Editorial Note
On February 26, 1954, the Senate, by a vote of 61-30, passed the amended version of S.J. Res. 1 as proposed by Senator George. However, on the vote to send the resolution to the states for approval or rejection, the vote was 60–31, one short of the two-thirds needed. Both Senator Knowland and Senator Millikin voted in [Page 1852] favor of the George proposal. In his diary entry for February 27, Hagerty noted that the President was not particularly concerned about the Knowland–Millikin “shift” on the Bricker vote. Hagerty expressed his hope that the President “raises hell at the Legislative meeting” on March 1, but he also indicated that he doubted this would happen. According to Hagerty’s notes on the Legislative Leaders’ meeting on March 1, President Eisenhower said of the Bricker Amendment controversy, “That’s over now. Let’s get going. We’ve got a hell of a good thing to sell the country in our program.—let’s get it going. I’ll help any time you want me to, but I don’t want to keep talking all the time, with my tongue chattering like a coffee mill.” (Eisenhower Library, James C. Hagerty papers)