PERSONAL GLIMPSES II
From Reader's Digest 
April, 1982

Former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn served with eight successive Presidents. Lobbyist could not buy him so much as a meal. Spurning the conventional Congressional junket, Rayburn would, during his 48 years in Congress, take exactly one overseas trip - to inspect the Panama Canal, which he thought necessary because his committee was considering Canal legislation - and on that trip he insisted on paying his own way.

He refused not only fees, but also travel expenses for out-of-town speeches; hosts who tried to press checks upon him quickly realized they had made a mistake. Rayburn would say, "I'm not for sale," and walk away.

His integrity was certified by his bankbooks. At his death at age 79, after decades as one of the most powerful men in the United States, a man courted by railroad and oil companies, his savings totaled $15,000.