Along with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, Rayburn refused to sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto and helped shepherd to passage the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, the first civil rights bills passed by the U.S. Congress since the Reconstruction Era (1863–1877). Rayburn was also influential in the construction of U.S. Route 66. He served as Speaker until his death in 1961, and was succeeded by John W. McCormack.