AP WAS THERE: Uncovering Lyndon B Johnson’s stolen election

By JAMES W. MANGAN
Associated Press

ALICE, Texas (AP) — In 1977, Associated Press reporter James W. Mangan had an exclusive interview with a South Texas election judge who detailed certifying false votes for Lyndon B. Johnson nearly three decades earlier. The story made headlines across the country. Johnson had won by an 87-vote margin in the 1948 Democratic primary runoff. He easily defeated his Republican opponent to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Mangan spent three years pursuing the story. It pulled back the curtain on the victory that had drawn suspicions ever since election officials in rural Jim Wells County announced the discovery of uncounted votes in Box 13.