In a mood of anger and fecklessness, the House last week took final action on the $1.6 billion bill to build 300,000 desperately needed schoolrooms in the next four years. At the heart of the trouble was 1) the deep split among Southern and Northern Democrats over the race issue, 2) the basic opposition of conservative Republicans to the principle of federal aid to schools. Result: a crushing defeat for the bill.
The Trigger. Trigger of defeat was the amendment by Manhattan Democrat Adam Clayton Powell Jr. to deny federal funds to school districts until they have...
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