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Kennedy names Thurgood Marshall to a federal appeals seat; Southern senators plan to slow-walk it

The Second Circuit nomination sets off an eight-month confirmation fight before Marshall ever hears a case as a sitting judge.

On September 23, 1961, President John F. Kennedy nominated Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP's lead civil rights lawyer, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the country's most influential appellate benches, covering New York, Vermont, and Connecticut. Southern senators, hostile to Marshall's record fighting segregation, refused to move the nomination through committee. Kennedy gave Marshall a recess appointment that October so he could start work, but the Senate did not confirm him for the seat until September 11, 1962…

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More from September 23
1779

Jones refuses to strike, and takes Serapis by lantern light

Lashed to a bigger, better-armed British frigate, the Bonhomme Richard wins by refusing to let go.
1957

Eisenhower orders troops into Little Rock to open Central High's doors

The same Arkansas Guard Governor Faubus used to bar nine Black students is now ordered to protect them.
1952

Nixon goes on television and refuses to give up the dog

Facing calls to quit the ticket, the senator lays open his bank accounts and says he is keeping Checkers no matter what.
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A royal cedula halts Spanish colonizing efforts in Florida, issued the same year Philip II makes Madrid his permanent capital.
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More from Cold War America
1964

Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act; King watches as a year's promise becomes law

The bill survived 72 days of Senate delay to pass 73 to 27, outlawing discrimination by race, sex, religion, and national origin in schools, workplaces, and public accommodations.
1960

50-star flag rises over Fort McHenry; Hawaii's star joins the banner at last

Eisenhower ordered the new design the moment Hawaii's admission was official last August, and the flag now flying above Baltimore carries the pattern for all 50 states.
1962

AEC detonates 'Sedan' 636 feet underground at Yucca Flat; 12 million tons of earth go skyward

The radioactive cloud is already drifting east, and early tracking puts fallout exposure across the Midwest at more than 13 million people.
1958

Eisenhower signs Alaska into the union; the territory has waited forty years for this moment

The House voted 210-166, the Senate 64-20; Alaska is cleared to become the 49th state, though formal admission is not yet complete.
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