Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson

I first became aware of the friend of Lyndon John and Richard Russell after reading MASTERS OF THE SENATE. John Caro touches on the relationship and as a result I was interested in finding out more about these two masters of the senate.Goldsmith, who was a Washington insider, depicts the rise and fall of the friendship and shows how in some respects it disentigrated because of the passage of time and the failure of the two men, especially Russell to adopt to change.Goldsmith's LBJ is much less of a "user" of Russell than Caro's and Goldsmith's Russell is much for fragile than the one portrayed by Caro. But for those interested in the LBJ years and the beginnings of the war in Viet Nam, this is a meaningful work. LBJ is once again seen as a somewhat tragic figure. Russell was very much a father figure to him, but yet in the end he did not attend his funeral or visit him in his last illness. For those interested in the legacy of LBJ it is well worth the fairly quick read.