Amid the bulletins that torrented forth, the most astonishing was that Democrat Lister Hill, veteran of 25 years in the U.S. Senate, was running behind his Republican opponent, a political novice named James D. Martin. And, of all places, in Alabamawhere no Republican had come within miles of winning major office since Reconstruction.
As the late returns trickled in, Hill edged ahead. But he still ended up with less than 51% of the votes. His narrow escape obviously reflected Alabama anger at the Kennedy Administration's recent armed intervention in neighboring Mississippi. But it was...
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