"One of most important things I discovered was how the 1965 Voting Rights Act became law. The 1964 Civil Rights Acts contained a voting provision, but in Mississippi there weren't 10 (black) people registered. So Lyndon Johnson called Sen. James Eastland to his office. Eastland was the head of Judiciary Committee. Since Johnson had left the Senate, Eastland was the most powerful single person in Congress. Exactly. They didn't just start recording with Nixon. (Laughs.) When LBJ had Eastland in his office, he recorded the conversation. He told Eastland: "I'm gonna give the blacks the vote—though he didn't say "blacks." "You the only one that can give me any trouble. I'm gonna give them the vote. Jim, all you got to do is you take that vote under your wing." And Jim went along with it. They didn't even have a committee for (the 1965 legislation). It went right through. ... Jim Eastland at the time was the most hated white man in Mississippi (by blacks); he eclipsed Bilbo and Vardaman. Two months later, he was the most beloved white man in Mississippi by blacks. The other thing that Lyndon told him was that if you take that "black" vote under your wing, we will not only control Mississippi, we will control the whole South for the next 50 years and most states, every big city in America. It was a plan, and it worked perfectly according to the plan. It's the main reason blacks loved him so much. Of course, that's been happening through-out history. ... Democracy has some good points, but it ain't hardly what most Americans think it is."
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Democratic Party (United States) politiciansBusinesspeople from the United StatesLawyers from the United StatesWhite supremacistsPoliticians from Mississippi
Original Language: English
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James Meredith Interview with Jackson Free Press (2008)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Eastland
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James Eastland
1972 – 1978
James Oliver Eastland (November 28, 1904 – February 19, 1986) was the United States Senator from Mississippi in 1941 and from 1943 to 1978. A Democrat, he served as President pro tempore of the Senate (1972–1978) and Chairman on the Judiciary (1956–1978). He is best known as a member of the party’s conservative southern wing, which was comprised of white supremacists who supported racial segregation.
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