Harry Byrd was absent. So were Senators Dick Russell and Herman Talmadge, Russell Long and Allen Ellen-der, John Stennis and Jim Eastland, John Sparkman and Lister Hill. A full third of the South's Democratic Governors also stayed away from Atlantic City.
Most of the missing had explanations, including family illness, "previous commitments" and "pressing business." Some of the excuses were valid. But the fact remained that virtually none of the South's senior Democratic politicians were on hand. And for the first time within recent memory, the South played no role of any...
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