Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
Longest solo Senate speech intended to stall legislation
Strom Thurmond filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
On August 28, 1957, Strom Thurmond, a Democratic United States senator from South Carolina, began a filibuster intended to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The filibuster—an extended speech designed to stall legislation—began at 8:54 p.m. and lasted until 9:12 p.m. the following day, a duration of 24 hours and 18 minutes. This makes the filibuster the longest single-person filibuster in United States Senate history as of 2026. It was also the longest single-person Senate speech until 2025, when the record was broken by Cory Booker of New Jersey, with Booker speaking for 25 hours and 5 minutes. Thurmond's filibuster focused primarily on asserting that the bill in question, which provided for expanded federal protection of African American voting rights, was both unnecessary and unconstitutional, and Thurmond recited from documents including the election laws of each U.S. state, Supreme Court decisions, and George Washington's Farewell Address. Thurmond focused on a...
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