Acclaim for Master of the Senate “A wonderful, a glorious tale It will be hard to equal this amazing book It reads like a Trollope novel, but not even Trollope explored the ambitions and the gullibilities of men as deliciously as Robert Caro does… And even though I knew what the outcome of a particular episode would be, I followed Caro’s account of it with excitement I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word… Johnson made the impossible happen Caro’s description of how he [passed the civil rights legislation] is masterly; I was there and followed the course of the legislation closely, but I did not know the half of it.” —Anthony Lewis, The New York Times Book Review “An epic tale of winning and wielding power.” —Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer “Caro must be America’s greatest living Presidential biographer… He entrances us with both his words and his research… No other contemporary biographer o ers such a complex picture of the forces driving an American politician, or populates his work with such vividly drawn secondary characters… The author is at his best when relating the impact of congressional action on Americans’ lives You can almost smell the musty o ces in the Barbour County Courthouse in Eufaula, Ala., as black citizens try in vain to register to vote… Extraordinary.” —Richard S Dunham, BusinessWeek “Brilliant… A riveting political drama.” —Douglas Brinkley, The Boston Globe “The most complete portrait of the Senate ever drawn.” —Michael Wolff, New York “In this fascinating book, Robert Caro does more than carry forward his epic life of Lyndon Johnson With compelling narrative power and with remarkable subtlety and sensitivity, he illuminates the Senate of the United States and its byzantine power struggles In this historical tour-de-force, Robert Caro shows himself the true ‘master of the Senate.’” —Arthur Schlesinger, Jr “A terrific study of power politics.” —Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times “Master of the Senate and its two preceding volumes are the highest expression of biography as art After The Path to Power and Means of Ascent, there shouldn’t be much debate about Caro’s grand achievement, but let’s be clear about this nonetheless: In terms of political biography, not only does it not get better than this, it can’t.” —Patrick Beach, Austin American-Statesman “Many and varied are the delights of this book, and perhaps the best of them is the long, brilliant lead-in to the great set piece of the book: how Lyndon John son passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957… This is how the story should be told—all of it… These [legislative battles] are great stories, the stu of the legends of democracy—rich in character, plot, suspense, nuttiness, human frailty, maddening stupidity These should be the American sagas; these should be our epics Bob Caro has given us a beauty, and I think we owe him great thanks.” —Molly Ivins, The New York Observer “Indefatigably researched and brilliantly written… Powerful… One of Caro’s most valuable contributions is his excavation of the lost art of legislating… Rich and rewarding.” —Ronald Brownstein, Times Literary Supplement “Epic… It is impossible to imagine that a political science class on the U.S Congress can be taught today that does not reference this book It is a orid and graphic account of how Congress works, an authoritative work on the history of the Senate and a virtual cookbook of recipes for legislative success for the nascent politician.” —Robert F Julian, New York Law Journal “A panoramic study of how power plays out in the legislative arena Combining the best techniques of investigative reporting with majestic storytelling ability, Caro has created a vivid, revelatory institutional history as well as a rich hologram of Johnson’s character… He seems to have perfectly captured and understood Johnson’s capacity for greatness.” —Jill Abramson, The New York Times “To immerse oneself in Robert Caro’s heroic biographies is to come face to face with a shocking but unavoidable realization: Much of what we think we know about money, power and politics is a fairy tale… Master of the Senate forces us not only to rewrite our national political history but to rethink it as well… Caro’s been burrowing beneath the shadows of the substance of our politics for more than twenty-eight years, and what he finds is both fascinating and surprising… Compulsively readable.” —Eric Alterman, The Nation “A spectacular piece of historical biography, delicious reading for both political junkies and serious students of the political process… Fascinating.” —Robert D Novak, The Weekly Standard “If ever the proposition about genius as the taking of in nite pains was relevant, it is surely here If scholarship, psychological acumen and compulsive readability are the true indices of the great biography, the three volumes to date must rank as the greatest political biography ever written.” —Frank McGlynn, The Herald (Glasgow) “Vintage Caro—a portrait so deft, vivid, and compelling that you practically feel LBJ gripping your arm and bending you to his will.” —Jean Strouse “Caro is a master of biography… With his Tolstoyian touch for story telling and drama, Caro gives us a fascinating ride through the corridors of Senate sovereignty… Of all the many Johnson biographies, none approaches Caro’s work in painstaking thoroughness, meticulous detail and the capture of character… A dazzling tour de force that certi es Caro as the country’s preeminent specialist in examining political power and its uses.” —Paul Duke, The Baltimore Sun “Masterful… A work of genius.” —Steve Weinberg, The Times-Picayune “Caro writes history with [a] novelist’s sensitivity… No historian o ers a more vivid sense not only of what happened, but what it looked like and felt like.” —Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today “The richly cadenced prose is hypnotic, the research prodigious, the analysis acute, the mood spellbinding, and the cast of characters mythic in scale I can not conceive of a better book about Capitol Hill An unforgettable, epic achievement in the art of biography.” —Ron Chernow “Destined to rank among the great political pro les of our time Master of the Senate succeeds only in part because Johnson is such a fascinating figure The other half of the equation is Caro.” —Steve Kraske, Kansas City Star “It is, quite simply, the nest biography I have ever read It is more than that: it is one of the nest works of literature I have encountered.” —Irvine Welsh, New Statesman “Caro has an artist’s eye for the telling fact or anecdote, and he combines what he has found with a parliamentarian-like knowledge of the Senate’s operation… Students of the nation’s history, now or a hundred years from now, will come away from Caro’s books amazed that the years of LBJ’s life have been made so vivid and palpable… This master journalist-historian is offering us a unique American classic.” —Henry F Graff, The New Leader “Caro is a gifted and passionate writer, and his all-encompassing approach to understanding LBJ provides readers with a panoramic history of twentieth-century American politics as well as a compelling discourse on the nature and uses of political power… One of the best analyses of the legislative process ever written.” —Philip A Klinkner, The Nation Also by Robert A Caro The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power (1982) Means of Ascent (1990) The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (1974) For Ina, always and For Bob Gottlieb Thirty years Four books Thanks I understand power, whatever else may be said about me I know where to look for it, and how to use it —LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON Contents Introduction: The Presence of Fire THE DAM PART I PART II 10 11 12 13 14 PART III 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 PART IV 22 23 The Desks of the Senate “Great Things Are Underway!” Seniority and the South LEARNING A Hard Path The Path Ahead “The Right Size” A Russell of the Russells of Georgia “We of the South” Thirtieth Place Lyndon Johnson and the Liberal The Hearing The Debate “No Time for a Siesta” Out of the Crowd LOOKING FOR IT No Choice The General and the Senator The “Nothing Job” The Johnson Ranch The Orator of the Dawn Gettysburg The Whole Stack USING IT Masterstrokes Tail-Gunner Joe 24 25 26 27 28 29 PART V 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 PART VI 42 43 The “Johnson Rule” The Leader “Zip, Zip” “Go Ahead with the Blue” Memories The Program with a Heart THE GREAT CAUSE The Rising Tide The Compassion of Lyndon Johnson “Proud to Be of Assistance” Footsteps Finesses Convention Choices The “Working Up” Hells Canyon “You Do It” Yeas and Nays Omens AFTER THE BATTLE Three More Years The Last Caucus Debts, Sources, Notes PHOTOGRAPHS follow pages 196 and 612 PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS Insert I follows page 196; insert II follows page 612 Carl Albert Center, Congressional Archives, University of Oklahoma: I top AP/Wide World Photos: I 10 top; II bottom left, top, bottom, top, 12–13, 14 top, 15 top, 16 Bettmann/Corbis: I top, 8; II top Boston Art Commission 2001: I 2–3 top © 1951 SEPS: Licensed by Curtis Publishing Co., Indianapolis, IN www.curtispublishing.com: II Lyndon Baines Johnson Library: I bottom, 10 bottom, 11, 12 both, 13 all (bottom, George Tames), 14 all, 15 both (Frank Muto), 16 (Frank Muto); II top, left top and bottom and right bottom, (© Gittings), top right, 10 both, 11 top left and right, 14 bottom, 15 bottom Library of Congress: I bottom, both © Arnold Newman / Getty Images: I © 1951 Newsweek, Inc All rights reserved Reprinted by permission: II bottom right New York Times, George Tames: I bottom; II TimePix: I (Hank Walker); II bottom (Mark Kau man), right top (Mark Kau man) and right center (Ralph Morse), left (Paul Schutzer) and right bottom (Ralph Morse), top left (Paul Schutzer) and bottom (Hank Walker), 11 right center (Grey Villet) and bottom (Mark Kauffman) U.S Senate Collection: I bottom, top Above: Webster Replying to Hayne, by George P A Healy Vice President John C Calhoun, at far left, presides in the old Senate Chamber, January, 1830 Opposite: The United States Senate, A.D 1850, engraved by Robert Whitechurch after a painting by Peter Rothermel Henry Clay presents his compromise to the Senate, presided over by Vice President Millard Fillmore Calhoun is to the right of Fillmore, and Daniel Webster is seated at left, head in hand Above: Senate as a Court of Impeachment for the Trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868, after Theodore Davis Below: Keppler’s The Bosses of the Senate, Puck magazine, 1889 The Senate Four: left to right, Orville H Platt, John C Spooner, William B Allison, and Nelson W Aldrich, at Aldrich’s Newport, Rhode Island, estate, 1903 Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, right, talks to newsmen during Senate debate over the Treaty of Versailles, 1919 A Russell of the Russells of Georgia Richard Brevard Russell Jr being sworn in as Governor of Georgia by the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, Richard Brevard Russell Sr., June 27, 1931 Russell and Johnson at a Washington Senators baseball game in 1955 The Orator of the Dawn: Hubert Humphrey, the ery mayor of Minneapolis, ghting for a strong civil rights plank at the 1948 Democratic National Convention Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas emerging from the voting booth Below: The Texas delegation in Washington to attend Lyndon Johnson’s January, 1949, inauguration ceremony At Johnson’s right are Justice Tom Clark and the senior Senator from Texas, Tom Connally New Senator Lyndon B Johnson allows new Senator Robert Kerr to take center stage Senator Clinton Anderson is at right Opposite: Johnson joins the Senate Armed Services Committee, January, 1949 From left, Democrats Lester C Hunt, Estes Kefauver, Lyndon B Johnson, Virgil Chapman, Richard B Russell, Chairman Millard E Tydings; Republicans Styles Bridges, Chan Gurney, Leverett Saltonstall, Wayne Morse, Raymond E Baldwin, and William Knowland The Johnsons at home, August, 1948 Christmas photographs Above, 1949: from left, Lucia, Rebekah Baines, Josefa, Rodney on Sam Houston’s lap, Becky Alexander, Rebekah Bobbitt, O P Bobbitt, and their son Phil Below, 1955, at the Johnson Ranch: Aunt Jessie Hatcher, Lucy, Ramon, Sam Houston, Lyndon, Lynda, unidentified Johnson with Walter Jenkins en route to the office Congressman Homer Thornberry is in the middle Johnson and John Connally at the Austin airport Christmas, 1950, photograph of sta for Collier’s magazine From left, Warren Woodward, Mary Rather, Johnson, Dorothy Nichols, Horace Busby, Glynn Stegall At the ranch with his family, after his heart attack, August, 1955 The press conference, with Sam Rayburn (left) and Adlai Stevenson, September, 1955 “Lyndon Johnson Day” at his alma mater, Southwest Texas State Teachers College, November, 1955 On the ranch Fording the river to get to the ranch FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, MAY 2003 Copyright © 2002 by Robert A Caro, Inc All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc Portions of this work were previously published in The New Yorker The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows: Caro, Robert A Master of the Senate / Robert A Caro p cm Johnson, Lyndon B (Lyndon Baines), 1908–1973 Presidents—United States—Biography United States—Politics and government—1945–1953 United States—Politics and government—1953–1961 The years of Lyndon Johnson; [3] E847 C34 1982 vol 973 923’ 092 S 328.73’o92—dc2I 2002282796 eISBN: 978-0-307-42203-3 Author photograph © Joyce Ravid www.vintagebooks.com v3.0 ... plus one of the senators … retained the power of life and death over the treaties Nor was it only the power of the executive of which the Framers were wary These creators of a government of the people... historical tour-de-force, Robert Caro shows himself the true master of the Senate.’” —Arthur Schlesinger, Jr “A terrific study of power politics.” —Steve Neal, Chicago Sun-Times Master of the Senate... Path The Path Ahead The Right Size” A Russell of the Russells of Georgia “We of the South” Thirtieth Place Lyndon Johnson and the Liberal The Hearing The Debate “No Time for a Siesta” Out of the