Everett M.

Dirksen
THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL 1

June 10, 1964

(In the Senate)

A LONG PROCESS The bill has provoked many long-distance tele-

phone calls, many of them late at night or in
Mr. President, it is a year ago this month that the small hours of the morning. There has been
the late President Kennedy sent his civil rights unrestrained criticism about motives. Thou-
bill and message to the Congress. For two years, sands of people have come to the Capitol to
we had been chiding him about failure to act in urge immediate action on an unchanged House
this field. At long last, and after many confer- bill.
ences, it became a reality. For myself, I have had but one purpose and
After nine days of hearings before the Senate that was the enactment of a good, workable,
Judiciary Co:D:unittee, it was referred tc;> a sub- equitable, practical bill having due regard for
committee. There it languished and the admin- the progress made in the civil rights field at the
istration leadership finally decided to await the state and local level.
House bill. I am no Johnnie-come-lately in this field.
In the House it traveled an equally tortuous Thirty years ago, in the House of Representa-
road. But at long last, it reached the House tives, I voted on antipoll tax and antilynching
floor for action. It was debated for · 64 hours; measures. Since then, I have sponsored or co-
155 amendments were offered; 34 were ap- sponsored scores of bills dealing with civil
proved. On February 10, 1964, it passed the rights. ·
House by a vote of 290 to 130. That was a 65- At the outset, I contended ~t the House bill
percent vote. was imperfect and deficient. That fact is now
It was messaged to the Senate on February 17 quite generally conceded. But the debate con-
and reached the Senate calendar on February tinued. The number of amendments submitted
26. The motion to take· up and consider was increased. They now number nearly four hun-
made on March 9. That motion was debated for dred. The stalemate continued. A backlog of
sixteen days and on March 26 by a vote of 67 work piled up. Committees could not function
to 17 it was adopted. normally. It was an unhappy situation and it
It is now 4 months since it passed the House. was becoming a bit intolerable.
It is 3¥2 months since it came to the Senate cal-
endar. Three months have gone by since the
THI! Nl!J!D POR. CLOTUlU! IN TIIJj SBNATE
motion to consider was made. We have acted
on one intervenin~ motion to send the bill back It became increasingly evident that to secure•
to the Judiciary Committee and a vote on the passage of a bill in the Senate would require
jury trial amendment.. That has been the extent cloture and a limitation on debate. Senate aver-
of our action. • sion to cloture is traditional. Only once in
Sharp opinions have developed. Incredible al- " thirty-five years has cloture .been voted. But the
legations have been made. Extreme views have procedure for Cloture is a standing rule of the
been asserted. The mail volume has been heavy. Senate. It grew out of a filibuster against the
1 U.S., Congress, Senate, Co!JgrtssiMul/ Rtmti, 88th Cong., 2cl sess., Armed Ship bill in 1917 and has been part of
pp. 1~319-20. the standing rules of the Senate for forty-seven

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years. To argue that cloture is unwarranted or engineers and architects, artists and actors, mu-
unjustified is to assert that in 1917, the Senate sicians and technicians. They have become
adopted a rule which it did not intend to use status minded. They have sensed inequality.
when circumstances required or that it was They are prepared to make the issue. They feel
placed in the rulebook only as to be repudiated. that the time has come for the idea of equal op-
It was adopted as an instrument for action portunity. To enact the pending measure by in-
when all other efforts failed. voking cloture is imperative.
Today the Senate is stalemated in its efforts
to enact a civil rights bill, one version of which
TIMil FOR CHANGE
has already been approved by the House by a
vote of more than 2 to 1. That the Senate Second. Years ago, a professor who thought
wishes to act on a civil rights bill can be di- he had developed an uncontrovertible scientific
vined from the fact that the motion to take up premise submitted it to his faculty associates.
was adopted by a vote of 67 to 17. Quickly they picked it apart. In agony he cried
out, "Is nothing eternal?" To this one of his as-
avn.
..
REAsoNS FOR CLOTURE ON RIGJITS
sociates replied, "Nothing is eternal except
There are many reasons why cloture should change."
be invoked and a good civil rights measure Since the act of 1875 on public accommoda-
enacted. tions and the Supreme Court decision of 1883
First. It is said that on the night he died, which struck it down, 2 America has changed.
Victor Hugo wrote in his diary, substantially The population then was 45 million. Today it is
this sentiment: 190 million. In the Pledge of Allegiance to the
Flag we intone, "One nation, under God." And
Stronger than all the armies· is an idea whose time has
come. so it is. It is an integrated nation. Air, rail, and
highway transportation make it so. A common
The time has come for equality of opportuni- language makes it so. A tax pattern which ap-
ty in sharing in government, in education, and plies equally to white and nonwhite makes it
in employment. It will not be stayed or denied. so. Uteracy makes it so. The mobility provided
It is here. by eighty million autos makes it so. The accom-
The problem began when the Constitution modations laws in thirty-four states and the
makers permitted the importation of persons to District of Columbia makes it so. The fair em-
continue for another twenty years. That prob- ployment practice laws in thirty states make it
lem was to generate the fury of civil strife sev- so. Yes, our land has changed since the Su-
enty-five years later. Out of it was to come the preme Court decision of 1883.
Thirteenth Amendment ending servitude, the As Uncoln once observed:
Fourteenth Amendment to provide equal pro- The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must
tection of the laws and dual citizenship, the Fif- rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must
teenth Amendment to prohibit government think anew and act anew. We must first disenthrall our-
&om abridging the right to vote. selves and then we shall save the Union.
Other factors had an impact. Two and three- To my friends from the South, I would re-
quarter million young Negroes served in World &esh you on the words of a great Georgian
Wars I, II, and Korea. Some won the Congres- ·named Henry W. Grady. 3 On December '22,
sional Medal of· Honor and the Distinguished 1886, he was asked to respond to a toast to the
Service Cross. Today they are fathers and new South at the New England society dinner.
grandfathers. They brought back impressions
&om countries where no discrimination existed..
These impressions have been transmitted to
children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, hun- • Qvil Rights Cases, 109 U.S. 3 (1883).
dreds of thousands of colored have become • Henry W. Grady (1~1889) was editor of the .,1.thmhl Gmsli/11-
teachers and professors, doctors and dentists, litm, 1879-1889.

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His words were dramatic and explosive. He that charge-1 can only say that our party
began his toast by saying: found its faith in the Declaration of Independ-
ence in which a great Democrat, Jefferson by
There was a South of slavery and secession-that South
is dead. There is a South of union and freedom-that South
name, wrote the flaming words:
thank God is living, breathing, growing every hour. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.
America grows. America changes. And on the
civil rights issue we must rise with the occa- That has been the living faith of our party.
sion. That calls for cloture and for the enact- Do we forsake this article of faith, now that
ment of a civil rights bill. equality's time has come or do we stand up for
it and insure the survival of our party and its
CAMPAIGN PROMISES
ultimate victory. There is no substitute for a
Third. There is another reason-our covenant basic and righteous idea. We have a duty-a
with the people. For many years, each political firm duty-to use the instruments at hand-
party has given major consideration to a civil namely, the cloture rule-to bring about the en-
rights plank in its platform. Go back and reex- actment of a good civil rights bill.
amine our pledges to the country as we sought
the suffrage of the people and for a grant of
A MORAL ISSUE WHOSE TIME HAS COME
authority to manage and direct their affairs.
Were these pledges so much campaign stuff or Fourth. There is another reason why we dare
did we mean it? Were these promises on civil not temporize with the issue which is before us.
rights but idle words for vote-getting purposes It is essentially moral in character. It must be
or were they a covenant meant to be kept? If all resolved. It will not go away. Its time has come.
this was mere pretense, let us confess the sin of Nor is it the first time in our history that an
hypocrisy now and vow not to delude the issue with moral connotations and implications
people again. has swept away the resistance, the fulmina-
To you, my Republican colleagues, let me re- tions, the legalistic speeches, the ardent but du-
fresh you on the words of a great American. bious arguments, the lamentations and the
His name is Herbert Hoover. 4 In his day he was thought patterns of an earlier generation and
reviled and maligned. He was castigated and ca- pushed forward to fruition.
lumniated. But today his views and his judg- More than sixty years ago came the first ef-
ment stand vindicated at the bar of history. In forts to secure federal pure food and drug legis-
1952 he received a volcanic welcome as he ap- lation. The speeches made on this floor against
peared before our natiorlal convention in Chica- this intrusion of federal power sound fantasti-
go. On that occasion he commented on the cally incredible today. But it would not be
Whig party, predecessor of the Republican stayed. Its time had come and since its enact-
party, and said: ment, it has been expanded and strengthened in
nearly every Congress.
The Whig party temporized, compromised upon the issue When the first efforts were made to ban the
of freedom for the Negro. That party disappeared. It de-
shipment of goods in interstate commerce made
served to disappear. Shall the Republican party receive or
deserve any better fate if it compromises upon the issue of with child labor, it was regarded as quite
freedom for all men?,. absurd. But all the trenchant editorials, the
bitter speeches, the noisy onslaughts were
To those who have charged me with doing ~ swept aside as this limitation on the shipment
disservice to my party because of my interest in of goods made with sweated child labor moved
the enactment of a good civil rights bill-and " on to fulfillment. Its time had come.
there have been a good many who have made More than eighty years ago came the first ef-
forts to establish a civil service and merit
4
Herbert C. Hoover (1874--1964) was president of the United system to cover federal employees. The propos-
States, 1929-1933. al was ridiculed and drenched with sarcasm.

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Some of the sharpest attacks on the prqposal moral force which operates in the domain of
were made on this very Senate floor. But the human affairs swept these efforts aside and
bullet fired by a disappointed office seeker in today they are accepted as parts of the social,
1880 5 which took President Garfield's 6 life economic and political fabric of America.
was the instrument of destiny which placed the Pending before us is another moral issue. Ba-
Pendleton Act on the federal statute books in sically it deals with equality of opportunity in
1883. It was an idea whose time had come. exercising the franchise, in securing an educa-
When the New York legislature placed a limit tion, in making a livelihood, in enjoying the
of ten hours per day and six days per week mantle of protection of the law. It has been a
upon the bakery workers in that State, this act long, hard furrow and each generation must
was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. plow its share. Progress was made in 1957 and
But in due time came the eight-hour day and 1960. But the furrow does not end there. It re-
the forty-hour week and how broadly accepted quires the implementation provided by the sub-
this concept is today. Its time had come. stitute measure which is before us. And to
More than sixty years ago, the elder La Fol- secure that implementation requires cloture.
lette thundered against the election of U.S. sen- Let me add one thought to these observa-
ators by the state legislatures. The cry was to tions. Today is an anniversary. It is in fact the
get back to the people and to first principles. one hundredth anniversary of the nomination
On this Senate floor, senators sneered at his ef- of Abraham Lincoln for a second term for the
forts and even left the chamber to show their presidency on the Republican ticket. Two docu-
contempt. But fifty years ago, the Constitution ments became the blueprints for his life and his
was amended to provide for the direct election conduct. The first was the Declaration of Inde-
of senators. Its time had come. pendence which proclaimed the doctrine that all
Ninety-five years ago came the first endeavor men are created equal. The second was the
to remove the limitation on sex in the exercise Constitution, the preamble to which began with
of the franchise. The comments made in those the words:
early days sound unbelievably ludicrous. But
on and on went the effort and became the We, the people ... do ordain and establish this Consti-
tution for the United States of America.
Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Its
time had come.
-When the eminent Joseph Choate 7 appeared These were the articles of his superb and un-
before the Supreme Court to assert that a feder- q~enchable faith. Nowhere and at no time did
al income tax statute was unconstitutional and he more nobly reaffirm that faith than at Get-
communistic, the CoUrt struck down the work tysburg 101 years ago when he spoke of "a new
of Congress. Just twenty years later in 1913 the nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to
power of Congress to lay and collect taxes on the proposition that all men are created equal."
incomes became the Sixteenth Amendment to It is to take us further down that road that a
the Constitution itself. '' bill is pending before us. We have a duty to get
These are but some of the things touching that job done. To do it will require cloture and
closely the affairs of the people which were met a limitation on debate as provided by a stand-
with stout resistance, with shrill and strident ing rule of the Senate which has been in being
cries of radicalism, with strained legalisms, with for nearly fifty years. I trust we shall not fail' in
anguished entr~aties that the foundations of the that duty.
Republic were being rocked. But an inexora!>le That, from a great Republican, thinking in
the frame of equality of opportunity-and that
is all that is involved in this bill .
• Actually July 2, 1881.
To those who have charged me with doing a
• James A. Garfield (1831-1881) was president of the United
States, March-September 1881. He died two months after being disservice to my party-and there have been
shot. many-I can only say that our party found its
7 Joseph H. Choate (1832-1917) was a lawyer and diplomat. faith in the Declaration of Independence, which

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was penned by a great Democrat, Thomas Jef- There is no substitute for a basic ideal. We
ferson by name. There he wrote the great have a firm duty to use the instrument at hand;
words: namely, the cloture rule, to bring about the en-
actment of a good civil rights bill.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are I appeal to all senators. We are confronted
created equal. with a moral issue. Today let us not be found
That has been the living faith of our party. wanting in whatever it takes by way of moral
Do we forsake this article of faith, now that the and spiritual substance to face up to the issue
time for our decision has come? and to vote cloture.

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