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If Foreign Relations was going to be the main point of the Republican attack, Lyndon Johnson said, Democratic defenses on that committee should be especially strong, but they were, in fact, weak. They should be shored up by senators with the expertise in foreign affairs, and the force, to stand up to Taft. He had two senators in mind who fit that d
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
At the close of Russell’s 1938 speech against lynching legislation, Borah of Idaho walked over to him and congratulated him—and then took the floor himself to echo Russell’s argument that the bill was a violation of states’ rights. (Whereupon Russell rose in his turn to say, “The people of the South will ever revere the name of William E. Borah.”)
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
Beyond this, the adage that the opposition’s duty was to oppose was not Rayburn’s adage. He didn’t want to oppose simply for the sake of opposing. “Any jackass can kick a barn down,” he said. “But it takes a good carpenter to build one.” With Richard Russell, the personal paled before the patriotic. Russell, who had studied the generals of Rome, co
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
During his second year in the House, he wrote—himself, with no staff assistance—a bill embodying the old People’s Party dream of intensified government regulation of railroads, by giving the government authority over the issuance of new securities by the railroads. Happening, by chance, to see the bill, Louis D. Brandeis, then one of President Wils
... See moreRobert A. Caro • The Path to Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson I
During his first year in the Senate, Johnson had delivered two major speeches. The first, in March, had announced his enlistment in the ranks of the southerners who ran the Senate. The second had demonstrated that he could be an effective leader in their causes. “In the minds of many,” Lowell Mellett wrote, “the shame of the Senate, in the session
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
The Reagan strategy mandated staffing reduction targets to force process changes in the bureaucracy. This was a different approach than the REGO I strategy, and apparently more effective. The Reagan priorities called for strengthening the defense and foreign policy establishments. It is interesting that HUD appears on both the Reagan and Clinton li
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