Informed observers of the Senate may view the 1945–80 period as the doldrums of Senate party history, a period of stasis, the unchanging “textbook Congress” (Shepsle 1989). The study of Congress in these years has long emphasized the role of weak parties and a decentralized policymaking process dominated by committees and their chairmen. However, as we discover in Chapter 8, the parties under Robert Taft (R, Ohio) and Lyndon Johnson (D, Tex.) were dynamic, establishing organizational foundations that shaped future developments and patterns of leadership behavior. We emphasize four developments, none of which have been emphasized in other accounts: evolving new venues for collective decision-making, expanding staff resources, adopting new committee assignment practices, and establishing more consequential campaign committees. These developments were responses to the parties’ electoral challenges, factional problems, and personal interests of key leaders.