The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act

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by Risen, Clay


  Lytle, Clifford M. “The History of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964.” The Journal of Negro History 51, no. 4 (October 1966): 275–96.

  Osterman, Rachel. “Origins of a Myth: Why Courts, Scholars, and the Public Think Title VII’s Ban on Sex Discrimination Was an Accident.” Yale Journal of Law and Feminism 20, no. 2 (2009): 409–40.

  Pittman, R. Carter. “Equality Versus Liberty: The Eternal Conflict.” American Bar Association Journal 46 (August 1960): 873–80.

  Stevens, Arthur G., Jr., Arthur H. Miller, and Thomas E. Mann. “Mobilization of Liberal Strength in the House, 1955–1970: The Democratic Study Group.” American Political Science Review 68, no. 2 (June 1974): 667–81.

  Thompson, Llewellyn E. II. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964: Present at Its Birth.” University of San Francisco Law Review 29 (Spring 1995): 681–84.

  Government Documents

  U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 5. HR 405, 2999, 4031, and Similar Bills to Prohibit Discrimination in Employment in Certain Cases Because of Race, Religion, Color, National Origin, Ancestry, or Age. 88th Congress, 1st Session, 1963.

  U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 5. Miscellaneous Proposals Regarding the Civil Rights of Persons Within the Jurisdiction of the United States. 88th Congress, 1st Session, 1963.

  U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on the Judiciary. HR 7152, as Amended by Subcommittee No. 5. 88th Congress, 1st Session, 1963.

  U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Rules. HR 7152, Part 1 of 2. 88th Congress, 2nd Session, 1964.

  U.S. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Rules. HR 7152, Part 2 of 2. 88th Congress, 2nd Session, 1964.

  U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Subcommittee on Employment and Manpower. S.773, S.1210, S.1211, and S.1937, Bills Relating to Equal Employment Opportunity. 88th Congress, 1st Session, 1963.

  Notes

  Introduction

  1 Lawrence Journal World, July 3, 1964, 2.

  2 Reporter, August 13, 1964, 44; Time, July 17, 1964, 39.

  3 “Compliance with Title II: A Summary of Field Reports from Southern States,” box 27, Burke Marshall Papers, John F. Kennedy Library.

  4 Fite, Richard B. Russell, 415.

  5 Martin Luther King Jr., “Hammer of Civil Rights,” Nation, March 9, 1964, http://www.thenation.com/article/157742/hammer-civil-rights#axzz2fqfOSRLD, accessed September 24, 2013.

  Chapter 1: Bad Beginnings to a Big Year

  1 Christian Science Monitor, February 14, 1963, 6; Cleveland Call and Post, February 23, 1963, 1c; New Journal and Guide, February 16, 1963, B1.

  2 New Journal and Guide, ibid.

  3 New Journal and Guide, February 16, 1963, B1; Jet, February 28, 1963, 12–13.

  4 Atlanta Daily World, February 21, 1963, 2; Jet, ibid, 10.

  5 Washington Post, February 28, 1988, B10; Chicago Defender, January 5, 1964, 4.

  6 Martin Luther King Jr., ‘‘A Bold Guide for a New South,’’ Nation, March 6, 1963, http://www.thenation.com/article/157763/archive-bold-design-new-south#axzz2fqfOSRLD, accessed September 24, 2013.

  7 New York Amsterdam News, May 19, 1962, 1; Branch, Parting the Waters, 686. To be fair, the president did issue an executive proclamation on December 17, 1962, to mark the centennial of Lincoln’s famous document. It noted that “Negro citizens are still being denied rights guaranteed by the Constitution” and proclaimed “that the Emancipation Proclamation expresses our Nation’s policy, founded on justice and morality, and that it is therefore fitting and proper to commemorate the centennial of the historic Emancipation Proclamation throughout the year 1963.” Proclamation 3511, Code of Federal Regulations of the United States.

  8 Poinsett, Walking with Presidents, 110; Reeves, President Kennedy, 464.

  9 Jet, March 7, 1963, 12.

  10 Ibid.

  11 Berman, Politics of Civil Rights, 62; http://www.trumanlibrary.org/civilrights/srights1.htm, accessed April 20, 2013; http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=78208, accessed April 20, 2013.

  12 Graham, Civil Rights Era, 19; Atlanta Daily World, April 4, 1950, 1.

  13 Atlanta Daily World, January 8, 1952, 1.

  14 Gillon, Politics and Vision, 83.

  15 Ibid., 84 and 101.

  16 Interview with Frank Valeo by Donald Ritchie, September 18, 1985. Oral History Project, Senate Historical Office.

  17 Graham, Civil Rights and the Presidency, 79.

  18 Caro, Lyndon Johnson: Master, 914–15.

  19 New York Times, July 3, 1957, 10.

  20 Statement by Senator Paul H. Douglas Prior to Vote on Final Passage of Civil Rights Bill, August 7, 1957, box 26, Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Papers, Library of Congress; transcript, Joseph Rauh Jr. oral history interview, August 8, 1969, by Paige Mulhollan, Lyndon B. Johnson Library.

  21 New York Times, January 6, 1957, E6; Caro, Lyndon Johnson: Master, 993.

  22 New Journal and Guide, December 27, 1958; Chicago Daily Defender, January 15, 1959, 25.

  23 Washington Post, April 24, 1960, 73.

  24 New York Times, April 9, 1960, 1.

  25 Notes on the 1963 Civil Rights Commission Report by Raymond Wolfinger, n.d., box 23, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Acts Papers, University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo; Washington Post, September 7, 1959, A12.

  26 Green Book, box 466, Emanuel Celler Papers, Library of Congress; House Rules Committee Hearing on HR 7152, part 1 of 2, January 14, 1964, 89.

  27 Chicago Defender, August 16, 1958, 9.

  28 Cited by Rep. William T. Cahill, Hearings Before Subcommittee No. 5 of the House Judiciary Committee, May 8, 1963, 942.

  29 Sugrue, Sweet Land, 163–69; New York Times, October 23, 1963, 1.

  30 Sovern, Legal Restraints, 4–5; cited in Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Employment and Manpower of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, July 24, 25, 26, 29, 31 and August 2 and 20, 1963, 333–38.

  31 Wilkins and Mathews, Standing Fast, 285.

  32 Baltimore Afro-American, April 4, 1959, 3.

  33 Branch, Pillar of Fire, 32.

  34 Los Angeles Times, September 23, 1963, 1.

  35 Cleveland Call and Post, September 16, 1961, 2C.

  36 Wilkins and Mathews, Standing Fast, 285.

  37 Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1960, 3.

  38 New York Times, July 16, 1960, 1.

  39 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29602, accessed April 23, 2013.

  40 October 7, 1960 Debate Transcript, the Commission on Presidential Debates, http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-7-1960-debate-transcript, accessed September 24, 2013; Freedman and Hoffman, John F. Kennedy, 87.

  41 Wilkins and Mathews, Standing Fast, 227; Statement by Senator Joseph S. Clark and Representative Emanuel Celler Concerning the Democratic Party Civil Rights Legislation in 1961, September 16, 1960, box 462, Emanuel Celler Papers, Library of Congress.

  42 Wilkins and Mathews, Standing Fast, 279.

  43 Reeves, President Kennedy, 63; Joseph L. Rauh Jr. oral history interview by Charles T. Morrissey, December 23, 1965, John F. Kennedy Archives.

  44 Interview with Harris Wofford, by Raymond Wolfinger, November 16, 1966, box 22, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Acts Papers, University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo; interview with Lee White, by Milton Gwirtzman, May 26 and 28, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library.

  45 New York Times, February 4, 1963, 1.

  46 Kane, “Senate Debate,” 40.

  47 Caro, Lyndon Johnson: Master, 857.

  48 New York Times, January 16, 1963, 1; New York Times, February 4, 1963; Caro, ibid.

  49 Washington Post, February 8, 1963, A13.

  50 Joseph L. Rauh to Francis Biddle, February 11, 1963, box 43, Papers of Joseph L. Rauh Jr., Library of Congress.

  51 Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy, 67.

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sp; 52 Thurber, Politics of Equality, 66; Mann, Walls of Jericho, 98–99.

  53 Mann, Walls of Jericho, 92; Humphrey, Education, 268.

  54 Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 931; Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy, 149, interview with Anthony Lewis.

  55 Stern, Calculating Visions, 70.

  56 Kennedy, Kennedy, and Kennedy, Profiles, 119.

  57 Memo from Lee White to Ted Sorensen, November 13, 1961, box 30, Ted Sorensen Papers, John F. Kennedy Library.

  58 Bryant, The Bystander, 298–302; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 1962, 2.

  59 Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy, 149, interview with Anthony Lewis.

  60 Burke Marshall, interview with Anthony Lewis, June 20, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library; Burke Marshall, interview with Anthony Lewis, June 13, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library.

  61 Chicago Tribune, February 1, 1961, 1.

  62 Eleanor Clift, “Inside Kennedy’s Inauguration, 50 Years On,” Daily Beast, January 20, 2011.

  63 Thompson, Kennedy Presidency, 89; Roy Wilkins Oral History Interview, by Berl I. Bernard, August 13, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library.

  64 Ralph Dungan to John F. Kennedy, March 3, 1963, box 97, series 8, Presidential Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library.

  65 Report of the Attorney General to the President on the Department of Justice Activities in the Field of Civil Rights, December 29, 1961, box 96, series 8, Presidential Office Files, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/thelaw/eo-10925.html, accessed April 27, 2013.

  66 Birnbaum, 1962, 19.

  67 Shesol, Mutual Contempt, 83.

  68 Memo from Nicholas Katzenbach to Lee White, October 20, 1961, box 30, Theodore Sorensen Papers, John F. Kennedy Library.

  69 Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 939.

  70 Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1951, 1.

  71 Interview with Lee White, by Milton Gwirtzman, May 26 and 28, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library.

  72 Wall Street Journal, November 21, 1962, 18.

  73 New York Times, June 30, 2003, A1.

  74 Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 237.

  75 New York Herald Tribune, February 18, 1961, 8; Stern, Calculating Visions, 50–51; Afro-American, September 16, 1961, 6.

  76 Chicago Defender, December 30, 1961, 1; Navasky, Kennedy Justice, 25.

  77 Bryant, The Bystander, 315; Navasky, Kennedy Justice, 205.

  78 Burke Marshall to Clarence Mitchell, January 25, 1962, box 48, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 88th Congress, Committee on the Judiciary, National Archives and Records Administration; address by Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall before the 53rd Annual Convention of the NAACP, Atlanta, Ga., July 2, 1962, box 10, Victor Navasky Papers, John F. Kennedy Library.

  79 President’s News Conference, August 1, 1962. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8799&st=&st1, accessed May 2, 2013.

  80 Bryant, The Bystander, 323.

  81 Eagles, Price of Defiance, 340–70.

  82 Ibid.

  83 Ibid.

  84 Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 944; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 298.

  85 Memo from Burke Marshall to Nicholas Katzenbach, October 30, 1962, box 8, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library.

  86 Interview, Fred Sontag, with Raymond Wolfinger, August 30, 1965, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library; Robert Kimball, interview with the author, September 4, 2013.

  87 Mann, Walls of Jericho, 341.

  88 Letter from Joseph Clark, Paul Douglas, Hubert Humphrey, and Harrison Williams to John F. Kennedy, January 8, 1963, box 15, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library; memo from Louis Martin to Ted Sorensen, January 30, 1963, box 30, Theodore Sorensen Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library.

  89 Lee White interview with Milton Gwirtzman, May 26 and 28, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library; Jet, January 17, 1963, 6.

  90 “A Report on the Progress in the Field of Civil Rights by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to the President,” January 24, 1963, box 22, Lee White Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library.

  91 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9138, accessed May 1, 2013.

  92 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9581, accessed May 1, 2013.

  93 Wilkins and Mathews, Standing Fast, 287; Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1963, 3; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 327.

  94 Mann, Walls of Jericho, 342; Americans for Democratic Action Newsletter, April 8, 1963, box 17, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library.

  95 Mann, Walls of Jericho, 343; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 328.

  96 Joseph L. Rauh Jr. interview, Charles T. Morrissey, December 23, 1965, John F. Kennedy Library.

  97 Martin Luther King Jr., “Fumbling on the New Frontier,” Nation, March 3, 1962, 191.

  Chapter 2: “A National Movement to Enforce National Laws”

  1 Branch, Parting the Waters, 756–57.

  2 Ibid.

  3 McWhorter, Carry Me Home, 22.

  4 Garrow, Bearing the Cross, 263.

  5 McWhorter, Carry Me Home, 316.

  6 New York Times, March 29, 1963, 1.

  7 Robert F. Kennedy Press Conference, April 2, 1963, box 8, Burke Marshall Papers, John F. Kennedy Library; Presidential News Conference, April 3, 1963. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Press-Conferences/News-Conference-53.aspx, accessed May 4, 2013.

  8 Branch, Parting the Waters, 708 and 711.

  9 New York Times, April 13, 1963, 1; McWhorter, Carry Me Home, 348.

  10 “Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union,” January 14, 1963, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9138#ixzz2fxWRSPj4, accessed September 25, 2013; New York Times, April 17, 1963, 1; Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1963, D3; “Letter to the Chairman in Response to a Report on Mississippi by the Civil Rights Commission,” April 19, 1963, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9155, accessed August 8, 2013.

  11 Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1963, 1; President’s News Conference, April 24, 1963, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9165, accessed May 10, 2013.

  12 Memo from Burke Marshall to Robert F. Kennedy, April 23, 1963, box 8, Burke Marshall Papers, John F. Kennedy Library; Time, April 19, 1963, 30–31.

  13 New York Times, May 4, 1963, 8; New York Times, May 7, 1963, 5.

  14 New York Times, May 8, 1963, 29.

  15 Branch, Parting the Waters, 772, 780.

  16 New York Times, May 9, 1963, 14; New York Times, May 7, 1963, 32; New York Times, May 15, 1963, 26; Washington Post, May 30, 1963, A7; Perlstein, Before the Storm, 207 and 213.

  17 Tape 85, Americans for Democratic Action, May 4, 1963, John F. Kennedy Library, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-MTG-085-002.aspx, accessed May 6, 2013; Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 959; Schlesinger, Journals, 189.

  18 Schlesinger, Journals, 191; Washington Post, May 28, 1963, A19.

  19 New York Times, May 8, 1963, 1; Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1963, 14.

  20 President’s News Conference, May 8, 1963, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Press-Conferences/News-Conference-55.aspx, accessed May 5, 2013.

  21 Los Angeles Times, May 12, G1.

  22 Tape 86, May 12, 1963, John F. Kennedy Library, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-MTG-086-002.aspx, accessed May 6, 2013.

  23 Ibid.

  24 Branch, Parting the Waters, 796–800; “Radio and Television Remarks Following Renewal of Racial Strife in Birmingham,” May 12, 1963, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9206&st=&st1, accessed May 5, 2013.

  25 Burke Marshall interview with Anthony Lewis, June 20, 1964, John F. Kennedy Library.

  26 Lee White to Lawrence O’Brien, April 17, 1963, box 21, Lee White Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library; Bryant, The Bystander, 401.

  27 McWhorter, Carry Me Home
, 447.

  28 Norbert Schlei interview with Raymond Wolfinger, August 27, 1965, box 22, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library.

  29 New York Times, May 19, 1963, 1; Washington Post, May 24, 1963, A6.

  30 “Legislative Possibilities,” May 20, 1963, box 30, Theodore Sorensen Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library; Tape 88, Civil Rights Legislation, May 20, 1963, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-MTG-088-004.aspx, accessed September 25, 2013.

  31 Grofman, Legacies, 13–14; Dichter, Cathcart, and Lindemann, Employment Discrimination Law, ix–xi.

  32 “Legislative Possibilities,” May 20, 1963, box 30, Theodore Sorensen Office Files, John F. Kennedy Library; tape 88, Civil Rights Legislation, May 20, 1963, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKPOF-MTG-088-004.aspx, accessed September 25, 2013.

  33 Tape 88, ibid.

  34 Ibid.

  35 Ibid.

  36 Kenneth O’Donnell interview, Raymond Wolfinger, April 11, 1967, box 22, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library.

  37 Ibid.

  38 Baltimore Sun, May 22, 1963, 1; President’s Press Conference, May 22, 1963, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9233, accessed May 10, 2013.

  39 Burke Marshall interview, Raymond Filvaroff, April 7 and 8, 1967, box 22, David B. Filvaroff and Raymond E. Wolfinger Civil Rights Act Papers, University of Buffalo Library; Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 960.

  40 Marshall interview.

  41 Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 345.

  42 Ibid., 331.

  43 Ibid., 333.

  44 Guthman, Band of Brothers, 220.

  45 Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 332.

  46 Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 963.

  47 Harry Belafonte interview with Vicki Daitch, May 20, 2005, John F. Kennedy Library; Guthman, Band of Brothers, 221.

  48 Transcript, President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, May 29, 1963, box 11, Civil Rights, Vice Presidential Office Files, Lyndon B. Johnson Library.

  49 Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 349.

  50 Interview with George Reedy, Michael L. Gillette, October 27, 1982, Lyndon B. Johnson Library.

  51 Remarks of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Memorial Day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/630530.asp, accessed May 6, 2013.

 

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