Texas has never had a political wunderkind quite like Ben Barnes<\/a>. In 1960 he was elected a state representative before he\u2019d finished law school, and he quickly put himself in the good graces of Governor John Connally<\/a> and President Lyndon Johnson<\/a>. He became Speaker of the Texas House at 26, lieutenant governor at 30, and, when he was just 32, heard Johnson declare, \u201cBen Barnes will someday be the next president of the United States from Texas.\u201d But just two years later Barnes lost his bid for governor, and he never ran for office again. Instead, he began a lucrative career as a real estate developer and Democratic Party fixer, becoming wealthy enough to summer on Nantucket and buy Teddy Roosevelt\u2019s former mansion in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n In his new memoir, Get It Done<\/a> (Grand Central Publishing), Barnes chronicles his life as a series of Forrest Gump\u2013like escapades through American history. He is raised on a peanut farm near the Central Texas town of De Leon, ascends quickly to the heights of political power, crosses paths with everyone from Jimmy Hoffa to Elvis Presley to John Wayne, and ends up as the consummate political insider. He\u2019s a good time on the page, an irrepressible storyteller and a shameless (and self-admitted) name-dropper; \u201cI\u2019m proud to say that for the next five decades Willie and I would remain close\u201d is a sample passage. At age 88, he remains the kind of guy whom presidential candidates make it their business to seek out. In mid-June he visited Texas Monthly\u2019s office to talk about politics then and now and the political mystery that he still hasn\u2019t unraveled.<\/p>\n Texas Monthly: When I was telling a few of my colleagues that you were coming in, they said, \u201cWait, he already wrote a memoir.\u201d And you did. Barn Burning, Barn Building, published in 2006. Why\u2019d you write a second?<\/p>\n Ben Barnes: Because of my kidney. I had kidney disease and went through seven months on dialysis. Then one Friday afternoon, my assistant of twenty-five years came into my office and said, \u201cI want to get off Monday. I\u2019m going to the hospital. I\u2019m going to be tested. And if I am a match, I\u2019m going to give you my kidney.\u201d And I said, \u201cSusan, you got your grandkids, you don\u2019t need to do anything.\u201d She went down to Houston and called me and said, \u201cI\u2019m a match.\u201d So they did the kidney. She\u2019s been in very good health, and I\u2019ve had a great three years. My kidney really caused me to write this book. There were just some things that I wanted to say. But I\u2019m disappointed in the book a little bit, because I\u2019m not as immodest as the book is. My publisher wanted it written like that.<\/p>\n TM: What parts of the book would you have wanted to be more modest?<\/p>\n BB: Well, how smart I was and all that. That\u2019s got a little bit of fiction to it. \u201cLuck\u201d would be a much better explanation for my life than \u201cability.\u201d<\/p>\n TM: You were just twenty-two when you first ran for state representative. That\u2019s so young. What was going through your head?<\/p>\n BB: I can\u2019t give you an honest answer to that question. If you gave me a piece of paper and said, \u201cWrite down in fifty words or less why you ran for the Legislature,\u201d I don\u2019t know that I could do that. But I got thrust into politics a lot deeper than probably I planned to. I mean, it just happened.<\/p>\n TM: You got elected Speaker at age twenty-six, which is even harder to imagine than being elected to the Legislature at twenty-two.<\/p>\n BB: I\u2019d like to think about how qualified I was and that people voted strictly on qualifications. But I had been chairman of the rules committee, and as chairman of the rules committee, I got to assign offices. I knew where the bigger and better offices were. So I played it up. I took all these people and showed them their offices and gave the older members good offices. I think that had as much to do with me being Speaker as anything else. That might have been hard for me to admit fifty years ago, but I\u2019ll admit it today.<\/p>\n TM: Was your youth an asset?<\/p>\n BB:\u00a0 A lot of people would come see me because it was kind of like going to the zoo. \u201cWho is this kid? Twenty-six, twenty-seven years old, and he\u2019s Speaker? Let\u2019s go look at him.\u201d So I got good crowds and I attracted people, but I probably was in too much of a hurry trying to do too many things.<\/p>\n I was consumed by politics and neglected my family and some of my other responsibilities. If someone invited me to make a speech, I felt an obligation to go make that speech. If somebody in Muleshoe, Texas, said, \u201cBen, we want you to come speak at the high school commencement,\u201d I was going to try to figure it out. I would say, \u201cWell, if you can change it to Thursday instead of Friday, and if you can do it at nine o\u2019clock instead of six o\u2019clock, I\u2019ll come.\u201d I just wore myself out, but I was young, so I didn\u2019t get tired.<\/p>\n TM: Your career seems to have also been helped quite a bit by your friendships with John Connally and Lyndon Johnson. Why did they take you under their wings?<\/p>\n BB: Maybe \u201creciprocate\u201d is not the right word, but I was doing things for Connally and Johnson, and they were doing things for me. I really helped Connally a lot in his first term as governor, because I knew the Legislature and he didn\u2019t. Connally turned into a very conservative Republican, but back then he was a liberal-minded governor about education. We created new colleges and universities, and when you spend money, you have to pass taxes. I passed a tax bill every session that I was in the Legislature.<\/p>\n I got elected Speaker in \u201965, and let me tell you, the reason Johnson became my friend is because he wanted to protect the seniority that Texas had in the [U.S.] House delegation. We had six chairmen and three vice chairmen, and he said, \u201cYou\u2019ll have one-half of that pencil in your hand,\u201d because the Speaker and the lieutenant governor appoint the committees that draw the legislative maps. So I gerrymandered those districts and protected that seniority. He thought I was one smart son of a, because I delivered those districts.<\/p>\n TM: Since you brought up gerrymandering, that\u2019s obviously been going on a lot these days. Did you think that it was the right thing to do?<\/p>\n BB: I thought that it was important to my state, and I thought that I needed to help the only president from Texas who had been elected. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right thing to do now. It\u2019s absurd now<\/a>, and it hardens people\u2019s feeling toward one another. If I go have dinner with a Republican and my good Democratic friends see me, they want to know what the hell I\u2019m doing with a Republican. And that\u2019s very unhealthy for this country.<\/p>\n TM: Are you still friends with Republicans?<\/p>\n BB: I\u2019m still friends with some Republicans. I was very good friends with John McCain, and I was friends with Lindsey Graham. But when Lindsey Graham wanted to get a tattoo of Donald Trump on his left arm, he totally changed. I can\u2019t imagine him calling me today because I told him in person how disappointed I was with him. He knows a lot of Trump bullshit is bullshit, but John McCain just turned over in his casket three or four times with Lindsey acting like he\u2019s doing. [Editors\u2019 Note: This interview was conducted nearly a month before Graham\u2019s death, on July 11.]<\/p>\n TM: And how did Graham react when you told him how you felt?<\/p>\n BB: Got real red in the face. Looked down. Didn\u2019t look me in the eye while I was talking to him.<\/p>\n TM: Are things really less civil now, though? I\u2019m thinking of the story in your book, about an episode after you were elected lieutenant governor in 1968 and were presiding over the Texas Senate. There were two senators who threatened to kill each other, and you locked them in your office with butcher knives. To me, that doesn\u2019t speak to the most civil interactions in politics.<\/p>\n BB: One of my problems as lieutenant governor is I had about five senators that loved to drink at noon. They would go to the Headliners Club and have some martinis. So what I would do is I started making the Senate go to session at nine, and I\u2019d keep them there until two o\u2019clock. I just stopped afternoon sessions because things got bad.<\/p>\n Well, we still had two senators, Bill Moore and Babe Schwartz<\/a>, who hated one another so bad it was just ruining the session. Finally, I got disgusted and I said, \u201cY\u2019all come back to my office. Schwartz, here\u2019s your butcher knife, and Moore, here\u2019s your butcher knife. Now I\u2019m going to lock the door, and y\u2019all stay in here, and one of y\u2019all kill one another because I don\u2019t think we can have the session if y\u2019all are both alive. Whoever\u2019s living after this deal, come get me, and we\u2019ll bury the other one.\u201d I was being facetious to some extent. Anyway, they apologized and made up, and they really behaved themselves a lot better.<\/p>\n TM: It was around that time that Lyndon Johnson started talking about you as a future president.<\/p>\n BB: We had a dinner here in Austin with every former living governor and every former lieutenant governor. And Johnson got up and said, \u201cThomas Jefferson had red hair, and Ben Barnes has got red hair, and I\u2019m going to let y\u2019all in on a little secret. The next president of the United States from Texas is going to be Ben Barnes. We\u2019re all with him tonight. And I want you all to remember I said that, and you go work for him because he\u2019ll make a hell of a president.\u201d That was out of the blue. I had no idea he was going to say that.<\/p>\n TM: Do you think Johnson meant it?<\/p>\n BB: Yeah, he did. His staff told me that he did talk about me being president. After my first term as Speaker, he appointed me a special ambassador to the United Nations. I go to Switzerland, and I stay there for six weeks and meet all these delegates. That\u2019s pretty big stuff for a kid from De Leon. He was smart enough to know that he was giving me a wealth of education at taxpayers\u2019 expense.<\/p>\n TM: But, of course, you didn\u2019t become president. You ran for governor in 1972, and you lost in the primary. At the time, there was a bribery scandal involving a Houston banker named Frank Sharp<\/a> that had engulfed the Legislature. You were never charged with a crime, but there were rumors that you\u2019d been involved and that Sharp had mentioned your name to the authorities.<\/p>\n BB: I wasn\u2019t involved in it, so we didn\u2019t answer it. Everybody, all my guys, said, \u201cJust stay calm.\u201d I got my ass beat.<\/p>\n TM: That was a setback. But a lot of politicians have setbacks and make comebacks. You were just thirty-four years old. But you never ran for office again. Why?<\/p>\n BB:\u00a0I promised myself after this kidney deal that I was going to always try to tell everybody the absolute truth. Well, here\u2019s the truth: I think my ego had something to do with it. I gave Texas twelve good years. I worked my ass off. I changed a lot of things. I passed a lot of laws. I did a lot of good. And the people, on just hearsay and newspaper publicity, turned me out to pasture. They turned me out. And I just said, \u201cI\u2019m going to let someone else do that.\u201d<\/p>\n TM: It seems like you\u2019ve always enjoyed the inside game of politics.<\/p>\n BB: Yes, I have. I get the good side of politics, and I don\u2019t have to put up with the bullshit side. I don\u2019t have to go and stand out in the sun and wait for a program to start. And I don\u2019t have to make sure that I shake every hand and am the last one to leave. I don\u2019t have to do all that stuff.<\/p>\n I was down in Palm Beach four weeks ago at a governors\u2019 conference, and I got paged that Governor Newsom was calling in. He said, \u201cI just talked to John Kerry, and he said the one man I\u2019ve got to meet and talk to is Ben Barnes. I\u2019ve got a whole hour set aside. I just want to pick your brain.\u201d So I met with him for an hour. I guess he\u2019s a serious candidate for president. He wants me to believe that. I guess \u201cflattering\u201d is the right word for the fact that at eighty-eight years old I\u2019m still sought after.<\/p>\n TM: How much do you talk to the Texas Democrats of today?<\/p>\n BB: Well, I talked to the Senate candidate.<\/p>\n TM: Talarico?<\/p>\n BB: Yeah, I talked to Talarico<\/a> two or three weeks ago. I\u2019ve talked to the governor candidate, the lieutenant governor candidate. Everybody calls and wants money. That\u2019s what they call for. They\u2019ll start off with, \u201cI want to talk to you about my campaign, and I want your advice.\u201d Well, what they want is my money.<\/p>\n But the Democrats for the last twenty years have had no chance to win in Texas. When I write a check to a Democrat statewide, it\u2019s kind of like throwing it out that window, because I know they\u2019re not going to win. Now, I think Talarico may have an outside shot<\/a>. It all depends. They\u2019re going to TM: What should he do?<\/p>\n BB: He\u2019s got to explain some of his positions without changing the position. He\u2019s got to get somebody smarter than me, maybe come up with some answers. A liberal can\u2019t get elected in Texas just spelling a liberal line. You got to play the politics of it. Lloyd Bentsen<\/a> beat Ralph Yarborough, our liberal senator, in 1970, and the main issue was prayer in schools. Yarborough wasn\u2019t for prayer in schools, and Bentsen said, \u201cCan you imagine we\u2019re not going to let the kids pray in school if they want to?\u201d That was a demagogue position, but it ended up being a hell of a big issue. It\u2019s crazy that a United States Senate campaign was decided on prayer in schools, but you got to play that game sometimes in Texas.<\/p>\n TM: In your book, Lyndon Johnson tells you early on in your career, \u201cPolitics can change what needs changing.\u201d That\u2019s a very optimistic view of politics. It seemed like you believed it at the time.<\/p>\n BB: Yes, I did believe it.<\/p>\n TM: Do you still believe it?<\/p>\n BB: To some extent. But I got to see politics at the brightest hour for the Democratic Party. I got to see Medicaid and Medicare passed. I got to see civil rights and voting rights. I got to see a lot of the things that I believe in very strongly pass.<\/p>\n But we\u2019re seeing the worst side of politics today. There\u2019s never been a guy like Trump. But I\u2019ve got enough faith that enough moderate-thinking, responsible people are going to get involved and take the ballot box and change this country back. I just got to believe that. I mean, I don\u2019t have any immediate optimism. I think the Democrats will take back the House, but I think the Democrats screw up a lot.<\/p>\n Chuck Schumer\u2019s going to get very mad at me when he sees this, but I\u2019m for the seventy-five-year-old retirement age. I just think that we need to look at the next generation to find the leaders. My God, [Iowa Senator] Charles Grassley\u2014I saw him the other day. He\u2019s ninety-two years old. Charles doesn\u2019t need to be the head of the judiciary committee in the Senate confirming the nominees for the Supreme Court. I damn sure don\u2019t need to be. People my age don\u2019t need to be.<\/p>\n TM: So does that mean you won\u2019t be running for Senate against Ted Cruz in 2030?<\/p>\n BB:\u00a0No, I won\u2019t be running against Ted Cruz<\/a>, but I may run a bluff and let people think I\u2019m running, because I\u2019d be the oldest candidate that has ever run. [Editor\u2019s note: In fact, Strom Thurmond, at 93, was the oldest person to run for Senate.] It\u2019s funny, I never thought I\u2019d live to be eighty-eight years old. I don\u2019t feel eighty-eight years old. It\u2019s amazing\u2014coming over here to Texas Monthly brought back a flood of memories. It\u2019s a lot of fun to live and think back and relive moments. I find that that\u2019s one of the real pleasures to get to live to this age. It\u2019s been a hell of a rodeo.<\/p>\n TM: Over the past twenty-five years you\u2019ve become famous for publicly revealing secrets. In 2004 you said you helped George W.\u00a0Bush get into the Texas Air National Guard<\/a> so he wouldn\u2019t have to serve in Vietnam. More recently, you said you accompanied Connally on a trip to the Middle East<\/a> in 1980 in which he sent messages to the Iranian government telling them not to release the hostages taken from the U.S. Embassy until Ronald Reagan was elected. So I feel duty bound to ask: Do you have a secret for me today that you want to reveal?<\/p>\n BB: I don\u2019t. But I will tell you, I really hate that I cannot draw a more complete picture of the assassination of Jack Kennedy<\/a>. I was an advance man for that trip. I\u2019ve heard so many facts that I consider to be valid, but I\u2019ve still not been able to close the loop. I\u2019ve not been able to say, \u201cI know that happened.\u201d I\u2019ve talked to a lot of people that have a lot of theories. I\u2019ve talked to Ted Kennedy. Even on his deathbed, we talked about it somewhat. There\u2019ll be some days that I\u2019ll get up, and I think I know something, and I really need to go tell it. And then by nightfall I say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m not certain about that.\u201d So that\u2019s where I come down. That\u2019s not the big secret. That\u2019s one concern I have over a moment in history I lived that I can\u2019t straighten out.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tm-talks-ben-barnes-2.jpg\")
Ben Barnes, then just 32, attending the dedication of the Lyndon B.\u00a0Johnson State Park with Lady Bird and LBJ on August\u00a029, 1970.Ted Powers\/AP<\/p>\n
really hit him with a lot of crap and I don\u2019t know that any of it\u2019s going to be true, but the Republicans are going to go after him. He\u2019s got a tough campaign.<\/p>\n
![\"get](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/get-it-done-ben-barnes-cover.jpg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n