On March 20, 1964, Dirksen prepared the following letter to respond to constituents who wrote to him about the civil rights bill: The Civil Rights bill, if enacted in the form as it passed the House of Representatives, will have a tremendous impact upon the way of life of this country. It contains so many imperfections and ambiguities that I hope before we get through in the Senate we can rework this measure to keep it within due bounds and also make it conform to our constitutional concepts of the rights of all citizens and not merely a segment of our citizenship. I anticipate that many weeks will be devoted to this issue and that there is little likelihood that the Senate will impose cloture on itself in the face of this all important issue. Source: Filibuster Robo, March 20, 1964, Dirksen Papers, Chicago Office, f. 2149
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 13:26:17 +0000
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