During his time in both the House and the Senate, Everett Dirksen had built a solid record in support of civil rights, having introduced a bill for a civil rights commission in the House in 1953 and worked for the 1960 civil rights bill in the Senate. Before that he had promoted antipoll tax bills (Democrats put those in place) and antilynching legislation. To Dirksen, civil rights represented an important moral issue, even though he seldom received the political support of Chicago's black voters.
Forty percent of the House Democrats VOTED AGAINST the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while eighty percent of Republicans SUPPORTED it. Republican support in the Senate was even higher. Similar trends occurred with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was supported by 82% of House Republicans and 94% of Senate Republicans. The same Democrat standard bearers took their normal racists stances, this time with Senator Fulbright leading the opposition effort.
It took the hard work of Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and Republican Whip Thomas Kuchel to pass the Civil Rights Act (Dirksen was presented a civil rights accomplishment award for the year by the head of the NAACP in recognition of his efforts). Upon breaking the Democrat filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Republican Dirksen took to the Senate floor and exclaimed "The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing in government, in education, and in employment. It will not be stayed or denied. It is here!" (Full text of speech). Sadly, Democrats and revisionist historians have all but forgotten (and intentionally so) that it was Republican Dirksen, not the divided Democrats, who made the Civil Rights Act a reality. Dirksen also broke the Democrat filibuster of the 1957 Civil Rights Act that was signed by Republican President Eisenhower. (Link)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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5 comments:
Sadly when it came down to the vote, the political party division had more to do with the South against the North. It didn't matter whether the senator was democrat or republican, most representatives from the South were opposed the Civil Rights Act. As you well should know, the 1960's political parties were very different from the parties of today.
That said, Republicans in the south did register blacks to vote without a tax or a test. That's how Condi Rice's family came to be Republicans. Also, only the Democrats seemed to think they couldn't get elected without the help of the KKK. The northern Democrats were more than happy to accept the southern in their fold.
What history re write are you reading? South will rise again-or already has by Jesse Helms?
It is you anon 10:30, who has been reading the rewrite of history. The Democrats have been and continue to be the racists in politics, policy and programs. They instituted the poll tax, the Jim Crow laws and segregated the schools. One third of all abortions are for black women. Abortion is a Democrat policy.
In "Wrong on Race (2008), Bruce Bartlett sets the record straight on a hidden past that many Democrats would rather see swept under the carpet. Ranging from the founding of the Republic through to today, it rectifies the unfair perceptions of America's two national parties. While Nixon's infamous "Southern Strategy" is constantly referenced in the media, less well remembered are Woodrow Wilson's segregation of the entire Federal civil service; FDR's appointment of a member of the KKK to the Supreme Court; John F. Kennedy's apathy towards civil rights legislation; and the ascension of Robert Byrd, who is current President pro tempore of the Senate, third in line in the presidential line of succession, and a former member of the KKK.
For the last seventy years, African Americans have voted en masse for one party, with little in the end to show for it. Is it time for the pendulum to swing the other way?
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