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Steam baths before a filibuster
Thurmond's marathon
Before he spoke, Thurmond took steam baths, apparently, to dehydrate himself so he would not have to leave the floor.
That is how a filibuster worked in those days. A senator held the floor and kept talking until he could no longer talk, and the other side broke it by waiting him out.
Cruz and cloture
Texas Senator Ted Cruz reached for the same tool in 2015, reading Green Eggs and Ham aloud in an attempt to block the Affordable Care Act.
Cloture is what stops a filibuster: it ends the debate and forces a vote, and it takes three-fifths of the Senate, 60 votes. It does not work like that anymore, because a senator now only has to signal the intent to filibuster.
Why did Thurmond filibuster the 1957 civil rights bill?
Thurmond was a South Carolina Democrat who opposed federal civil rights laws, and he had run for president in 1948 on the segregationist States' Rights ticket. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights law since Reconstruction. It created a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department and aimed to protect voting rights. The Senate passed the bill soon after his speech, and President Eisenhower signed it that September.
How does a senator hold the floor so long?
Senate practice generally requires a senator holding the floor to keep standing and speaking, and giving it up risks losing it. Remarks can generally wander from the bill, so a speaker can fill hours with other material. According to the Senate's historical office, Thurmond read the Declaration of Independence and George Washington's Farewell Address, among other texts. Huey Long of Louisiana once filled his filibuster time with recipes for fried oysters and pot-likker.
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