Filibuster. The word conjures up images of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: an exhausted speaker, impatient representatives, cynical and often acrimonious outbursts. A filibuster is a delay tactic used to stop a legislature from taking action on a bill. Usually, the representative who filibusters speaks incessantly and on irrelevant topics, in an attempt to wear down the majority into withdrawing a bill. On this date in 1957, Strom Thurmond ended the longest filibuster in US Senate history. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against a civil rights bill, to no avail; the bill passed.
