determining the essence of different points of view (what Lyndon Johnson called “listening”), - Robert A. Caro

Senator Harding, who declared in his inaugural address that “We seek no part in directing the destinies of the world.

the Founders’ armor had resisted every attempt by others to force them open; the Senate had been designed as the “firm” body; it had become too firm — too firm to allow the reforms the Republic needed. Never had the dam been more firm than during the last decade, the decade since the conservative coalition had learned its strength. During that decade, despite the mandate of three presidential elections, it had stood across and blocked the rising demand for social justice, had stood so solidly that it seemed too strong ever to be breached. In January, 1949, when Lyndon Johnson arrived in it, it was still standing.

sine qua non