Editing Mike Mansfield (section)

==U.S. Senator==
In 1952, Mansfield was elected to the [[United States Senate|Senate]] after he had narrowly defeated the Republican incumbent, [[Zales Ecton]].<ref name=senate /> He served as [[Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Whip]] under Majority Leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] from 1957 to 1961.<ref name=congress /> In 1961, after Johnson resigned from the Senate to become Vice President, Mansfield was unanimously elected the Democratic floor leader and thus [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Leader]]. Serving sixteen years, from 1961 until his retirement in 1977, Mansfield is the longest-serving Majority Leader in the history of the Senate.<ref name=senate /> The ''[[Washington Post]]'' compared Mansfield's behavior as Majority Leader to Johnson's by saying, "Instead of Johnson's browbeating tactics, Mansfield led by setting an example of humility and accommodation."<ref name=tribune />
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?102636-1/fmr-senator-mike-mansfield Presentation by Mansfield in the Old Senate Chamber, reflecting on his experiences in and observations about the Senate, March 24, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}}

Mansfield was critical of US involvement in [[Laos]]. On December 28, 1960, he opined that US aid to Laos had produced nothing but "chaos, discontent, armies on the loose, and a large mission of hundreds of officials in [[Vientiane]]."<ref>{{cite book |title=Keesing's Contemporary Archives 1961-1962 |publisher=Keesing's Publications Limited |location=Bristol |page=17979 |volume=XIII |chapter=March 11–18, 1961}}</ref>

An early supporter of [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], Mansfield altered his opinion on the [[Vietnam War]] after a visit to Vietnam in 1962. He reported to [[John F. Kennedy]] on December 2, 1962, that US money given to Diem's government was being squandered and that the US should avoid further involvement in [[Vietnam]]. He was thus the first American official to comment even mildly negatively on the war's condition.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/mike-mansfield-delivers-an-assessment-of-south-vietnam-dec-2-1962-100505 | title=Mike Mansfield delivers assessment of Vietnam, Dec. 2, 1962 | date=December 2, 2013 | first=Andrew | last=Glass | work=[[Politico]] | access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref>

On September 25, 1963, Mansfield introduced Kennedy during a joint appearance with him at the Yellowstone County Fairgrounds, Kennedy expressing his appreciation afterward and adding, "I know that those of you who live in Montana know something of his character and his high standard of public service, but I am not sure that you are completely aware of what a significant role he has played in the last 3 years in passing through the United States Senate measure after measure which strengthens this country at home and abroad."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9434|title=382 - Remarks at the Yellowstone County Fairgrounds, Billings, Montana.|date=September 25, 1963|publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref>

Mansfield delivered a eulogy on November 24, 1963, as President Kennedy's casket [[State funeral of John F. Kennedy|lay in state in the Capitol rotunda]], saying, "He gave that we might give of ourselves, that we might give to one another until there would be no room, no room at all, for the bigotry, the hatred, prejudice, and the arrogance which converged in that moment of horror to strike him down."<ref name="Mansfield">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Fast-Facts/Eulogies.aspx |title=Eulogies to the Late President Kennedy |work=John F. Kennedy Fast Facts: Eulogies for President Kennedy |access-date=January 7, 2015 }}</ref>

During the Johnson administration, Mansfield, convinced that it was a blunder based on just aims, became a skeptic of US involvement in the [[Vietnam War]]. In February 1965, he lobbied against escalating aerial bombardment of [[North Vietnam]] in the aftermath of [[Pleiku]], arguing in a letter to the president that [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] would lead to a need for "vastly strengthened... American forces."<ref>Andrew J. Bacevich, ''Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War'' (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2010), 103.</ref>

In 1964, Mansfield, as Senate Majority Leader, filed a procedural motion to have the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] discussed by the whole Senate rather than by the [[Senate Judiciary Committee|Judiciary Committee]], which had killed similar legislation seven years earlier.<ref name=judiciarysenategov>{{cite news|work=United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|title=Recess Reading: An Occasional Feature From The Judiciary Committee: The Civil Rights Act of 1964|url=http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/history/CivilRightsAct.cfm|access-date=December 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428161043/https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/history/CivilRightsAct.cfm|archive-date=April 28, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mansfield voted in favor of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Acts of 1964]] and [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|1968]],<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – June 19, 1964|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=110|issue=11|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=14511|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11-3-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 11, 1968|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=114|issue=5|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=5992|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1968-pt5/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1968-pt5-4-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> as well as the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 27, 1962|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=108|issue=4|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=5105|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – May 26, 1965|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=111|issue=2|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=11752|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt9/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt9-2-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 4, 1965|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=111|issue=14|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=19378|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt14/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt14-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Mansfield voted in favor of the initial Senate amendment to the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] on August 7, 1957,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> but did not vote on the House amendment to the bill on August 29, 1957.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Mansfield did not vote on the [[Civil Rights Act of 1960]] or the confirmation of [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 30, 1967|journal=[[Congressional Record]]|volume=113|issue=18|publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|page=24656|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1967-pt18/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1967-pt18-7-2.pdf|access-date=February 5, 2022}}</ref>

He hailed the new [[Richard Nixon]] administration, especially the "[[Nixon Doctrine]]" announced at [[Guam]] in 1969 that the US would honor all treaty commitments, provide a [[nuclear umbrella]] for its allies, and supply weapons and technical assistance to countries where warranted without committing American forces to local conflicts.

In turn, Nixon turned to Mansfield for advice and as his liaison with the Senate on Vietnam. Nixon began a steady withdrawal and replacement of US troops shortly after he took office in January 1969, a policy supported by Mansfield. During his first term, Nixon reduced American forces by 95%, leaving only 24,200 in late 1972; the last ones left in March 1973.

During the economic crisis of 1971, Mansfield was not afraid to reach across the aisle to help the economy:

<blockquote>What we're in is not a Republican recession or a Democratic recession; both parties had much to do with bringing us where we are today. But we're facing a national situation which calls for the best which all of us can produce, because we know the results will be something which we will regret.<ref>[http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title "Economic Crisis: 1971 Year in Review, UPI.com"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142809/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/ |date=2009-05-03}}</ref></blockquote>

Mansfield attended the November 17, 1976, meeting between President-elect [[Jimmy Carter]] and Democratic congressional leaders in which Carter sought out support for a proposal to have the president's power to reorganize the government reinstated with potential to be vetoed by Congress.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/18/archives/carter-asks-leaders-of-congress-to-help-in-a-reorganization-he-is.html|title=CARTER ASKS LEADERS OF CONGRESS TO HELP IN A REORGANIZATION|first=Warren Jr.|last=Weaver|newspaper=New York Times|date=November 18, 1976}}</ref>

===Mansfield Amendments===
Two controversial amendments by Mansfield limiting military funding of research were passed by Congress.
*The Mansfield Amendment of 1969, passed as part of the fiscal year 1970 Military Authorization Act (Public Law 91-121), prohibited military funding of research that lacked a direct or apparent relationship to specific military function. Through subsequent modification the Mansfield amendment moved the Department of Defense toward the support of more short-term applied research in universities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Federally funded research, decisions for a decade|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1991/9121/912104.PDF}} Office of Technology Assessment report. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Science of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, first session, March 20, 1991.by the United States. Congress. House. Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Subcommittee on Science. Pub: Washington: U.S. G.P.O.: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, U.S. G.P.O., 1991. Chapter 2: The Value of Science and the Changing Research Economy, p. 61.</ref> The amendment affected the military, such as research funding by the Office of Naval Research (ONR).<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Reverberations from the Mansfield Amendment |journal=Analytical Chemistry|volume=42|issue=7|pages=689|doi=10.1021/ac60289a600|year=1970 |last1=Laitinen |first1=Herbert A. }}</ref>
*The Mansfield Amendment of 1973 expressly limited appropriations for defense research through the [[Advanced Research Projects Agency]], which is largely independent of the military, to projects with direct military application.<ref>{{cite web |title=DARPA History|url=http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_DARPA01.htm}} See "Mansfield Amendment of 1973" about halfway down the page.</ref>  This controversial amendment greatly reduced ARPA funding for many university-based computer projects, thereby forcing many American [[computer science]] experts to move to private sector research facilities such as [[Xerox PARC]].  However, for that very reason, the amendment is also credited with giving birth to the contemporary computer technology industry.<ref name="Waks_Page_74">{{cite book |last1=Waks |first1=Leonard J. |author1-link=Leonard J. Waks |title=Education 2.0: The Learning Web Revolution and the Transformation of the School |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=London and New York |isbn=9781317260790 |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HCzvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74}}</ref>

An earlier Mansfield Amendment, offered in 1971, called for the number of US troops stationed in Europe to be halved. On May 19, 1971, however, the Senate defeated the resolution 61–36.