EVERETT DIRKSEN
(Everett McKinley Dirksen)
There were anti-Vietnam war protests going on throughout the country that year. In many of them, especially at universities, protesters took over buildings, and shut down operations. Most Republicans and many Democrats wanted the protests to end, mostly because they feared the spread of the anti-Vietnam war sentiment would catch on and become a position held by most Americans (which it did just as they feared,) They were restrained in what they could do legally by the 1st Amendment. However, there was much breaking of minor laws in many of the demonstrations and that was the focus of the effort to suppress the demonstrations. But in the tradition of civil disobedience, it was the lawbreaking that tended to get the press attention and coverage, so the leaders of the anti-war movement advocated even more lawbreaking, hence Dirksen’s statement to the convention.
Comment to Senator Howard Baker who had just finished giving a very long maiden speech to the Senate.
This quotation is attributed to the Senator by hundreds of sources, many very relaiable. This indicates to us that it was a line he used on several occasions. However the Dirksen Center staff has not been able to find the quotation amongst his writings and his radio and television appearances that they have transcripts for.
The comment was prompted by FDR’s attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court.
The Congress was debating President Johnson’s Voting Rights Bill. Southern Democrats and Conservative Republicans were opposed to legislation that would prevent states from discriminating against Black and other minority voters. Johnson needed the support of minority leader Dirksen and the moderate Republicans. Dirksen was at the White House discussing the strategy for the passage of the bill. This quotation illustrates the “partisanship of the day” where opponents were quite friendly even when they were “denouncing” each other, The venom and personal disrespect and hatred of the beginning of the 21st century was absent in the 1960s even though the most radical and controversial legislation was being debated. The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Non Discrimination in Housing and Medicare were all passed that year with filibusters and cloture votes. Yet there was always comity.
Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, his flamboyant speeches caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".
