Presidential Affairs: Lyndon Johnson and the Bobby Baker Affair
Bobby Baker was one of the top political advisers to Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as a leading organizer for the Democratic Party. He was so good at what he did that he was often referred to as the "101st Senator". Baker became the Senate's Secretary to the Majority Leader. Johnson brought Baker with him to the White House in 1963, but Baker's tenure there would be short lived. Baker was forced to resign during an investigation by the Democratic-controlled Senate into Baker's business and political activities. The investigation included allegations of bribery and arranging sexual favors in exchange for Congressional votes and government contracts. The Senate investigation looked into the financial activities of Baker and Lyndon Johnson during the 1950s. The investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Baker investigation was later dropped after President Kennedy's assassination and Johnson's ascension to the presidency.
Like Johnson, Baker was also a southerner. He was born in Pickens, South Carolina. When he was 14 years old, he received an appointment as a U.S. Senate page, with the help of Harold E. Holder. In 1942, Baker became a page for South Carolina Senator Burnet Maybank. From this position he became friends with several important Democrats. There is a story told by former Texas Governor John Connolly about how he introduced Baker to Johnson. When Lyndon was elected to the Senate in 1948, Connally recommended that Johnson hire Baker. He introduced the two and Johnson supposedly said, "Mr. Baker, they tell me you’re the smartest son of a bitch over there." Baker claims that he replied, "Well, whoever told you that lied. I know all of the staff on our side. I know who the drunks are. And I know whose word is good." Johnson replied, "You’re the man I want to know."
At Johnson's recommendation, Baker was appointed as the assistant Secretary for the Senate Majority Leader (who was then Arizona senator Ernest McFarland). Baker was eventually promoted to be Secretary to the Majority Leader in 1953, giving Johnson an ally with the powerfully important Senator. When Johnson became senate Majority Leader in 1955, he relied heavily on Baker. According to the Washington Post, Baker had an uncanny knack of giving Johnson a precise head count for any upcoming Senate vote. Johnson said of Baker, "He is the first person I talk to in the morning and the last one at night."
Baker was one of the founders of something called the Quorum Club, located in the Carroll Arms Hotel adjacent to a Senate office building. This was a place for congressmen and other influential men to meet for food, drink, and female companionship, in a place out of sight from the media. The club had a buzzer that alerted senators when measures were coming up for a vote so they could rush back across the street for a roll call. Lobbyists could meet with members of Congress, and both were often introduced to women with whom the influential men could fool around with. Baker said, "The Quorum Club was a place that you could be met there and nobody would know about it. It was a social club. One time I was in there and Ellen Rometsch was at my table. She was as pretty as Elizabeth Taylor. She was married to a sergeant in the German Army, but stationed at their embassy in Washington. She was sort of like me. She was ambitious. She'd come from Germany broke." Baker claimed that he introduced Rometsch to John F. Kennedy. He referred to himself as Kennedy's "wing man". According to Baker, he arranged for Ellen Rometsch to go to the apartment of lobbyist Bill Thompson, who would then arrange meetings between Rometsch and Kennedy.
Baker also owned a condominium where high-profile Washington movers and shakers were entertained by women who were not their wives. Time Magazine later quoted one of Baker's neighbors as saying: "A lot of people used to come through the back door. That struck us as strange. Most of our guests come through the front door."
In 1962, Baker and his friend Fred Black started the Serv-U Corporation, a company which provided vending machines for companies working for programs established under federal grants. This particular business venture would cause problems for Baker subsequently. Later that year, Baker's name came up in the course of an FBI wiretap of Ed Levinson's office at the Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas. The FBI agent notified FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover of the references early in 1963. Levinson and Benjamin Seigelbaum arranged with an Oklahoma City bank for a $400,000 start-up loan for the Serv-U Corporation to buy equipment and supplies. The deal led to allegations of conflict of interest and corruption after a disgruntled former government contractor sued Baker and Black in civil court. The lawsuit received extensive media coverage.
In September 1963, an investigation was begun by the Republican-led Senate Rules Committee into Baker's business and political activities. Baker was investigated on allegations of bribery using money allocated by Congress. He was also accused of arranging sexual favors in exchange for votes and government contracts. In light of this extensive criticism, Baker resigned as Secretary to the Majority Leader on October 7, 1963.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy, President Kennedy's younger brother is alleged to have made a deal with J. Edgar Hoover to quash any mention of the Rometsch allegations in the Senate investigation of Baker. Hoover is said to have limited the Senate investigation of Baker by threatening to release embarrassing information about senators contained in FBI files. It is said that, in return for this, Robert Kennedy assured Hoover that his job as FBI Director was safe, and that he also agreed to allow Hoover to proceed with wiretaps on Martin Luther King.
The Senate investigation looked into not only Baker's activities, but to Johnson as well. Johnson was not involved in Baker's business dealings after 1960, but the Senate investigation looked into questionable financial activities in the 1950s in which both men were involved in. It was rumored that because of this, Johnson would be dropped from the 1964 presidential ticket, and Kennedy has intimated as much to his secretary Evelyn Lincoln. But following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, the Senate investigation was postponed and ultimately any investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Baker investigation was dropped.
In the 1964 presidential election, Republican candidate Senator Barry Goldwater referenced the Bobby Baker scandal as an issue against Johnson in his speeches and campaign material. Goldwater demanding that Johnson come clean about his involvement with Baker. Ultimately, the issue had little or no effect on the outcome of the election.
In 1967, Baker was indicted on charges of tax evasion, theft and fraud. Baker had allegedly been asked by savings and loan industry officials in California to deliver a six-figure sum to Sen. Robert Kerr, a Democrat from Oklahoma. According to Mr. Baker's memoir, that money was to have been an inducement to derail a bill that would have been adversely affected the savings and loan industry. The jury found that Baker had kept nearly $50,000 for himself. Baker denied the charges, but the jury did not believe him. He was convicted and after exhausting all appeals, he began serving what ultimately amounted to 16 months of a one- to three-year sentence.
After the investigation into Baker began, Johnson distanced himself from his old friend and broke off communication between the two. After Johnson left the presidency, LBJ extended an olive branch to Baker in late 1972, just a few months before his death. The former president asked Baker to visit him at his ranch in Stonewall, Texas, on the understanding that the visit would be kept private. According to Baker in his memoirs, Johnson told Baker that he did not speak out in Baker's defense because, in Johnson's words, "Everything within me wanted to come to your aid. But they would have crucified me." At the end of the visit, Baker had wanted to sign the guest book that Johnson and his wife had kept on a table in the hallway of their home, but Johnson decided that it would not be a good idea.
Baker died on his 89th birthday in St. Augustine, Florida.
Like Johnson, Baker was also a southerner. He was born in Pickens, South Carolina. When he was 14 years old, he received an appointment as a U.S. Senate page, with the help of Harold E. Holder. In 1942, Baker became a page for South Carolina Senator Burnet Maybank. From this position he became friends with several important Democrats. There is a story told by former Texas Governor John Connolly about how he introduced Baker to Johnson. When Lyndon was elected to the Senate in 1948, Connally recommended that Johnson hire Baker. He introduced the two and Johnson supposedly said, "Mr. Baker, they tell me you’re the smartest son of a bitch over there." Baker claims that he replied, "Well, whoever told you that lied. I know all of the staff on our side. I know who the drunks are. And I know whose word is good." Johnson replied, "You’re the man I want to know."
At Johnson's recommendation, Baker was appointed as the assistant Secretary for the Senate Majority Leader (who was then Arizona senator Ernest McFarland). Baker was eventually promoted to be Secretary to the Majority Leader in 1953, giving Johnson an ally with the powerfully important Senator. When Johnson became senate Majority Leader in 1955, he relied heavily on Baker. According to the Washington Post, Baker had an uncanny knack of giving Johnson a precise head count for any upcoming Senate vote. Johnson said of Baker, "He is the first person I talk to in the morning and the last one at night."
Baker was one of the founders of something called the Quorum Club, located in the Carroll Arms Hotel adjacent to a Senate office building. This was a place for congressmen and other influential men to meet for food, drink, and female companionship, in a place out of sight from the media. The club had a buzzer that alerted senators when measures were coming up for a vote so they could rush back across the street for a roll call. Lobbyists could meet with members of Congress, and both were often introduced to women with whom the influential men could fool around with. Baker said, "The Quorum Club was a place that you could be met there and nobody would know about it. It was a social club. One time I was in there and Ellen Rometsch was at my table. She was as pretty as Elizabeth Taylor. She was married to a sergeant in the German Army, but stationed at their embassy in Washington. She was sort of like me. She was ambitious. She'd come from Germany broke." Baker claimed that he introduced Rometsch to John F. Kennedy. He referred to himself as Kennedy's "wing man". According to Baker, he arranged for Ellen Rometsch to go to the apartment of lobbyist Bill Thompson, who would then arrange meetings between Rometsch and Kennedy.
Baker also owned a condominium where high-profile Washington movers and shakers were entertained by women who were not their wives. Time Magazine later quoted one of Baker's neighbors as saying: "A lot of people used to come through the back door. That struck us as strange. Most of our guests come through the front door."
In 1962, Baker and his friend Fred Black started the Serv-U Corporation, a company which provided vending machines for companies working for programs established under federal grants. This particular business venture would cause problems for Baker subsequently. Later that year, Baker's name came up in the course of an FBI wiretap of Ed Levinson's office at the Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas. The FBI agent notified FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover of the references early in 1963. Levinson and Benjamin Seigelbaum arranged with an Oklahoma City bank for a $400,000 start-up loan for the Serv-U Corporation to buy equipment and supplies. The deal led to allegations of conflict of interest and corruption after a disgruntled former government contractor sued Baker and Black in civil court. The lawsuit received extensive media coverage.
In September 1963, an investigation was begun by the Republican-led Senate Rules Committee into Baker's business and political activities. Baker was investigated on allegations of bribery using money allocated by Congress. He was also accused of arranging sexual favors in exchange for votes and government contracts. In light of this extensive criticism, Baker resigned as Secretary to the Majority Leader on October 7, 1963.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy, President Kennedy's younger brother is alleged to have made a deal with J. Edgar Hoover to quash any mention of the Rometsch allegations in the Senate investigation of Baker. Hoover is said to have limited the Senate investigation of Baker by threatening to release embarrassing information about senators contained in FBI files. It is said that, in return for this, Robert Kennedy assured Hoover that his job as FBI Director was safe, and that he also agreed to allow Hoover to proceed with wiretaps on Martin Luther King.
The Senate investigation looked into not only Baker's activities, but to Johnson as well. Johnson was not involved in Baker's business dealings after 1960, but the Senate investigation looked into questionable financial activities in the 1950s in which both men were involved in. It was rumored that because of this, Johnson would be dropped from the 1964 presidential ticket, and Kennedy has intimated as much to his secretary Evelyn Lincoln. But following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, the Senate investigation was postponed and ultimately any investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Baker investigation was dropped.
In the 1964 presidential election, Republican candidate Senator Barry Goldwater referenced the Bobby Baker scandal as an issue against Johnson in his speeches and campaign material. Goldwater demanding that Johnson come clean about his involvement with Baker. Ultimately, the issue had little or no effect on the outcome of the election.
In 1967, Baker was indicted on charges of tax evasion, theft and fraud. Baker had allegedly been asked by savings and loan industry officials in California to deliver a six-figure sum to Sen. Robert Kerr, a Democrat from Oklahoma. According to Mr. Baker's memoir, that money was to have been an inducement to derail a bill that would have been adversely affected the savings and loan industry. The jury found that Baker had kept nearly $50,000 for himself. Baker denied the charges, but the jury did not believe him. He was convicted and after exhausting all appeals, he began serving what ultimately amounted to 16 months of a one- to three-year sentence.
After the investigation into Baker began, Johnson distanced himself from his old friend and broke off communication between the two. After Johnson left the presidency, LBJ extended an olive branch to Baker in late 1972, just a few months before his death. The former president asked Baker to visit him at his ranch in Stonewall, Texas, on the understanding that the visit would be kept private. According to Baker in his memoirs, Johnson told Baker that he did not speak out in Baker's defense because, in Johnson's words, "Everything within me wanted to come to your aid. But they would have crucified me." At the end of the visit, Baker had wanted to sign the guest book that Johnson and his wife had kept on a table in the hallway of their home, but Johnson decided that it would not be a good idea.
Baker died on his 89th birthday in St. Augustine, Florida.