Changes

The committee split along party lines, with all three Democrats voting to acquit Bilbo while the Republicans dissented, Hickenlooper and Bridges stating that Bilbo's inflammatory rhetoric was unacceptable and abused the [[First Amendment]].<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26>"Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism," pp. 24–26.</ref><ref name=annis>Annis, James Lee (2016). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Big_Jim_Eastland/PZ2DDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=overton+motion+bilbo&pg=PT62&printsec=frontcover Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved January 11, 2023.</ref> Due to the GOP gaining control of the chamber, they refused to seat Bilbo. Louisiana's other Democratic senator, [[John H. Overton]], who Bilbo was escorted by instead of his Mississippi senatorial colleague [[James Eastland]] (due to a state intraparty rivalry),<ref name=annis/> attempted to maneuver around this by introducing two motions which would seat Bilbo while resuming investigations.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/> The notability of the move was grounded in Senate rules, under which a simple majority could deny an elected senator from being ''seated'' while a two-thirds majority would be required to remove a senator ''already'' seated. Although the Overton motions were defeated on the Senate floor, Southern Democrats threatened filibusters, and Missisippi's pro-Bilbo governor Fielding L. Wright declared that in the circumstance Bilbo was denied his Senate seat, he would simply name the latter as the replacement.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/>

The committee split along party lines, with all three Democrats voting to acquit Bilbo while the Republicans dissented, Hickenlooper and Bridges stating that Bilbo's inflammatory rhetoric was unacceptable and abused the [[First Amendment]].<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26>"Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism," pp. 24–26.</ref><ref name=annis>Annis, James Lee (2016). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Big_Jim_Eastland/PZ2DDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=overton+motion+bilbo&pg=PT62&printsec=frontcover Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved January 11, 2023.</ref> Due to the GOP gaining control of the chamber, they refused to seat Bilbo. Louisiana's other Democratic senator, [[John H. Overton]], who Bilbo was escorted by instead of his Mississippi senatorial colleague [[James Eastland]] (due to a state intraparty rivalry),<ref name=annis/> attempted to maneuver around this by introducing two motions which would seat Bilbo while resuming investigations.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/> The notability of the move was grounded in Senate rules, under which a simple majority could deny an elected senator from being ''seated'' while a two-thirds majority would be required to remove a senator ''already'' seated. Although the Overton motions were defeated on the Senate floor, Southern Democrats threatened filibusters, and Missisippi's pro-Bilbo governor Fielding L. Wright declared that in the circumstance Bilbo was denied his Senate seat, he would simply name the latter as the replacement.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/>

Bilbo privately conferred to Southern Democratic colleagues Clyde R. Hoey and [[Claude Pepper]], who presented a compromise solution of delaying his seating while ensuring appropriated funds to pay for his throat cancer surgery.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/> Due to ultimately not returning to the Senate, the anti-Bilbo forces cheered. Prior to dying of oral cancer at the age of 69 following decades of spouting hatred, bigotry, and inciting violence, the last weeks of Bilbo's life were spent writing a racist screed, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', where he promoted fearmongering of "race-mixing" and called for the repatriation of black Americans to [[West Africa]]. (a relocation bill he sponsored in the Senate in 1938 had failed) Never having repudiated his lifelong legacy of white supremacist hatred, Bilbo remained a figurehead for segregationists in the South long after his death.

Bilbo privately conferred to Southern Democratic colleagues Clyde R. Hoey and [[Claude Pepper]], who presented a compromise solution of delaying his seating while ensuring appropriated funds to pay for his throat cancer surgery.<ref name=fleegler,pp.24-26/> Due to ultimately not returning to the Senate, the anti-Bilbo forces cheered. Prior to dying of oral cancer in his mansion<ref name=msencyclopediabio/> at the age of 69 following decades of spouting hatred, bigotry, and inciting violence, the last weeks of Bilbo's life were spent writing a racist screed, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', where he promoted fearmongering of "race-mixing" and called for the repatriation of black Americans to [[West Africa]]. (a relocation bill he sponsored in the Senate in 1938 had failed) Never having repudiated his lifelong legacy of white supremacist hatred, Bilbo remained a figurehead for segregationists in the South long after his death.

==Legacy==

==Legacy==