The day after cantankerous Congressman John Rooney got home to Brooklyn from an "inspection trip" of Latin American embassies, he got an important telephone call. "John," crooned Vice President-elect Lyndon Johnson to the chairman of a House subcommittee that handles State Department funds, "the President-elect would like to see you down in Palm Beach next week. Can you make it?" When Rooney allowed that he could indeed, Lyndon Johnson made his own plans to be there too. To muddy up the purpose of the trip, he brought along Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, Johnson's probable successor as chairman of the...
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