Harry Cummings McPherson, Jr. (August 22, 1929 – February 16, 2012) served as counsel and special counsel to President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1969. McPherson was also Johnson’s chief speechwriter from 1966 to 1969. But McPherson worked in Washington since 1956. The evolution of a green Texas lawyer to the ultimate Washington insider is enlightening. As preparation to start reading Robert Caro’s multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, I thought I’d prep with McPherson’s book. If you want to know how the U.S. Senate worked back in the Fifties and the Sixties, McPherson illustrates the process in great detail. The battles over civil rights, foreign aid, aid to education, and energy policy make fascinating reading. I liked McPherson’s blunt descriptions of all the U.S. Senators, too (many are unflattering). GRADE: A
I know – I’m also working myself up to read Caro’s book on LBJ. I may check this out for his description of the Senators. When I was in college I read Allen (ADVISE AND CONSENT) Drury’s A SENATE JOURNAL, 1943-45 (originally published in 1963 and reprinted in 1972), about his years as a young journalist covering the WWII Senate and the transition to peace and the Truman Presidency. His comments on the various Senators was the most interesting part to me.
McPherson’s assessments of the Senators captured my attention, Jeff. Like you, I have Caro’s latest volume of LBJ, THE PASSAGE OF POWER, on my stack. I’ll probably read it in August. If you haven’t read the LBJ volume, MASTER OF THE SENATE, you’re missing a masterpiece.