October 1, 2024 • 9 mins
Presidential corruption…and Spiderman? It all boils down to the maxim “With great power comes great responsibility.” But not all of our leaders have taken that to heart.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, before I get started, I want to say
thank you to Mark, a Verizon guy from Staten Island
who finally got my studio up and running after several
weeks of moving into a very historic old house. So
thank you Mark, and here we go. We've all heard
the phrase, with great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben
(00:21):
said that to Peter Parker and Spider Man. Right. Well,
it turns out it was the basis for political philosophy
in Rome, Greece, medieval England, eighteenth century France, and a
whole lot of other places, including the US. So why
in the heck has there been so much corruption in
the world of politics. I'm Patty Steele. When power leads
(00:43):
to the abuse of power, that's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. We're all wrapped up in politics
these days and it's nerve wracking, right, But it's nothing new.
Political and corruption are as old as people's desires for power.
(01:04):
Royals living in unimaginable luxury led to the assassination or
execution of emperors, kings, and queen's Abuse of power has
always been a no no. Even the Bible says, to
those to whom much has been given, much will be demanded.
Problem is, an awful lot of folks got away with
the abuse of that power and didn't have much demanded
(01:26):
of them in return. Now Here in the United States,
presidents aren't just the heads of state. They also run
the entire federal bureaucracy, so they have a huge boatload
of people that report to them, and when those people misbehave,
the commander in chief takes the heat, whether he was
personally involved or not. Andrew Johnson had the unlucky task
(01:47):
of taking over the White House following the assassination of
America's greatest and most loved President, Abraham Lincoln, but he
was known for his abuse of power, infighting amongst his team,
and financial shadiness, all of which led to his impeachment.
Then there was Ulysses S. Grant, a wildly successful general
(02:08):
during the Civil War, but less so as a president,
primarily because he was loyal to a fault to the
people he brought in to his administration. Not really a
bad guy, just not a great manager that included forty
members of his family that were given government jobs. There
are at least a dozen damaging scandals during Grant's years
(02:28):
in office. His brother in law colluded with robber barons
Jay Gould and James Fiske to try to corner the
gold market. There were bribery scandals involving everything from Native
American trading posts to whiskey distillers to the Department of Justice.
All of this undermined the important things he did for
the country, including advocating for the rights of both African
(02:51):
and Native Americans, as well as stabilizing the nation following
the war and the disastrous Andrew Johnson years. Now in
the twentieth century, we've seen scandals like a member of
President Warren Harding's cabinet giving private oil companies the rights
to extract oil and gas from federal land in the
Teapot Dome scandal. Then we hit the nineteen sixties, where
(03:14):
once again we see someone tasked with taking over as
commander in chief from a much loved and again assassinated
President John F. Kennedy. We're talking about one of America's
most complex and controversial presidents, Lyndon Baines Johnson LBJ. While
LBJ achieved landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act, Medicare,
(03:36):
and his War on Poverty, there's the whole darker, less
talked about side of his political career, corruption, backroom deals,
and according to some folks, maybe even murder. It all
protected his reputation and rise to power. There are rumors
at LBJ, the thirty sixth US President, may have had
(03:56):
inconvenient people done away with in order to safeg his
political career. It's what happens when power and ambition override
ethics and decency. Johnson's rise to power had a rough beginning.
Born in rural Texas, as he moved ahead in politics,
he was known for his fierce ambition and ruthless approach
(04:17):
to getting his way. He had no problem using political favors, intimidation,
and arm twisting to get ahead, and by the late
nineteen thirties, LBJ had made a name for himself in Congress.
By nineteen sixty one, he was John F. Kennedy's vice president.
But before he became vice president, one of his closest
(04:38):
friends was a guy named Billy Solestes, a Texas businessman
known for shady dealings and scams, and LBJ was right
next to him. In the late nineteen fifties and early sixties,
Estes was involved in a huge fraud scheme involving federal
agricultural subsidies, but he was protected by his deep political
(04:58):
connections and including to LBJ, who was by then a
powerful senator and then a Vice president. As rumors of
ST's schemes began to swirl, a federal investigator named Henry
Marshall started digging into ST's subsidy fraud operation. He got
closer to uncovering the truth, and then in nineteen sixty one,
(05:20):
Marshall was found dead on his Texas ranch, five gunshot
wounds to the chest. The initial ruling, they called it
a suicide. Yeah, you heard me. Who the heck commits
suicide by shooting themselves in the chest five times? I
think one would be enough. Right. Marshall's friends and family
were suspicious, but the authority stuck with the suicide ruling,
(05:44):
at least for a while. That is so here's where
the LBJ connection comes in. Billy sol EST's himself testified
that Henry Marshall had uncovered too much about the money
scheme and also about lbj's involvement in it. He claimed LBG,
with the help of Malcolm Wallace, selbj's right hand man,
(06:04):
ordered Marshall's murder to keep him from exposing their involvement
in the illegal activities. Finally, a grand jury reopened the
case in nineteen eighty four, that's over ten years after
lbj's death. New evidence made it pretty clear that Marshall's
death was in fact a murder. I don't think they
needed twenty years to figure that out, though nobody was
(06:25):
ever formally charged. So that's the question. Did LBJ have
a hand in it? And was Henry Marshall just the
tip of the iceberg. Well, it turns out Malcolm Wallace
had been linked to violence and LBJ before. In nineteen
fifty one, he was convicted of killing a local golf
pro who had been romantically involved with one of lbja's sisters.
(06:48):
He was convicted of murder, but was given a ridiculously
lenient sentence. He got just five years probation, no prison time.
How did that happen? Some think it was thanks to
his powerful connections to Lyndon Johnson. Wallace continued his tight
knit relationship with LBJ for years, and his name comes
(07:09):
up in another accusation involving the murder of President John F. Kennedy.
It's hotly debated, but there are folks who think LBJ,
in his intense ambition to become president, played a key
role in JFK's assassination. The theory is that by nineteen
sixty three, LBJ, as vice president had little power, and
(07:30):
there were rumors that Kennedy was going to drop him
from the ticket in his upcoming nineteen sixty four reelection bid.
Could it be that Johnson, with the help of people
like Malcolm Wallace, conspired to have Kennedy removed permanently. Some
believe that Wallace's fingerprints were found on boxes in the
Texas school book Depository, where, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald
(07:54):
took him at JFK. It was all just speculation, though,
and Billy Solesti's eventually went to prison just for fraud.
While behind bars, he claimed LBJ had been involved in
criminal activities for years, profiting from the fraud and involved
in at least eight murders to cover it all up.
True or not, it's a reminder of how far people
(08:17):
will go to protect their political survival. After all, LBJ
was known to crave power, and his history has repeatedly
shown us power can be a dangerous thing. So once again,
as we learn from Spider Man, with great power comes
great responsibility. Hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele.
(08:47):
Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
(09:08):
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
(09:29):
you didn't know you needed to know.
All right, before I get started, I want to say
thank you to Mark, a Verizon guy from Staten Island
who finally got my studio up and running after several
weeks of moving into a very historic old house. So
thank you Mark, and here we go. We've all heard
the phrase, with great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben
(00:21):
said that to Peter Parker and Spider Man. Right. Well,
it turns out it was the basis for political philosophy
in Rome, Greece, medieval England, eighteenth century France, and a
whole lot of other places, including the US. So why
in the heck has there been so much corruption in
the world of politics. I'm Patty Steele. When power leads
(00:43):
to the abuse of power, that's next on the backstory.
The backstory is back. We're all wrapped up in politics
these days and it's nerve wracking, right, But it's nothing new.
Political and corruption are as old as people's desires for power.
(01:04):
Royals living in unimaginable luxury led to the assassination or
execution of emperors, kings, and queen's Abuse of power has
always been a no no. Even the Bible says, to
those to whom much has been given, much will be demanded.
Problem is, an awful lot of folks got away with
the abuse of that power and didn't have much demanded
(01:26):
of them in return. Now Here in the United States,
presidents aren't just the heads of state. They also run
the entire federal bureaucracy, so they have a huge boatload
of people that report to them, and when those people misbehave,
the commander in chief takes the heat, whether he was
personally involved or not. Andrew Johnson had the unlucky task
(01:47):
of taking over the White House following the assassination of
America's greatest and most loved President, Abraham Lincoln, but he
was known for his abuse of power, infighting amongst his team,
and financial shadiness, all of which led to his impeachment.
Then there was Ulysses S. Grant, a wildly successful general
(02:08):
during the Civil War, but less so as a president,
primarily because he was loyal to a fault to the
people he brought in to his administration. Not really a
bad guy, just not a great manager that included forty
members of his family that were given government jobs. There
are at least a dozen damaging scandals during Grant's years
(02:28):
in office. His brother in law colluded with robber barons
Jay Gould and James Fiske to try to corner the
gold market. There were bribery scandals involving everything from Native
American trading posts to whiskey distillers to the Department of Justice.
All of this undermined the important things he did for
the country, including advocating for the rights of both African
(02:51):
and Native Americans, as well as stabilizing the nation following
the war and the disastrous Andrew Johnson years. Now in
the twentieth century, we've seen scandals like a member of
President Warren Harding's cabinet giving private oil companies the rights
to extract oil and gas from federal land in the
Teapot Dome scandal. Then we hit the nineteen sixties, where
(03:14):
once again we see someone tasked with taking over as
commander in chief from a much loved and again assassinated
President John F. Kennedy. We're talking about one of America's
most complex and controversial presidents, Lyndon Baines Johnson LBJ. While
LBJ achieved landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act, Medicare,
(03:36):
and his War on Poverty, there's the whole darker, less
talked about side of his political career, corruption, backroom deals,
and according to some folks, maybe even murder. It all
protected his reputation and rise to power. There are rumors
at LBJ, the thirty sixth US President, may have had
(03:56):
inconvenient people done away with in order to safeg his
political career. It's what happens when power and ambition override
ethics and decency. Johnson's rise to power had a rough beginning.
Born in rural Texas, as he moved ahead in politics,
he was known for his fierce ambition and ruthless approach
(04:17):
to getting his way. He had no problem using political favors, intimidation,
and arm twisting to get ahead, and by the late
nineteen thirties, LBJ had made a name for himself in Congress.
By nineteen sixty one, he was John F. Kennedy's vice president.
But before he became vice president, one of his closest
(04:38):
friends was a guy named Billy Solestes, a Texas businessman
known for shady dealings and scams, and LBJ was right
next to him. In the late nineteen fifties and early sixties,
Estes was involved in a huge fraud scheme involving federal
agricultural subsidies, but he was protected by his deep political
(04:58):
connections and including to LBJ, who was by then a
powerful senator and then a Vice president. As rumors of
ST's schemes began to swirl, a federal investigator named Henry
Marshall started digging into ST's subsidy fraud operation. He got
closer to uncovering the truth, and then in nineteen sixty one,
(05:20):
Marshall was found dead on his Texas ranch, five gunshot
wounds to the chest. The initial ruling, they called it
a suicide. Yeah, you heard me. Who the heck commits
suicide by shooting themselves in the chest five times? I
think one would be enough. Right. Marshall's friends and family
were suspicious, but the authority stuck with the suicide ruling,
(05:44):
at least for a while. That is so here's where
the LBJ connection comes in. Billy sol EST's himself testified
that Henry Marshall had uncovered too much about the money
scheme and also about lbj's involvement in it. He claimed LBG,
with the help of Malcolm Wallace, selbj's right hand man,
(06:04):
ordered Marshall's murder to keep him from exposing their involvement
in the illegal activities. Finally, a grand jury reopened the
case in nineteen eighty four, that's over ten years after
lbj's death. New evidence made it pretty clear that Marshall's
death was in fact a murder. I don't think they
needed twenty years to figure that out, though nobody was
(06:25):
ever formally charged. So that's the question. Did LBJ have
a hand in it? And was Henry Marshall just the
tip of the iceberg. Well, it turns out Malcolm Wallace
had been linked to violence and LBJ before. In nineteen
fifty one, he was convicted of killing a local golf
pro who had been romantically involved with one of lbja's sisters.
(06:48):
He was convicted of murder, but was given a ridiculously
lenient sentence. He got just five years probation, no prison time.
How did that happen? Some think it was thanks to
his powerful connections to Lyndon Johnson. Wallace continued his tight
knit relationship with LBJ for years, and his name comes
(07:09):
up in another accusation involving the murder of President John F. Kennedy.
It's hotly debated, but there are folks who think LBJ,
in his intense ambition to become president, played a key
role in JFK's assassination. The theory is that by nineteen
sixty three, LBJ, as vice president had little power, and
(07:30):
there were rumors that Kennedy was going to drop him
from the ticket in his upcoming nineteen sixty four reelection bid.
Could it be that Johnson, with the help of people
like Malcolm Wallace, conspired to have Kennedy removed permanently. Some
believe that Wallace's fingerprints were found on boxes in the
Texas school book Depository, where, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald
(07:54):
took him at JFK. It was all just speculation, though,
and Billy Solesti's eventually went to prison just for fraud.
While behind bars, he claimed LBJ had been involved in
criminal activities for years, profiting from the fraud and involved
in at least eight murders to cover it all up.
True or not, it's a reminder of how far people
(08:17):
will go to protect their political survival. After all, LBJ
was known to crave power, and his history has repeatedly
shown us power can be a dangerous thing. So once again,
as we learn from Spider Man, with great power comes
great responsibility. Hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele.
(08:47):
Follow or subscribe for free to get new episodes delivered automatically,
and feel free to dm me if you have a
story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty
Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
(09:08):
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
(09:29):
you didn't know you needed to know.
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