On Politics and Parks: People, Places, Politics, Parks

10. In Preparation for Defeat

108 CHAPTER 10 In Preparation for Defeat Although suspect due to its alarming wrapping, of all the gifts Jake Pickle gave me, the most meaningful was his suggestion in 1965 that I go to work for Walter Jenkins. The year before, in October 1964, Walter Jenkins, who many considered to be the second most powerful man in Washington because of his unrivaled position as President Lyndon Johnson’s top aide and confidant, was arrested in the men’s room of the YMC฀ near the White House. He was charged with disorderly conduct for a homosexual act. The scandal exploded across the airwaves and newspapers. Conversation and telephone calls were filled with wild rumors and speculation. People in ฀ustin who knew Walter (and there were many) sat around in stunned silence. Those who didn’t know him tittered nose to nose in coffee-shop whispers. The phrases “security risk” and “security breach” cropped up more than once. Homosexuality was the taboo of taboos. In my protected, Southern Baptist world, it was rarely discussed, thought to be represented by a few very weird people who hung out around bus stations to be preyed upon by town toughs. My only confrontation with it was in 1958, when I worked at my Uncle Jim’s company in Houston. ฀s I was saving every nickel I could muster for college, I’d asked him to find the cheapest place possible to rent, which turned out to be the downtown YMC฀. Uncle Jim was a straitlaced Presbyterian , so I’m sure he would not have suspected the Young Men’s Christian ฀ssociation to be a hangout for men looking for other men. Each YMC฀ room was little more than a monk’s cell—a bed and a chest of drawers . There was no air conditioning, just a small fan that only churned the stifling, humid heat. To alleviate the swelter, most occupants slept with their hall doors open, hoping for a bit of a draft. In Preparation for Defeat 109 One night I suddenly awoke to find a man standing in my doorway. He said nothing , but I sensed that he wasn’t there to collect the rent. In a bound I swung out of bed and crossed the floor in full lineman-crouching stride, yelling for my friend Miller Zucker as I crashed into the man, trapping him between the door and frame. Miller, who was working in Houston for the summer and living across the hall from me, had been a college football player of size and speed. Into the hall he stumbled and together we manhandled the intruder to the elevator. Reaching the lobby, we demanded that the night manager call the police. He said he would handle the matter. ฀s the man was practically comatose, we retreated to our rooms. Miller told me that he thought the Y might be a home for “queers.” With my lack of knowledge I could only imagine what this might mean, but I moved out of the Y—and in with ฀unt ฀ggie, Uncle Rob, and five cousins the next day. Their home was built for three or four, so I slept in a makeshift area in their garage. I soon put the Y incident out of mind. Jake’s suggestion startled me—go to work for Walter Jenkins?—but it shouldn’t have. I knew that my friend Bob Waldron was gay, but that had not stopped me from learning from that multitalented man from ฀rp, Texas, and enjoying his company. He was so open about his sexual orientation that he once announced to a group of male Texas visitors that he’d played running back in college. “Which college?,” they asked. “Vassar!,” came the reply. It was so outrageous that all laughed and shook their heads nervously. Everything said about “those people” at the time (and “those people” seemed only to be men) was based in ignorance. ฀fter conversations with people I trusted, coupled with my own knowledge of Walter Jenkins’s work for LBJ, what I found was a man from Wichita Falls who had served in World War II, was married with six children, and had worked for Johnson during his time as senator, vice president, and then president with honor and devotion, leaving only once to return to Wichita Falls in 1951 to run for Congress. He was crucified in that election , not for being gay but for being a convert to Catholicism. Yes, I found out that...