Word: sam
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...victory that Mister Sam could rightly store in his treasure chest of memories, but it was a dark victory indeed. Essentially it was a fight of Democrats with Democrats, and it marked a decisive swing of power from the entrenched Southern Democratic conservatives to the urban liberal forces that have grown increasingly frustrated over Southern seniority. But the close vote reddened the sore of the split and emphasized the powerful resources of the conservatives even under intense pressure. The cold realists in John Kennedy's White House knew that the fight would have to be refought on every major...
...almost cruelly suspenseful. Though both camps had counted the votes in advance with exquisite care. Congressmen hovered tensely over tally sheets. In the galleries, as the roll call seesawed toward an end. each new no drew a low, hissing gasp of disappointment. The galleries were clearly on Mister Sam's side...
...Country Boys. The two wily old congressional giants who were pitted against each other in the fight have much in common. Sam Rayburn and Howard Smith both have the patina of age-Rayburn is 79, Smith 78-and the special dignity that accrues to old men who have long exercised power in causes greater than their own ambitions. Both are gruff on the surface, kind underneath. They were country boys, raised on farms, and they still, whenever they can get out of Washington, instinctively head for rustic serenity-the Rayburn cattle ranch near Bonham, Texas or the Smith dairy farm...
...most striking difference, the Great Divide of personality, is a matter of the temperature of the heart. Smith is a bit frosty; displays of emotion make him visibly uncomfortable. Sam Rayburn, in contrast, is a sentimentalist, a man of strong and easily stirred feelings, who unashamedly weeps in public when moved. Men who were there still choke up when they recall Rayburn's anguished speech in the House on the death of his old friend Alben Barkley, the speech that ended, "God comfort his loved ones. God comfort me." The difference carries over into politics. Judge Smith...
Since 1932, the prevailing tendencies of the times have gone against Judge Smith. He has authored some important legislation-notably the anti-subversive Smith Act-but his essential role in Congress has been to delay defeat for his causes. Sam Rayburn has moved with the drift of things, and so helped to make history, not just slow it down...