"Let me make it crystal clear," said House Republican Leader Joe Martin after a solemn conference with President Eisenhower, "there is no weakening in our position." Swami Martin was talking about the Administration's struggle for a strong civil rights bill, but his crystal ball was cloudy: the Republican position was, in fact, weakening second by second.
Question at issue: Should the House of Representatives accept the watered-down civil rights bill passed by the Senate? Joe Martin was all for shelving the bill in hopes of getting a better one in Election Year, 1958. But Martin and like-minded Republicans were fighting...
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