The Devil Always Introduces Himself

On LBJ and the obviousness of corruption.

When I was a kid growing up in Dallas in the early eighties, my paternal grandfather would occasionally rant about the corruption of the Democratic Party, especially during the era of President Lyndon Johnson. I still vividly remember him talking about Johnson and his cronies in the media, real estate, energy, and defense industries who funded his political campaigns in return for vast favors and lucrative contracts with the U.S. government.

At the time I didn’t believe my grandfather, who always struck me as belonging more in the 19th than in the 20th century. I thought he was just being a crotchety old man. He spoke about Johnson’s corruption as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. All anyone had to do was simply open his eyes and he would see it as plain as day. One of my grandfather’s best friends was so appalled by Johnson that he moved to Mexico.

For the last month I’ve been researching the Kennedy assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and my reading has prompted me to reexamine that man who was the principle beneficiary of JFK’s death. This morning I watched the following documentary, researched and narrated by military historian, Colin D. Heaton.

The documentary reminds of the long literary tradition in which the devil does not conceal his identity, but introduces himself. People fail to recognize that they are being seduced and taken down a path of folly and ruin because it is so obvious. They mistakenly believe that corruption must be subtle, sophisticated, and hidden instead of being out in the open. And so they fail to see what is right in front of them.