Strom Thurmond's 24-hour 18-minute Senate floor speech remains the longest single-person filibuster in U.S. Senate history.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 24 hours and 18 minutes
- Start time
- 8:54 p.m., August 28, 1957
- End time
- 9:12 p.m., August 29, 1957
- Senator
- Strom Thurmond (D-SC)
- Bill targeted
- Civil Rights Act of 1957
- Bill outcome
- Passed ~2 hours after filibuster ended
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Strom Thurmond, an ardent segregationist and Democratic senator from South Carolina, opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which expanded federal protections for African American voting rights. He viewed the bill as both unnecessary and unconstitutional, and sought to prevent or delay its passage by exploiting Senate rules permitting extended floor speeches.
Beginning at 8:54 p.m. on August 28, 1957, Thurmond delivered an uninterrupted floor speech lasting 24 hours and 18 minutes. He recited the election laws of every U.S. state, Supreme Court decisions, and George Washington's Farewell Address, arguing against the bill's provisions on constitutional and procedural grounds.
The filibuster failed to stop the legislation; the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passed approximately two hours after Thurmond concluded and was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower within two weeks. Thurmond received mixed reactions, having broken an informal agreement among Southern senators, and the speech became the longest single-person filibuster in Senate history as of 2026.