interviews that prodded Nixon to admit, “I let the American people down” over Watergate.  He was a great athlete at Carolina, and still holds the record for scoring the most goals in a soccer match there.  We last visited in Linville, North Carolina on his book tour a year ago.  During our Carolina days, Jim and I would have dinner each evening at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house. I wish our conversations had been recorded as we made a gallant effort to solve most of the world’s problems.  Jim was 82 years old and died of cancer.  I will sure miss my friend of 70 years.  To read his full biography, Click Here.

 

30
Mar

BENNETT JOHNSTON-A SPECIAL POLITICIAN!

March 30, 2025

Monday, March 31, 2025

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

BENNETT JOHNSTON-A SPECIAL POLITICIAN!

As is the case in just about any profession, you will find members who are either work horses, or show horses. That is certainly true with those who go into the field of politics. Particularly those coming from the state of Louisiana. If you make a list of all of the successful elected officials from the Bayou State, one of the least flamboyant yet most successful on the national scene was U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston.

I first met Senator Johnston, when he was an obscure state senator. Most political observers at the time thought Bennett had reached his ceiling being in the Louisiana legislature, and he would have a real uphill fight moving up the ladder towards a statewide office. But he still was the state senator representing the district where my parents lived in Shreveport, and I needed some help from down at the state capital I had just obtained my law degree from Tulane university, but felt I should join the army to serve my country. I would probably have second thoughts in today’s turbulent times, but patriotism flowed a lot more back then, and for many of us, it was the thing to do

The problem for me was that I wanted to go into the infantry. The army had thoughts otherwise once they found out I was an attorney. It seems like a heck of a problem today, but in the 1960s, I was looking for assistance to get in the military, not avoid it. Someone suggested I call my state senator to use his influence, so thus my meeting with Johnston. He promptly opened the right doors, and I quickly enrolled as a grunt rifleman in the 176th army infantry.

Shortly after he helped me, Bennett announced he was running for governor. There was a large field of candidates, and quite frankly, I did not think he had any chance whatsoever. There was one other fellow expressing and interest, a congressman from Crowley. What was his name? Edwin Edwards. I felt Edwards and Johnston would finish towards the bottom of the large list of candidates. But I liked them both, and I thought either one would be a good governor. They both asked me to support them, but by then I had decided to run for the state senate myself. “Well, if you win the Senate race in the first primary, how about supporting me in the runoff?” both of them asked. So certain that neither one of them had any chance at all of making the runoff, I told them both, “Yes, I’ll support you for governor if I win the senate seat in the first primary.” A really big mistake. Election night came around when I won the senate seat. What a mess I had created. What to do? What to do?

I called both of them early the next morning with Edwards taking my call and asking me how soon I could get to Baton Rouge to start helping him. But I begged off so that at least I could talk to Bennett. But trying time and time again, I never could reach him. I’m figuring, if I cannot reach him on the phone now, what chance would I have of reaching him if he was governor? Of course, that wasn’t fair to him because he had been completely overrun with calls and he just needed a few days to get a campaign organization together. Edwards went on to win, and Bennett faded away practicing law in Shreveport.

A few years passed by and popular U.S. Senator Alen Ellender was up for reelection. Bennett decided to jump in the race, and Ellender had a serious challenger for the first time in many years. And he was getting old. The incumbent died a few weeks before the election, qualifications were opened again, and popular former Governor John McKeithen jumped into the race. I was personally closer to Governor McKeithen but I felt like I owed Johnston since I thought he would be a good U.S. senator and because I had failed to support him for governor.

Johnston won the U.S Senate seat, and went on to become one of the most effective and popular Senators in the nation’s history. He did not search for newspaper headlines, but was in the middle of numerous national and international issues affecting the country. He was “the go to” senator when compromise was needed between Republicans and Democrats in the nation’s capital.

Bennett Johnston stayed in good health and in close touch with good friends right up till the end. He passed away at 92. History will look back and declare Bennett as one of the most effective and popular senators to ever reached the halls of Congress. Louisiana can only hope it will produce more senators like him in the years ahead.

Peace and justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide.  You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com. 

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