Sen. Mansfield’s Fight for Civil Rights
There is no patriotic display that has touched me, in these troubled times, as much as your front-page story of Mike Mansfield’s personal and political life (“Longest-Serving Senate Majority Leader Dies at 98,” Oct. 6). I have often wondered what history will have to say about his Senate contemporary, Strom Thurmond, and now I have a pretty good idea what it won’t say.
Born one year and a couple of centuries later than Thurmond, Mansfield is remembered for his valiant fight to bring the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to life for everyone. His great achievements to this end, especially the efforts that finally led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, stand in stark contrast to Thurmond’s unremitting battle to prevent African Americans from claiming the full citizenship that was already guaranteed to them (until, of course, the realities of voting blocs forced him to make concessions).
How proud Mansfield’s family must be to claim as one of their own a man of such intelligence and courage. As a member of his larger American family, I share in that pride. What a man!
Suzanne Mastroianni
Hemet
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