Video: 'PBS LBJ Part 1' (1948 campaign at 22:57)

(Friday, September 3, 1948) — U.S. Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson defeated former Governor Coke Stevenson today in the Democratic runoff primary for the U.S. Senate post vacated by Wilbert Lee O’Daniel by 87 votes when, miraculously, six days after voters cast their ballots (Aug. 28, 1948), an additional 202 votes were discovered in Box 13 in tiny Alice, Texas.

The results earned LBJ the nickname “Landslide Lyndon” and haunted him with allegations he stole the election for the rest of his life.

In the general election on Nov. 2, 1948, Johnson would defeat Republican Jack Porter and was elected to the U.S. Senate.