I keep hearing the right wing radio pundits crowing about how it was Republican support that enabled the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to get passed. I did some research to test the truthfulness of their claim.

Every time I hear that bit of crowing, I think “Sure, maybe 5 liberal Republicans voted with the Dems, and put the bill over the top, and Limbaugh is spinning those 5 into some kind of broad Republican support.”

So I finally remembered to check into a bit of American history regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - (the Statute as passed by Congress). See also A Brief History of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Robert D. Loevy

What did I discover?

Well, I discovered that my assumption was WRONG! Republicans supported the Civil Rights Act more than Democrats did. It is fair for the Republicans to crow about their supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

It turns out that Lyndon Johnson worked closely with Republican Senator Dirksen to get the Civil Rights Act passed, and Republicans broadly supported the Act, in greater percentages than the Dems. Dirksen extracted his price, though, making some important changes, but still, a Civil Rights Act finally got through the Congress.

In contrast, Southern Democrats almost universally voted against the Act. In fact, in the Senate the Southern Dem Chairman of the Judiciary Committee wouldn’t let the Act out of committee, so the Senate used a procedural ploy to bring the Act to the floor and bypassed the committee.

Vote totals below, for both the Senate and House versions of the Act.

Notice from the breakdown of votes that the Dems virtually controlled the South at the time. And almost none of the Southern Congressmen and Senators voted for the Act.

Nowadays, the Republicans control the South. After the Act was passed, Lyndon Johnson was quoted as predicting that the Dems had just lost the South for a generation (he should have said two!).

History of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - from Wikipedia

Vote totals:

* The Original House Version: 290-130
* The Senate Version: 73-27
* The Senate Version, as voted on by the House: 289-126

By Party: The Original House Version:

* Democratic Party: 153-96
* Republican Party: 138-34

The Senate Version:

* Democratic Party: 46-22
* Republican Party: 27-6

The Senate Version, voted on by the House:

* Democratic Party: 153-91
* Republican Party: 136-35

By Party and Region:

The Original House Version:

* Southern Democrats: 7-87
* Southern Republicans: 0-10

* Northern Democrats: 145-9
* Northern Republicans: 138-24

The Senate Version:

* Southern Democrats: 1-21
* Southern Republicans: 0-1

* Northern Democrats: 46-1
* Northern Republicans: 27-5