As the Senate floor debate entered its third week, Mansfield and Dirksen began to explore ways to end debate and bring the bill to a vote. As they quietly polled members, on May 21, 1965, Philip A. Hart (D-MI), the bill’s floor manager, initiated a…

On March 18, 1965, Representative Emanuel Celler (D-NY), chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, introduced the administration bill, H.R. 6400. The 77-year-old chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary stated that people preventing…

On June 1, 1965, the House Judiciary Committee reported a revised H.R. 6400, but Celler endured a month’s delay in bringing the bill to the floor when Howard W. Smith (D-VA), chair of the House Committee on Rules, kept the voting rights bill bottled…

On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the Republican substitute bill, H.R. 7896, by a vote of 166 to 215. The House then considered fourteen amendments to H.R. 6400, but only passed three that made no consequential changes to the bill. The House…

A letter from freshman Congressman John Conyers congratulating Claude Pepper for his support of the Voting Rights Act.

A news release from Mo Udall to all members of the House of Representatives detailing crucial voting days leading up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

A copy of the remarks made by Congressman Claude Pepper on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Claude Pepper shaking hands with President Johnson after the signing of the Voting Rights Act as Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King, Jr. look on.

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey expresses gratitude to Texas Congressman Jack Brooks for his support of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"Pickle's Washington Report" chronicles Texas Congressman Jake Pickle's backing of the Voting Rights Act. His support was tempered by his belief that the poll tax issue should be decided by the states rather than the federal government.