And it looks like tech is doing the same again today, 75 years after LBJ.

Fascinating how history rhymes ...

(4/4, fin)

Take the profits from a new industry; convert it into power; use that power to guide government. Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford and Jay Gould did exactly the same thing 75 years before Johnson, except in their case it was railroads. (3/4)

This helped him break the grip of incumbent power elites (financiers, utilites and railroads, mostly HQed in the northeast). In return for their contributions, the oilmen received business-friendly policies and large government contracts, especially during WWII. (2/4)