While a prime mentor of Johnson , Russell and the then-president Johnson also disagreed over civil rights . Russell , a segregationist , had repeatedly blocked and defeated civil rights legislation via use of the filibuster , and had co-authored the Southern Manifesto in opposition to civil rights . He had not supported the States Rights ' Democratic Party of Strom Thurmond in 1948 , but he opposed civil rights laws as unconstitutional and unwise . Unlike Theodore Bilbo , " Cotton Ed " Smith and James Eastland , who had reputations as ruthless , tough-talking , heavy-handed race baiters , he never justified hatred or acts of violence to defend segregation . But he strongly defended white supremacy and apparently did not question it or ever apologize for his segregationist views , votes and speeches . Russell was key , for decades , in blocking meaningful civil rights legislation intended to protect African-Americans from lynching , disenfranchisement , and disparate treatment under the law . After Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , Russell ( along with more than a dozen other southern Senators , including Herman Talmadge and Russell Long ) boycotted the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City
1964 Democratic National Convention
1964 Democratic National Convention
Richard Russell Jr.