cover image The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights

The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, and the Struggle for Civil Rights

Robert Mann. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $32 (609pp) ISBN 978-0-15-100065-4

This is not a comprehensive account of the battle for civil rights, but a Congress-centric study of the lives and interplay of three powerful Democratic senators--one of whom became President--regarding civil rights law. Thus, Mann, author of a biography of Senator Russell Long (Legacy of Power), mines published biographies, oral history archives and his own interviews to sketch the righteous civil rights opponent Russell from Georgia, the eloquent, progressive Minnesotan Humphrey and the pragmatic strategist Johnson from Texas. Johnson cultivated Russell, his elder and a lonely bachelor; he mentored Humphrey, who provided crucial links to Senate liberals. While Mann's discussion of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and national civil rights protests is hardly new, his description of the passage of the important Civil Rights Act of 1964 is absorbing: Humphrey led the charge, while Russell, who chose filibuster over negotiation, was the biggest loser. Johnson, however, undercut Humphrey's effectiveness as vice-president, and Russell's friendship with Johnson broke down during a conflict over a judicial appointment. All three men, sadly, ended their careers in rejection and defeat. Photos not seen by PW. (May)