• Reckoning With Russell

    Reckoning With Russell

    Richard Russell was considered one of the great Senators of all time. He also led the Southern resistance to civil rights. How should he be remembered?

  • The People vs. The Big Few

    The People vs. The Big Few

    Throughout his career, Kefauver never lost touch with the people he served. A brochure from his final campaign proves it.

  • Too Much Democracy

    Too Much Democracy

    The press didn’t approve of Kefauver’s way of campaigning for President. Their criticism belied a deeper unease with the primary system.

  • Support Your Local Sheriff!

    Support Your Local Sheriff!

    The crime hearings earned Kefauver a reputation as a racket-buster. But that reputation obscured what he really tried to accomplish.

  • How Do You Solve A Problem Like Kefauver?

    How Do You Solve A Problem Like Kefauver?

    Kefauver’s Senate colleagues famously disliked him. But it wasn’t really personal – their dislike came from a deeper source.

  • How Adlai Really Won

    How Adlai Really Won

    Stevenson is remembered as the man who practiced a nobler brand of politics. A forgotten incident from the 1956 campaign tells a different story.

  • Portrait of a Lady

    Portrait of a Lady

    Lady Bird Johnson wasn’t just Lyndon’s wife – she was a key political adviser and an astute observer. Her comments about Kefauver show that she understood his immense political gifts – and what held him back.

  • He Never Fixed the Washing Machine

    He Never Fixed the Washing Machine

    In Kefauver’s home life and his political life, he often started projects he couldn’t finish. Why was that?

  • No Lamb for Slaughter

    No Lamb for Slaughter

    In 1954, the FCC – lead by a Joseph McCarthy acolyte – went after a close friend of Kefauver’s for alleged Communist ties. Kefauver stood up for his friend and for civil liberties – even at a political cost.

  • Opening Up An “All-American City”

    Opening Up An “All-American City”

    In the final months of his life, Kefauver endorsed a newspaper’s call for Knoxville, Tennessee to be an integrated “open city.” Did Knoxville’s example offer a model for desegregation without violence?