ustxtxb_obs_1969_02_07_50_00009-00000_000.pdf

big cattle auction building at Round Mountain, about 25 miles from the LBJ Ranch. Reporter Friedman suggests that t h e Texas Capital Corp., organized six weeks after the Johnson-sponsored Small Business Investment Act of 1958 authorized federal loans to such firms, is one of the companies of the Johnson G r o u p. Thomas told Friedman that Johnson had nothing to do with its founding. Some of its stock is now held by the Johnson City Foundation and the profit-sharing trust of the Johnson radio-TV business. Its original organizers included Edward Clark and Franklin W. Denius, both long identified with Johnson Group activities. Friedman concedes Johnson has no direct connection with the company, which now exceeds the permitted size for such federally backed small companies a n d also owns other businesses, contrary to the intentions of the federal program. V The Lubbock daily reported last month that Austin attorney Jake Jacobsen had just joined the eight-member board of the Lubbock Savings and Loan Assn. because of the purchase of what the paper called “a substantial block of stock.” The paper failed to identify Jacobsen as the man who frequently represents President Johnson in matters of high finance and as a former Johnson White House assistant. As a fellow Austin attorney was quoted recently in US News and World Report, “It is sort of common belief around here that everything Jake is doing in banks wr1 11 eventually bring Johnson into the picture.” Jacobsen has been involved in a number of transactions in Austin banking that are understood here as being in LBJ’s behalf. Johnson is believed to own part of each of the city’s banks. Jacobsen is listed as one of five directors of t h e newest in Austin, the Community National Bank, which opened last month. V There has been some talk in recent weeks of an impending struggle for banking ‘supremacy in Austin between Johnson and former Gov. Allan Shivers, who is chairman of the board of the Austin National Bank, the capital’s largest. V Fagan Dickson, Austin attorney who ran against Jake Pickle for Congress on a “Bring Lyndon Home” platform, then withdrew when Johnson said he would not seek re-election, told the New York Times he has bought 281 shares of stock in the Capital National Bank of Austin, paying $88 a share for it, in confident . expectation that Johnson will take control of the bank next spring and cause the stock to increase in value. Of the ten banks in which the Johnson circle have interests, Capital National is the one with the most thoroughgoing Johnson stamp on it. A Discovery In the Los Angeles Times, Nicholas Chriss reports that a second con tributor to the $200,000 private LBJ State Park has been uncovered. The list of these contributors has never been released despite promises by John Ben Shepperd, the trustee of the fund, that they would be. The first one to be learned about was George Brown, whose Brown Foundation gave $50,000. Chriss reports that the Johnson City Foundation’ loaned $33,500 to the park fund in 1967. \(PreV President Johnson will have the use of a military helicopter, the New York Times has reported. It will be based at an air base near San Antonio. Both the new Johnson Library in Austin and the Austin Federal Bldg. will have helicopter landing pads atop for the president’s use. Johnson will travel by mili. tary airplane when going out of Texas, the Times adds, because of Secret Service fears of the possibility of a highjacking if he travelled by commercial airlines. The Times’ story notes that the perquisites of ex-presidents have grown with each succeeding man; Johnson will, therefore, have more than any other expresident. V Johnson evidently is to keep at least some of the expensive airport and communications equipment at the LBJ Ranch, according to President Nixon’s press secretary, Ronald Ziegler. A great amount of communications equipment was installed there after Johnson became president in 1963; two years earlier the Federal Aviation Administration had installed equipment at the ranch airport. LBJ and UT President Johnson still harbors re sentment towards the University of Texas at Austin despite that school’s providing facilities for the LBJ Presidential Library and School of Public Affairs \(Obs., Wall Street Journal Dallas reporter Norman Pearlstine. Johnson “became angry when the school refused his request to be made a full academic professor, even though Mr. Johnson never planned to devote all his time to the school,” Pearlstine writes. Therefore, Johnson will, for one thing, be a guest lecturer this spring at Rice University. UT chancellor Harry H. Ransom said Johnson will be a “conversationalist in residence” at Austin. Pearlstine adds that reports persist that the new upper deck addition to the UT-Austin football stadium was put on the west rather than the east side in deference to Johnsonso LBJ’s view of Austin and the, university from his library would not be impeded. The cost of putting the upper deck on the west rather than the east side is much greater because of the westward slope of the stadium site. V It has been indirectly announced that the chancellor of UT, Dr. Ran som, is the president of the newly formed LBJ Public Affairs Foundation. The foun dation will support a professional staff to do technical and research work inci dental to publication of the Johnson memoirs. Ransom said royalties and other income accruing by publishing or broad casting of Johnson data will go to the foundation. The formation of the foundationand Ransom’s presidency of it were made public incidental to the announcement that Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. are to publish LBJ’s memoirs beginning sometime in 1970. Higher Education Apprehensions among those con cerned about higher education in Texas that someone without proper academic credentials might be appointed to the presidencies of the University of Texas campuses at Arlington and El Paso may be unfounded. The Observer understands that two leading Texas academicians were approached about the jobs in December. Frank Vandiver of Rice was sounded out about the UTEP job, and Joe Frantz of UT-Austin was approached about the Arlington position. It has been widely thought that someone more aligned with the Texas business community might be given the two jobs. El ‘Paso Mayor Judson Williams, who was thought to be the board of regents choice for the UTEP job, recently withdrew as a candidate, criticizing the regents for being “indecisive.” Student demonstrations and widespread faculty apprehension evidently stalled the re\(rents from naming Williams \(Obs., Dec. ly a year at El Paso now. UT officials say they’ll not be hurried about choosing a permanent president, and that delays are not unusual for choosing university presidents. The Williams resignation and public criticism caused UT to issue a press statement in December that the selection of the UTEP president is expected “some time in the new year.” V The Arlington vs. Dallas cold war in higher education intensified a bit with the recent disclosure that Austin attorney Howard Rose had been retained to promote the views of the Dallas chamber of commerce before the legislature this year. Rose is a law partner of Frank Erwin, the chairman of the University of Texas regents; the Dallas chamber is a Southwest Center for Advanced Studies \(SCAS, which is financed by Dallas busiBoth proposals are viewed dimly at Arlington, which recently won status as a “UT” campus and which is now hoping to become the educational collosus of North Texas. V There are signs the Dallas business community is wearying of the high costs of operating SCAS, which presently is devoted to postgraduate research in science. Last year the board of regents suddenly announced its intention to establish a four-year UT campus at Dallas \(Ohs., V The ambitions of UT regents to expand their system throughout the February 7, 1969 9