Let's put the jam on the lower shelf so the little people can reach it.


Ralph Yarborough was Texas other senator. He went to West Point in 1919 but washed out a year later. He was much more liberal then Lyndon Johnson and they were often on opposite sides of issues.

Johnson liked neither Yarborough nor his the policies he stood for, even though he supported the “Great Society” plan of the future president. Johnson would have been happy to see him gone as well.

Yarborough was originally set to ride in the car with the Kennedys but the President thought it would be better to have someone with him who had a more conservative image – like John Connally. They had a high volume discussion, much like the one at the Cortez Hotel earlier in the year. This time the President got the man he wanted in the car with him.

Yarborough then rode in the car with the Vice President. He recalled the first two shots were in quick succession – almost simultaneously. He sensed the smell of gun power as their open car sped into the triple underpass

Ralph W. Yarborough, the People's Senator
by Patrick L. Cox

Revered by many Texans and other Americans as "the People's Senator," Ralph Webster Yarborough (1903-1996) fought for "the little people" in a political career that places him in the ranks of the most influential leaders in Texas history. The only U. S. Senator representing a former Confederate state to vote for every significant piece of modern civil rights legislation, Yarborough became a cornerstone of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs in the areas of education, environmental preservation, and health care. In doing so, he played a major role in the social and economic modernization of Texas and the American South. He often defied conventional political wisdom with his stands against powerful political interests and with his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War. Yet to this day, his admirers speak of Yarborough as an inspiration for public service and a model of political independence and integrity.