League Baseball owners approved the move of the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland, California, he threatened legislation to revoke the league's antitrust exemption and vowed to support lawsuits challenging the legality of the reserve clause. Kansas City was awarded an expansion team, the Kansas City Royals, which was scheduled to begin play in 1971. Symington, saying Kansas City should not wait, continued to threaten the league, and the team began play in 1969. Symington did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. Resignation In 1976, Symington did not seek a fifth term and resigned on December 27, a week before the end of his final term, so that his Republican successor, John Danforth, would gain a seniority advantage in the Senate. Legacy In 1962, in recognition of his career, Princeton University's American Whig-Cliosophic Society awarded Symington the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service. His son, James W. Symington, served in the United States House of Representatives from Missouri's Second Congressional District from 1969 to 1977. His cousin, Fife Symington III, was Governor of Arizona from 1991 to 1997. His grandson, also named Stuart Symington, is employed by the U.S. State Department, and has served as U.S. ambassador to Djibouti (2006–2008), Rwanda (2008–2011) and Nigeria (2016–2019). Symington was an active member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Symington retired in 1978 to his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he died on December 14, 1988. He is buried in a crypt in Washington National Cathedral. In Jeff Greenfield's alternate history book If Kennedy Lived, Symington is featured as surviving-President John F. Kennedy's running mate in the 1964 presidential election, after Vice President Lyndon Johnson was forced to leave due to financial scandals. See also Symington Amendment References External links |- |- 1901 births 1988 deaths American people of English descent Baltimore City College alumni Burials at Washington National Cathedral Democratic Party United States senators from Missouri Emerson Electric people Missouri Democrats Politicians from Amherst, Massachusetts Politicians from Baltimore Military personnel from Massachusetts Reconstruction Finance Corporation Truman administration personnel United States Army officers Candidates in the 1956 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1960