The Presidency: A Modest Sum

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His own trustee pegged the figure at $4,160,000. The Washington Star made it $9,000,000. LIFE Magazine, by a "conservative calculation of present market values," reckoned it at $14 million. Finally, in the face of increasing speculation about the size and nature of his personal fortune, President Johnson last week ordered Haskins & Sells, one of the biggest accounting firms in the U.S., to release an audit of his family's net worth. The figure: $3,484,098.

"Incredibly Low." If Lyndon thought that this would be the last word on the subject, he was badly mistaken. "Incredibly low," snapped G.O.P. National Chairman Dean Burch when he saw the estimate. "Grossly understated," said the Wall Street Journal. Haskins & Sells arrived at the modest figure by following a generally accepted accounting technique by which the original cost is used instead of current market value. In this instance, cracked Burch, the effect is "like listing the value of Manhattan Island at $24."

Burch had a point. Haskins & Sells, for example, estimated that the Johnsons' 85% interest in the Texas Broadcasting Corporation is worth $2,543,838. But some knowledgeable broadcasting brokers claim that the property would bring close to $9,000,000 on the open market today. The accountants also placed the total worth of some 8,500 Johnson acres in Texas, Alabama and Missouri in the neighborhood of half a million dollars; according to other estimates, it is a much fancier neighborhood than that—something on the order of $3,600,000. Further, the public audit fails to list several specific assets, such as bank stocks held by Johnson-controlled funds and foundations. These, according to LIFE, add another $600,000 to the money, pile.

Political Capital. The audit offers some interesting glimpses into the President's capital progress since 1954, when his family's worth was listed as $737,730, scarcely a fourth of what it is today, even by the conservative Raskins & Sells evaluation. During the decade, Lady Bird handily outearned her husband by drawing $570,856 as "compensation for services" from Texas Broadcasting, while Lyndon made $409,730 in salary and expenses as Senator, Vice President and President. In the same period, the Johnsons shelled out $587,515 for "living, office, travel, entertainment and sundry expenses," $365,955 for federal income taxes, and $178,578 for charitable donations.

Whatever method is used to reckon the size of Lyndon's fortune, the point is that he has accumulated considerable capital during his years in elective office—and that the G.O.P. is inevitably going to try to convert this into political capital. At a Long Island rally for 3,000 Republicans, Vice-Presidential Candidate William Miller last week said that Lyndon's fortune raises "some question of integrity," and will be a campaign issue. Dean Burch, referring to the President's broadcasting interests, called it "peculiar that the bulk of his fortune was made in areas subject to federal control." In fact, added Burch sardonically, Lyndon Johnson must be "the greatest free-enterpriser in the world" to have amassed so much money while on the public payroll.