Comparing the Civil Rights Legislation of the 60’s

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Comparing the Civil Rights Legislation of the 60s

• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Voting Rights Act of 1965

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Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Proposed by President John F. Kennedy on June 6,
  1963 in a civil rights speech
• Signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson July
  2, 1964
• Goal was to guarantee equal treatment of every
  American regardless of race.
• Both MLK and Malcolm X listened to Senate debate
  (only time the two met)

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Key Facts and Statistics

• Vote in the House of Representative-February 10,
  1964
• 420 members voted-290 for and 130 against
• Republicans favored bill 138 to 34
• Democrats supported 152-96
• Democrats from northern states voted
  overwhelmingly, 141 to 4
• Democrats from southern states voted
  overwhelmingly against, 92 to 11
• Johnson used bully pulpit of the presidency to
  push legislation through the House.

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Key Facts and Stats

• Vote in the Senate-June 19, 1964
• Efforts to pass bill led by Democratic senator,
  Hubert H. Humphreys and Republican Everett
  Dirksen
• Senator Dirksen responsible for securing support
  to end filibuster with cloture vote.
• Senate passed the bill by a 73 to 27 in a roll
  call vote.
• Six Republicans and 21 Democrats held firm and
  voted against passage.
• Debate lasted 83 days, slightly over 730 hours,
  and had taken up almost 3,000 pages in the
  Congressional Record.

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President Johnson signs bill July 2, 1964

• Johnsons Quote We believe that all men are
  created equal -- yet many are denied equal
  treatment. We believe that all men have certain
  inalienable rights. We believe that all men are
  entitled to the blessings of liberty -- yet
  millions are being deprived of those blessings,
  not because of their own failures, but because of
  the color of their skins. The reasons are
  deeply embedded in history and tradition and the
  nature of man. We can understand without rancor
  or hatred how all this happens. But it cannot
  continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our
  Republic, forbids it. The principles of our
  freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the
  law I sign tonight forbids it....

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Voting Rights Act of 1965

• President Johnson proposed to Congress on March
  17, 1965
• Signed into law by President Johnson August 6,
  1965
• MLK and Rosa Parks in attendance for the signing

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Key Facts and Statistics

• Passed in the Senate, May 26, 1965
• Democrats 47 to 17
• Republicans 30-2
• Passed in the House, July 9, 1965
• Democrats 221-61
• Republicans 112-24
• Conference Committee report passed both House
  (328-74) and Senate (79-18) in August

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Key Facts and Statistics

• Poll taxes and literacy tests are permanently
  banned.
• Other parts are temporary and to be renewed to
  remain in force.
• Other sections of the law renewed in 1970, 1975,
  1982, and 2006

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Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Signatures of President Johnson, Speaker of the
  House, John McCormack , and President of the
  Senate, Hubert Humphrey

• President Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr.
  after the bill is signed into law