Lloyd Bentsen Dies

As my boss Alicia Munnell said in 1993: "After a week working for Bentsen you understand why he is the Treasury Secretary and you are not, and you are happy that that is the way it is."

Former Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen Dies - Yahoo! News: HOUSTON - Lloyd Bentsen, a courtly Texan who represented the state in Congress for 28 years and served as President Clinton's first treasury secretary, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 85....

Bentsen's distinguished political career took him from the humble beginnings of a county office in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1940s to six years in the U.S. House, 22 in the U.S. Senate and two in the Clinton Cabinet, where he was instrumental in directing the administration's economic policy.

A shrewd legislative operator, the silver-haired politician maneuvered with ease in Democratic and Republican circles alike on Capitol Hill, crafting deals behind the scenes in a dispassionate, reserved fashion.....

The scion of a wealthy Rio Grande Valley family, Bentsen first distinguished himself in World War II, where he flew 50 bomber missions over Europe. Returning home as a decorated veteran, the 25-year-old was elected Hidalgo County judge in 1946. Two years later, he moved to the House.

In his first House term, Bentsen was one of a handful of Southern congressmen voting against the poll tax, which was used to keep blacks from voting...

A better legislator and cabinet secretary than the political judgment of the American people deserves. He liked the old story about Marshall Lyautey--and said it was one of Jack Kennedy's favorite stories, too:

Marshall Lyautey, retired on his chateau, asked his gardener if the following morning he wouldstart planting a row of oak trees.

"But Mon Marechal," said the gardener, looking at the eighty-year old Lyautey. "The trees will take more than fifty years to grow."

"Oh," said the Marshal. "In that case, plant them today. We have no time to lose."