The series of books on Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro are some of my favorite books. Only a few that I’ve read come close to the superb depth and style of these books (Huey Long by T Harry Williams is one of those books—perhaps I’m biased toward biographies of skilled and scheming Southerners).
I’m in the midst of adding my vast collection of non fiction notes to a website I created for, well, organizing and sharing non fiction notes. Here are a few from my reading of the Passage of Power in the section about Johnson’s efforts (or rather lack thereof) for the Democratic nomination in 1960:
(Speaker of the House) Rayburn called (John) Kennedy a good boy but one of the laziest men he ever talked to.
Kennedy calculated that it was better to campaign across the country and be absent from the senate—he would be criticized but he wouldn’t have to vote on things that would hurt him; Kennedy also saw that the old bulls didn’t have the power and influence that Johnson thought they had.
Joe Kennedy once told a friend that once Bobby Kennedy hates you you stay hated; Bobby hated Johnson
Johnson tried to bypass the judiciary committee to get a civil rights bill in 1960 but Russell refused and called it a lynching of orderly procedure; Johnson responded that it was the only lynching he heard him object to (privately to his aids and not to Russell)
When O’Donnell objected to Kennedy picking Johnson, JFK told him it would put Mansfield as leader. JFK also said the Vice President doesn’t mean anything since he won’t die in office.
Months later when asked about Bobby Kennedy Johnson would gesture with a slow slitting movement across his throat and one time told Ed Clark that he would cut Bobby Kennedy’s throat if it’s the last thing he does
by NoteClimber