Reflections on the Way to Jail

In his journey from congressional page to Democratic Senate Secretary, Robert G. (Bobby) Baker was Lyndon Johnson's protege and became an important functionary. His decade of influence was an eventful one on Capitol Hill, and Baker was able to participate in legislative history while enriching himself through private business dealings. The scandal that broke in 1963 instantly converted his status from that of all-American striver to one of cuff-linked corruptor. Last week, four years after his conviction for income tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the Government and theft, he began a one-to three-year prison term. Hugh Sidey, TIME'S Washington bureau chief, found Baker remarkably mellow before parting with his freedom. Sidey's report:

He is 20 Ibs. heavier now, and his hair is almost gone on top. But Bobby Baker's tailoring is as impeccable as it was when he learned from the great men --Burnet Maybank, Alben Barkley, Sam Rayburn. Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kerr --to dress as though you were prosperous. There is the same keen intelligence, the same up-to-the-minute knowledge of national affairs. Nor has Baker become a more humble man despite his gentle manner. He recalls that he had once planned to return to his native South Carolina and run for office: "I have no doubt that I could have been elected Governor with my personality and know-how." Moreover, he figures that he would have done even better than he has in business. "If nothing had happened to me, I would be worth in excess of $10 million now."

Mum on Money. Many politicians would agree with Baker's equally lofty estimate of his competence in the Senate. "I was such a professional in my job that I could always tell within two or three votes what the vote would be. If the President called, I could let him know within an hour. Most of the Senators would tell me." Baker also handled donations to the Democratic senatorial-campaign kitty, many of them large, unrecorded, in cash--and illegal. "I was one guy," he says, "whom they could trust not to say anything about the money. I've handled millions in cash."

Baker still denies that he kept any of the funds for his own use. He handled the illicit contributions, he concedes, because he was told to do so and because that was the way the System functioned. With a laugh, he recalls seeing one Senator pass $10,000 on the Senate floor to a colleague who had a reputation for righteousness; the recipient overcame his scruples in the time it took to pocket the money. Though he never felt that he was doing anything evil, Baker does consider the ways in which political campaigners are financed to be "a national cancer. I've been a part of it, so I know. It will destroy this country unless something is done. People are selling their souls. They have to. They are human. There is not a human being who can take money from somebody and not be influenced." He advocates legislation to regulate contributions and make them tax deductible.

Wasn't it wrong for him to be engaged in private business ventures while wielding political influence in the Senate? Baker thinks not. "I didn't try to sell my influence. None of my businesses had any contracts with the Government. Lyndon Johnson was in radio and television. Bob Kerr was in gas and oil. George Murphy was drawing money from Technicolor, Inc. Why couldn't I get into business? I wanted to be comfortable. I wanted every one of my five kids to be able to get an education. I wanted them to have some of the better things in life."

How can politics be all evil. Baker wonders, when it has produced so much good for the nation? "Every one of those men--Johnson, Kerr, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Nixon--was part of it, but tried to make this a better country. There was nothing Bad about Bob Kerr. He just wanted to make Oklahoma more important than New York. He wanted to deal to get it done. He knew how the System worked."

Baker still talks of his closeness to famous men. "John Kennedy nominated me four times for Jaycee awards." Baker recalls that when the scandal broke, Robert Kennedy, then Attorney General, telephoned him and said: "My brother loved you. I just want you to know that we've got nothing in our files down here on you but newspaper clippings." As more evidence against Baker turned up, no more was heard from Kennedy.

L.B.J., whom Baker considered his closest friend, has not been in touch in years. Said Baker: "I knew Lyndon Johnson. I understand."

And Washington, or a large part of it, understands Bobby Baker. He went off to prison with far more sympathy than antipathy in the capital, where he still retains a strange kind of trust. Just a few days earlier, he was able to borrow more than $500,000 from several banks to continue a condominium development he has started next to his Carousel motel in Ocean City, Md. Still, he says, "Russia wouldn't have treated me the way this country has." In the next breath he adds: "But I have no great resentment. No, this is a great country. It's done a lot for me. I like to think I have done a lot for it."

What will he do behind bars? "I worry about keeping my health. I'm going to study. I'm going to learn about architecture. I want to be able to read a blueprint. I'm going to study accounting and literature. I'm going to come out a better man than I went in." When he gets out, perhaps in 18 months, Baker intends to write a book. "I want to make some positive suggestions for the improvement of the nation." Corny? Yes. Hypocritical? Maybe. A typical Bobby Bakerism? Certainly.

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