History Lesson: How Lyndon Johnson 'won' his first election

A fantastic, quarter-century old, piece from the New York Times explains the looong tradition of Democrat Party voter fraud in Texas:

A study of Lyndon B. Johnson provides new evidence that the 36th President stole his first election to the United States Senate, in 1948.

....

It has been alleged for years that Johnson captured his Senate seat through fraud, but Mr. Caro goes into great detail to tell how the future President overcame a 20,000-vote deficit to achieve his famous 87-vote victory in the 1948 Democratic runoff primary against a former Governor, Coke Stevenson. A South Texas political boss, George Parr, had manufactured thousands of votes, Mr. Caro found.

Starting in the town that would later elect Julian Castro:

On primary night, a Saturday, the first tallies of the Democratic primary showed Johnson trailing his opponent by 20,000 votes. Still unreported, however, were the votes from San Antonio, where Stevenson had defeated Johnson 2 to 1 in the first primary. When those votes finally came in, Johnson had won a stunning victory, carrying San Antonio by 10,000 votes.

Moving along to another Democrat stronghold:

Later that evening, the rural counties in the Rio Grande Valley further eroded the Stevenson lead, which was reduced to 854 votes.

 Followed by the coup de gras:

Also on Friday, Jim Wells County telephoned in its amended return, ''and suddenly, with virtually all the counting in the election over, Coke Stevenson was no longer ahead,'' Mr. Caro said. Johnson had won by 87 votes. Challenge and Affirmation Mr. Caro confirmed the charges made at the time by Stevenson supporters that county officials had cast the votes of absent voters and had changed the numbers on the tallies. For example, he said, Jim Wells County provided an extra 200 votes for Johnson merely by changing the 7 in ''765'' to a 9.

Johnson's victory was upheld by a 29-to-28 vote of the Texas Democratic Party's executive committee, and he went on to defeat Jack Porter, the Republican candidate, in the general election. And although a Federal District Court had ordered his name off the ballot pending an investigation, the order was voided by Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black on a petition from Abe Fortas, who was Johnson's chief lawyer.

That would be the same Abe Fortas who, 17 years later, Johnson would appoint to the Supreme Court.

But, at least the Johnson people have a credible defense:

''The irregularity in the voting was caused in most instances by the local races - for a county commissioner, sheriff and county judge. It was just incidental that there were also votes stolen for Johnson and Stevenson.''

 Well THAT'S convincing....

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Johnson's 1948 'victory' is a depressing story.  It is also, however, a necessary one.  Voter Fraud in Texas is real.  It has a looong history.  And it helps the dirtbags....