Word: sparkman
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Alabama's John Sparkman, 65, is a shambling, soft-spoken man who ought to feel about as safe in his seat as any member of the U.S. Senate. After all, he is one of those "entrenched" Southern Democrats, with 28 years on Capitol Hill, including the past 18 in the Senate. He is the No. 2 man on the Foreign Relations Committee and, more important, has sponsored all sorts of legislation vital to his state's economy, like help for housing and small businesses. He shares with his colleague Lister Hill, also a TVA liberal, major responsibility...
...last week, the talk of the Senate cloakrooms and the Alabama county courthouses was that Sparkman is in desperate trouble in seeking reelection next year. His problem is civil rights...
...Mild. Not that John Sparkman is an integrationist-far from it. Over the years he has voted against more than 100 civil rights bills. But to diehard segregationists, he has never sounded as though he really meant it. Last week, in a Senate speech against an anti-poll-tax amendment to the voting rights bill, Sparkman said stolidly: "Legislation such as this, which is not designed to be applicable to the whole nation at large, is not sound, and Congress should think long and hard before it plunges emotionally into promulgating an extreme measure...
More privately, Sparkman expresses his feelings: "I've never tried to stir up emotions. I've fought all of the civil rights fights here alongside the Southern Senators-but on constitutional and practical grounds. I've always contended that race problems weren't solved by legislation, but by economic improvement...
...some thing of a quandary. Democratic Whip Russell Long, an 8½-year member of the committee, is an outspoken critic of the entire foreign aid program. So is Montana's Mike Mansfield, the Democratic floor leader. So is Oregon Democrat Wayne Morse. Alabama's John Sparkman, next in seniority to Fulbright, was reluctant as any to take on the task. Only after much cajoling did he finally agree to accept, even while warning that he is sympathetic with Fulbright's views and that "I think a majority of the committee...