Humphrey was to say, and now he was planning to continue doing so, to use the chairmanship, in Humphrey's words, "to hang on to {the power} he had wielded as Majority Leader" as a "de facto Majority Leader"; Johnson "had the illusions that he could be in a sense, as Vice President, the Majority Leader." His proposal violated what was to these senators one of the Senate's most sacred precepts-its independence of the executive branch; he was proposing that a member of that branch preside over their meetings.
( Robert A. Caro )
[ The Passage of Power ]
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