of the Lend-Lease program. On October 23 of 1941 he voted in favor of supplemental lend-lease funding to help the British Army. On November 7 of 1941 he voted in favor of legislation to amend several sections of the neutrality acts which was intended to make it easier for the United States to provide direct military aid to the United Kingdom during World War II. The British privately described him as "reliably pro-British." He was reelected in 1944, 1950, 1956, and 1962. He retired in January 1969. A moderate-to-liberal populist Democrat, Hill distinguished himself in a number of fields, but was best known for the Hospital and Health Center Construction Act of 1946, better known as the Hill-Burton Act. He also sponsored the Hill-Harris Act of 1963, providing for assistance in constructing facilities for the intellectually disabled and mentally ill. Additionally, he was recognized as the most instrumental man in Congress in gaining greatly increased support for medical research at the nation's medical schools and other research institution. He sponsored other important legislation, including the Rural Telephone Act, the Rural Housing Act, the Vocational Education Act, and the National Defense Education Act of 1958. "Hill also used his position and his persistence in improving conditions in rural areas to allot federal funds for rural libraries. For a decade, he worked to provide library service to those with no or inadequate facilities" and was instrumental in passing the Library Services Act which ensured federal funding to support development of libraries in rural areas and dramatically changed the landscape of libraries in terms of viability, sustainability, and quality. In 1954, Hill signed "The Southern Manifesto" condemning the Supreme Court's 9–0 decision in Brown vs Board of Education ordering school desegregation, but remained a close friend of Supreme Court Justice and fellow Alabamian Hugo Black who voted for the decision. In 1957, he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He also voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, Hill was as much a national figure as a representative of Alabama and the South. During his long years in the Congress, he would, from time to time, break with his southern colleagues to follow his own conscience. For example, in opposition to most southerners in the Congress, he favored federal control of offshore oil, with revenue to be earmarked for education. Hill was the Senate Majority Whip from 1941 to