Download The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act AudioBook Free
The Civil Privileges Action of 1964 was the single most important little bit of legislation transferred by Congress in American history. It gave the federal government sweeping powers to hit down segregation, to enforce good hiring practices, also to rectify bias in police and in the courts. The Action so dramatically changed American population that, looking back, "it seems preordained", as Everett Dirksen, the GOP leader in the Senate and a key supporter of the invoice, said, "no drive is more powerful than a concept whose time has come." But there was nothing predestined about the success: a phalanx of powerful senators, pledging to "fight to the loss of life" for segregation, launched the longest filibuster in American history to defeat it. The quest of the Civil Privileges Act was nothing significantly less than a moral and political epic, a sweeping tale of undaunted activism, political courage, traditional speeches, backroom deal-making, and lastly, hand-to-hand legislative fight. The larger-than-life cast of characters amounts from Senate lions like Hubert Humphrey and Strom Thurmond to NAACP lobbyist Charles Mitchell, called the "101st senator" for his Capitol Hill clout, and industrialist J. Irwin Miller, who helped mobilize a robust spiritual coalition for the invoice. Looming total was the shape of Lyndon Johnson, who deployed all his famous skills to steer the controversial function through Congress. This critical turning point in American history has never been thoroughly explored in a full-length narrative. Now, New York Times editor and acclaimed creator Clay Risen delivers the full report, in every its complexness and drama.
