Eisenhower Civil Rights Movement Analysis

Let's start with Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower,elected in 1952. Eisenhower was well aware of the Democratic Congressional commitment to racial segregation. He understood it to be very difficult to make changes in the law and that his progress would be slow. Eisenhower was determined to eliminate racial discrimination in all areas under his authority he issued executive orders halting segregation in the DC area and in federal agencies. Eisenhower was the first president to appoint a black American Frederic Morrow to an executive position on the White House staff. He proposed a civil rights legislative protection plan for blacks in the Southern Democrats States. Democrats in Congress prevented any legislative progress.
In fact, when Eisenhower …show more content…
In fact South Carolina's Senator Storm Thurmond, a Democrat, set the record for the longest individual filibuster speech ever given in Senate history. In 1959 Eisenhower presented a second civil rights bill to Congress again it He spoke for over 24 hours this great effort was solely to block Eisenhower's 1957 civil rights bill, it did unfortunately result in a very watered down version of Eisenhower's original bill.
Once again the bill met with opposition in the House by the Democrats. The bill finally passed in the House and arrived in the Senate. It was gutted by the Democrats before being passed into law. These efforts by Eisenhower played a prominent role in helping secure the civil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s.
Unfortunately, most Americans do not know their history. When Democrat John F Kennedy was elected in 1960 he was less willing than Eisenhower to utilize executive orders to promote civil rights. Kennedy delayed for more than 2 years signing an executive order to integrate public housing. It wasn't until after Democratic Governor George Wallace prevented blacks from entering public schools in Birmingham in 1963 when Kennedy sent a major civil rights bill to Congress, a bill actually based on Eisenhower's 1957 Civil Rights Commission. After Kennedy sent this major civil rights bill to Congress he did work …show more content…
But thanks to Republican senator Everett Dirksen who resurrected Eisenhower's civil rights bill which allowed Johnson to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 then the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Although, both of these important Civil Rights Act was signed into law under a Democratic President it was the Republicans in Congress who made it possible. Johnson was unable to get significant Democratic support to pass either bill during this time. Democrats had 315 members in Congress holding almost two-thirds of the house and two thirds of the Senate. Johnson only needed a majority, only 269 votes to get the bills passed but out of the 315 Democrats only 198 voted for the civil rights and Voting Rights Acts. The Democrats had it completely within their power to pass the bill but did not ,it was the Republicans that overwhelmingly came to the aid of the Democrat President Johnson. In fact 83% of Republicans voted for those bills an almost 20 points higher than that of the Democrats. If it had not been for the strong supporting Republicans the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would never have become law. Let’s not to overlook the fact that the heart of both bills came from the work of a Republican President Dwight D