in discussions with gerald ford or everett dirksen, it was a different republican party than it is today. >> that is true. you had more liberals from the javits,t, like jacob who were pretty liberal on social policy. compared to most republicans and there were more republicans in the center. they were still very conservative at the time. they did not agree with johnson on a lot of stuff. tapesn hear white house where he is railing against the republican party for being a do-nothing party and not agreeing to anything, but there were moments with william mcculloch and everett dirksen where they were willing to make deals, which today does not seem possible. mucharty leadership as a better hold on the whole gop apparatus. >> and conversely the democratic party is different today. >> absolutely. the democratic party is very divided. very little agreement with the seven democrats. that was his main concern. it was not getting republicans over. it was trying to outflank the southern democrats who opposed most of his agenda. >> resident johnson came out with a memoir called "the vanishing point

everett dirksen was right. its time had come. what have we learned from our study of the senate and the civil rights act? humphrey and others who worked so hard to get the civil rights bill passed did not fear a lengthy debate. in fact, they welcomed it. they believed only through a lengthy, thorough, and diligent debate could this produce a successful and passable bill. opponents welcomed it, too. in the wake of final passage, richard russell who skillfully led the southern caucus praised the bipartisan leadership team for allowing such a full debate. by allowing the opposition to have its full say, russell commented, they ultimately made the bill acceptable and enforceable in the south. in many ways, this was not senate action to regular order. mansfield and his colleagues steer the bill away from the judiciary committee which had been the graveyard for civil rights. this deft maneuver of weighted committee action, but it did nothing to curtail amendments. from march to june, the senate considered hundreds of amendments on the

i thought that finally that the -- the real problem -- my real problem was to stay sober when everett dirksenhter ] because you'd get a buzz on when you wrote your story. but dirksen's had his own littl with, i think, senator norris cotton of new hampshire and others and was very jealous of dirksen who had a big ego, and getting those people to come along was a great feat, but, really, the guy who did it was hubert haus hubert would go on "meet the press" and "face the nation" saying it was dirksen's bill, and that's what he wanted to hear. >> he had this nasal iowa accent, chairman of the republican policy committee, and wasn't a very good spokesman on television, and he resented dirksen becoming the spokesman about everything and anything. i remember the first time i met him, he said, mudd, mudd, i don't know what's worse. i mean, he was trying to be funny. he was. don asked us about the difficulty of covering -- if i may answer the question, for television, it was doubly difficult because, as you know, cameras were not allowed in the chamber. the rules in this press gallery allowed you to

mike mansfield and his floor manager hubert humphrey crossed party lines with republican leader everett dirkseneal this bill. and house of representatives, democrat emmanuel seller and republican charles hall lech proved that equality need not be a partisan issue. they rallied their parties to support the civil rights act. and the legislation has support for the white house. it was first championed by john kennedy and pushed across the finish line by president lyndon johnson. linda, i think it would be appropriate for you to stand and be recognized as lyndon johnson's daughter. [ applause ] so we all thank those named and unnamed to helped craft and pass the civil rights act. it was difficult, as i said before, it was a team effort. they refused to let inequality continue to n our great nation. but the battle against racism in america wasn't only waged here in washington, d.c. the battle for civil rights was fought on bus rides through south carolina, mississippi, and even on the edmund pettus bridge in selma, alabama. one of those who fought for equality we've already heard from -- congressman

anybody in the republican party in either house that stands up to that -- that stands up to the everett dirksen level or howard baker level. >> are you texting? >> no, the reason this is relevant to the conversation, we're talking about president obama being disengaged. we've talked about that before. at 2:57 this afternoon, we get this news breaking on our blackberries that said marie harp from the state department said they have confirmation, they believe, the state department believes that russians were firing at -- into ukraine territory. not russian separatists, actual russian military is firing. we've been going back and forth. yes, russians themselves are firing. now 2:57, two and a half hours since then, has president obama or anyone come out denouncing the russian government for firing into ukraine territory? no. hold on. but he did talk about his basketball -- he said 80% of his free throws give or take a few, his arm is tired. but nothing denouncing putin. >> isn't this silly to talk about his -- >> i think -- here's what i think, bob. i think this news that came out at 3:00 today --

classic example, you know, lyndon johnson and everett dirksen, fellow leaders of congress in the 1950s, disagreed about just about everything but they could get business done because l.b.j. and he could at least understand why an intelligent, moral human being could have the views each of them did. >> jon: just one moment in history crucial happened in early '61, j.f.k. gave a utopian inaugural speech, we can bear any burden, pay any price, cure any disease, farm the deserts. so let's march. three days before eisenhower gives his farewell speech, says poll things is competition between interests, and the key word in eisenhower speech is balance. so i'd say in the early '60s with this coming generation of leaders, we gave away the sense that politics is about balance and it's about solutions and energy and heroic utopianism. and once we leapt into that world which created the reagan revolution, the obama hope and change, we leapt into utopian politics which was bound to be frustrating and all capital letters. but if you keep it small letters like eisenhower meant, you're in a world wher

i thought that finally that the -- the real problem -- my real problem was to stay sober when everett dirksen said "come in the back room, i want to talk to you." [ laughter ] because you'd get a buzz on when you wrote your story. but dirksen's had his own littl with, i think, senator norris cotton of new hampshire and others and was very jealous of dirksen who had a big ego, and getting those people to come along was a great feat, but, really, the guy who did it was hubert haus hubert would go on "meet the press" and "face the nation" saying it was dirksen's bill, and that's what he wanted to hear. >> he had this nasal iowa accent, chairman of the republican policy committee, and wasn't a very good spokesman on television, and he resented dirksen becoming the spokesman about everything and anything. i remember the first time i met him, he said, mudd, mudd, i don't know what's worse. i mean, he was trying to be funny. he was. don asked us about the difficulty of covering -- if i may answer the question, for television, it was doubly difficult because, as you know, cameras were not allowed in

and if it weren't for the republican leader everett dirksen of illinois and his colleagues, they couldieved cloture and passed the bill. >> ifill: bill mccolloch's partner in all of this was a democrat who was very much unlike him, he was from an urban area, emanuel celler from new york. >> yep, from brooklyn, he was a immigration lawyer, he was a staunch defender of liberalism in all its disguises. he'd been in congress for already by this point something, more than 40 years. and he and mccolloch were polar opposites in many ways but they were close friends, and they and their wives socialized together. so while mccolloch was trying to work with the kennedy administration, manny celler was having to deal with the civil rights coalition and the advocacy groups who wanted the strongest possible bill. and in the fall of 1963 they came to kind of a clash because the administration was afraid that the bill would be so loaded up with a christmas tree of items that it couldn't pass, and they had to work to work a compromise. >> ifill: in the popular retelling, lyndon johnson gets a huge amou

about it when johnson but he called his friends and the most senior republican in the senate everett dirksen and told him that nixon was committing please. are are are. some of the. are going to be admitted he's ambushed. and praying for his murder. the prayers going. nowhere but the second. go. back and every guy go out to get their say in the campaign record that they are their sisters crazed arkell and according to former nixon aide charles huston whose oral histories were released by the nixon presidential library just earlier this month there is quote no doubt that to help himself get elected our nation's thirty seventh president sabotaged the one nine hundred sixty eight paris beast that could have ended the vietnam war as huston said in a two thousand and eight interview that was included in the newly released oral histories over the years as i've studied it i've concluded that there was no doubt that nixon would have been directly involved that it's not something that anybody would have undertaken on their own so just how damning are the austin oral histories and what can you tell us

mike mansfield and his floor manager hubert humphrey crossed party lines with republican leader everett dirkseneal this bill. and house of representatives, democrat emmanuel seller and republican charles hall lech proved that equality need not be a partisan issue. they rallied their parties to support the civil rights act. and the legislation has support for the white house. it was first championed by john kennedy and pushed across the finish line by president lyndon johnson. linda, i think it would be appropriate for you to stand and be recognized as lyndon johnson's daughter. [ applause ] so we all thank those named and unnamed to helped craft and pass the civil rights act. it was difficult, as i said before, it was a team effort. they refused to let inequality continue to n our great nation. but the battle against racism in america wasn't only waged here in washington, d.c. the battle for civil rights was fought on bus rides through south carolina, mississippi, and even on the edmund pettus bridge in selma, alabama. one of those who fought for equality we've already heard from -- congressman

so much so that when he asked his father-in-law, then-senate republican leader everett dirksen for his reaction, dirksen said in his remarks, "howard, howard, perhaps you should occasionally enjoy the luxury of an unexpressed thought." it was the kind of comment that might have stung a lesser senator, but as senator alexander pointed out in mentioning that last week, baker was a quick learner. about a week or so later, howard rose again, this time to challenge one of his democratic colleagues to a game of tennis. the senator in question had just taken a swipe at the vigor of his republican colleagues, particularly the new ones, and senator baker decided to rise to the challenge, tongue formerly in cheek. it was a star performance. the senator that baker challenged even interrupted him at one point to suggest that it was one of the best maiden speeches that has ever been delivered in this chamber. evidently he had missed baker's actual maiden speech, but senator baker's legendary ability to adapt was now firmly established and it set the tone for a two-decade run in which he'd be called

it was very germanic area right there that key vote was great speech of everett mckinley dirksen. nly, nostanding room openi staff allowed. just the 100 senators. a tomb.ilent like when don williams of delaware , everyoneeciding vote sighed. there was a corporate exiling of breath. literallytense everybody hold their breath until the last vote was counted. they were demanding to know what the hell we do next. it, youto think about know how hard it is to get 60 for anything in today's senate. this was 67 which was a much higher bar. was clearly a block of people that were against it. it was one by one, president johnson had a few. one of them i recall writing about was the other senator from iowa. i think he was from dubuque. there was an archbishop who called him and said if you do not vote for cloture will excommunicate you. today martin luther king, a great american, lyndon johnson get a lot of credit for passing that bill. it is true johnson almost screwed it up by pressuring the out theip to bring cots. it is taking too long. huber refused to do it. he said we are going to let