Texas, d.c.: The Washington Connection

“Wc pick ‘em good, we elect ‘em young, and we keep ‘em there,” claims one of the covey of shrewd Texans who found his way to and around Washington. From Garner to Rayburn to LBJ, they passed a grip on congressional power to each other; from Colonel Mouse in Wilson’s time to John Connally’s star turn, they had the ear of the man in the White House. The legendary figures are gone, and their heirs have taken heavy casualties. But Texans still play a formidable hand in the capital’s power games.