Oral history transcript, Melvin C. Winters, interview 1 (I), 2/18/1987, by Ted Gittinger
Title:
Oral history transcript, Melvin C. Winters, interview 1 (I), 2/18/1987, by Ted Gittinger
Number of Pages:
38
Description:
How Winters and LBJ met; Guy Maddox; LBJ's work for Winters' construction company; education as LBJ's priority; LBJ playing dominoes; hunting with LBJ; the construction of dams in the Hill Country area; Camp Wolters; how Winters supported LBJ's campaigns, including an offer to shear Coke Stevenson's goats so Stevenson would be available to debate LBJ; a watch LBJ gave to Winters; Winters' involvement in LBJ's land purchase near Johnson City; LBJ as a rancher; LBJ's lack of popularity in Gillespie County; local resistance to the Johnsons buying the land around the LBJ Ranch; Winters' construction work for LBJ at the Ranch; LBJ's dietary and drinking habits; LBJ's and Winters' involvement in the Johnson City bank; the rift between A.W. Moursund and LBJ over a Llano bank; LBJ's smoking habit; attending the 1965 presidential inauguration; Winters' White House phone; LBJ's post-presidential relationship with the Secret Service; LBJ boating; LBJ as a horseman; roadwork in the 1920s; Sam Ealy Johnson; Sam Houston and Josefa Johnson; LBJ paying off his father's debts; Winters' contact with LBJ at the time of the JFK assassination; the Association of General Contractors' pressure on LBJ to sign highway legislation; LBJ's involvement in roadside park development; Lady Bird Johnson's interest in highway beautification and preserving trees; Winters' construction company and competition with Brown and Root and Cage Brothers; Winters' work on the Tom Miller Dam; LBJ's decision not to run for re-election in 1968; going on walks with LBJ near the Ranch after the presidency; LBJ's fear that the Soviet Union would retaliate if the U.S. were to bomb North Vietnam; entertaining at the LBJ Ranch; Reverend Wunibald Schneider; LBJ's experience with Masonry; LBJ's restless nature; business partnership with LBJ; LBJ's death.
