Tag: emmanuel cellar
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Legislation in an Emergency: Kefauver Tries to Prepare Government for the Atomic Age
The atomic bomb ushered in a frightening new world with unexpected risks. Kefauver tried to fix the Constitution to safeguard Congress in the event of a disaster. Why didn’t it work?
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I’m 18 and I Like It: Kefauver and Youth Voting
The national voting age was lowered to 18 by the 26th Amendment in 1971. But that amendment would never have come to pass without decades of work by Kefauver – and a forgotten Senator from West By-God Virginia.
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And Justice for All: Kefauver’s Fight for Poor Defendants
Kefauver believed strongly in the rule of law and fighting for the poor and working class. So when Congress considered the question of providing lawyers for low-income defendants, Kefauver was all in.
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Haste Makes Waste… and Bad Laws: Kefauver and the Jencks Act
What do you get when you have two months to pass a law driven by anti-Communist paranoia, anti-Supreme Court resentment, and with the FBI and Justice Department holding a gun to your head? Nothing good. But it’s a law that’s stood for 75 years.
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Nothing Succeeds Like Succession: Kefauver and the 25th Amendment
For 180 years after the Constitution, we had no idea what happened when the President was too sick to do the job. Kefauver tried to fix the problem… but it took a tragedy to get his colleagues to listen.
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Deep in the Heart of Texas: Kefauver Declines to Referee Football Feud
Like baseball’s Continental League, an upstart football league looks to Kefauver’s Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee for help when the older league tries to freeze them out. But this time, Kefauver stays out of it.
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Electoral College Dropout: Kefauver and Election Reform
In 1962, Kefauver wrote an article calling for electoral college reform. His call went unheeded… and we’re still paying the price for it today.
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Talkin’ Baseball: Kefauver, the Reserve Clause, and Expansion
A lot of Senators can claim to be responsible for important laws. But how many of them can claim to be responsible for the creation of four pro baseball teams? Estes Kefauver can. Find out how he, along with a New York lawyer and a longtime exec, forced MLB to expand against its will.
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Kefauver’s Crowning Achievement: The Prescription Drug Hearings
Estes Kefauver’s decades-long fight against corporate power culminated in a bill to mandate prescription drug safety and efficacy. It was his signature legislative accomplishment – but in his mind, it was a half-measure at best.
Estes Kefauver for President 