US: Under pressure from fellow senators and from the Bush White House, Republican Senator Trent Lott resigned yesterday as leader of the majority party in the US Senate.
Senator Lott's position had steadily weakened all week as criticism mounted over his controversial remarks at a 100th birthday party for Senator Storm Thurmond two weeks ago.
He said he thought the nation would have been better off if Thurmond had won his pro-segregation campaign for the presidency in 1948.
This is the first time a Senate leader has ever had to resign because of controversy, according to Senate Historian Don Ritchie.
The alacrity with which Republicans first condemned and then brought down Senator Lott has gone a long way to undo the damage done by his remarks to the Republican Party's image.
However, the opening up of the race issue had drawn attention to President George Bush's own record, particularly a visit to the Bob Jones University which bans inter-racial dating, during his presidential election campaign in 2000.
Senator Lott made a series of fulsome apologies but he began to lose his grip on the Senate leadership when President Bush issued a forceful denunciation of his remarks last week.
His resignation became inevitable after Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, a close ally of Mr Bush, became the first Republican Senator to challenge Senator Lott openly for the leadership on Thursday.
Several influential senators quickly formed up behind Senator Frist, including Senator John Warner of Virginia.
The final nail in his coffin came when members of the Republican National Committee voted on Thursday evening by more than two to one for the senator to step down.
"In the interest of pursuing the best possible agenda for the future of our country, I will not seek to remain as majority leader of the United States Senate for the 108th Congress, effective January 6th, 2003," said Senator Lott in a terse statement yesterday morning.
A challenge to Senator Frist was expected from Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who had been supporting Lott.
The 51 Republican senators who will serve in the incoming Congress plan to meet on January 6th to decide who their next leader will be.
For most of this week Senator Lott insisted that he would fight to keep the leadership, which would make him Senate Majority Leader in January, a post he held briefly before the Republicans lost their majority through a defection almost two years ago.
Senator Lott (61), who has been the Senate Republican leader since 1996, said he will not resign as senator, ensuring that the Republicans retain their majority of one in the upper house. At the Thurmond birthday party he said: "I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him.
"We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."
This comment drew criticism from outraged black leaders and from white conservatives worried that they would damage the Bush administration's legislative agenda and future outreach to African-American voters.
Incoming House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that Senator Lott's stepping down was an "important step" but that Republicans still needed to do more to address the issue of race.
Senator Kit Mond from Missouri said he had told Senator Lott on Thursday that he thought a change was necessary.
"I concluded that the current controversy has completely overshadowed our efforts to expand the American dream to all Americans. This is unacceptable," Senator Bond said.
President Bush, yesterday said he respected Senator Lott's decision to step down from his leadership post.
"I respect the very difficult decision Trent has made on behalf of the American people," Mr Bush said in a statement.
"Trent is a valued friend and a man I respect. I am pleased he will continue to serve our nation in the Senate, and I look forward to working with him on our agenda to make America safer, stronger and better."