Master of the Senate (123 page)

The last time a minimum wage bill had been before the Senate, Lyndon Johnson had voted against increasing it. Now he had fought for an increase in the wage—and the wage had been increased. Whatever the reason for his change on that issue, he
had
changed—and had made the Senate change with him. Whether or not Lyndon Johnson talked about “principled things,” or believed in “principled things”—and in both the public housing and minimum wage fights he had all but ignored the issues and concentrated on maneuvers—he had won principled things, for hundreds of thousands of Americans who needed those things. The slickness of Johnson’s maneuver had senators laughing among themselves as they walked out of the Chamber, but the liberals had much more reason to laugh. Lyndon Johnson had not only made the Senate work, he had, in at least two areas of social welfare legislation, made it work on behalf of that legislation. For so many decades—generations—the Senate had stood against such legislation like a dam. The dam was being breached now.

“T
HE TALK OF POLITICAL
W
ASHINGTON
today is the way Lyndon Johnson runs the Senate,” Leslie Carpenter wrote in his column on June 12, and the talk, and the print, now ranged all across the political spectrum. Conservative Gould Lincoln’s “The Political Mill” ground for him in the
Washington Star.
Under the headline “LYNDON MOVES MOUNTAINS,” Lincoln wrote that “The Senate, which so often has been the stumbling block over which legislation has fallen by the wayside, has set a pace rarely equaled—All this hasn’t just happened. There’s a tall Texan in the saddle….” The
Wall Street Journal
ordered up a long article on “the Texas-sized Texan” who “RUNS THE SMOOTHEST DEMOCRATIC SHOW IN YEARS.” Johnson had been enjoying praise from conservatives all year, but now, following the passage of the housing and minimum wage bills, liberals joined them on the Johnson bandwagon. “On several occasions in the past this newspaper has been critical of Senator Johnson’s leadership,” the
Washington Post
editorialized. “We are happy to say that in this session of Congress, he has exhibited a remarkable amount of finesse, understanding and restraint [and] has served the national interest.” Declaring that Johnson had “snatched victory from defeat” with “brilliant political technique,” Doris Fleeson added: “Admiring spectators suggested that all that remains is for him to do his next triumphs to music.” Drew Pearson praised “the deftness of [his] leadership.”
A long
Newsweek
article on June 27 called him “
THE TEXAN WHO IS JOLTING WASHINGTON.
”

“The Frantic Gentleman from Texas,” Saturday Evening Post, May 19, 1951

The Monday Meeting: President Harry Truman poses at the White House with his congressional leaders. Seated: Senate Majority Leader Ernest McFarland, Truman, and House Majority Leader John W. McCormack. Standing: Senate Whip Lyndon Johnson and House Whip Percy Priest, January, 1951.

The cover Johnson wanted

Leland Olds, September, 1949

With the Republican leaders.
Above:
Robert Taft of Ohio.
Below:
William Knowland of California

President Dwight D. Eisenhower with Johnson and Senate and House leaders, on the White House steps, 1955

In the middle: Johnson with Hubert H. Humphrey and Richard B. Russell

WORKING THE PHONES