| In a Union Leader piece today making her argument to lead the New Hampshire GOP, Jennifer Horn rewrites history by claiming Republicans have historically led the fight for social justice, including civil rights:
[I]t was a Republican Congress that fought for and finally passed civil rights legislation in the ’60s.
No. It was a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress that fought for and finally passed civil rights legislation in the 1960s.
The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was first proposed by President Kennedy, a Democrat, in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963 and championed by President Johnson, a Democrat, after Kennedy's death. It was passed by the 88th Congress, where Democrats held a 258-177 majority in the House and a 66-34 majority in the Senate, and signed into law by President Johnson, a Democrat.
This is not to diminish the contribution of Republican legislators in passing the civil rights legislation. But fallout from its passage led the Republican party to adopt a "Southern strategy," exploiting Southern racism and promoting state's rights -- and effectively ending the party's historic commitment to civil rights and social justice.
Cross-posted to Miscellany Blue |
