Wheeling and Dealing: Confessions of a Capitol Hill Operator

Description

“What historians may perhaps find most useful in [Baker’s] book is his characterization of the two men he served most intimately—Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kerr. The portrait of Mr. Johnson is pungent, complete with a plausible reconstruction of the great Texan’s earthy table talk.” —Arthur Schlesinger, New York Times Book Review

Bobby Baker was a small-town southern boy when he arrived in Washington in 1943, but he had a sure sense of political clout. He soon knew which senator wanted what done—almost before the senator knew himself. Senator Robert Kerr was the first instrument of Bobby Baker’s rise. He found an even more powerful sponsor in Lyndon Johnson, and he rose with Johnson until no doors were closed to him. He tells here a unique insider’s story of the always fascinating ways of power in the Congress of the United States.