Brown & Root

Brown & Root was the Texas construction firm that bankrolled LBJ and provided him with luxurious transportation and vacation opportunities to impress his colleagues.

Filibuster

This is the nickname given to senators' cherished right to "extended discussion." The term derives from the Dutch word vrijbuiter, meaning freebooter or pirate and applied because members (particularly southern members) used it to pirate or hijack the legislative process. Senate Rule 22 required a two-thirds vote to cut off a filibuster, a process called cloture.

National Youth Administration

The NYA was created in 1935 to help students stay in high school or college by providing them part-time campus jobs and to help young people not in school to earn money in small-scale public works projects.

Senate Office Building

A grand, five-storied, colonnaded granite and marble building, the SOB (never to be abbreviated in official communications!) housed the 96 senators and about 1,100 staff and maintenance...