In 1962 and 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court announced its rulings enjoining prayers and devotional Bible reading in the public schools. Stunned by the edicts, hundreds of thousands of Americans expressed their ire by imploring members of Congress to initiate a constitutional amendment to overturn the federal decrees, a step for which there had been precedents in the enactment of the Eleventh and Sixteenth Amendments. Despite spectacular efforts to frame a school prayer amendment in the two houses of Congress, passage failed in each case. Notwithstanding the disillusionment which attended these failures, school prayer advocates continue to press relentlessly for legislative action. - Preface.