i told him "there's only one power, richard russell." johnson doesn't ask for the best committee, he asks to get on russell's committee. he starts saying to late... russell was a bachelor and he was lonely johnson would say "let's get a hamburger." hen-the-he said "why don't you come home for dinner?" russell usually didn't do that. lyndon would say "you've got to eat somewhere." and he started... when you say what are the means by which lyndon johnson rose so fast? a lot of it is just what you're talking about. this interpersonal relationship. >> if i might bring obama in for a second. this is not something alien to him. when he was in the state senate in illinois they was protege of a man named amel jones who was the party leader and he was a profession alison to jones in the way bob has written about l.b.j. being a profession alison to russell and sam rayburn. so he's able to do it but we haven't seen much of in the washington. >> i think one difference is he has a family. he has a young family. l.b.j. could go over to richard russell

always -- still had a hand in the senate, or wanted to, so he would suggest to maps feel, well, richard russell has emfa seem na or allen anderson isn't in good health and if you filibuster them, you can break them. just keep them on the floor. and mansfield says basically, that's now how i'm going to do. and mans feel win to everett dirksen, the ranking member, and the leader of the southern block, and said we're going to try to break your filibuster. you're going to have every chance to make your case and we're going to do everything we can to overcome it but i'm not keeping people here all night and trying to break them that way. >> so interestingly here you have a contrast in leadership between lbj, the former senate leader, and mansfield, now the president, still coming from a different position. >> lbj's accomplishments in civil rights will always be remembered. he picked up the mantle after president kennedy was assassinated. 1963-1964 -- the hostic injustice of civil rights was going to be dealt with, but the senate was the last bastion of resistance that had to be overcome, and what ma

southern segregationists like richard russell and strom thurmond, northern liberals like hubert humphrey, big city bosses of chicago, jersey city, members of franklin d. roosevelt family, all of them come together and one eye. they want to stampede the convention. he finally draws back and says no at the last minute. otherwise it could have been eisenhower as the nominee and even as the president beating doing, but he says no. not his year. he does become president a year of columbia university. for years more for the presidency. so chairman, truman it's so bad, so bad at that convention, he gets on the phone and he is calling william of douglas, the supreme court justice. will you be my vice presidents. why him? because he is a guy who is respected by the old new dealers. he has to get back in good graces with that one of the party. he has to cement that tied to the new deal. and william of douglas supposedly says i will not be a number two man to a number two man. he turned some down. so he takes alvin barkley, this democratic leader of the senate, and you haven't ticket which is a pre

mcgarricer, giles giovanazi and miles burr cet and on my staff the commerce committee minority side, richard russell and jared thompson, i want to say especially jared thompson who is the one i know the best because he is the aviation subcommittee ranking member staff leader and he knows the history of the aviation bills, he knows the subject matter, there was never a time when i would ask a specific or technical question that jared didn't know the answer, and i so appreciate his being on our staff and helping us through this very important time. so with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and i thank all of my colleagues and the house colleagues and staff for the work on this bill that i hope we will be able to pass when the vote comes at 5:30 this afternoon. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: i'm in the happy position of mimicking a lot of what my colleague, senator hutchison, has said. but for a very good reason. because when you go through an experience like senator hutchison and i have been through for the