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Master of the Senate, Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson's story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. At the heart of the book is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done. It was during these years that all Johnson's show more experience--from his Texas Hill Country boyhood to his passionate representation in Congress of his hardscrabble constituents to his tireless construction of a political machine--came to fruition. Caro introduces the story with a dramatic account of the Senate itself: how Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun had made it the center of governmental energy, the forum in which the great issues of the country were thrashed out. And how, by the time Johnson arrived, it had dwindled into a body that merely responded to executive initiatives, all but impervious to the forces of change. Caro anatomizes the genius for political strategy and tactics by which, in an institution that had made the seniority system all-powerful for a century and more, Johnson became Majority Leader after only a single term-the youngest and greatest Senate Leader in our history; how he manipulated the Senate's hallowed rules and customs and the weaknesses and strengths of his colleagues to change the "unchangeable" Senate from a loose confederation of sovereign senators to a whirring legislative machine under his own iron-fisted control. Caro demonstrates how Johnson's political genius enabled him to reconcile the unreconcilable: to retain the support of the southerners who controlled the Senate while earning the trust--or at least the cooperation--of the liberals, led by Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey, without whom he could not achieve his goal of winning the presidency. He shows the dark side of Johnson's ambition: how he proved his loyalty to the great oil barons who had financed his rise to power by ruthlessly destroying the career of the New Dealer who was in charge of regulating them, Federal Power Commission Chairman Leland Olds. And we watch him achieve the impossible: convincing southerners that although he was firmly in their camp as the anointed successor to their leader, Richard Russell, it was essential that they allow him to make some progress toward civil rights. In a breathtaking tour de force, Caro details Johnson's amazing triumph in maneuvering to passage the first civil rights legislation since 1875. Master of the Senate, told with an abundance of rich detail that could only have come from Caro's peerless research, is both a galvanizing portrait of the man himself--the titan of Capital Hill, volcanic, mesmerizing--and a definitive and revelatory study of the workings and personal and legislative power. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
As literature, this third volume is superior even to the fascinating first. Its focus is tightly on Johnson's Senate career and the narrative arc is compelling: the moribund Senate, controlled by the dead hand of the Southern Democrats, is taken over by LBJ in a masterclass of political genius, as he again discerns and creates a power-base where none previously existed, then uses it to thread a civil rights bill (1957) through the eye of a needle to bolster his presidential ambitions. Caro is still given to occasional prolixity (he did a great job on Robert Moses' biography in the space of one fifth of his Johnson life) though less so than in volume one; an abridgement of about 1,500 pages for the whole set of books would be useful. But show more along with his Moses book, this is indispensable reading on how geniuses of political power build and deploy it. show less
Another tour de force by Caro! I wish I had read this series much earlier in life, but I am so glad that I at least got into them!
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
Another tour de force by Caro! I wish I had read this series much earlier in life, but I am so glad that I at least got into them!
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
Another tour de force by Caro! I wish I had read this series much earlier in life, but I am so glad that I at least got into them!
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
In the third volume of the Years of Lyndon Johnson power series, author Robert Caro focuses on the Lyndon Johnson of his senate years. The book begins with what I have found to be one of the best truncated histories of the US Senate. Just fantastic! So thorough, so detailed, so vivid, so detailed on how the Senate worked through history, its movers and shakers and the major historical moments the made it what it was in January of 1949, just wow. Then as is Caro's style, he uses it and segues right into his subject and his path to power and fame from the years 1949 to 1960.
He is such a great table setter, show more stage setter, set up man, whatever you want to call him and then deliver the on the follow through. He picks major moments in LBJ's senate life, the relationships he developed, and their corresponding mini-bios (which are also great), events in his personal life, and how the two intertwined and became one epic story of one mans grab for the reigns of power. Not month to month in the life of Johnson, but Caro selects moments that Johnson had and impact on the Senate or on those around him, and when history or the people around him had impacts on his life. He can jump years without saying much about them, like at the end of the book, or can spend page after page detailing the nuances that went into the deals that went into one day or evening that looking back changed the course of the senate and ultimately history itself. Through it all Caro writes with such authority (garnered from all the fantastic interviews and endless hours of research that he puts into each title), clarity and with such a flowing prose that you forget how hard it is to do.
Loved it all, the only issue I have are how he will repeat large chunks from his previous books on LBJ for reminders. Not that I don't like the rehash, it is just that they can be quite large...just nit picking really.
I can see why this won all the awards it has and how it has garnered all the attention and love. Just great! IF I could I would give it 4.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who loves a great book, history, biographies, large series or likes to see how power is gathered and used. show less
Robert Caro continues to prove why he's one of the Best biographers out there. He does such a fantastic job of really putting everything into as much context as he can so you're not getting a distorted view. Civil rights is the main issue discussed in this volume, and Caro gives excellent overview of the development of the civil rights movement to set the stage for the legislative battles that follow. But the best is Caro clearly doesn't fall into the trap some biographers do where he ends up either praising or vilifying his subject. Caro does give Johnson a lot of credit for getting some of the first civil rights legislation passed, but also thoroughly documents how watered down LBJ made that legislation. And he doesn't outright show more proclaim Johnson as either racist or not racist, but rather thoroughly documents Johnson's public vs. private statements and actions, and compares them to those around him to show where he was ahead of the times, and in many cases, honestly bigoted and behind the times. I'm really looking forward to book 4 and can't wait for book 5 to be published. show less
This book is a masterpiece. The page count doesn't do justice to the density of the thing--it's 1100 pages of small, closely set type, covering only about a decade of LBJ's life. Even more than the preceding two volumes, you will live and breathe Johnson while reading it.
What makes it so long is not merely that Caro covers everything in fine detail--though he does--but that he loops back and gives you the scenery and the context. He opens with ~100 pages on the history of the Senate. He goes on to give a lengthy portrait of Richard Russell, the unofficial leader of the Senate Democrats, who cloaked uncompromising racism with courtly manners and a mastery of Senate procedure. From nearly the beginning of the book, he emphasizes the show more fight for civil rights and the conservative Southern Democrats' resistance to it. It means close reading, but it's rewarding--I learned a great deal not just about Johnson, but about the workings of the Senate, 1950s politics, and many of the other politicians of the era.
Caro is a fine writer, and though not an unopinionated one, he's careful to give you as many details as possible. Johnson is one of the most intriguing types of biographical subjects--a possibly terrible person, abusive to those close to him and willing to do anything for power, who nonetheless harnessed that power to do both great and terrible things. Caro never fails to emphasize the outsized nature of Johnson's character in all respects. (He also comes across as having a genuine fondness for Lady Bird Johnson.)
I only wonder how Caro can sustain this level of detail to cover all of LBJ's presidency in a single volume. show less
What makes it so long is not merely that Caro covers everything in fine detail--though he does--but that he loops back and gives you the scenery and the context. He opens with ~100 pages on the history of the Senate. He goes on to give a lengthy portrait of Richard Russell, the unofficial leader of the Senate Democrats, who cloaked uncompromising racism with courtly manners and a mastery of Senate procedure. From nearly the beginning of the book, he emphasizes the show more fight for civil rights and the conservative Southern Democrats' resistance to it. It means close reading, but it's rewarding--I learned a great deal not just about Johnson, but about the workings of the Senate, 1950s politics, and many of the other politicians of the era.
Caro is a fine writer, and though not an unopinionated one, he's careful to give you as many details as possible. Johnson is one of the most intriguing types of biographical subjects--a possibly terrible person, abusive to those close to him and willing to do anything for power, who nonetheless harnessed that power to do both great and terrible things. Caro never fails to emphasize the outsized nature of Johnson's character in all respects. (He also comes across as having a genuine fondness for Lady Bird Johnson.)
I only wonder how Caro can sustain this level of detail to cover all of LBJ's presidency in a single volume. show less
This book is absolutely magnificent! It's not the kind of thing I want to reread, but I will cherish my copy for reference any time at all that I need to refresh what was happening politically from 1948 through 1960 or thereabouts.
LBJ himself was such a complicated person: totally vulgar, opportunistic, disgusting, mendacious, obsequious, ruthless - passionate, compassionate, sensitive, brilliant. He could make and remake himself in a matter of moments into whatever person was needed to advance his ambition, and his ambition was always to become President. His problem in this book was managing to hang on to the support of the Solid South while distancing himself from his southern roots in order to become a viable national candidate - show more and he did it. I think that Caro is onto something when he discusses LBJ's compassion for the poor. It was there, and it was deep and real. It was also always less important to him than his ambition. He had, however, an ability to believe what he said he believed because that was the only way to persuade somebody else to change his mind. (Here's Caro quoting George Reedy:
"'He had a remarkable capacity to convince himself that he held the principles he should hold at any given time, and there was something charming about the air of injured innocence with which he would treat anyone who brought forth evidence that he had held other views in the past. It was not an act.... He literally willed what was in his mind to become reality.'") The fact also remains that as ruthless and subservient as he was in the interests of the Texas oilmen who supported him, he also was able to grow into the single figure who achieved the most for the poor of this nation when he finally became President.
The other focus of the book is the Senate of the period. I lived through it, but I was too young to pay much attention at the time, so this book's survey of the early civil rights movement was a revelation that I needed. Likewise, I didn't realize how little about the workings of the legislature I understood until I read this series.
I'm thrilled to have read it and happy to finish it. I'll rest before I go on to book 4, but I'm eager to get to it.
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LBJ himself was such a complicated person: totally vulgar, opportunistic, disgusting, mendacious, obsequious, ruthless - passionate, compassionate, sensitive, brilliant. He could make and remake himself in a matter of moments into whatever person was needed to advance his ambition, and his ambition was always to become President. His problem in this book was managing to hang on to the support of the Solid South while distancing himself from his southern roots in order to become a viable national candidate - show more and he did it. I think that Caro is onto something when he discusses LBJ's compassion for the poor. It was there, and it was deep and real. It was also always less important to him than his ambition. He had, however, an ability to believe what he said he believed because that was the only way to persuade somebody else to change his mind. (Here's Caro quoting George Reedy:
"'He had a remarkable capacity to convince himself that he held the principles he should hold at any given time, and there was something charming about the air of injured innocence with which he would treat anyone who brought forth evidence that he had held other views in the past. It was not an act.... He literally willed what was in his mind to become reality.'") The fact also remains that as ruthless and subservient as he was in the interests of the Texas oilmen who supported him, he also was able to grow into the single figure who achieved the most for the poor of this nation when he finally became President.
The other focus of the book is the Senate of the period. I lived through it, but I was too young to pay much attention at the time, so this book's survey of the early civil rights movement was a revelation that I needed. Likewise, I didn't realize how little about the workings of the legislature I understood until I read this series.
I'm thrilled to have read it and happy to finish it. I'll rest before I go on to book 4, but I'm eager to get to it.
Edit | More show less
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added by danielx
It makes a wonderful, a glorious tale. The book reads like a Trollope novel, but not even Trollope explored the ambitions and the gullibilities of men as deliciously as Robert Caro does. I laughed often as I read. And even though I knew what the outcome of a particular episode would be, I followed Caro's account of it with excitement. I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word.
added by Shortride
In the 1957 civil rights battle, ambition and compassion were finally mixed in the perfect combination for Lyndon Johnson and the country. The same can be said for Robert A. Caro, whose chronicle of Lyndon B. Johnson's outsize life has finally, too, been told with perfect balance.
added by Shortride
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Author Information
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Robert Allan Caro was born October 30, 1935 in New York. He went to Princeton University, where he majored in English and became managing editor of The Daily Princetonian. Caro began his professional career as a reporter with the New Brunswick Daily Home News. He took a brief leave to work for the Middlesex County Democratic Party as a publicist. show more He went on to six years as an investigative reporter with the Long Island newspaper Newsday. Robert Caro then went on to write about influential people in New York. His work The Power Broker was a biography on New York urban planner Robert Moses, that highlighted the fight for a proposed bridge across Long Island Sound from Rye to Oyster Bay. He then went on to write about Lyndon Johnson's life in a 5 volume set. Caro's books portray Johnson as a complex character who he also saw as a visionary progressive. He enjoyed writing about politicians and their use of power. For his biographies, he has won two Pulitzer Prizes in Biography, the National Book Award, the Francis Parkman Prize which is awarded by the Society of American Historians to the book that "best exemplifies the union of the historian and the artist" two National Book Critics Circle Awards, the H.L. Mencken Award, the Carr P. Collins Award from the Texas Institute of Letters, and a Gold Medal in Biography from the American Academy of Art and Letters. In October 2007, Caro was named a "Holtzbrinck Distinguished Visitor" at the American Academy in Berlin. In 2010, he received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama, the highest award in the humanities given in this country and in 2012 his title Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson made the New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Master of the Senate
- Original publication date
- 2002
- People/Characters
- Lyndon Baines Johnson
- Epigraph
- I do understand power, whatever else may be said about me. I know where to look for it, and how to use it.
- Lyndon Baines Johnson - Dedication
- For Ina, always
and for Bob Gottlieb
Thirty years. Four books. Thanks. - First words
- (Introduction) The room on the first floor of the Barbourville County Courthouse in the little town of Eufala, Alabama, was normally the County Clerk's Office, but after it had closed for the day on August 2, 1957, it was bei... (show all)ng used by the county's Board of Registrars, the body that registered citizens so they could vote in elections - not that the Board was going to register any of the three persons who were applying that day, for the skin of these applicants was black.
The Chamber of the United States Senate was a long, cavernous space - over a hundred feet long. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The Senate had been Lyndon Johnson's home. Now he had left it.
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, History, General Nonfiction, Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 973.923092 — History & geography History of North America United States 1901- Cold War, Vietnam War, Digital Age (1953-2001) John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs, Apollo Program Biography
- LCC
- E847 .C34 — History of the United States United States Later twentieth century, 1961-2000 Johnson's administrations, November 22, 1963-1969
- BISAC
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- Reviews
- 46
- Rating
- (4.60)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 14
- ASINs
- 21