Illinois? Oh right NORTHERN, Reagan 'considered' himself CONservative too right?
Dirksen's penchant for changing his mind during his days as a congressman was noted by the Chicago Sun-Times, which once noted that he had changed his mind 62 times on foreign policy matters, 31 times on military affairs, and 70 times on agricultural policies.
Nation: The Leader: Everett Dirkson - TIME
He was a leading "hawk" on the issue of the Vietnam War — a position he held well before Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to escalate the war.
As President Johnson followed Dirksen's recommendations and escalated the war, Dirksen gave him strong public support, as well as strong support inside the Republican caucus, even as some Republicans advised him that it would be to the party's advantage to oppose Johnson.
In 1964, as Southern Democratic Senators staged a filibuster that ran 54 days to block passage of the Civil Rights bill of 1964 (see Civil Rights Act of 1964), Senators Dirksen, Thomas Kuchel (R-CA), Hubert Humphrey (D-MN), and Mike Mansfield (D-MT) introduced a substitute bill and slightly weaker bill that they hoped would attract enough Republican swing votes to end the filibuster. The compromise bill was weaker than the House version regarding government power to regulate the conduct of private business, but it was not so weak as to cause the House to reconsider the legislation. After 57 days of filibuster, the substitute bill passed in the Senate, and then the House-Senate conference committee agreed to adopt the Senate version of the bill.
Everett Dirksen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BUT, I'M NOT TALKING INDIVIDUALS, I'M TALKING EITHER PARTY (GOP) OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS OR CONservatives as a whole, being on the correct side of history! DO YOU DENY CONservatives bloccked CRA in 1964? SOUTHERN CONservatives today's GOP base?