Joan Mellen's FAUSTIAN BARGAINS: LYNDON JOHNSON AND MAC WALLACE IN THE ROBBER BARON CULTURE OF TEXAS

[Anthony Thorne]

Joan Mellen's new book is out in a few weeks, and interviews and whatnot are starting to appear. She'll be on Black Op Radio in September.

FAUSTIAN BARGAINS at Amazon

Perhaps no president has a more ambiguous reputation than LBJ. A brilliant tactician, he maneuvered colleagues and turned bills into law better than anyone. But he was trailed by a legacy of underhanded dealings, from his "stolen" Senate election in 1948 to kickbacks he artfully concealed from deals engineered with Texas wheeler-dealer Billie Sol Estes and defense contractors like his longtime supporter Brown & Root. On the verge of investigation, Johnson was reprieved when he became president upon JFK's assassination. Among the remaining mysteries has been LBJ's relationship to Mac Wallace who, in 1951, shot a Texas man having an affair with LBJ's loose-cannon sister Josefa, also Wallace's lover. When arrested, Wallace cooly said "I work for Johnson…I need to get back to Washington." Charged with murder, he was overnight defended by LBJ's powerful lawyer John Cofer, and though convicted, amazingly received a suspended sentence. He then got high-security clearance from LBJ friend and defense contractor D.H. Byrd, which the Office of Naval Intelligence tried to revoke for 11 years without success.

Using crucial Life magazine and Naval Intelligence files and the unredacted FBI files on Mac Wallace, never before utilized by others, investigative writer Joan Mellen skillfully connects these two disparate Texas lives and lends stark credence to the dark side of Lyndon Johnson that has largely gone unsubstantiated.

Here's an interview with Joan from last month, about the book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28siQJHg17k

And here's an earlier one I missed, with Joan talking to Webster Tarpley about the recent new edition of FAREWELL TO JUSTICE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ES9WK1bRFU

I'm curious to read the new one. I liked FAREWELL TO JUSTICE, but had a couple of issues with it. I haven't read THE GREAT GAME IN CUBA or OUR MAN IN HAITI.

[Anthony Thorne]

First review.

http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/joan-mel...-bargains/

So the book isn't an LBJ-dunnit volume, but digs into a lot of the scandals and corruption surrounding Lyndon. Robert Morrow will surely have conflicting feelings about this one.

[Scott Kaiser]

You have got to love history, especially history that's 50 years old and topics that have been covered before, this could be "leave no stone unturn" I suppose?

What excites me is finding new information, stuff that hasn't been covered, leading any author to provide new evidence, the kind of eveidence that has you in awe, things that make you go hmmmmm?

Here's the question, are you ready for it? Better question, could you handle it? I suppose it all depends on who's delivering the material? I mean if you like the person you're receiving the material from then that material becomes credible, however, if it were to come from say someone who's not so liked then he must be a liar right? Even if the two were to qoute the same passage while providing the same source surely one will out do the other.

[Drew Phipps]

That Sleuth article contains the following statement about the 1952 murder trial:

"Wallace was defended by LBJ lawyer Polk Shelton. "

I always heard and thought that Wallace was represented by Jon Cofer. Polk Shelton is still practicing law, I'd be happy to ask him, if there is any real doubt.

Edit: The Polk Shelton that I know graduated from law school and was licensed to practice in 1970. Maybe it's the current attorney's father.

[R.K. Locke]

Joan Mellen is a "CIA dunnit" advocate if I recall correctly. It's a shame. I hope she has looked into the possibility of LBJ knowing Ruby in the late 40s.

[Scott Kaiser]

Joan Mellen is a "CIA dunnit" advocate if I recall correctly. It's a shame.?

How is it a shame? She is correct.

[Jim DiEugenio]

Drew, yeah that is what I thought, Cofer was the attorney.

If you can check on it, please do.

[Drew Phipps]

I didn't happen to bump into my friend today, but from local history gossips I'm hearing that there was a Polk Shelton in the 50's, probably my friend's father.

[Jim DiEugenio]

Cofer really was a colleague of Johnson.

But I never heard of this Shelton guy.

[Drew Phipps]

I heard today, from an attorney who's been around here for a long time, that the "elder" Polk Shelton is actually the uncle of the "younger" Polk Shelton, so that explains why there isn't a Jr. or anything. I also happened to review a 1950 case on appeal that mentions a Polk Shelton as the attorney of record. So maybe the elder Polk Shelton was second-chairing the case; or was "local counsel," if this Cofer guy wasn't from round these parts (it's always handy to have someone that knows the local court system on your team).