It was quite turbulent after those ten racists took off. When they were followed by many Congressmen, there was no majority in either house. It looked as if America would get a chance to do some coalition governance. From the outset, we knew it would be a Grand Coalition, even though we were reluctant to work with the Republicans, and I assume the feeling was mutual. The “Americans” – I still cannot believe they called themselves that – had just quit the Democratic Party, so they wouldn’t work with us for a while, and the GOP was led in the Senate by a couple pro-civil rights people. This put us in a nice negotiating position. We had a plurality in both houses, so we could probably get the big leaders, and the important committees. Teddy [Kennedy], John [McCormack], Carl [Albert], Hale [Boggs], and I entered negotiations with [Everett] Dirksen, [Hugh] Scott, and [Gerald] Ford. We were able to make a nice deal for House leadership, John as Speaker, Ford as Majority Leader, and Carl as Whip. This made Hale Boggs pretty mad, but he got over it when we gave him his committee assignments…
Anyway, Senate leadership was tougher. We figured I could stay Leader, and Dirksen gave Hugh Scott the Whip position, after much debate. Ted Kennedy was compensated with some nice committee assignments (more on that later), but he was too lefty for the GOP. Dirksen figured he was old and just fought for his party. This worked out later on when he died, actually. We had to figure out committees next, so in the House we decided we should get 10 and they should get 9. As we had a plurality, we got Appropriations and Budget, but had to give them Ways and Means. Same thing in the Senate. We also said that proportion should be 10:1. The Dixiecrats knew that was pretty much the only feasible way to do this, so they went along.
Anyway, it’s a really good thing that we got that done before the secession continued. Robert Byrd was next. That seemed to be it, but we got some more bad news. Scoop Jackson had become a Republican. This was quite shocking to all of us, and I immediately sought out an appointment with him. He explained his actions by saying that the Republicans seemed like the party more attuned to his views now. He took Fulbright with him. And this was to say nothing about what was going on in the House. We ended up with a five-seat plurality. Of course there were Governors too. They got former Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas. They got John Bell Williams. They got Lester Maddox.
This was a turbulent era. (OOC: See what I did there?

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-- From the memoirs of Mike Mansfield
We had made big gains since ‘64, but there was a lot still to be done in the sphere of civil rights. We started with trying for desegregation in Alabama. Governor Albert Brewer had friendly relations with blacks, and though he was by no means a liberal, he was the best Southern Governor on that, except for Winthrop Rockefeller, who we also worked with. Arkansas got done in February 1970, but Alabama was tougher. The state of George Wallace, two Dixiecrat Senators, and a bunch of Dixiecrat Congressmen wasn’t really going to react well. He went about it quietly, but even so, we were not able to do it. Another administration failure... we weren’t happy.
-- from the memoirs of Hubert Humphrey
The administration would like to express strong disapproval of the Iraqi government. Israel is our ally, and we will stand by them. We understand that the fourteen men in question were spying, however deportation would have been sufficient.
-- Administration statement after the execution of fourteen Israeli spies in Iraq, 1/28/1969
The administration will protect our ally Israel, in the face of the danger presented by the election of Arafat. We would like to express our hatred of the anti-Israeli views held by he and his ilk. Clearly increased aid to Israel is in order.
-- Administration statement upon the election of Yasser Arafat as PLO head, 2/5/1969
Mr. Speaker, as you know, this is the largest oil spill in the history of the United States. The President has ordered a stop in drilling, but is that really enough? Clearly, many cleanup efforts are needed, and they must be run by the Government. This is why, with Senator Gaylord Nelson, I am introducing an appropriations bill for about $3 billion (OOC: Is this realistic?) to clean this up. We are also introducing a piece of legislation to levy big penalties on corporations who are found to have been negligent in their preventive measures, to increase preventive measures taken by the Government, and to ban offshore drilling in California. We are also working on a holiday called “Earth Day,” which will be a day to learn about and celebrate the environment. We know that all this will help stop future oil spills from happening.
-- Congressman Pete McCloskey (R-CA) on the House floor, 2/6/1969