"The country is tired of this bill, and the Senate is tired of this bill," said Republican Leader Everett Dirksen to a colleague as the civil rights debate dragged toward the end of its second month. "All the political juice has been squeezed out of it." In the Senate, that once formidable bastion of Southern filibuster and fury, Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and Minority Leader Dirksen had decided on a course of power and performance. Moving with sure control, they worked to get roadblocks out of the way of the substantial civil...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
