Kendra S. Horn: “Senator Dirksen, without question, was one of the great legislators of the twentieth century. That is why his colleagues…”

“Senator Dirksen, without question, was one of the great legislators of the twentieth century. That is why his colleagues in the Senate named one of the three buildings of the Senate after him. I spent a good part of 1965 in his back office as assistant to the Republican whip, Senator Thomas H. Kuchel, who was his principal deputy, and there is no question the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was completely drafted in Senator Dirksen's back office by a joint bipartisan team from the Johnson administration, the Democratic majority leader, the Republican whip and the Republican leader. When we finished one day and his chief counsel announced to the Senator we were done, he said, ``Get me the President.'' When his secretary did, he said ``Lyndon? Everett. You now have a bill that you can send to the Congress of the United States.'' That was the first major legislation since before the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration completely drafted in the Senate. Senator Dirksen was also the key person on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without Everett Dirksen's leadership, there would have been no Civil Rights Act.”