Civil Rights and the Presidency

Julie Leininger Pycion, Manhattan College Lots of ground-breaking information.

The Historian Graham has abridged his award winning book into a highly readable account of the role of the executive branch in civil rights policy from the sit-ins of 1960 through Nixon's first administration.

Thomas A. Schwartz, Vanderbilt University An extraordinarily well-written and fascinating account.

Florida Historical Quarterly (on the First Edition) A powerful critique of government civil rights policy after 1965.

Robert W. Langran, Villanova University An informative account of the crucial years in the struggle for racial minorities and women to gain more civil rights. There is much in it to stimulate class discussion.

William L. Van Deburg, University of Wisconsin I am pleased to see you come out with another abridgement of a significant (if lengthy) title.

Praise for The Civil Rights Era:

The New York Times Book Review Should reacquaint a new generation with forgotten truths....Instructive, too, is Mr. Graham's assessment of presidential leadership

Booklist A rigorous, undiluted examination of the policies and programs effected by the federal government in pursuit of civil equality for all citizens....An impressive marshaling of evidence and interpretation....An excellent resource

Library Journal The first administrative history of the movement....A major milestone in the study of recent American life and politics

Review of Politics A fascinating, near-definitive study of the implementation of the transcendent cause of our times....Graham does a great service in laying out the past so we can make sense of both it and the present.

Reviews in American History Could not be more timely....Notable for its prudent, credible insights and its calm detachment in pursuit of a subject that seems to invite little but strident advocacy and opposition, for its command of the bewildering mass of manuscript materials in federal archives and presidential libraries...and not least for its analytic clarity, its anecdotal riches, and its exhaustive exploration of a complicated and vitally important subject.

Michigan Law Review A gripping, literate account of landmark civil rights legislation governing employment, housing and voting. The executive branch focus is also useful both in demonstrating the fundamental role played by the White House in the enactment of these legislative reforms and in providing insightful glimpses into the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations....A highly accessible and quite worthwhile addition to the literature.

Georgia Historical Quarterly Anyone interested in the 'rights revolution' of the 1960s can turn to this accessible study for an insightful analysis of national policy on race and gender in the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations.

1. America in 1960: Blacks and Women on the Eve of Social Revolution ; 2. The Kennedy Presidency and Black Civil Rights, 1960-1962 ; 3. The Segregated Civil Rights Bills of 1963 for Women and Blacks ; 4. Lyndon Johnson and The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ; 5. The Watershed of 1965: From the Voting Rights Act to "Black Power" ; 6. The EEOC and the Politics of Gender ; 7. Race, Affirmative Action, and Open Housing, 1965-1968 ; 8. The Nixon Presidency: Domestic Policy and Divided Government ; 9. The Philadelphia Plan and the Politics of Minority Preference ; 10. The "Color-Blind" Constitution and the Federal Courts ; 11. Women, the Nixon Administration, and the Equal Rights Amendment ; 12. The Consolidation of 1972 ; 13. The Rights Revolution and The American Administrative State ; Further Reading ; Glossary of Organizations ; Endnotes