 Politics was a frequent subject of discussion in the Bradley household , and some of his relatives held local and county political offices . He majored in history at Princeton , and was present in the Senate chamber when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed . Van Breda Kolff and many others who knew him predicted that Bradley would be Governor of Missouri , or President , by 40 . He spent his time at Oxford focusing on European political and economic history . In 1978 , he said that congressman Mo Udall , himself a former professional basketball player , had told him ten years earlier that professional sports could help prepare him for politics , depending on what he did with his non @-@ playing time . 
