Mississippi's arch-rhetorical Senator Theodore ("The Man") Bilbo, whose shortest speech is a reasonable facsimile of a filibuster, got to work in earnest. His desk was piled deep with reference books (including one on Japan) ; he was prepared to "talk until Christmas."
Chunky Senator Bilbo and the Southern bloc, who did not have enough Senate votes to beat the bill outlawing poll taxes, intended to talk it to death instead. Senators yawned, read newspapers, shuffled papers, wandered off the floor.
Next day, to save their voices, the Southern Senators changed their tactics: they stayed...
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