Part 5 Chapter 41 Summary

The GOP had to decide how to react. Nixon favored defeating the now gutted bill and to start afresh in 1958. Eisenhower condemned allowing so many extraneous issues to intrude on the debate, leaving blacks still disenfranchised. Many black leaders urged the president not to sign the bill if it reached his desk. Liberals, realizing that the inclusion of a single white on a southern jury would result in a hung jury were angry with LBJ. The New York Post declared that slick LBJ made even Nixon look good.

Because the House and Senate bills had still to be reconciled in conference, the GOP saw hope of letting it die and the Democrats would receive the blame. That would help Republicans in the 1958 election. The Douglas Group fell in line with this reasoning. They assumed Russell and the southerners would be pleased...