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

by Robert A. Caro

In August, 1941, the Selective Service Act, which had, a year earlier, established America’s first peacetime draft, was about to expire. Unless the Act was extended, not only would most of the men in uniform be discharged, but no new ones could be drafted. And despite Roosevelt’s pleas for extension, pressure on Congress to let it die had reached almost a frenzy under the prodding of powerful isolationist organizations and of delegations of mothers. Rayburn knew the draft was needed. Talking with George Brown, he suddenly fell silent. The grim face turned even grimmer. After a while, he said quietly, “The war clouds are gathering, George.” Rayburn didn’t stay in the Speaker’s chair during the three days of bitter debate; he went back to the spot in which he had stood for so many years, back behind the rail, and he worked the cloakroom, calling in almost thirty years’ worth of favors. Wrote a friend: “This was a time when he did not hesitate, all else failing, to make the ultimate plea: ‘Do this for me.’ ”