Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #2)

by Robert A. Caro

But we haven’t got the votes.’ ” He didn’t want to be associated with too many lost causes, he made clear.

“He just simply was not especially interested in general legislation that came to the floor of the House.

His reluctance to fight for others’ bills had, moreover, become even more pronounced. He refused to speak out for causes—refused,

If he could not play with his ball he would not play!

According to family lore, Johnson men had weak hearts and died young. All during his youth, Lyndon had heard relatives saying that. Then, while he was still in college, and his father was only in his early fifties, his father’s heart had begun to fail, and Sam Ealy Johnson had died, in 1937, twelve days after his sixtieth birthday.

“The trouble with him,” one state Senator said, “is that he insists on talking to a man’s intellect, not his prejudices.”

played on the fears and prejudices of the unsophisticated and poorly educated listeners