Whilst Brown and Root were the core of Johnsons financing for the rest of his career, they were just one piece of the puzzle.
His cultivation of numerous older men was of far greater importance (there were plenty of other rich backers he could have had, there was only one Sam Rayburn), in particular Richard Russell and Sam Rayburn. Without them he would have never ascended beyond the house.
I’m not sure if you’re disagreeing with my point (that Johnson’s rise had fewer moving parts than I expected) or just sharing an additional interesting fact.
TBC I agree with you that becoming president was more complicated than win the dam, win the day. But that more complicated story is still much less complicated than I expected it to be.
Whilst Brown and Root were the core of Johnsons financing for the rest of his career, they were just one piece of the puzzle.
His cultivation of numerous older men was of far greater importance (there were plenty of other rich backers he could have had, there was only one Sam Rayburn), in particular Richard Russell and Sam Rayburn. Without them he would have never ascended beyond the house.
what % of credit would you assign to Brown and Root, Sam Rayburn, and Richard Russell?
What I mean to highlight is that Brown and Root were fungible, any of the other rich Texans of the era could have been utilised instead.
Both Rayburn and Russell were absolutely crucial.
I’m not sure if you’re disagreeing with my point (that Johnson’s rise had fewer moving parts than I expected) or just sharing an additional interesting fact.
Disagreeing because it really wasn’t that simple. He had to masterfully play multiple key people, it wasn’t just “win the dam, win the day”.
TBC I agree with you that becoming president was more complicated than win the dam, win the day. But that more complicated story is still much less complicated than I expected it to be.