The Congress: An Adequate Number of Democrats

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In the Senate, too, the Democrats staged a relatively minor North-South clash. Louisiana's Russell Long, 46, wanted to replace Vice President-elect Hubert Humphrey as majority whip—even though Huey Long's son has a notable record of anti-Administration votes, including t hose against medicare, aid to education, foreign aid, the nuclear test ban treaty, the Peace Corps and civil rights. Because of past political favors, because the liberals were badly organized—and because the White House carefully did not intervene—Russell Long won out over Rhode Island's John Pastore and Oklahoma's Mike Monroney. Said Russell after his election: "This means the Civil War is over." Indeed Long could go far to help swing at least a few Southern Democrats into the Administration's camp on some tough bills. And he has even hinted that he might ease his views on segregation: "I've been able to recognize that things move and to adjust myself to a changing world."

Canceling the Conservatives. With party punishment thus meted out and leadership jobs filled, the Democrats proceeded to grease every possible skid for Johnson's upcoming legislation. Most important was the move to establish control over two major points of conservative power in the House—the Ways and Means and the Appropriations committees, long dominated by a coalition of conservative-minded Democrats and Republicans. When it was chaired by Missouri's late Clarence Cannon, one of the crustiest old tightwads in House history, Appropriations often choked off extra funds for almost anything that smacked of liberal legislation. Cannon died last spring, and the chairmanship went to Texas Democrat George Mahon, a loyal Lyndon man—but to Democratic leaders there was still a disturbing aura of conservatism about many of the 50 committee members. As for the 25-man Ways and Means Committee, headed by Arkansas Democrat Wilbur Mills, it had a longtime tilt to the right too—enough so that the committee managed to keep the Administration's medicare bill from ever getting to the House floor last year.

Thus, at their caucus on the Saturday before Congress convened, the Democrats made sure that henceforth things would be different. They did it by simply canceling a gentlemanly, if arbitrary, agreement made years ago between the late Speaker Sam Rayburn and G.O.P. Leader Joe Martin, to the effect that the ratio of party memberships on the two committees would be frozen, no matter what the makeup of the House. On Ways and Means, the majority party had 15, the minority 10, and on Appropriations the ratio was 30 to 20. The caucus voted to reject that standing ratio and make committee appointments on the basis of actual party membership in the House—and the Republicans had to go along. Thus Democrats would hold a hefty 34-to-16 margin on Appropriations and a 17-to-8 ratio on Ways and Means. Of course, the new members were to be of a distinct L.B.J. bent. Said Larry O'Brian, the President's No. 1 congressional liaison man: "Half the struggle of enacting the Johnson program was over Saturday evening."