The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

The well-bred Rights work out Of 1964The urbane Rights procedure of 1964 ridded the nation of this legal segregation and cle ared a path towards equivalence and integration. The release of this Act, while forever altering the relationship between blacks and whites, trunk as single of recitals greatest political battles.The first of its kind since the civilized War, this neb drastic wholey called for the end of all segregation in all public places. In the eyes of the accomplishedian rights work leading, this standard was desire over due.Kennedys crusade began slowly to the dismay of galore(postnominal) cultured rights leaders in February of 1963. He began by sending the join States congress a Special Message on Civil Rights, stating,Our Constitution is color blind, provided the practices of the country do non always conform to the principles of the Constitution(Loevy, 5).Kennedy received flattery for these strong and moving words yet was criticized for his wea k legislative proposals to still the situation. By May of 1963, his proposal would change greatly however, after twain men, from opposite positions set the civil rights movement into intense motion. Martin Luther King disdain advice to do otherwise began massive protests in the street of Birmingham. To combat these protests, legal philosophy Commissioner Bull Conner used both means, including dogs, fire hoses, and electric cattle prods on protestors. Making newspapers and television e reallywhere, the Birmingham atrocity along with Kings famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, ignite the moral conscious of Americans nationwide. While Conner earned a negative reputation, chair Kennedy wisely commented, Bull Connor has done to a greater extent for civil rights than anyone elseThe civil rights movement should thank God for him. He has helped it as much as Abraham capital of Nebraska (Whalen 86). The apparent Birmingham defeat for King in reality was the key focalize in which the ba ttle to win civil rights became a national contract with the President as one of its strongest allies.Before the Birmingham situation, Kennedy kept a slender balance with the civil rights activists and the southern Democrats. While in office, Congress consisted of a great function of gray Democrats with some liberal Northerners and Western Democrats (Loevy 8). In order to pass many of his liberal programs, a large number of them economic, Kennedy needed the support of these Southern Democrats. To add to this complicated situation, Kennedy knew that while the Southern Democrats would not support civil rights proposals directly, his economic plans, including aid to education and rhytidectomy the minimum wage, if approved, would benefit the black population. Kennedy also needed the Southern Democrats voter support in the upcoming 1964 presidential election to secure re-election. every aggravation to this party would only guarantee a loss for Kennedy.motivate by the Birmingham sit uation, by the summer of 1963 Kennedy could no longer placate the Southern Democrats by leaving civil rights legislation untouched. Although realizing how action could endanger his chances for re-election, he saw beyond politics and into the moral issue. With public support Kennedy was uncoerced to wage in the political war that would inevitably ensue. Kennedy and Johnson both were very aware of the walls that Congress would build to stop any proposals involving civil rights. neighboring(a) and utile action became the new focus.Together Kennedy, Johnson, and the civil rights leaders combine efforts to achieve speedy and thorough results. By May 31, 1963, Kennedy announced his plans for the civil rights movements to the public. First hand attempts to maintain segregation by the outspoken racist Governor George Wallace of Alabama provided Kennedy with the ideal timing to deliver his message. Before flat outlining the details of his new proposal he told the nation, Next week I sh all ask the Congress of the fall in States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life or law (Loevy 17). without delay thereafter, he and Johnson headed meetings to outline the plans. The Leadership congregation of Civil Rights consisting of fifty or so civil rights schemes which had previously been established after Kennedys initial proposals, called for a meeting on July 2nd inviting its participating members but also all-inclusive invitation to an additional fifty religious groups and other possible helpful groups. The organization lastly felt confident in fighting for this tirade with unharmed determination to overrun possible roadblocks by mobilizing the nation behind the pen nib (Berman 57). Despite administrative support from Kennedy and Johnson, their goal remained difficult to achieve.The Leadership gathering dedicated their goals to achieving a Fair Employment Practices Commission (F EPC), a cooking called straggle III, named after the third proposed Eisenhower administration civil rights report, and eliminating segregation in all accommodations. The FEPC would consist of enforcing employment gibeity and fairness while the Part III would allow the United States attorney general to file civil rights suits, thereby relieving individuals of filing a suit which could cause dangerous retaliations. perspicacious the approval of this proposal would be hard to attain the Leadership throng strove for all, while accepting that concessions would most likely have to be made. allay attempting to mobilize the public and get the bill some attention, the civil rights activists go along to demonstrate. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, headed by King, had over 200,000 participants and proved those who feared craze wrong. The protest go on with peace while the crowd repeated, Pass the turn on (Levy 24). Despite the success of the protest in Washington D.C., the Leadership Conference was having a hard time getting the proposed bill past the reside Judiciary Committee.The Bill needed to be tailored to get the afterlife approval of both the Republican and Democratic civil rights supporters, enough to knock over the perceived resistant Senate by 2/3s vote if necessary. Yet the bill could not be so tailored that it be minimally effective in the eyes of the Leadership Conference. Finally after a justification to the House Judiciary Committee by Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, a bill hoping to please all parties moved to the House of Representatives. However when it appeared that the bill was finally making some headway, the unthinkable happened, President Kennedy was assassinated.Many civil rights leaders feared that Johnson, originally from the South, would not push for the bill as Kennedy had. However, Johnson surprised many when he pushed for the bill as before. In his first address to Congress after Kennedys death, Johnson stat ed, No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedys memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long (Loevy, 356). By that February the bill made its way through the House of Representatives with a vote of 290-130. Resembling Kennedys October 1963 proposal the House of Representatives surprised many by adding an amendment guaranteeing women as well as minorities to the protection of employment opportunity section of the bill (Loevy 357).Once in the Senate, however, the bill faced its biggest challenges, including the infamous block, or talking the bill to death. Since the Senate allows for timeless debate on bills, making the filibuster a clever tactic, a settlement or two-thirds vote is necessary to overrule and end any debating. From March to June the bill was debated in the Senate until finally a vote of 71-29 on June 10, 1964, overruled the filibustering Senators. For the first time in American history , a southern filibuster of a civil rights bill was stopped by a cloture (Loevy 360). The civil rights supporters were satisfied with the fact that the bill included ending segregation in nearly all public places, cut off United States Government funds to programs that discriminated, and guaranteed equal employment opportunity. In order to lift a second filibuster, the House of Representatives approved the bill with the Senates amendments making the civil rights bill the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, as President Johnson gestural the bill in one of the largest bill-signing ceremonies ever.The political fight that occurred in the Senate by determined Southern Democrats will forever remain as one of the greatest legislative showdowns in American history. After passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 however, no longer could segregation be legal or tolerated. In public places the rights of a black person were to be equal to that of a white person. In employment, blacks, minorities, and women could not be discriminated against. The federal organization cut off funds to any business, educational institution, state or local government that practiced racial discrimination. To enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law also stated that the United States Department of Justice and the federal Bureau of Investigation were to intervene in situations in the South where blacks continued to be denied civil rights.The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only changed the United States on a social level but politically too. This bill set the precedent for using a cloture to stop a filibuster in the Senate. Similar cloture votes in 1966 and 1968, with bills for equal suffrage rights and guaranteed equal housing respectively were used to stop Southern filibusters. The Civil Rights Act also proved that mass demonstration and peaceful protesting are heard in Washington D.C. Martin Luther King and the Leadership Conference started with nothing and achieved everything. From the seg regated South those who fought for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed the course of American history and ridded the nation of inequality under the law.