Speaker Sam Rayburn, who rarely speaks out any more, stood solemnly before the House, shaking his bald dome and searching for the right words. "I fear," he said, "I am speaking to minds that are closed." It is only reasonable, he pleaded, to give a far-reaching legislative idea a fair trial. Though popular Sam Rayburn has immense prestige, the Congressmen listened coldly. Seeing them unmoved, Sam made a brazen appeal to the patronage instinct: "Let me say to you, my Democratic friends, that I found out a long time ago that in this House the people get along the...
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