Southern Caucus

[3] The tone of the Southern Caucus was to be more moderate and reasonable so as not to alienate potential allies and to eschew the explicit white supremacism of Senators such as Tom Connally.

During and after the Second World War the Southern Caucus widened its tactics from pure obstruction through the filibuster to courting of Northern allies and a rearguard approach of allowing some bills through and amending others to an acceptable form.

[8] The book argued that the caucus was quite wide-ranging in its views on economics or foreign policy, but that its protection of the filibuster and general devotion to States rights meant that they rejected the Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver.

[11] The caucus was where the Southern Manifesto was written, with Strom Thurmond writing the initial draft and Richard Russell the final version.

[12] This supported the reversal of the landmark Supreme Court 1954 ruling Brown v. Board of Education, which determined that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional and was signed by 19 Senators and 82 Representatives.