Everett Dirksen

Everett McKinley Dirksen (1896–1969) was the leading conservative in the Senate after the untimely death of Senator Robert Taft in 1953. From Illinois, Dirksen first won his Senate seat in a huge upset by defeating the Senate Majority Leader, a Democrat. Dirksen won by campaigning against communism an siding with Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Dirksen was famous for his oratorical skills and likable, down-to-earth appearance. He was also a very shrewd politician who in just his second term was voted by a wide margin of 20-14 to become the Minority Leader in the Senate. So loved by his colleagues that within three years of his untimely death from cancer they renamed a Senate building as the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

In 1966, Dirksen sponsored a constitutional amendment to allow prayer in public school. It attacted 49 votes, far short of the two-thirds (67 votes) needed for passage. In 1964, Dirksen helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act.

The most famous quote attributed to Dirksen was his stinging criticism of government spending: "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money."

Dirksen's speaking voice was so resonant that he recorded four albums. His "Gallant Men" won a Grammy Award and rose to #29 on the U.S. Billboard charts.