denounced it as "personal political aggrandizement". These senators had received several telegrams during Thurmond's speech encouraging them to assist Thurmond in his filibuster by relieving him, and Thurmond's staff received correspondence from hundreds of Southerners congratulating and encouraging him. Southern Democratic senators did not join the filibuster, despite its popularity among their constituents, because (as Russell put it) the South had already secured a compromise in the bill which would be jeopardized by a filibuster and there was not enough support to prevent a cloture vote anyway. In 1964, Thurmond was involved in a second filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Later that year, he switched his affiliation to the Republican Party. The 1964 filibuster was carried out by a group of Southern senators and was only ended by a cloture vote. Thurmond was repeatedly elected and served in the Senate for 48 years, retiring in 2003 at the age of 100 as the oldest U.S. senator ever. Modern reception Although the filibuster did not use any "overtly racist language" according to The Washington Posts Gillian Brockell in 2021, it has been described as racist by the newspaper because the bill Thurmond filibustered against protected the right of African Americans to vote. In his 2012 biography of Thurmond, Strom Thurmond's America, Crespino noted the impact of Thurmond's filibuster and partial authorship of the Southern Manifesto, a document designed to unify the South against school integration, the previous year. He described these events as "[sealing] Thurmond's reputation as one of the South's last Confederates, a champion of white southerners' campaign of 'massive resistance to civil rights. He further argues that the filibuster was a way for Thurmond to uphold Southern ideas about white strength and endurance, while also burnishing his personal image of masculinity and health. Notes References Print sources 1957 in American politics 85th United States Congress Civil rights in the United States Democratic Party (United States) events Filibuster Filibuster United States Senate August 1957 events in the United States Anti-black racism in the United States