Existing comment:
“IT SEEMS TO BE DEAD”
Everett Dirksen argued that Lyndon Johnson’s open housing legislation, intended to increase opportunities for African Americans, violated private property rights. He declared the civil rights bill of 1966 dead, stating, “The Senate has to demonstrate it will not be intimidated by marches and demonstrations into passing lousy legislation for a very small minority of the people.” By depicting Senator Dirksen as a buffoon and a tramp, Herblock may have felt that the senator, who had supported earlier landmark civil rights legislation, had turned his back on the movement.
“It Seems to Be Dead,” 1966. Published in the Washington Post, September 11, 1966. |