The Master of The Senate by Robert Caro
Robert Caro is a writer who can make grass fascinating and interesting. You can imagine what he did with the Senate.
Robert Caro set out to write more than the biography of a great man. He didn't want those theories of great men changing the world. He wanted to write a biography of HOW the prominent men of history accumulated power and used it. In this biography, the third in the four-volume bio (so far...) of Lyndon Johnson, Robert Caro outdid himself.
When you read this book, you will leave with an understanding of Lyndon Johnson in a way you've never thought possible. This book is not just a biography of Lyndon Johnson. It is a biography of America, the American Senate, the Civil Rights Movement, Richard Rusell, and many others, such as Hubert Humphrey. Robert Caro does not just shine a light on his subject; he shines a bright light on the environment his character operates in and the figures surrounding him.
Robert Caro wrote that it was Abraham Lincoln who freed the slaves, but it was Lyndon Johnson who gave them the vote. The battle for complete freedom for blacks in the United States is one of those battles that raged for many decades and continues to date. While there are popular inspirational accounts of how blacks got the votes, there is a story, and this is the first time I am encountering it myself, a story of how the Civil Rights Bill was first passed in the United States Senate. Robert Caro brings this story to light in a way you never forget. The primary reason why Civil Rights bills have not been passed for eighty-two years was because the Senate was run by Southerners, who were committed to ensuring it would never pass, and because the Senate was run based on seniority, these Southerners had a significant advantage. Once elected in a southern state, you are almost guaranteed to be there for life. Beyond this, the Senate was designed by the American founding fathers to be an institution that would be able to withstand popular will. A President had to stand for elections once every four years. A senator doesn't have to face that. Senate elections come in 6 years. And never in its history has it had a situation where all its members were due for elections. This means no matter what the popular will was during an election year, the Senate can be indifferent to this feeling. That's exactly how it operated. In such a body in which seniority was everything, those who were the oldest and had been there the longest had immense power. They were the committee chairmen. A committee chairman is more powerful than a President within the Senate.
This Senate caved the legend of Lyndon Johnson even before he became President. By the time he left for the Vice Presidency, he was recognized as one of the most powerful men in Washington. What was his official title within the Senate? The Majority Leader. Lyndon Johnson had two advantages. One, he was a southerner from Texas. Two, he knew how to accumulate power. All through his life, Lyndon Johnson had the uncanny ability to look at an unknown role and turn it into something powerful. In the Senate, he did this with the role of the Senate Majority Leader.
And what did he do with this power after he got it? He made the Senate work faster than it ever did, threatened Senators, and passed the first Civil Rights Bill, against all odds. He was disliked for his methods; he was distrusted, but no one could doubt that Lyndon Johnson had power.
This is a story of power and how to get it. Maybe not the best way, and not the best way to use it. Could power be gotten in another way? Could power be used in another way? Yes. This is Lyndon Johnson's way. It will help you understand the world in a new way.