Forget Helms; Clair Engle is Real Hero
Last Friday, a true villain in American history died, and the first line of his obituary aptly sums up his sad legacy:
Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina senator with the courtly manner and mossy drawl who turned his hard-edged conservatism against civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid and modern art, died early Friday.
He made his choice to make his legacy one of hate, and history will remember him appropriately. But instead of dwelling on this mean-spirited person, I’d like to talk about Senator Clair Engle, someone who courageously took a stand that helped pass Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s and has been unfairly forgotten by history.
During the battle to make sure that every American is afforded the right to vote in his or her own country, the Republicans held a filibuster. This meant that civil rights supporters needed 67 of the 100 US Senators to support closing debate, just so the body could vote on the legislation. As proponents struggled to scrap together the votes, Senator Clair Engle of California, a man who had such severe cancer that he could no longer speak, came onto the Senate floor in a wheelchair. When the roll call on ending the filibuster was taken, Engle pointed to his eye, indicating his affirmative vote of “aye.” He was the 67th vote, ensuring that the bill would go to the floor for a vote. It of course passed, and a sad chapter in America’s history of race relations began to close.
I would like to take this opportunity to reflect not on the senator who died last Friday, but instead on the one who died in the spring of 1964 at the age of 52, just one month after the filibuster vote. Senator Clair Engle is a true hero, and history should always remember him fondly.
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Lindel responds:
Posted: July 8th, 2008 at 2:42 am →
It is disappointing and almost ironic in a way, that Helms became senile before he died and has no knowledge of Bush and his plans to attend the Olympics this summer. You have to wonder what Helms would have thought of the current president, his dealings with Putin and his dealings with the Chinese “Communists”.
Ole’ Jesse would have been a natural supporter of the pre-911 evangelical compassionate conservative, but it seems hard to believe he would be thrilled with the performance of the post-911 boob.
After the Bush presidency and contending with McCain and Hillary, it may have been enough to send Jesse over the edge and vote for a “colored”.
Josh responds:
Posted: July 8th, 2008 at 7:52 am →
Hmmm…I was trying to emphasize the courage of Engle.