Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filibustered the tax compromise between President Obama and Senate Republicans for over eight hours yesterday afternoon. It was the longest Senate filibuster of the 21st century and the longest since New York Senator Al D'Amato's 15 hour speech in 1992.
However, the Senator from Vermont didn't even come close to breaking the top five United States Senate filibusters of all time.
1. Strom Thurmond (D-SC) - 1957 - 24 hours & 18 minutes.
2. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) - 1986 - 23 hours & 30 minutes.
3. Wayne Morse (I-Oregon) - 1953 - 22 hours & 26 minutes.
4. Robert LaFollette (P-WI) - 1908 - 18 hours & 23 minutes.
5. William Proxmire (D-WI) - 1981 - 16 hours & 12 minutes.
Talk about long winded!
Senator Strom Thurmond's 24 hour filibuster/speech will probably never be surpassed in our lifetime, but then again Senator LaFollette's record breaking speech in the opening decade of the 20th century stood for almost fifty years until Senator Wayne Morse outdid his mentor by over four hours.
What do you think?
Special notes:
Senator Thurmond's filibuster was against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Senator Morse grew up in Wisconsin, and deeply respected LaFollette.
Senator D'Amato is both second and seventh for the longest filibusters.
Senator Byrd's historic filibuster lasted only for 14 hours & 13 minutes.
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