Summary

Chapter 1 – Monday morning rolls around. Seab Cooley prepares for the fight against Leffingwell. Various committee meetings must occur first, all of them business as usual. Many of the committees are focused on things like defense spending or internal improvements, such as bridges and dams. At last, the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee gets underway in the Caucus Room. Cooley considers that his entire career has been leading up to this moment.

Chapter 2 – As a young man, Cooley was noted for his gift for oration and for his humble origins: one of seven children of a storekeeper living in poverty, ultimately having to care for his mother and siblings after the death of their father. A local wealthy aristocrat, Colonel Tom Cashton, paid for Cooley’s education in the hopes that Cooley could benefit the area and the South at large...