Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957

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Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957[edit]

This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 29, 2022 by Gog the Mild (talk) 12:53, 27 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Thurmond about 6 years before the filibuster
Thurmond about 6 years before the filibuster

From August 28–29, 1957, a 24-hour and 18-minute filibuster was conducted by U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, intended to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He read the election laws of each U.S. state, Supreme Court decisions, and George Washington's Farewell Address. The bill's power to protect the voting rights of African Americans had already been significantly watered down by Senate Democrats, but Thurmond saw the bill as "cruel and unusual punishment" and felt more intervention was needed. In filibustering the bill, Thurmond went against a prior agreement among Senate Democrats and therefore received backlash from some members of his own party in addition to the disapproval of Republicans. Despite this, the filibuster was wildly popular among citizens of the South. The filibuster ultimately failed to change any votes in the Senate and the bill was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower less than two weeks later. (Full article...)