Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Paul Duke intro report on the extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Mostly African American marchers outside of Capitol, loudspeaker playing spirituals, some singing along, holding signs/banners. v.o. - the march started in Alabama, a contrast to the climate of marches in the 1960's in that state.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
1965 civil rights scenes, Martin Luther King leading line of marchers on city sidewalk in Selma, Alabama. Cops with batons, on horseback, brutalizing marchers, using fire hoses. Old women marchers covering faces against tear gas. Police running and chasing demonstrators. Tear gas exploding, chaos in streets.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Lyndon Johnson announcing passage of Voting Rights Act. Remarks in the Capitol Rotunda at the Signing of the Voting Rights Act. August 6, 1965. They came in darkness and they came in chains. And today we strike away the last major shackle of those fierce and ancient bonds.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
v.o.-the bill signed by LBJ in 1965 requires periodic renewal. Marchers approaching Capitol. One black man holds sign to camera praising "ancestors" in Civil Rights movement. v.o.-the renewal effort proceeded much more easily than expected-there was a filibuster in Senate that lasted only 7 days, and only 8 senators voted against the bill.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Senator John East (R - North Carolina), I don t quarrel with the goal. The goal which Congress clearly has of tailoring legislation directed in ensuring the right of every American to vote, regardless of race or color. As I said on the Senate floor, I would happily support any reasonable legislation drafted to that end, in 1965 or today. I didn t feel the new bill that has just been enacted was, as I saw it at least, reasonably directed to that end. Because of the quota problem and again the problems effecting the South.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Paul Duke, How do you explain the overwhelming support for this bill? Senator John East (R - North Carolina), A certain momentum builds for legislation, the Act was in place. It was often described as fundamentally an extension of the 65 Act. Many Senators and Congressmen thought that was fundamentally what they were doing. Congressman Hyde in the House pointed this out. I would simply argue, with all due respect to my colleagues, and I tried to argue that they were getting a lot more than the 65 Act.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Paul Duke, But many of your fellow Senators, most of you fellow Senators, disagreed with you. Didn t you feel that you were making a Custer s Last Stand? Senator John East (R - North Carolina), Well, no. If you feel that something that is being done is not well considered - legislation is defective - I think you owe it to yourself and to the institution of the Senate and to the country as a whole, to raise it. I must say I had a number of Senators come up to me afterwards and felt we did a very good job in offering the amendments in the way in which we argued them. And yet they wouldn t necessarily vote with us on these things.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Paul Duke, Do you attribute the outcome, at least in part, to an attempt by the White House and certain Senators to appease Civil Rights forces? Senator John East (R - North Carolina), I think the point is well taken. There seem to be a certain strong political current and momentum for it and so perhaps the rationale was let s acknowledge the inevitable, do the best we can and move on. Not an uncommon phenomenon in American politics and it occurred here. Sure it did.
Lawmakers - June 24, 1982 - Voting Rights Act
Paul Duke and Cokie Roberts discuss of passage of the Voting Rights Act extension. Interesting that the victory was so convincing. Civil Rights groups got more than they expected a more liberal law than expected. Even more interesting that Strom Thurmond, who set a record with a 24 hours filibuster against the 1957 Civil Rights Act, ended up voting in favor of the 1982 bill. Roberts notes that thanks to the 1965 Act, Thurmond now has to contend with black voters and must be careful not to appear bigoted or hostile to civil rights.