Fifty Years after Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Event Details

Television Broadcast: May 18, 2014

Washington journalist TODD PURDUM recounts the dramatic political battle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the 50th anniversary of its passage. In his latest book, An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Purdum recreates the legislative maneuvering and the all-too-human figures who managed, in just over a year, to create a bill that prompted the longest filibuster in the history of the U.S. Senate yet was ultimately adopted with overwhelming bipartisan support. Purdum evokes the high purpose and low dealings that marked the creation of this monumental law, drawing on extensive archival research and dozens of new interviews that bring to life this signal achievement in American history.  Photo Credit: Gasper Tringale