For more than two decades, Richard B. Russell of Georgia and Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas wielded immense influence on major national decisions affecting the political life of the United States. The changing political and personal relationship of these two extraordinarily powerful men is engagingly described in Colleagues.Russell, a prestigious senator and leader of the Senate's Southern bloc, became Johnson's mentor and friend on Capitol Hill, and their interactions -- as allies and sometimes as adversaries -- continued into ...
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For more than two decades, Richard B. Russell of Georgia and Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas wielded immense influence on major national decisions affecting the political life of the United States. The changing political and personal relationship of these two extraordinarily powerful men is engagingly described in Colleagues.Russell, a prestigious senator and leader of the Senate's Southern bloc, became Johnson's mentor and friend on Capitol Hill, and their interactions -- as allies and sometimes as adversaries -- continued into Johnson's presidency. But their close friendship eventually fell victim to Johnson's civil rights and Vietnam policies, as well as to a minor patronage squabble. Goldsmith, a longtime UPI reporter and syndicated columnist, who knew both men well, traces their relationship through such events as the McCarthy censure, the 1957 and 1964 civil rights acts, the Kennedy assassination, and the Vietnam War. With information taken from notes made by Russell himself, as well as oral history accounts and other original sources, Goldsmith has produced a comprehensive account of friendship that had significant ramifications for twenty years of the nation's history.Finally, Goldsmith offers a concluding chapter based on the just-released White House tapes of both the Johnson and Kennedy administrations. New insights and information about the Russell and Johnson relationships are available for the first time.
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