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bd618a3
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President Kennedy's eloquence was designed to make men think; President Johnson's hammer blows are designed to make men act.
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politics
lbj
lyndon-b-johnson
kennedy
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Robert A. Caro |
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d94753c
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Ask not what you have done for Lyndon Johnson, but what you have done for him lately.
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politics
lbj
lyndon-b-johnson
political-correctness
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Robert A. Caro |
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9ee0ec0
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"He was to become the lawmaker for the poor and the downtrodden and the oppressed. He was to be the bearer of at least a measure of social justice to those whom social justice had so long been denied. The restorer of at least a measure of dignity to those who so desperately needed to be given some dignity. The redeemer of the promises made by them to America. "It is time to write it in the books of law." By the time Lyndon Johnson left office he had done a lot of writing in those books, had become, above all presidents save Lincoln, the codifier of compassion, the president who wrote mercy and justice in the statute books by which America was governed."
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politics
lyndon-b-johnson
legislation
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Robert A. Caro |
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4faa525
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It is not clear who will bring to the Whitehouse those useful commodities of vivid language, a sense of history and most important - a sense of humour, but Johnson himself will provide many other attributes. He is effective precisely because he is so determined, industrious, personal and even humourless, particularly in dealing with Congress. (...) Kennedy had a detached and even donnish willingness to grant a merit in the other fellow's argument. Johnson is not so inclined to retreat and grants nothing in an argument, not even equal time. Ask not what you have done for Lyndon Johnson, but what you have done for him lately. This may not be the most attractive quality of the new administration but it works. The lovers of style are not too happy with the new administration, but the lovers of substance are not complaining.
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politics
lbj
lyndon-b-johnson
style-substance
kennedy
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Robert A. Caro |