Editing Sam Rayburn (section)

=== Legacy ===
[[Image:Rayburn-Sam-LOC.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Sam Rayburn]]
In shaping legislation, Rayburn preferred working quietly in the background to being in the public spotlight. As Speaker, he won a reputation for fairness and integrity. In his years in Congress, Rayburn always insisted on paying his own expenses, even going so far as to pay for his own travel expenses when inspecting the [[Panama Canal]] when his committee was considering legislation concerning it, rather than exercising his right to have the government pay for it. After he died his estate was valued at just under $300,000, which was mostly land he owned, and the amount of cash he had in various checking accounts was just over $26,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rayburnmrspeaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Inventory-Appraisement-of-Sam-Rayburn-Estate.pdf|title=Inventory & Appraisement of the Estate of Sam Rayburn, Fannin County Clerk's Office|access-date=August 20, 2014|archive-date=August 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821072104/http://www.rayburnmrspeaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Inventory-Appraisement-of-Sam-Rayburn-Estate.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Rayburn was well known among his colleagues for his after business hours "Board of Education" meetings in hideaway offices in the House. During these off-the-record sessions, the speaker and powerful committee chairmen would gather for poker, bourbon, and a frank discussion of politics. Rayburn alone determined who received an invitation to these gatherings; to be invited to even one was a high honor. On April 12, 1945, Vice President [[Harry Truman]], a regular attendee since his Senate days, had just arrived at the "Board of Education" when he received a phone call telling him to immediately come to the [[White House]], where he learned that [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] was dead and he was now President of the United States.

Rayburn coined the term "[[Sun Belt]]" while strongly supporting the construction of [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]]. It originally ran south from [[Chicago]], through [[Oklahoma]], and then turned westward from Texas to [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]] before ending at the beach in [[Santa Monica, California]]. Arguing in favor of the project, he stated famously that America absolutely must connect "the Frost Belt with the Sun Belt".

Rayburn also had a knack for dressing to suit his occasion. While in [[Washington, D.C.]], he would sport expensive suits, starched shirts, and perfectly shined shoes. However, while back in his poorer district in Texas, Rayburn would wear simple shirts, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. Several politicians have imitated this pattern, including [[Ronald Reagan]]'s example of clearing brush when at home in California, while wearing fine suits in Washington.

The phrase "A jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one" is attributed to Rayburn.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=January 12, 1953 |title=The Prelude of the 83rd |magazine=[[TIME]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817667-2,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=May 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930084514/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817667-2,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Kennedy Giving Historic Speech to Congress - GPN-2000-001658.jpg|thumb|right|Speaker Rayburn is seated at right behind President [[John F. Kennedy]] in this May 25, 1961, photograph showing Kennedy announcing the [[Apollo program]].]]

His home in Texas, now known as the [[Sam Rayburn House Museum]], was designated a U.S. [[National Historic Landmark]]. In 1957, Rayburn dedicated the [[Sam Rayburn Library and Museum]] in [[Bonham, Texas|Bonham]] in the style of a [[Presidential library system|presidential library]] to preserve his memory, library collection, honors, and mementos.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://av.cah.utexas.edu/index.php/Rayburn:Dv_00147|title=Rayburn:Dv 00147 - GLIFOS|website=av.cah.utexas.edu|access-date=January 6, 2019|archive-date=May 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529053743/http://av.cah.utexas.edu/index.php/Rayburn:Dv_00147|url-status=dead}}</ref>