LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
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LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
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LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
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LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
Zoom
LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
Zoom
LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said: “Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.” —Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41.  Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.
Zoom

LBJ was impressed with the intellectual Kennedy advisors, even if he was something of an outsider among them. Later, LBJ told of how he had spoken admiringly of them to his mentor Speaker Sam Rayburn, who said:

“Well, Lyndon, you may be right and they may be every bit as intelligent as you say, but I’d feel a whole lot better about them if just one of them had run for sheriff once.”

—Halberstam, David. The Best and the Brightest, New York: Random House, 1972, p. 41. 

Top: Richard Goodwin, JFK and Dean Rusk. 2nd row, L-R: Larry O’Brien, McGeorge Bundy, and Ted Sorensen. Bottom: Robert McNamara and Pierre Salinger.

LBJ and Lady Bird are seated with President Harry Truman, First Lady Bess Truman, and Speaker Sam Rayburn at the dedication of the Sam Rayburn Library in Bonham, Texas on October 9, 1957.  The Sam Rayburn Library is now a museum, which is a division of the Briscoe Center for American History, part of the University of Texas.  More information about the Sam Rayburn Museum is available on their website, where you can even watch footage of the dedication ceremony.  This photo is also available at the Briscoe Center of American History. Photo was originally taken by Thomas McAvoy and published by Life Magazine.   
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LBJ and Lady Bird are seated with President Harry Truman, First Lady Bess Truman, and Speaker Sam Rayburn at the dedication of the Sam Rayburn Library in Bonham, Texas on October 9, 1957.  The Sam Rayburn Library is now a museum, which is a division of the Briscoe Center for American History, part of the University of Texas. 

More information about the Sam Rayburn Museum is available on their website, where you can even watch footage of the dedication ceremony. 

This photo is also available at the Briscoe Center of American History. Photo was originally taken by Thomas McAvoy and published by Life Magazine.   

March 12, 1956. 101 southern congressmen (19 senators and 82 representatives) sign the Southern Manifesto to Congress, the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles.” The manifesto is a response to the Supreme Court’s decision of May 31, 1955, which implements the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, above, that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. The Southern Manifesto criticizes the Supreme Court desegregation decision and pledges to overturn it by lawful means.         LBJ and Sam Rayburn did not sign the manifesto. LBJ reports that he has neither seen the document nor has he been asked to sign it. He says it is a statement issued by individual senators and concludes his comments by saying, “In my opinion, the solution of the problem cannot be found on the federal level, for it involves basic values reflected in the sovereignty of the states. It’s my hope that wise leaders on the local levels will work to resolve these differences.”
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March 12, 1956. 101 southern congressmen (19 senators and 82 representatives) sign the Southern Manifesto to Congress, the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles.”

The manifesto is a response to the Supreme Court’s decision of May 31, 1955, which implements the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, above, that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. The Southern Manifesto criticizes the Supreme Court desegregation decision and pledges to overturn it by lawful means.        

LBJ and Sam Rayburn did not sign the manifesto. LBJ reports that he has neither seen the document nor has he been asked to sign it. He says it is a statement issued by individual senators and concludes his comments by saying,

“In my opinion, the solution of the problem cannot be found on the federal level, for it involves basic values reflected in the sovereignty of the states. It’s my hope that wise leaders on the local levels will work to resolve these differences.”

January, 1951. LBJ is elected Democratic whip, President Truman delivers his State of the Union address, and Luci and Lynda host a birthday party for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.Meanwhile, the Air Force calls up 150,000 reserves and National Guard forces to active duty, and gives Congress the choice of drafting 18 year-olds or fathers and non-veterans ages 19-25. The Korean War, which had begun on June 25, 1950 as a United Nation’s “police action” in the wake of North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, was now a significant issue in American politics. Photos via the Department of the Navy’s Naval Historical Center. Public domain.
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January, 1951. LBJ is elected Democratic whip, President Truman delivers his State of the Union address, and Luci and Lynda host a birthday party for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.Meanwhile, the Air Force calls up 150,000 reserves and National Guard forces to active duty, and gives Congress the choice of drafting 18 year-olds or fathers and non-veterans ages 19-25. The Korean War, which had begun on June 25, 1950 as a United Nation’s “police action” in the wake of North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, was now a significant issue in American politics. Photos via the Department of the Navy’s Naval Historical Center. Public domain.
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January, 1951. LBJ is elected Democratic whip, President Truman delivers his State of the Union address, and Luci and Lynda host a birthday party for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.Meanwhile, the Air Force calls up 150,000 reserves and National Guard forces to active duty, and gives Congress the choice of drafting 18 year-olds or fathers and non-veterans ages 19-25. The Korean War, which had begun on June 25, 1950 as a United Nation’s “police action” in the wake of North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, was now a significant issue in American politics. Photos via the Department of the Navy’s Naval Historical Center. Public domain.
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January, 1951. LBJ is elected Democratic whip, President Truman delivers his State of the Union address, and Luci and Lynda host a birthday party for Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.

Meanwhile, the Air Force calls up 150,000 reserves and National Guard forces to active duty, and gives Congress the choice of drafting 18 year-olds or fathers and non-veterans ages 19-25. The Korean War, which had begun on June 25, 1950 as a United Nation’s “police action” in the wake of North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, was now a significant issue in American politics.

Photos via the Department of the Navy’s Naval Historical Center. Public domain.

1946: Meanwhile, in Washington, LBJ and Sam Rayburn attend a luncheon in the Speaker’s Dining Room. Rayburn had been Speaker of the House since 1940, although the Democrats would lose the majority the year the photo was taken. Johnson and Rayburn were both political colleagues and friends. LBJ would occasionally show his affection for Rayburn by kissing him on top of the head. This photo is from the Sam Rayburn papers at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Johnson is standing near the center, and Rayburn is seated in the middle.
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1946: Meanwhile, in Washington, LBJ and Sam Rayburn attend a luncheon in the Speaker’s Dining Room. Rayburn had been Speaker of the House since 1940, although the Democrats would lose the majority the year the photo was taken.

Johnson and Rayburn were both political colleagues and friends. LBJ would occasionally show his affection for Rayburn by kissing him on top of the head.

This photo is from the Sam Rayburn papers at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Johnson is standing near the center, and Rayburn is seated in the middle.

1941. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, above, was perhaps the most important ally Lyndon Johnson ever made. Rayburn served in the House for a total of forty-eight years, participating in the passage of some of the most significant  legislation in American history. He and LBJ became friendly when Johnson was serving as secretary to Kleberg, and once LBJ married Ladybird, Rayburn frequently dined at their Kalorama Road house. Rayburn’s support would be crucial to LBJ’s rise in national politics. He would prove important to the nation, too: it was Rayburn who engineered the tough victory in the House, by a single vote, that extended the military draft beyond August 1941. This would become very significant less than four months later—when Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor. More on Rayburn: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra49 Image: Stone, E.. [Painting of Sam Rayburn], Artwork, n.d.; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth183488 : accessed January 19, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting SRH, [No City Listed], Texas.
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1941. Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, above, was perhaps the most important ally Lyndon Johnson ever made. Rayburn served in the House for a total of forty-eight years, participating in the passage of some of the most significant  legislation in American history. He and LBJ became friendly when Johnson was serving as secretary to Kleberg, and once LBJ married Ladybird, Rayburn frequently dined at their Kalorama Road house. Rayburn’s support would be crucial to LBJ’s rise in national politics.

He would prove important to the nation, too: it was Rayburn who engineered the tough victory in the House, by a single vote, that extended the military draft beyond August 1941.

This would become very significant less than four months later—when Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor.

More on Rayburn: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fra49

Image: Stone, E.. [Painting of Sam Rayburn], Artwork, n.d.; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth183488 : accessed January 19, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting SRH, [No City Listed], Texas.