Page "Walter Jenkins" Paragraph 9

Anticipating the charge that Jenkins might have been blackmailed, Johnson immediately ordered an FBI investigation.

He knew that J. Edgar Hoover would have to clear the administration of any security problem because the FBI itself would otherwise be at fault for failing to investigate Jenkins properly years before.

Hoover reported on October 22 that security had not been compromised.

Johnson later said: " I couldn't have been more shocked about Walter Jenkins if I'd heard that Lady Bird had tried to kill the Pope.

" He also fed conspiracy theories that Jenkins had been framed.

He claimed that before his arrest Jenkins had attended a cocktail party where the waiters came from the Republican National Committee, though the party was hosted by Newsweek to celebrate the opening of its new offices.

The Star printed the story and UPI transmitted its version on October 14.

Jenkins resigned the same day.

Johnson immediately ordered a poll to determine the public's reaction to the affair and learned the next day that its effect on the voters was negligible.