REP. JAMES CORMAN (D-CA) I, for one, am fed up with amendments that subtly or blatantly defeat the purpose of this Bill.
REP. KATHARINE ST. GEORGE Thank you!
REP. JAMES CORMAN (D-CA) To my esteemed colleague, Representative Smith, if you are going to trim the stinky, sweaty white corns, you must do the same with the black ones!
All turn to look at the Tally Board which changes to read: 149 AGAINST—107 FOR.
SPEAKER JOHN MCCORMACK The Amendment is defeated!
Smith refuses to give up.
REP. JUDGE SMITH Very well. I would like to introduce a new amendment forbiddin’ discrimination based on Sex.
REP. EMANUEL CELLER (shouting) Gender has nothing to do with discrimination! There are basic differences between Men and Women.
REP. JUDGE SMITH Yes, I’m happily aware of the differences. I simply feel that while we’re doin’ “Good” here, that White, Christian, Anglo-Saxon women not be the only group left unprotected.
REP. EMANUEL CELLER In my memory, Sex has never been an issue in the civil rights bill!
REP. KATHARINE ST. GEORGE (R-NY) It is possible, given the age of the Chairman, that sex itself may be no more than a distant memory.(Everyone laughs) I, for one, support this amendment forbidding discrimination based on Gender and I encourage my colleagues to do so!
All turn to look at the Tally Board which changes to read: 168 FOR—133 AGAINST.
SPEAKER JOHN MCCORMACK The Amendment passes! With no more amendments to be offered, the Speaker calls for a final vote on House Bill 736.
Everyone turns to look at the Tally Board. 290 FOR—130 AGAINST.
SPEAKER MCCORMACK THE BILL PASSES AND WILL NOW GO TO THE SENATE!
Applause. Stage empties except for the Southern caucus members who angrily surround Senator Russell as he gets his shoes shined.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND “Trust LBJ! He’s one of us!”
SENATOR RUSSELL He cut Voting Rights, didn’t he?
SENATOR STROM THURMOND But he didn’t kill the Bill.
SENATOR RUSSELL One step at a time.
REP. JUDGE SMITH He threatened me with my goddamn Committee Chairmanship! Did you know he was gonna do that?
SENATOR RUSSELL (surprised) Lyndon can—over-react at times. That’s no excuse, mind you, but let’s be honest, is this the first time a civil rights bill has made it through the House? Don’t worry, the President will be there when we need him.
SENATOR STROM THURMOND All I know is, the Republican nominee’s views on this Bill are a whole lot closer to my position than the Democratic nominee.
REP. JUDGE SMITH Presumptive Democratic nominee.
SENATOR RUSSELL Now that’s just foolishness talkin’.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND Wallace took a third of the vote in both Wisconsin and Indiana, and he’s runnin’ strong in Maryland.
SENATOR RUSSELL That’s like a tick on the hind end of a mule thinkin’ he’s in charge. Lyndon Johnson is gonna be the Democratic candidate come Atlantic City! And don’t talk to me, Strom, about Barry Goldwater. That man is no friend of the South.
SENATOR STROM THURMOND The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
SENATOR RUSSELL The Republican Party is never gonna be a friend to the South! Goldwater’s opposed to Social Security and Farm Supports. You think your people are gonna like that? Alright, so the Bill goes to the Senate. So what? As long as we stick together, we’ll be fine. First they gotta get the Bill outta Jim’s Committee. (to Eastland) How many civil rights bills you buried in the last ten years?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND One hundred and twenty-one.
SENATOR RUSSELL Has that “graveyard” of yours got room for one more?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND I’m diggin’ a hole as we speak.
SENATOR RUSSELL Alright then.
Russell rises and pays the SHOE SHINE MAN throughout the following.
SENATOR STROM THURMOND But what if Lyndon gets it outta Committee and onto the Senate floor? What then?
SENATOR RUSSELL Then we’ll filibuster it, Strom, like we’ve done a thousand times before. It won’t take much. Not with a National Election coming up and everybody needing to get back home to his campaign. And I think public opinion is already turning against this Bill, particularly in the North with these riots!
LIGHTS DOWN on Southern caucus. LIGHTS UP on Wallace and Lurleen in Maryland being pursued by REPORTERS. A Camera projects his image on the TB. Sounds of a riot in the background.
REPORTERS Governor!/Governor Wallace!/Over here, Governor!
REPORTER #1 Governor, some people blame your appearance here in Maryland for these race riots. How do you respond to those charges?
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE I don’t accept them at all. Lurleen and I are just sick about what’s happened here ’cause we don’t have any of this kinda business in Alabama. If somebody were to try and start a riot down there, the first one to pick up a brick would get a bullet in the brain. You shoot a few of these fellas and you got that mess stopped cold. Now President Johnson prob’ly wouldn’t advocate that. ’Course I don’t see him around here, do you? He’s the one stirred up this pot with this so-called “civil rights” bill but left the rest of us to clean up his mess.
REPORTER #2 How would you do that, Governor? “Clean up his mess?”
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Just plain common sense. Listen to the People. The American people are fed up with this continuin’ trend toward a socialist state which subjects the individual to the dictates of an all-powerful central government! I am runnin’ for President because I was born free. I want to remain free. And I want your children and mine to stay free!
LIGHTS fade down on Wallace and up on LBJ/Humphrey/Walter in Oval Office watching Wallace on TV.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Wallace’s support with Whites in the Eastern part of Maryland is running ninety percent. If he wins that primary, Senators who’ve been in favor of the Bill are going to vote against it.
LBJ Wallace would be dead in the water without these damn riots. Christ’s sake, King was supposed to control his people!
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I don’t think he can. I did warn you that cutting Voting Rights was going to be unpopular.
LBJ Don’t you dare lecture me.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I’m just saying . . .
LBJ . . . we wouldn’t even have a goddamn Bill if I hadn’t cut it! Put my entire political career at risk for the nigras and this is the thanks I get?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY There’s a whole new generation of young people out there who don’t listen to anybody, including Dr. King.
A BARBER enters and begins trimming LBJ’s hair throughout the following.
LBJ Well, somebody sure as hell needs to crack some heads and get those folks in line.
WALTER JENKINS Put more money into the Maryland primary?
LBJ (nodding) And beef up my schedule there. (to Humphrey) What’s your plan to get our Bill out of Jim Eastland’s Judiciary Committee?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Discharge Petition.
LBJ You don’t have the votes.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I think we might be close.
LBJ “Close” don’t mean shit. You don’t have the goddamn votes.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I don’t know then; what’s your idea?
LBJ I don’t know but I’ll think of something. OK, let’s say we find a way to clear the Committee. What does Russell do then?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY (on safer ground) He’ll filibuster the Bill.
LBJ How do you defeat the filibuster?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY We need to cross the aisle and pick up at least twenty-five Republican votes in order to get a two-thirds majority and force Cloture.
LBJ How?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Go
right at the Republicans. You’re either for civil rights or you’re not. You’re either the party of Lincoln or you’re not. And if you’re not, get over there with racists like Jim Eastland and Judge Smith.
LBJ (laughing) Jesus Christ, no, Hubert. They got to join us willingly. We got to make this an American bill; not just a Democrat bill. And you don’t need twenty-five Republican votes. You need ONE Republican vote.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Senator Dirksen.
LBJ Right. You get the Senate Minority Leader on board and the troops will follow. How?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY (hesitantly) Dirksen has already announced his opposition to the two most important provisions: Public Accommodation and Employment Discrimination. Surely, we have to challenge him.
LBJ Now, that’s just foolishness. You don’t want to get his back up. Let me tell you about Senator Everett Dirksen. That man is in love with himself; in love with his voice. Did you know that every day he gargles with warm water and Pond’s beauty cream? I shit you not. Now, a man like that wants one thing—he wants to be a “Great Man.” And you’re gonna give him every opportunity to do just that. Every chance you get, you praise Dirksen, you thank Dirksen. You’re gonna kiss his ass so much, he won’t be able to sit down. He wants the spotlight? Give it to him. Six months from now, all anybody will remember is that the Democratic Party passed a historic civil rights bill.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY So . . . how do we get the Bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee?
LBJ I can’t roll Jim Eastland like I done Judge Smith, I’ll tell you that. Dick Russell is gonna have all his dogs on a short leash now.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY There’s nobody stronger on Constitutional law than Russell.
LBJ That’s got nothin’ to do with it. This battle’s gonna be fought where it’s always been fought, on the Rules of the Senate and Dick Russell’s been studyin’ them since he was suckin’ on his momma’s titty. I’ve seen him make a fool of you Liberals with some arcane Rule of Order more times than I can remember. There was that . . .
LBJ suddenly rises with excitement; whips the barber’s towel off his neck.
Hold on. Hold on now. Shit. There is a way we can completely bypass Eastland’s Committee without either a Discharge Petition OR a Procedural Vote. Nobody’s ever done it this way but it just might work.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY How do you do that?
LBJ With the rules of the Senate. You appear to be giving in and waive a second reading of the Bill on the floor.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY (confused) That automatically sends the Bill back to Committee.
LBJ Ordinarily it would but what if, instead, you suddenly have the Senate Majority Leader reverse course and call for a straight up or down vote to put the Bill on the Senate calendar? Russell won’t be expecting that.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY (putting it together) Because there’s no precedent.
LBJ No precedent. And in the absence of any established precedent, a Bill automatically bypasses Committee and . . .
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY . . . goes straight to the Senate! That’s brilliant.
LBJ shrugs; moody again.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY You don’t seem very happy about it.
LBJ These things always come with a cost.
LIGHTS SHIFT. The White House. Russell, LBJ, and Lady Bird share an informal dinner. The men are polite but very tense.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON Would you like some more gravy, Uncle Dick?
SENATOR RUSSELL It was delicious, Lady Bird, but no, I couldn’t possibly.
LBJ What about me, aren’t you going to offer me any more gravy?
LADY BIRD JOHNSON (cautiously) Well, honey, I’d like to but I can’t.
LBJ (to Russell) Bird has me on a diet. Got Zephyr in there in the kitchen weighing my plate ’fore every meal. Ridiculous! Pork chops are just an excuse for gravy. Without gravy, I don’t see the point, do you? Might as well eat cardboard.
SENATOR RUSSELL Your wife just doesn’t want to see you get too big for your britches, an entirely understandable concern.
Silence. Lady Bird rises nervously.
LADY BIRD JOHNSON I think I’ll go see how Zephyr’s coming with that cobbler.
As soon as Lady Bird is gone, both men drop any pretense of politeness.
SENATOR RUSSELL Pretty slick what you did with Jim’s committee, getting that Bill out.
LBJ Everything I know, you taught me, Dick.
SENATOR RUSSELL I also taught you somethin’ about Party loyalty.
LBJ The Party is changin’ and we got to change with it. This younger generation’s not gonna fall on their swords for segregation; they want to get re-elected. If you think they’ll stick with you to the end, you’ll be disappointed.
SENATOR RUSSELL If you think all Southerners are suddenly gonna start dancin’ to your tune, you’re the one who’s gonna be disappointed. Wallace almost won Maryland.
LBJ But he didn’t.
SENATOR RUSSELL But he almost did. Times are changin’ but maybe not the way you think.
LBJ It doesn’t have to be this way, Dick.
SENATOR RUSSELL You’re thinking you can cut a deal with Dirksen, aren’t you?
LBJ You filibuster the Senate, what choice do you leave me? Allow the Bill to come to a vote.
SENATOR RUSSELL A Democratic President ignorin’ his own party and makin’ a deal with Senate Republicans.
LBJ Now, don’t get all high and mighty with me! You and those conservative Republicans been cuttin’ deals for years. That’s how you’ve de-nutted every civil rights bill that’s come down the pike, but now I can’t cross the aisle? We don’t have to fight, Dick.
SENATOR RUSSELL Some people will eventually yield to overwhelmin’ force and quit fightin’. I won’t.
LBJ (softly) I’m coming for you, Dick. I love you more’n my own daddy but if you get in my way, I’ll crush you.
LIGHTS SHIFT as Russell moves into a SPOT addressing Reporters. LBJ watches.
SENATOR RUSSELL I regret that the President has embraced the radical program of the left-wing groups that is erroneously called the “civil rights bill.” It is still a vicious assault on the Constitution and we in the Senate intend to fight this bill with our boots on to the last ditch. Beginning today, we will filibuster this Bill! Let the real war begin!
Russell exits. SPOT brightens on LBJ.
LBJ (to the Audience) “Defending the Constitution.” Let me tell you what we’re really talkin’ ’bout here. My first year outta college the only job I could get was teachin’ first grade in a beat up old elementary school in Cotulla, Texas, a dusty border town in the middle of nowhere, full of wetback Mexicans who didn’t have a pot to piss in. But God, did I love those kids of mine. They would show up every mornin’, dirty, ragged, and hungry ’cause most of ’em hadn’t had breakfast but they were so on fire to learn it just made you feel good. But for each one of them, there would come a day when I would see the light in their eyes die because they had discovered that the world hated ’em just because of the color of their skin. All my life as a Southerner I’ve had to bite my tongue on this issue ’till my mouth was fulla blood. Not anymore. What’s the point of bein’ President if you can’t do what you know is right? This ain’t about the Constitution. This is about those who got more, wantin’ to hang on to what they got, at the expense of those who got nothin’. And feel good about it. Uncle Dick can talk about his Rights ’till he’s blue in the face but all I see are the faces of those little kids in Cotulla. He’s right about one thing though; the war has just begun.
LIGHTS UP on MLK/Abernathy in hotel. Jenkins joins LBJ in Oval Office and hands him a newspaper.
MLK The press accuses me of lying to Congress about my “associations” AND having an unnamed advisor who is . . .
MLK
/LBJ (reading from paper) “Known to be a senior figure in the covert apparatus of the Communist Party!”
MLK They’re goin’ after Stanley.
LBJ (furious) This has got Hoover’s fingerprints all over it.
RALPH ABERNATHY It’s garbage, Martin.
WALTER JENKINS It’s garbage, Mr. President.
MLK It’s not garbage when it’s printed in the Washington Post!
LBJ It may be garbage but it could derail the whole damn Bill. The Southern caucus is gonna be all over this like stink on shit. “Civil rights and Communists!” Hell, if the Mississippi river flooded tomorrow, Jim Eastland would declare it was the work of niggers and Reds.
RALPH ABERNATHY Ignore it.
WALTER JENKINS Maybe you should just ignore it.
MLK This is Hoover!
LBJ This is Hoover!
LBJ I wish to God I understood why Jay has such a stick up his ass for that man!
MLK Why is he persecuting me?
RALPH ABERNATHY Don’t respond. Don’t bring it any more attention than it deserves.
LIGHTS down on Abernathy/MLK.
LBJ This is just what Russell needs to fuel his filibuster and it’ll make Dirksen that much more skittish about breaking ranks. Tell Jay I need to see him right away.
LIGHTS shift. Hoover enters.
J. EDGAR HOOVER Mr. President?
LBJ makes him wait then . . .
LBJ What do you think of this civil rights bill of mine?
J. EDGAR HOOVER (cautiously) I think—it’s historic.
LBJ You favor integration?
J. EDGAR HOOVER I am proud to say I integrated the FBI several years ago.
LBJ You did?
J. EDGAR HOOVER Yes sir, we have two Negro agents. They drive my car.
LBJ Uh-huh. Well, I’m glad to hear of your enthusiasm for this Bill because it’s important to me, you understand. Important. To me. And anythin’ that gets in the way is not helpful. Like this column in the paper. Where do you suppose that came from?
All the Way Page 6