"This much is certain. If the present Democratic leadership is right, then Calhoun and Jefferson Davis were wrong. If the present Democratic leadership is right, then Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner were right, and Lee, Forrest, and Wade Hampton were wrong. If the President’s civil-rights program is right, then reconstruction was right. If this program is right, the carpetbaggers were right."
Reconstruction era

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

Sources

Congressional Record, 1948

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reconstruction_era