Good ol' Wayne Morse - Filibuster King???

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Wayne L. Morse: A Featured Biography

Wayne Morse (OR)
The notoriously independent Wayne Morse (1900-1974), who set a filibuster record in 1953, was first elected to the Senate as a Republican. He broke with that party in 1953, leaving Democrats and Republicans evenly divided in the Senate. Rather than allow the Democrats to take the majority, however, Morse symbolically moved his chair into the center aisle of the Senate Chamber for a day to show that he belonged to no party. Two years later, Democratic leader Lyndon Johnson persuaded Morse to join the Democratic Conference, giving Democrats a one-vote majority. Nevertheless, Morse retained his independent spirit. A decade later, after Johnson had become president, Senator Morse cast one of the two votes in Congress against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and became an unrelenting critic of the president on the Vietnam war.

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Featured_Bio_Morse.htm

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1. interesting story about Morse

Senator Wayne Morse from Oregon was called "The Tiger of the Senate" and served in the Senate under 5 Presidents. In 1952 Senator Morse left the Republican Party, claiming independent status, when he objected to sections of the party platform and Dwight Eisenhower's choice of Richard Nixon as his vice presidential running mate. Senator Morse claimed that the Republican Party had left him.


On April 24, 1953, Senator Morse began to filibuster against Tidelands Oil legislation. He kept the floor for 22 hours and 26 minutes, breaking the filibuster record of 18 hours held by his mentor, Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette.


Senator Morse is remembered through numerous colorful stories. For
example, Clare Booth Luce, former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to Italy had to resign her appointment when she made the insulting but funny remark that her problems with Senator Morse began when he was kicked in the head by a horse.


http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.politics.bush/browse_thread/thread/4ff3fb54635651fe/7d97c57035861190?q=wayne+morse&rnum=2&hl=en#7d97c57035861190