{"product_id":"mansfield-and-dirksen-bipartisan-giants-of-the-senate-9780806192697","title":"Mansfield and Dirksen: Bipartisan Giants of the Senate","description":"The U.S. Senate is so sharply polarized along partisan and ideological lines today that it's easy to believe it was always this way. But in the turbulent 1960s, even as battles over civil rights and the war in Vietnam dominated American politics, bipartisanship often prevailed. One key reason: two remarkable leaders who remain giants of the Senate--Republican leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois and Democratic leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, the longest-serving majority leader in Senate history, so revered for his integrity, fairness, and modesty that the late \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e reporter David Broder called him \"the greatest American I ever met.\" The political and personal relationship of these party leaders, extraordinary by today's standards, is the lens through which Marc C. Johnson examines the Senate in that tumultuous time. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Working together, with the Democrat often ceding public leadership to his Republican counterpart, Mansfield and Dirksen passed landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation, created Medicare, and helped bring about a foundational nuclear arms limitation treaty. The two leaders could not have been more different in personality and style: Mansfield, a laconic, soft-spoken, almost shy college history professor, and Dirksen, an aspiring actor known for his flamboyance and sense of humor, dubbed the \"Wizard of Ooze\" by reporters. Drawing on extensive Senate archives, Johnson explores the congressional careers of these iconic leaders, their intimate relationships with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and their own close professional friendship based on respect, candor, and mutual affection. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e A study of politics but also an analysis of different approaches to leadership, this is a portrait of a U.S. Senate that no longer exists--one in which two leaders, while exercising partisan political responsibilities, could still come together to pass groundbreaking legislation--and a reminder of what is possible. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohnson, Marc C.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eMarc C. Johnson \u003c\/b\u003eis a Mansfield Fellow at the University of Montana's Mansfield Center. He has worked as a broadcast journalist and communication and crisis management consultant and served as a top aide to Idaho's longest-serving governor, Cecil D. Andrus. His writing on politics and history has been published in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCalifornia Journal of Politics and Policy, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eMontana The Magazine of Western History \u003c\/i\u003eand appears regularly on the blog Many Things Considered. \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Oklahoma Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51834610352402,"sku":"9780806192697","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bac473eb-60c0-4207-8923-40cd3426dedc.jpg?v=1767094560","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/mansfield-and-dirksen-bipartisan-giants-of-the-senate-9780806192697","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}