" One Senator did not share those feelings . ' Smarter than they are ' though Richard Russell may have been -- smarter than his opponents in the Senate -- it was not other senators who were Russell's real opponent now , but the new President , and Russell felt that fact would change everything . The Kennedy bills would be passed now , Russell told a friend . ' He will pass them , whereas Kennedy could never have passed them . '
Lyndon Johnson , Russell felt , would even pass the bill against which Russell had been fighting , and winning , for thirty years . Discussing agricultural appropriations with Orville Freeman a few days after the assassination , Russell changed the subject and began talking about Lyndon Johnson . ' He said that Lyndon Johnson was the most amazingly resourceful fellow , that he was a man who really understood power and how to use it , ' Freeman recalls . And then , Freeman recalls , Russell said , ' That man will twist your arm off at the shoulder and beat your head in with it . '
' You know , ' Russell said , ' we could have beaten John Kennedy on civil rights , but not Lyndon Johnson . ' There was a pause . A man was perhaps contemplating the end of a way of life he cherished . He was perhaps contemplating the fact that he had played a large role -- perhaps the largest role -- in raising to power the man who was going to end that way of life . But when , a moment later , Richard Russell spoke again , it was only to repeat the remark . ' We could have beaten Kennedy on civil rights , but we can't Lyndon . "
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The New and Improved Joey? thread (Read 2,104,655 times)
