After notorious Mississippi [[segregation]]ist senator and former Klansman [[Theodore Bilbo]] faced calls to be denied his Senate seat after intimidating and inciting violence against black voters in his 1946 re-election, Hickenlooper joined Republican [[Styles Bridges]] of New Hampshire in working to halt Bilbo,<ref name="The First Hickenlooper"/><ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref> as Republicans had just gained a bare Senate majority. As gridlock ensued with Southern senators starting filibusters, Minority Leader [[Alben Barkley]] broke the impasse in announcing that Bilbo would return to Mississippi for surgery. The racist demagogue never recovered to return to Congress, dying in 1947 of oral cancer. | After notorious Mississippi [[segregation]]ist senator and former Klansman [[Theodore Bilbo]] faced calls to be denied his Senate seat after intimidating and inciting violence against black voters in his 1946 re-election, Hickenlooper joined Republican [[Styles Bridges]] of New Hampshire in working to halt Bilbo,<ref name="The First Hickenlooper"/><ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref> as Republicans had just gained a bare Senate majority. As gridlock ensued with Southern senators starting filibusters, Minority Leader [[Alben Barkley]] broke the impasse in announcing that Bilbo would return to Mississippi for surgery. The racist demagogue never recovered to return to Congress, dying in 1947 of oral cancer. |