The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson #1)

by Robert A. Caro

On August 30, Sam Rayburn wrote back, stilted and formal even now. “Dear Bird,” he wrote, “Your note was very refreshing and highly appreciated by me. You know that no two people are closer to me in friendship and love than you and Lyndon. It has been a great heritage to have known you so intimately and well.” Although the pain was very bad that day, the hand that wrote that letter did not shake. There was not a tremor in the name “Sam Rayburn.” The next morning, Rayburn went home to Bonham to die. A friend who spent time with him during his last days explained why he did not stay in Washington, where he could have gotten better medical assistance: Rayburn, the friend wrote, thought that “Washington was such a lonely city for a country boy to get sick in.”