such as clarence mitchell referred to in his family. i felt almost as good in my own election, not quite as good, when barbara and yvonne were elected this year, because i thought that we were moving knowing of i enjoyed those elections about as much as i did of my own. but we must not allow the visibility of a few to diminish the efforts to satisfy what is our real responsibility to the arel-unseen millions who faced with that basic problem of being black in a white society. to our objective must be assure that all americans played by the same rules and all americans play against the same odds. who among us would claim that that is true today? i feel this is the first work of any society which aspires to greatness, so let's be on with it. injustice.re is we know there is intolerance. we know there is discrimination and hate and suspicion. and we know there is division among us. but there is a larger truth. we have proved that great progress is possible. we know how much still remains to be done. and if our efforts continue, and if our

he was very close to clarence mitchell. he had a good regard on civil rights. in 1960 when john kennedy famously called, nixon didn't do it because he thought it would look like a grandstand play and he didn't want to be accused of exploiting it. there's a scene of witnessing jackie robinson leave 96on's hotel suite in tears having to try to persuade him, no, it's the right thing to do. of course kennedy did the poll thing and got the credit for it. it might have made the difference in place like illinois because it flew under the radar of the white press t. was seen as a huge gesture in the black community so much so that because of kennedy's call he would vote for him. john kennedy understood about fathers. a different kind of question. i'm so glad that one of our audience members wanted to ask you to tell us about richard russell and his role and what was his -- and also about his relationship with president johnson. >> well, richard russell was from georgia. his father had been a justice and chief justice of the supreme court. he had been a governor. he had

but there were a lot of african- americans, civil rights activists, clarence mitchell among them, who in the gallery watching. >> all the time. all the time. there were five black members of congress, but we forget people like clarence mitchell, who was the chief n.a.a.c.p. lobbyist in washington. he was such a constant presence in the corridors of this building and the capitol that he was known as the 101st senator. and he was there day and night; in fact, he and his colleague joe rauh who was with the leadership conference on civil rights, when the bill was about ready to pass the house, they were in the gallery and they got a frantic call from the white house operator that the president's trying to find them, wanting to know what they're going to do about the senate. before it's even passed the house. >> ifill: before it even passed the house. it's interesting because when you look back on it now, there were all these pressures coming from all these different angles, but in the end was it a legislative victory, was it a moral victory, what was really driving people to what we, to t

he was very close to clarence mitchell. he had a good regard on civil rights. in 1960 when john kennedy famously called, nixon didn't do it because he thought it would look like a grandstand play and he didn't want to be accused of exploiting it. there's a scene of witnessing jackie robinson leave 96on's hotel suite in tears having to try to persuade him, no, it's the right thing to do. of course kennedy did the poll thing and got the credit for it. it might have made the difference in place like illinois because it flew under the radar of the white press t. was seen as a huge gesture in the black community so much so that because of kennedy's call he would vote for him. john kennedy understood about fathers. a different kind of question. i'm so glad that one of our audience members wanted to ask you to tell us about richard russell and his role and what was his -- and also about his relationship with president johnson. >> well, richard russell was from georgia. his father had been a justice and chief justice of the supreme court. he had been a governor. he had

one is clarence mitchell, the head of the washington bureau of na a.c.t., the head lobbyist.and the he was someone known as the 101st senator. he was legendry, someone who could get the wheels moving in congress, for an issue like civil rights. he could, for his action, and the fact that anyone saw anything on civil acts in 1967 and 1960, with this bim, is due to his pressure. the other one is bill mcculloch. and it represents all the republicans who came out in favour of this bill, despite being wary of the federal government and big spending. he was a small up to ohio representative. he was adamant about civil right. he was not what you would expect from someone coming from there. he was absolutely vital in getting other people like him, other mid-western republicans to back the bill. >> we have a programming note. at the top of the ours, our original series, "the system", a look at the power of the prosecutor and what happens when the da gets it wrong, tonight at nine on al jazeera. coming up, saving the everglades. what is threatening the national park in the multibillion

one is clarence mitchell, the head of the washington bureau of the nwacp and the head lobbyist for therganization, he was legendary as someone who could get the wheels moving for an issue like civil rights that whereas not the thing that anyone wanted to talk about. the fact that impinge happened on civil rights in 1957 and 1960 and with this bill is, and to a large extent. due to his pressure. the other is bill mcculloch, and he represents all the republicans that came out in favour of the bill, despite being wary of the federal government and spending. he was a small down ohio ventive. he was adamant about civil rites. he was not what you would expect. but he was absolutely vital in getting other people, midwestern republicans to back the bill. >> churches are sometimes overlooked in the power and influence that they had. >> right. we know a lot about the black churches that got behind dr king. churches were energized by this, partly because they saw what was going on in the south and they understood this as a moral issue. and, you know, a lot of synagogues and catholic groups were b

except for reporters, no one could take notes on paper in the house gallery so the forces led by clarence mitchell and others devised a system of gallery watchers, the segregationists called them vultures, but they had to sit there and keep notes in their head who was voting how, what amendment, and in the precell phone era, had to round up family members to make sure enough were on the floor at any one time to defeat hostile legislative mischief, s test test textiles who is still alive fighting all the fights, would sit in a telephone tree and they heard something was happening on the floor, they would physically go run office to office, going come on, and after three days of this, they said, you don't have to come, i'm coming. she felt guilty when it was over, she stayed up baking sugar cookies with chocolate frosting and equal signs. >> is it accurate to say this was maybe one of the first modern lobbying efforts? >> i think in that way it was a very much one of the first grassroots lobbying efforts and crucial part i did not talk about yet is the ground swell of religious interfaith support fo