were very different back then. smith was a democrat and caro says smith's southern democrats were conservative and racist and powerful. >> the southerners controlled congress, and there was -- the civil rights was boiling up on the streets of the south, there were so many heroes there. 1964 is the summer when cheney and goodman and schwerner were killed. it's the summer where all the fire hoses were being turned on the little children. they're rolling that little girl down the street. it was horrible. but the civil rights bill was a movement. the civil rights democrats didn't care what the national sentiment was. in their state, if it was a senator, the voters didn't care for that. they liked their stand against civil rights. >> johnson had a secret weapon he would wield called a discharge petition. if a majority of house members signed it, the floundering civil rights act would have to be