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The civil rights bill rolled toward final passage. But before the vote could be taken, Georgia's Herman Talmadge stood up to speak for the doublecrossed Southerners. To Herman Talmadge, who yields to no man as a segregationist. Thurmond's effort was a "grandstand of longwinded speeches" which could "in the long run wreak unspeakable havoc upon my people." When Talmadge finished, a dozen Senators—including some Southerners—rushed over to shake his hand. The U.S. Senate then got on with its business: it passed the watered-down civil rights bill, a half-loaf foreign aid appropriation, a compromise bill aimed at protecting the FBI files from random inspection (see box). Then the 85th Congress, First Session, adjourned. It was tired of itself and especially of Strom Thurmond.
* Morse had nothing but congratulations for the new recordholder. "I salute him," said Wayne. "It takes a lot out of a man to talk so long." But Morse still holds the Senate record for Spartan retention of the body's juices: he had no benefit of parliamentary pause.