COLLEAGUES: RUSSELL AND JOHNSON (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Few men wielded more influence over the politics of their day than Richard Russell of Georgia and Lyndon Johnson of Texas. Russell, as the intellectual and political leader of the Southern bloc in the Senate, was Johnson's friend and mentor on Capitol Hill; but the friendship did not survive Johnson's presidency, when tensions between them increased and a patronage squabble precipitated an angry break. Colleagues describes their tangled and changing relationship through such events as the McCarthy censure, the 1957 and 1964 Civil Rights Acts, the Vietnam War, and the Kennedy assassination. With information gleaned from copious notes made by Russell himself, as well as oral history accounts and other original sources, Goldsmith provides a comprehensive and engaging account of a friendship that had significant ramifications for the nation's governance. Colleagues also serves to demonstrate how political and personal friendships are created, shaped, and sometimes destroyed by the pressures and stresses of today's national political forum. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Mercer University Press (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865546177
• ISBN-13: 978-0865546172
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,011,745 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #95 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( J ) > Johnson, Lyndon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A poignant story of friendship gained and lost, December 24, 2003

By	Cecelia E Connally (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson (Hardcover)

I first became aware of the friend of Lyndon John and Richard Russell after reading MASTERS OF THE SENATE. John Caro touches on the relationship and as a result I was interested in finding out more about these two masters of the senate.

Goldsmith, who was a Washington insider, depicts the rise and fall of the friendship and shows how in some respects it disentigrated because of the passage of time and the failure of the two men, especially Russell to adopt to change.

Goldsmith's LBJ is much less of a "user" of Russell than Caro's and Goldsmith's Russell is much for fragile than the one portrayed by Caro. But for those interested in the LBJ years and the beginnings of the war in Viet Nam, this is a meaningful work. LBJ is once again seen as a somewhat tragic figure. Russell was very much a father figure to him, but yet in the end he did not attend his funeral or visit him in his last illness.
For those interested in the legacy of LBJ it is well worth the fairly quick read.