Tells the story (in the participants' own words) of how a determined southern filibuster was turned back in the U.S. Senate and the 1964 Civil Rights Act made into law.
This book details, in a series of first-person accounts, how Hubert Humphrey and other dedicated civil rights supporters fashioned the famous cloture vote that turned back the determined southern filibuster in the U.S. Senate and got the monumental Civil Rights Act bill passed into law. Authors include Humphrey, who was the Democratic whip in the Senate at the time; Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., a top Washington civil rights lobbyist; and John G. Stewart, Humphrey's top legislative aide. These accounts are essential for understanding the full meaning and effect of America's civil rights movement.
"Loevy's volume supplements the academic studies with contemporaneous, first-person accounts by participants in this historic legislative struggle. Senator Humphrey and Joe Rauh were major participants, and although not as well known, Professor Stewart was an important behind-the-scenes staffperson. The material therefore constitutes an important supplement to the documentary record on the civil rights era..". -- Robert C. Smith, San Francisco State University
"Loevy does a wonderful, almost incredible job of summarizing 200 years of civil rights in the Introduction, and the selections in the book shed new light on the 1964 civil rights legislative struggle". -- James W. Riddlesperger, Jr., Texas Christian University