| 00:00:00 | MR. |
| 00:00:01 | CARO, LBJ IS WELL REMEMBERED AS SOMEONE WHO WAS VERY ADEPT AT NAVIGATING THE SENATE AND WORKING WITH CONGRESS AS PRESIDENT TO GET SOME DIFFICULT THINGS DONE. |
| 00:00:12 | HOW WELL DO YOU THINK HE WOULD DO AS PRESIDENT TODAY GETTING THINGS DONE WITH THE VERY POLARIZED ENVIRONMENT? |
| 00:00:26 | [APPLAUSE] >> TERRIFIC QUESTION. |
| 00:00:27 | IT IS HARD TO ANSWER. |
| 00:00:30 | PART OF THE ANSWER IS THE FOLLOWING. |
| 00:00:34 | LYNDON JOHNSON BECAME MAJORITY LEADER OF THE SENATE IN 1955, THE SENATE WAS AND HAD BEEN FOR DECADES -- LET'S PUT IT THAT WAY -- TAUGHT TO BELIEVE THE SAME DYSFUNCTIONAL MESS THAT IT IS TODAY. |
| 00:00:54 | BILLS COULDN'T GET PAST BECAUSE THE POWER THAT CONFRONTED A PRESIDENT WASN'T A PARTY TO THIS. |
| 00:01:00 | WASN'T REPUBLICANS AGAINST DEMOCRATS. |
| 00:01:03 | IT WAS INTERPARTY DIVISION. |
| 00:01:06 | HALF OF THE DEMOCRATS IN THE SENATE WHERE SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS WHO WERE AS CONSERVATIVE AS CAN BE IMAGINED ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE AND IN THAT YEAR, 1955, 16 GREAT STANDING COMMITTEES, THE REPUBLICANS WERE CHAIRMAN OF NINE OF THEM AND SENIOR COMMITTEE POST WAS STACKED WITH THEM AND SUBCOMMITTEES WERE HEADED BUY THEM. |
| 00:01:32 | THEY HAD STOPPED EVERY PRESIDENT. |
| 00:01:34 | NO ONE SEEMS TO REALIZE THIS BUT IN THE 25 YEARS AFTER THE SUPREME COURT, WHEN SOUTHERN CONSERVATIVES REALIZED THEY AND THE MIDWESTERN REPUBLICANS WERE ON THE SAME SIDE AND COULD CONTROL CONGRESS KNOW PRESIDENT, FRANCO LOW ROOSEVELT OR TRUMAN NEVER GOT MAJOR DOMESTIC BILL. |
| 00:01:57 | JOHNSON COMES IN AND IN AN INSTANT IT IS CHANGE AND THE SENATE IS THE CENTER OF GOVERNMENTAL ENERGY AND CREATIVITY. |
| 00:02:05 | THE FOUNDING FATHERS WANTED -- HE IS MAJORITY LEADER FOR SIX YEARS. |
| 00:02:10 | AT THE END OF SIX YEARS HE LEAVES AND THE SENATE IS BACK IN THE SAME MESS. |
| 00:02:16 | THE NATURE OF POLITICAL GENIUS IS TO FIND A WAY WHEN NO WAY APPEARS OBVIOUS. |
| 00:02:22 | I DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON WOULD DO WITH THIS CONGRESS. |
| 00:02:27 | HOPEFULLY I CAN RESEARCH AND FIND OUT BUT SOMEONE WILL COME ALONG TO DO IT AGAIN. |
| 00:02:36 | >> ONE OF THE MAJOR |
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