Abstract

Like John Skrentny, Paul Gottfried sees in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the seeds of Affirmative Action, racial and gender asides, quotas, goals and timetables. He contends that this was “the likely way that the Act would be interpreted.” But an act written in part in the office of Republican Senator Everett Dirksen and amended by the conservative Texas Republican John Tower was not necessarily, nor even likely, to be converted into the AA commissariat machine. Because it turned out that way, does not mean this was the only, or even the probable, outcome.

There was a dire need for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because employers, particularly in the South, refused to hire blacks even when they were better qualified than whites.