His knowledge of and willingness to use the rules and customs of the Senate to kill any chance to even discuss civil rights legislation made the once great institution a global disgrace. When rhetoric failed, Russell would use the South’s greatest political weapon, the Senate’s tradition of unlimited debate turned against itself, the filibuster. He didn’t openly discuss the superiority of the white race but navigated to the same destination by using the cover of states rights and fear of an overreaching federal government destroying the South’s traditions. The only difference between the two was that Russell covered his racism not in a white hood, but in language palatable for the Senate. His utter detest for African Americans, for desegregation or for any kind of civil rights legislation was the same as the men brigading across his home state in white hoods. Page upon page of praise passes by until, like an unseen haymaker, Caro lands blow after blow as he unveils Russell’s despicable racism. Initially showering the reader with Russell’s admirable qualities and achievements, Caro demonstrates how intelligent and brilliant he was.
Richard Russell is the other looming figure in Master of the Senate.
By laying the foundations of greatness in the Senate, Caro is better able to demonstrate the depths to which it would sink. War eventually came but its continued postponement held the country together. Caro shows just how impactful the Senate can be when staffed by senators of ability equal to the responsibility entrusted in them as during the ‘Golden Age’ of the Senate, senators staved off civil war year after year through their rhetoric and willingness to debate. The opening 150 pages recounts the history of the Senate, why it was formed and why the founding fathers structured it the way they did. In addition to this history, it explores two other figures of political power the United States Senate and Georgia Senator, Richard Russell. Knopf in 2002, deals with Johnson’s tenure as Texas’s junior senator from 1948 to 1960. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, written by Robert A. He passed civil rights legislation for African Americans. Yet in the closing chapters of the book and in Johnson’s senate career, for all his bluster, lies and relentless pursuit of power, he does what no-one in American politics had done since Abraham Lincoln. He manipulated younger and more naive men to do his bidding and used his committees to self-aggrandize at every opportunity. Finishing The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, I lost count of how many times Johnson brought subordinates to tears, how many times he humiliated someone both privately and publicly, and how many times he lied, cheated and brown nosed his way into the good graces of the Southern Democrats that controlled the Senate in the 1950s.
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