Master of the Senate

The book starts with a 100 page history of the Senate,[2] where he argues that in the mid 19th Century its deliberative nature delayed the Civil War by a couple of decades by being a place where the South (personified by John C. Calhoun), the North (Daniel Webster) and the rising West Clay could reach national compromise.

After the Civil War Caro argues it lost its prominence firstly in domestic matters and later in Foreign Affairs through the combination of a lack of effective leadership, conservatism and the seniority system.

[7] The book argues that to please financial backers in the Texas oil industry he orchestrated the sacking of their head regulator, Federal Power Commission Chairman Leland Olds by falsely accusing him of Communist sympathies, destroying his career.

[12] The rise was through the support of the Russell and the Southern Caucus but informal power was maintained through his close connection with the House Speaker Sam Rayburn[13] although Johnson tried to expand his circle outside the South to Senate liberals, particularly Hubert Humphrey.

There is a short final section that charts the years between the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the start of Johnson's 1960 campaign for President.

[25] The book has also received praise from prominent politicians: Some reviewers claim that Caro's treatment of the Senate is colored by his own Progressive politics.