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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.

'''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 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: