From TIME's Archives: Washington D.C. Watches Selma

Into the House of Representatives moved the stately procession of legislators, Government officials, honored guests. The President of the Senate, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, presiding over his first joint session, sat pink-cheeked and solemn in his chair. Speaker John McCormack, seated next to Humphrey, gazed sternly into space.

There was the familiar cry from Doorkeeper William ("Fishbait") Miller: "Mistah Speak-ah! The President of the United States!" There was the rush of applause, the flutter of outstretched arms in the aisle as Lyndon Johnson wove his way toward the rostrum, the predictable burst of foolishness...

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