Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act.

by R.D. Davis

Former basketball star and current Democratic presidential candidate Bill
Bradley hasn't fouled an opponent on the basketball court in years, but
lately he's fouling the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bradley claims the
congressional vote on the Act led to which political party he would join.

Oh, really?

On October 9, 1999 at an Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, Bradley
exclaimed: "I remember the exact moment that I became a Democrat. It was the
summer of 1964; I was an intern in Washington between my junior and senior
year in college.

And I was in the Senate chamber the night the 1964 Civil
Rights Act passed that desegregated public accommodations in America... And
I became a Democrat because it was the party of justice. It was Democrats
that stepped forward that evening in the Senate and cast their vote that
washed away the stain of segregation in this country."

I believe that Democrats have lied about who supported the Civil Rights Act
for so long that they actually believe their lies. But anytime this lie is
retold, I feel compelled to debunk it. So here we go again...

The Congressional Quarterly of June 26, 1964 (p. 1323) recorded that, in the
Senate, only 69% of Democrats (46 for, 21 against) voted for the Civil
Rights Act as compared to 82% of Republicans (27 for, 6 against). All
southern Democratic senators voted against the Act.

This includes the current senator from West Virginia and former KKK member Robert C. Bryd and former Tennessee senator Al Gore, Sr. (the father of Bradley's Democratic
opponent).

Surely young Bradley must have flunked his internship because
ostensibly he did not learn that the Act's primary opposition came from the
southern Democrats' 74-day filibuster. In addition, he did not know that 21
is over three times as much as six, otherwise he would have become -
according to the logic of his statement - a Republican.

In the House of Representatives, 61% of Democrats (152 for, 96 against)
voted for the Civil Rights Act; 92 of the 103 southern Democrats voted
against it. Among Republicans, 80% (138 for, 34 against) voted for it.

Since Bradley was interning in the Senate, why doesn't he remember the major
role the Republicans played in fighting for civil rights?

During the Eisenhower Administration, the Republican Party made more progress in civil rights than in the preceding 80 years. According to Congressional Quarterly,
"Although the Democratic-controlled Congress watered them down, the
Administration's recommendations resulted in significant and effective civil
rights legislation in both 1957 and 1960 - the first civil rights statutes
to be passed in more than 80 years" ("The Republican Party 1960 Civil Rights
Platform," May 1964).

It reported on April 5, 1963 that, " A group of eight
Republican senators in March joined in introducing a series of 12 civil
rights bills that would implement many of the recommendations made in the
Civil Rights Commission report of 1961."

The principal measures introduced by these Republicans broadened the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, making it "designed to pass unlike Democratic 'public
relations' attempts" (CQ, February 15, 1963, p. 191). Republican senators
overwhelmingly "chided" President John Kennedy about his "failure to act in
this field (civil rights).

" Republican senators criticized the Kennedy
Administration's February 28, 1963 civil rights message as "falling far
short" of the Civil Rights Commission's recommendations and both party
platforms.

"If the President will not assume the leadership in getting
through Congress urgently needed civil rights measures," the Republican
senators said, " then Congress must take the initiative" (CQ, April 5, 1963,
p. 527).

At the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson
praised the Republicans for their "overwhelming" support. Roy Wilkins,
then-NAACP chairman, awarded Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett
Dirksen of Illinois the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights Award for his
"remarkable civil rights leadership.

" Moreover, civil rights activist Andrew Young wrote in his book
An Easy Burden that "The southern segregationists
were all Democrats, and it was black Republicans... who could effectively
influence the appointment of federal judges in the South" (p. 96).

Young added that the best civil rights judges were Republicans appointed by
President Dwight Eisenhower and that "these judges are among the many unsung
heroes of the civil rights movement."

The historical facts and numbers show the Republican Party was more for
civil rights than the Democrats from "the party of justice," as Bill Bradley
called it. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, in reality, could not have been
passed without Republican votes.

It is an "injustice" for contemporary Democratic politicians
and the liberal news media to continue to not give
the Republicans credit for their civil rights triumphs.

Now is the time for Republicans to start informing black Americans
of those historical triumphs to lead them back to their "home party."

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NVDavisBradley1299.html