David Tenner <dtenner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>Another consequence of Lodge being re-elected in 1952 is
>that the Democrats would not have gotten a majority in the Senate until
>1958--instead of 1954 as in OTL--so LBJ would not have had as much of a
>record as *Majority* Leader.)
Hmm. If the Democrats don't control
the Senate, does that mean that a
Civil Rights bill p***** in the
1950s? The Dixiecrats will still
filibuster, but without Johnson
running things, it seems more likely
that a cloture vote would succeed.
AIUI, Johnson worked fairly hard to ensure
that no bill would pass that Republicans
could take credit for - except IIRC a
completely toothless bill.
ATL, a somewhat more substantial bill
(not the OTL 1964 bill, obviously, but
still more than was done OTL) moves
forward, and Johnson is weaker, so the
cloture vote succeeds.
This changes the dynamics of the civil-
rights era substantially.
I don't know this is probable or even
possible, but it seems plausible and
an interesting consequence.
Incidentally, there were several other
very close Democrat Senate victories in
1952-56:
1952: MT, 2.2%; NM, 2.2%;
1954: MT, 0.8%; OR, 0.4%; WY 3.0%
1956: CO, 0.4%; PA, 0.4%
(Trivia point: the Republican who lost
in WY in 1954 was one William Henry Harrison!)
--
| People say "There's a Stradivarius for sale for a |
| million," and you say "Oh, really? What's wrong |
| with it?" - Yitzhak Perlman |
|
