Word: brickering
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...long-awaited "great debate" on the Bricker amendment in the U.S. Senate did not materialize-the real struggle was in the cloakrooms, corridors and hotel suites where leaders of both parties worked for a compromise. The major Bricker amendment speech on the Senate floor was delivered by Tennessee's Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver, who hovered near his point for two days with the drone of an overfed bumblebee while a handful of his colleagues slouched drowsily in their chairs. One reason for the sad quality of debate was that many Senators .were too busy elsewhere-arguing the Bricker amendment...
...Bricker knew that hard-core support for his original amendment had dwindled to 20 Senators. There remained, however, a much larger group in favor of some change in the treaty-making setup. In a search for compromise, earnestly pursued both by Bricker and Eisenhower representatives, proposal after proposal was tried and discarded. But by week's end, the basis for negotiations had narrowed to a draft made by Georgia's veteran Democratic Senator Walter George...
...modified in later conferences, the George substitute had four parts, three of which were acceptable both to the Administration and Bricker...
Stimulated Stalemate. This week, in a letter to Knowland, the President reaffirmed that he was "unalterably opposed" to the Bricker amendment and, in effect, endorsed the Ferguson-Knowland compromise. Said he: "I am aware of the feeling of many of our citizens that a treaty may override the Constitution. So that there can be no question on this point, I will gladly support an appropriate amendment that will make this clear for all time...
Despite this new counterattack, John Bricker was having no part of the compromise proposal. Nor were the Democrats, at the moment; they were too busy enjoying the fun. The chance for a stalemate, therefore, increased, i.e., after bitter debate, the Bricker amendment would be sent back to committee for "further study," and would emerge from time to time to cause more bloodshed. This was exactly what the Administration did not want. To avoid it, Eisenhower was considering the ultimate step: a TV appeal to the nation...