St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-03-18

, denied the right to vote in Federal
elections because of their race or
color.
Bills of a similar nature have
been introduced by other Senators
including the distinguished Senator
from Oregon Mr. Morse). the dis
tinguished senior Senator from
New York (Mr. Javitsl. and others
whose names I may fail to men,
ton. There are several such bills
before us.
In January 1860. I introduced
a perfected bill on behalf of nv
self and the Senators from Michi-
gan (Mr. Mcnamara and Mr..
HART, and my colleague, the Jun
Tor Senator from Minnesota (Mr.
Mccarthy, the senior Senator
from Pennsylvania CMr. Clark.
and the senior Senator from ILL
nois mfr. Douglass.
The Attorney General of the
United States has also proposed
Legislation in this field whereby
the Federal district courts would
appoint voting referees to register
voters and to see that they are not
denied the right to actually cast
their votes at he polls. The minor
ity leader, Mr.. Dirksen, has in
troduCed legislation which carries
out the Attorney Generals prop
osal. S. 3OO1.
Senators Javits and Douglas
introduced a bill. S. 3O45, which
would provide for both President
tally appointed Federal voting reg
istrars and court-appointed Federal
voting referees where individuals
are denied the right to vote due
to race or color. joined as a CO.
sponsor on this measure.
Il am confident, Mr.. President.
that we will be successful in reach
ing agreement on a bill which is
both reasonable and effective and
which is acceptable to the majority
of the Members of this body.
I commend the Senate Rules
Committee for the many hours of
consideration which it has been
giving to these various voting
rights proposals. wish to COM
mend, in particular, the distin-
guished chairman of that commit
tee, Senator Hennings, who I re-
greet has been i'll recently. for the
manner in which he conducted the
hearings, for his conscientious eff
forts to prepare a bill which will
most effectively and fairly assure
all American citizens their voting
rights. The Senate Rules Commit
tee is now preparing such a bill,
and am hopeful that it will not
be long before it is reported to the
fun Senate for our consideration
during this civil rights debate.
It is not important whose name
is attached to the final bill. What
is important is that we pass a bill
which would make it possible for
all Americans to enjoy their con-
stitutionally given voting rights.
This should not be partisan pol
itical issue We should not be con-
cerned whether this is a Republi-
can Party bill or a Democratic
Party bill. I believe that we can
consider bills that have been prop
osed by members of both parties
and work out a measure which en-
bodies the best features of each.
II is my intention, Mr.. President,
to work with that purpose in mind.
and I am sure that is the desire
of all in this body who support leg
islation in this area.
believe that the best politics.
the best diplomacy, the most ex-
pedient course in the long run, is
to do the right thing in the short
run and to do it because it is the
| right thing.
IF we may talk in the vocabul-
airy Of the moment, let us say that
! this bill. when made law. will have
a blessed fallOut that will be borne
around the world on the winds of
thought and human emotion.
las our example and our fresh
proof of our belief in the rights Of
man takes hold. democracy will be
better strengthened. better defend
ed. and more secure here and ev-
eryWhere in the world. It will pene-
trate where no weapon or missile
can gO-intO the minds and hearts
Of the very people who today are
unCommitted and who will either
believe demOcracy's promise of
both bread and freedom or accept
COmmunism's promise of bread
now and a caricature of freedom
later
"Basically. I hope that Congress
will act now in this session of
Congress because it is the right
thing to do. I hope that we will
have the fortitude to surmount the
difficulty of strong differences
within the Congress. hope we
will lay this bill upon the Presi-
dents desk before we go home to
face and report to the American
people upon our stewardship and
our performance upon our promis-
es to them.
I'm civil rights, as in defense
and economic strength, we must
not fail the Nation or the free
world. We must be strong in all
things now, or we shall be secure
, in none.
Mr.. President, I have heard
comment to the effect that many
bills have been laid before us with
out full and careful discussion. I
am sure that every Senator knows
, that before we vote on any bill
, every facet, every detail every
, paragraph, every sentence of the
bill should be carefully examined.
II am sure we all recognize that
5 legislation Of this nature requires
meticulous care. 1t requires spirit
=, OF some compromise, but without
the loss Of principle
II have laid down what thought
= was a minimum civil rights pro-
Z gram for this Congress. There are
other features which we'll could
have been added which have been