Bidens Ties To Segregationist Senator Spark Campaign Tension

(The Philadelphia Inquirer) Matt Viser and Annie Linskey  June 20 2019 10:59 PM Joe Biden was a freshman senator the youngest member of the august body when he reached out to an older colleague for help on one of his early legislative proposals: The courts were ordering racially segregated school districts to bus children to create more integrated classrooms a practice Biden opposed and wanted to change. I want you to know that I very much appreciate your help during this weeks Committee meeting in attempting to bring my antibusing legislation to a vote Biden wrote on June 30 1977. The recipient of Bidens entreaty was Sen. James Eastland at the time a well-known segregationist who had called blacks an inferior race and once vowed to prevent blacks and whites from eating together in Washington. The exchange revealed in a series of letters offers a new glimpse into an old relationship that erupted this week as a major controversy for Bidens presidential campaign. Biden on Wednesday night described his relationship with Eastland as one he had to put up with. He said of his relationships with Eastland and another staunch segregationist and southern Democrat Sen. Herman Talmadge of Georgia that the fact of the matter is that we were able to do it because we were able to win we were able to beat them on everything they stood for. But the letters show a different type of relationship one in which they were aligned on a legislative issue. Biden said at the time that he did not think that busing was the best way to integrate schools in Delaware and that systemic racism should be dealt with by investing in schools and improving housing policies. The letters were provided Thursday to the Washington Post by the University of Mississippi which houses Eastlands archived papers. They were reported in April by CNN.