Realizing that senators could be predicted to see that as a violation of their tradition of unlimited debate, Bayh requested a conference committee and on April 28 the House insisted on its amendments and agreed to a conference. On May 10, the…

Despite direct work between Bayh and Celler and drafts of language by legal experts, it took the mediation of Lewis Powell of the American Bar Association with Celler to arrive at the final formulation of S. J. Res. 1 on June 10. On June 30, 1965,…

On the first two points compromise was reached, but the third ran up against the Senate’s insistence on unlimited debate, and negotiations stalled.

A letter from Convicts Anonymous in Michigan City, Indiana, requesting Senator Bayh's assistance in setting up a blood drive to benefit U.S. troops in Vietnam. A response from a Bayh staffer, Steve Lesher, notes, "I found your letter extremely…

At the opening of the February 4 Judiciary Committee meeting, Everett Dirksen presented a surprise amendment to S. J. Res. 1 that would have essentially gutted the resolution of language laying out specific procedures for handling presidential…

It had become clear that Everett Dirksen, who in the previous Congress had been absorbed in the battles over the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and so had seen fit to let S. J. Res. 139 move unimpeded toward Senate passage, was now focused on its…

The insights of former President Eisenhower, which advised replacing the Speaker of the House in the chain of succession with a sequence of Cabinet members, were sought and incorporated. Knowing that the House, despite having 22 proposals related to…

A constituent requests that Senator Bayh investigate reports of faulty equipment in Vietnam. The resident of Indianapolis expressed his outrage, "Congress has passed a bill to take care of practically everyone including the artist so surely there's…

A memorandum prepared following a briefing sponsored by the Foreign Relations Committee for Senate legislative personnel by Bill Jordan, special assistant on Vietnam. Incorrectly identified as Mr. Burton, Mr. Jordan detailed current Vietnam policy,…

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Emmanuel Celler (D-NY), had come on board to support S. J. Res. 139 in late May 1964. Since the 65 senators present for the vote had approved the amendment and another 20 had indicated support, the task in…