Halleck was in the President’s office when he made this call. Johnson could not get the Civil Rights Bill out of the Rules Committee in the House as the Chairman was a Southern racist. The only alternative was a Discharge Petition where more than half the House members sign a petition to bring the Act to the floor for a vote. But earlier in an attempt to maintain Republican Party Discipline, Halleck—the Republican Leader—had publicly announced that any Republican who signed a discharge petition would be expelled from the party. However Purdue University was in Halleck’s District and they had started a program in Space Engineering. Halleck went to visit Webb and Purdue received a huge set of NASA grants and contracts to build up their Space Program. Halleck called Republican House members and told them that he had changed his mind about the discharge petition which was signed and filed shortly thereafter enabling the House to vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a number of the future years, the selection of the NASA Astronauts was so stringent that only Purdue graduates were able to be selected.
