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A Voice for Mankind

September 20th, 2025

As the sun was setting over Capitol Hill on June 19th, 1964, the Senate convened to vote for a cloture that would end the filibuster of a civil rights bill. Standing before the Senate, Everett M. Dirksen (R-IL) made the final remark: “equality of opportunity must prevail… to complete the covenant… made with the people... to honor… the Constitution” (United States, Congress 14510). Senate Minority Leader Dirksen had a conservative voting record and was an unlikely champion of civil rights legislation. But in the darkest hours of American social justice, Dirksen came through to spearhead a substitute bill and produced twenty-three critical Republican votes––three beyond the required two-thirds majority to eliminate the filibuster. Less than two weeks later, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into effect the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination in public accommodations. John F. Kennedy wrote in Profiles in Courage that the “opportunity [to be courageous] is presented to us all… in whatever arena of life” (Kennedy 184). Standing at the crossroads of citizenship and partisanship, Dirksen seized the moment to uphold the former, neglecting political and career endeavors and thereby marking a new era in American history.

The son of German immigrants, Dirksen was born in 1896 and grew up on the outskirts of a “quiet and will ordered community” in Pekin, Illinois (United States, Congress E1102-E1103). He graduated valedictorian of high school, but Dirksen’s education was cut short by military service in World War I. Unable to settle into a job after the war, his true calling came in 1926 as the Commissioner of Finance in Pekin––initiating a lifetime devotion to the public sector. Dirksen served sixteen years in the House before he was elected a Senator in 1951, a post he held until his death in 1969. His canny political skill, disheveled hairstyle, and gravelly-throated oratory quickly earned him a significant, nation-wide reputation.

Following the Civil War, the quest for equal rights was hampered by decades of legislative incompetence and entrenched racial segregation. Previous filibusters forced major concessions from the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1960, leaving the bills largely ineffective. Although Kennedy expected congressional obstructions, he proposed by far the most comprehensive civil rights bill.

Mere days after Kennedy’s proposal was introduced in the Senate, Richard Russell (D-GA) began a filibuster stating that the South will “resist to bitter end” any movement for the “amalgamation of races” transcending the Mason-Dixon line (Loevy 231). Kennedy, and then Johnson, understood that the passage of the Act rested upon the shoulders of Everett Dirksen. In light of the dwindling support from the Southern Democrats, it was ironic––albeit not surprising––that two Democrats were reliant upon a Republican senator. The motion necessitated 67 of 100 senators and 21 of 33 Republicans to vote for the cloture and bring the bill to fruition. Dirksen’s approach was concerted, even methodical at times: his outward display towards the bill was both sympathetic and neutral, carefully adjusting his stance to that of his colleagues while pushing the legislation forward.

Despite the glimmers of hope to block the filibuster, Dirksen was in an awkward situation: delivering Republican votes against Johnson’s political faction alongside the intrinsic opposition to the bill held by his fellow Republican colleagues proved to be a significant barrier. Dirksen’s extensive years in the House, colored by his unique philosophy of pragmatism and impartiality, would serve as a traineeship for precisely this moment. Rather than adhering to the traditional dichotomy in American politics, Dirksen had in mind the “big view” to uphold the public interest (Mendenhall). In a period where the “deep and swift waters of partisanship” were glaringly apparent, rendering an independent judgment came at a cost (Arenberg and Dove 63-64). The consequences notwithstanding, Dirksen dived into the sea of criticism––willing to accept “any castigation or blame… to get the job done” (Nichols 252). When asked if opposing the bill implied an emphasis on commercial interests over human rights, Dirksen responded that the legislator’s role is “not to think about one segment over another” but to give the “interests of all people” precedent (ABC’s Issues and Answers 14).

Dirksen’s flexibility of bipartisan discourse was a source of frustration. The substitute bill was immediately opposed by a conservative bloc led by Bourke Hickenlooper (R-IA), who was also his primary political rival. Even in the face of career risks and the prospect of a damaged political legacy, Dirksen dauntlessly disenthralled himself “from all bias, from all prejudice, from all irrelevances” and from acting ideologically coherent (Mendenhall). Kennedy wrote that the basis of all human morality was in a man’s duty to “[do] what he must––in spite of… consequences.... obstacles… and pressure” (Kennedy 183). Dirksen completed this duty with conviction, unfazed by the foes of a historic civil rights bill.

Disregarding the potential backlash from the populace and uncertainty in friendships, Dirksen knew that his conscience and standards of morality would not be tarnished by impulsive conformity. By gathering pivotal Republican support, Dirksen worked behind the spotlight and exhibited to the American people and his fellow colleagues the commitment to advance social justice. In the final moments of the cloture vote, Dirksen alluded to Victor Hugo’s writing: “stronger than all armies is an idea whose time has come... it must not be stayed or denied” (The Dirksen Congressional Center). Recognizing that the “time” had come, Dirksen was a mouthpiece for marginalized communities––ushering in a wave of newfound civic progress to the nation.

While his act of political courage is only faintly remembered today, his influence is keenly felt in the fight for a more egalitarian society. Just a year later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited literacy tests as suffrage prerequisites, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 made discrimination in the “sale, rental, and financing of property” illegal (United States, Congress, House 1). With ebbs and flows of bipartisan coaction, our country continues to manifest a grave political fracture, to which contemporary politicians must not lose sight of Dirksen’s courageous leadership. He eloquently stated, “I am involved in mankind, and whatever the skin, we are all included in mankind” (United States, Congress 14510). A politician gazing beyond the mere confines of politics, he was a true voice for mankind.

Works Cited

ABC's Issues and Answers. Hosted by Howard K. Smith, ABC, 29 Sept. 1963. Transcript.

Arenberg, Richard A., and Robert B. Dove. "Criticisms of the Filibuster." Defending the Filibuster: The Soul of the Senate, 2nd Updated ed., Bloomington, Indiana UP, 2012, pp. 63-64.

Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. New York, Perennial/HarperCollins, 2006.

Loevy, Robert D. "Everett M. Dirksen: The Great Amender." To End All Segregation: The Politics of the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, UK ed., Lanham, UP of America, 1990.

Nichols, David A. A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution. Simon & Schuster, 2008.

The Dirksen Congressional Center. "Everett McKinley Dirksen's Finest Hour: June 10, 1964." The Dirksen Congressional Center, web.archive.org/web/20151024144501/http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_basics_histmats_civilr ights64_cloturespeech.htm.

United States, Congress. Congressional Record. Statement of Frank H. Mackaman. Daily ed., Government Publishing Office, 6 Sept. 2019, pp. E1102-E1103. Library of Congress, www.congress.gov/116/crec/2019/09/06/modified/CREC-2019-09-06-pt1-PgE1102-3.htm.

---, ---. Congressional Record. Statement of Everett Dirksen. Vol. 110, Government Publishing Office, 19 June 1964, p. 14510. Library of Congress,

www.congress.gov/88/crecb/1964/06/19/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11-3.pdf.

---, ---, House. Civil Rights Act of 1968. U.S. Government Publishing Of ice, Federal Government, 11 Apr. 1968, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-343/pdf/COMPS-343.pdf. 2020. House Bill 90 (enacted).

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