One Senator did not share those feelings [that the South could block civil rights]. “Smarter than they are” though Richard Russell may have been – smarter than his opponents in the Senate – it was not other senators who were Russell’s real opponents now, but the new President, and Russell felt that would change everything. The Kennedy bills would be passed now, Russell told a friend. “He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them.” (465)
R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4: the passage of power (2012), 465
A digital form of the sadly lost fashion for copying out memorable passages from texts. I kept losing my actual book.
Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
The Kennedys proved to be more akin to the Medici.
But all the Kennedy children were raised with the same principles: winning isn't everything, it's the only thing; anything it permissible to succeed; have no idols except for the family - the Kennedy family, that is. Why the family should want political power was not discussed; it was accepted that power was its own reward. Indicative of the prevailing attitude was Jack's observation in 1960 that Eleanor Roosevelt (widow of Franklin) disliked him because 'She hated my father and can't stand it that his children turned out so much better than hers.' It never occurred to him that Eleanor Roosevelt might dislike him on principled political grounds. No doubt, worship of the family is a virtuous secondary good. But democratic rule is based on a devotion to ideas not siblings. Though they portrayed themselves as the heirs of Washington, Jefferson and Roosevelt, the Kennedys proved to be more akin to the Medici.
D. Kunz, 'Camelot continued: What if John Kennedy had lived?', N. Ferguson (ed.), Virtual History (1997), 371
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