Part 4 Chapter 29 Summary

Vice President Nixon welcomed LBJ back to the Senate and colleagues gave him a standing ovation as Congress opened for the 1956 session. After the quorum call he posed for pictures, shook hands and basked in the atmosphere of good feelings. Addressing the Women's National Press Club, he said he had learned his lesson about humility and proportions; he was going to be sensible.

LBJ played on everyone's compassion to gain whatever he wanted from them. He had been trying for years to recruit James H. Rowe's fulltime services, without success. LBJ knew that Rowe was the author of a secret memorandum that proved the key to Truman's 1948 victory and now held an almost mystical belief that Rowe could do the same for him. He refused to take no for an answer, getting mutual friends to intercede for him. LBJ even shed...