Power Trip
Democrats Need to Get Comfortable With Power
If the party wants to stop getting rolled, it needs to rediscover its roots
The president was dead. His assailant was dead. The country was in crisis.
The new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been so ignored as vice president that his name was still in the phone book, created a commission to investigate the slaying. In November 1963, he persuaded the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl Warren, to lead the inquiry — an unprecedented mix of judicial and executive branch powers that LBJ felt was necessary to give the panel the credibility it needed to dispel rumors that Russia or others were behind the attack.
A week after the assassination LBJ reached out to Richard Russell, a respected Senate Democrat, to join the inquiry. The Georgian, who was LBJ’s mentor, balked.
“You’re my man on that commission and you’re going to do it,” Johnson fumed in a phone call to Russell. “Don’t tell me what you can’t do. I can’t arrest you, but you’re sure goddamn well going to serve. You’re going to do it.”
Russell served.
Two years later, LBJ would use his power to roll over Russell and southern segregationists and sign the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A year…
