Master of the Senate

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume III (Part 2 of a 3-Part Recording)

By: Robert A. Caro

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Master of the Senate, book three of the Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his 12 years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. At the heart of the audiobook is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done.

It was during these years that all Johnson’s experience—from his Texas Hill Country boyhood to his passionate representation in Congress of his hardscrabble constituents to his tireless construction of a political machine—came to fruition. Caro introduces the story with a dramatic account of the Senate itself: how Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun had made it the center of governmental energy, the forum in which the great issues of the country were thrashed out. And how, by the time Johnson arrived, it had dwindled into a body that merely responded to executive initiatives, all but impervious to the forces of change.

Caro anatomizes the genius for political strategy and tactics by which, in an institution that had made the seniority system all-powerful for a century and more, Johnson became majority leader after only a single term—the youngest and greatest Senate leader in our history; how he manipulated the Senate’s hallowed rules and customs and the weaknesses and strengths of his colleagues to change the unchangeable Senate from a loose confederation of sovereign senators to a whirring legislative machine under his own iron-fisted control.

Caro demonstrates how Johnson’s political genius enabled him to reconcile the unreconcilable: to retain the support of the Southerners who controlled the Senate while earning the trust—or at least the cooperation—of the liberals, led by Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey, without whom he could not achieve his goal of winning the presidency. He shows the dark side of Johnson’s ambition: how he proved his loyalty to the great oil barons who had financed his rise to power by ruthlessly destroying the career of the New Dealer who was in charge of regulating them, Federal Power Commission Chairman Leland Olds. And we watch him achieve the impossible: convincing Southerners that although he was firmly in their camp as the anointed successor to their leader, Richard Russell, it was essential that they allow him to make some progress toward civil rights. In a breathtaking tour de force, Caro details Johnson’s amazing triumph in maneuvering to passage the first civil rights legislation since 1875.

Master of the Senate, told with an abundance of rich detail that could only have come from Caro’s peerless research, is both a galvanizing portrait of the man himself and a definitive and revelatory study of the workings and personal and legislative power.

This is Volume 2. Have you listened to Master of the Senate, Volume 1 yet? And don't forget Volume 3.

©2002 Robert A. Caro, Inc. (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A wonderful, a glorious tale.... It will be hard to equal this amazing book. It reads like a Trollope novel, but not even Trollope explored the ambitions and the gullibilities of men as deliciously as Robert Caro does. Even though I knew what the outcome of a particular episode would be, I followed Caro’s account of it with excitement. I went back over chapters to make sure I had not missed a word.... Caro’s description of how [Johnson passed the civil rights legislation] is masterly; I was there and followed the course of the legislation closely, but I did not know the half of it.” (Anthony Lewis, The New York Times Book Review)

“A masterpiece.... Robert Caro has written one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age.” (Daniel Finkelstein, The Times, London)

“Mesmerizing.... [It] brings LBJ blazing into the Senate.... A tale rife with drama and hypnotic in the telling. The historian’s equivalent of a Mahler symphony.” (Malcolm Jones, Newsweek)

It might as well be fiction.

Only murder would make it better than House of Cards. Caro is such a great storyteller, I look forward to the next volumes.

Master of the Senate in 3 Audible Acts

If you could sum up Master of the Senate in three words, what would they be?

Tour de force!

What did you like best about this story?

The history of the U.S. Senate that opens this volume.

Have you listened to any of Grover Gardner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think I have listened to another GG narration. But GG was a great choice for this vast undertaking. He's there for the duration and never gets in the way. A real pro.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I think it would be the story of Leland Olds.

great book on a truly master of the Senate

great book and well read. amazing facts and behind the scenes doings and politics of president Johnson in his Senate years

Great story, recording errors

At multiple points in this story, there were repeated lines-and it didn’t follow on where the previous volume left off.

Starts with 3 hr of redundant material

The first 3h 5m of this book are the end of the previous volume.

Audio file needs to be edited

At many points in this audio file lines that have already been read are repeated, and the beginning does not pick up where part 1 concluded.

A masterwork

It's very well written and exceedingly interesting. The depth of Caro's scholarship is impressive, and his level of detail makes the book come alive. I'd definitely recommend this series if you're interested in LBJ and want to learn more about his career in the Senate.

Magnificent

This book is one of the 20th century’s most impressive works of history writing. Magnificent!

Brilliant!!

Extraordinary history and biography of one of the most important figures In American politics during the last 100 years

Another piece of the puzzle

As I have mentioned before, I knew very little about LBJ and these books have been fascinating. The only negative is that I am really irritated that I had to pay three times for this one book. I don’t know why you did this, as I have purchased many long books from you as just one purchase. I will look out for this bait and switch tactic in the future.