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'''John Cornelius Stennis''' (August 3, 1901 – April 23, 1995) was the [[Democrat]] Senator from [[Mississippi]] from 1947 to 1989, succeeding racist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]]. Stennis opposed anti-poll tax amendments, anti-lynching legislation, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], and the [[Civil Rights Act]]s of [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|1964]] and 1968. After the [[Supreme Court]] ruling in ''[[Brown vs. Board of Education]]'', Stennis proposed maintaining [[segregation]] by improving [[African American]] schools so that integration could be rendered unconstitutionally unnecessary. Stennis was among 19 Democrat senators who signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] in defiance of the ''Brown vs. Board'' decision. From 1947 to 1978, he was a senatorial colleague of the similarly-minded [[James Eastland]].

'''John Cornelius Stennis''' (August 3, 1901 – April 23, 1995) was the [[Democrat]] Senator from [[Mississippi]] from 1947 to 1989, succeeding racist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]]. Stennis opposed anti-poll tax amendments, anti-lynching legislation, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], and the [[Civil Rights Act]]s of [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|1964]] and 1968. After the [[Supreme Court]] ruling in ''[[Brown vs. Board of Education]],'' Stennis proposed maintaining [[segregation]] by improving [[African American]] schools so that integration could be rendered unconstitutionally unnecessary. Stennis was among 19 Democrat senators who signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] in defiance of the ''Brown vs. Board'' decision. From 1947 to 1978, he was a senatorial colleague of the similarly-minded [[James Eastland]].

The Southern Manifesto was signed on a large mahogany conference table in Stennis' office which Stennis used as his desk and referred to as "the flagship of the [[Confederacy]]." The table was used by segregationist and co-signer of the Southern Manifesto Sen. [[Richard Russell, Jr.]] before his retirement. After the majority Democrats defeated the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]], [[Republican]]s reintroduced the bill. Senate Democrat Majority Leader [[Lyndon Johnson]] told Stennis, "Let's face it. Our a** is in a crack. We're gonna have to let this n***er bill pass."<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biography-or-Autobiography Biography or Autobiography]. Past winners & finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-24.</ref><ref>Caro, Robert A. (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=U87rzAqVhbwC The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, Volume 3]''. New York: Knopf. p. 954. ISBN 0394528360.</ref> According to former Harvard historian and Johnson staffer Doris Kearns Goodwin, [[LBJ]] explained his position thus:

The Southern Manifesto was signed on a large mahogany conference table in Stennis' office which Stennis used as his desk and referred to as "the flagship of the [[Confederacy]]." The table was used by segregationist and co-signer of the Southern Manifesto Senator [[Richard Russell, Jr.]] of [[Georgia]] before his retirement. After the majority Democrats defeated the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]], [[Republican]]s reintroduced the bill. Senate Democrat Majority Leader [[Lyndon Johnson]] told Stennis, "Let's face it. Our a** is in a crack. We're gonna have to let this n***er bill pass."<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Biography-or-Autobiography Biography or Autobiography]. Past winners & finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-24.</ref><ref>Caro, Robert A. (2002). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=U87rzAqVhbwC The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, Volume 3]''. New York: Knopf. p. 954. ISBN 0394528360.</ref>  

 

According to former Harvard historian and Johnson staffer Doris Kearns Goodwin, [[LBJ]] explained his position thus:

{{quotebox-float|"These Negroes, they’re getting pretty [[uppity]] these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference."<ref>Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1977). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HS9aAAAAYAAJ Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream]. New York: New American Library. p. 155. ISBN 0451140826</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|"These Negroes, they’re getting pretty [[uppity]] these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference."<ref>Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1977). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HS9aAAAAYAAJ Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream]. New York: New American Library. p. 155. ISBN 0451140826</ref>}}