Part 2 Chapter 14 Summary

Sensationalism rather than substance was LBJ's focus in his subcommittee and sometimes he followed false leads. At Christmastime in 1950, Senators were hearing from constituents about conditions at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The Armed Services Committee met with Air Force officials in closed session and learned that rumors were exaggerated about hunger and cold, disease and even suicides. There was, indeed, overcrowding as a result of a surge of enlistments, but the Air Force was constructing new barracks and reassigning enlistees to other bases for training. The Secretary of the Air Force appealed to LBJ to downplay the issue in the public interest.

Instead, LBJ dispatched four investigators "to make a personal check tonight." He was determined to tell America's mothers something about their sons. His investigators drew standard issue clothing and bedding and spent the stormy night in tents...