 Mark O. Hatfield's biographical sketch of Barkley noted that he was "the last [vice president] to preside regularly over the Senate, the last not to have an office in or near the White House, [and] the last to identify more with the legislative than the executive branch".Despite the Democrats' advantage in the Senate, conservative Democrats united with the Republican minority to oppose much of Truman's agenda, most notably, civil rights legislation.In March 1949, Democratic floor leader Scott W. Lucas introduced an amendment to Senate Rule XXII to make cloture easier to achieve; hoping to end a ten-day filibuster against a civil rights bill.