BCT “news” article – 2/23/13

Below is a detailed critique of portions of this column.

The story begins, “Not that many years ago, three portraits hung in thousands of African-American homes, a visual tribute to men who had helped black people navigate the long journey to equality.  There was Jesus, who represented unconditional hope, strength and love.  There was Martin Luther King Jr., who personified the moral crusade that ended legal segregation.  And then there was President John F. Kennedy.”  Later, the piece says “Kennedy … got 78 percent of the black vote” in the 1960 presidential election.  Historically, none of this makes sense.

To start, let’s look at JFK’s predecessor, President Eisenhower.

In 1954, the Republican Eisenhower administration sided with the NAACP (Brown v. Board of Education – separate is not equal) for school integration.

In 1957, President Eisenhower sent the U.S. Army to enforce civil rights when Democrat Governor Orval Faubus used the Arkansas National Guard to block black students from attending a Little Rock high school.  Can you imagine how tough it was for Eisenhower – himself a former five-star general – to pit one part of the U.S. armed services against another?

Then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D-TX; JFK’s 1960 running mate) watered down President Eisenhower’s 1957 Civil Rights Act.  This was possible because Democrats controlled both houses of Congress for all but one early session during Eisenhower’s presidency.  LBJ was worried Eisenhower’s more expansive proposal would prove divisive for the Democrat Party.  As we learned in 1964, his concerns were well founded.

In 1960, Mr. Eisenhower signed into law the 1960 Civil Rights Act, the second civil rights act he proposed and championed.

In contrast to Mr. Eisenhower, JFK did a lot of talking but didn’t get anything done.  Further, he took as his VP the guy who watered down the 1957 CRA.  Indeed, though public knowledge of the act didn’t happen until 1968, JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson (as both President and JFK’s VP), Robert F. Kennedy (JFK’s brother and AG during the JFK and LBJ administrations), and J. Edgar Hoover (FBI Director) illegally wiretapped Martin Luther King during the 1960s because they were concerned about alleged communist ties.

I’m not a fan of idolizing people, but if you’re going to hang someone’s photo because of civil rights, why on Earth would anyone hang a photo of JFK?  Why would 78% of black voters vote for JFK in 1960 when Republicans dragged Democrats kicking and screaming down the civil-rights road?  For every civil rights act, the proportion of Republicans who voted for the bills was far greater than for Democrats.

For the 1957 CRA (HR 6127), 93% of Republican senators voted for the act while only 59% of Democrats supported it.  All of the 18 “nay” votes were by Democrats.  In the House, 87% of Republicans voted for the act while only 51% of Democrats supported it.

For the 1960 CRA, (HR 8601) 83% of Republican senators voted for the act while only 65% of Democrats supported it.  As in the 1957 CRA, there were 18 “nay” votes, all by Democrats.  In the House, 84% of Republicans voted for the act while only 63% of Democrats supported it.

In the case of the 1964 CRA (HR 7152), Republicans broke the Democrat-run filibuster.  In the Senate, 79% of Republicans voted for the act while 70% of Democrats supported it.  In the House, 79% of Republicans voted for the act while only 62% of Democrats supported it.