“You needed Dirksen to get the cloture votes.”
Charles Ferris reflects on the important role played by Minority Leader Everett Dirksen in securing cloture on the 1964 civil rights bill.
RITCHIE: You mentioned that most of those staff meetings were held in Dirksen’s office.
FERRIS: The substantive meetings. The strategy sessions were held in Hubert’s office.
RITCHIE: But when you held meetings in Dirksen’s office, was that to reinforce Dirksen’s commitment to the process?
FERRIS: You needed Dirksen to get the cloture votes. That was another Kabuki theater. You had to have Dirksen playing a lead role in this so that his Republicans would know that this was not just a Democratic bill that was drafted by the White House. Dirksen used to come out every day and talk to the cameras at 4 o’clock. That’s when they were using film and would go back and develop it before they put it on television. Dirksen loved that role. He was a great thespian. He would talk and give all sorts of reports. When you listened to Dirksen talk you’d say, “God, this is magnificent.” When you went back to read it, he hadn’t said too much. It was beautiful and melodious rhetoric. He should have been a Shakespearean actor. But it was very important to the Republicans that their leader was part of this, that he listened to them and brought their concerns to the process. His national identification with the bill was considered essential not only to get the legislation passed but to have it perceived as a bipartisan effort and achievement prior to passage.
