TALK TO THE DADDY

Hello. Come on in. The daddy writes about current events, literature, music and, once in a while, drops something on you from back in the day to make you pause and ponder, stop and stare, and begin to wonder. Who knows? You may start to pace the floor, shake your head from side to side, then fall down on bended knees in a praying position and cry, "Lawd, have mercy! What is this world coming to?" Check yourself! But this blog is NOT about the daddy. It's about you: your boos, your fam, your hood, your country...our hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow. So let's make a pact: the daddy will put it on the track if you'll chase it down and hit him back. Together, we can definitely take it to another level. Shall we?"

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

President Eisenhower and the Civil Rights Act of 1960

"If men can develop weapons that are so terrifying as to make the thought of global war include almost a sentence for suicide, you would think that man's intelligence and his comprehension... would include also his ability to find a peaceful solution."
--President Eisenhower
"
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society...we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
-- excerpt from President Eisenhower's Military industrial complex speech, 1961

Listen up. You probably know that Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was our 34th president from 1953 to 1961, that he was a five-star general, that he served as Supreme Commander of our allied forces in Europe, and as such, was charged with the responsibility of invading France and Germa ny.

You probably know that, as The Prez, he fought with ego-maniacs like General MacArthur and oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, messed with the Soviet Union, keeping them from totally conquering everybody and their mommas, and helped develop the highway interstate system, something we take for granted today. In fact, you probably know that this was a Republican who expanded the social security system. But did you know he also played a role in the development and future success of the civil rights movement?

On this day, May 6, President Eisenhower signed the 1960 civil rights act. It was the first civil rights bill approved by Congress since Reconstruction. Though not viewed as particularly important in the civil rights struggle, it nonetheless made an important contribution.

What the 1960 civil rights act did was catapult the issue into the White House. It made civil rights a pivotal issue at the time when both parties were fighting to get the black vote and, at the same time, when southern politicians like the late Senator Strum Thurmond were accusing the federal government of interfering in state affairs.

Here's what "Our White House" said of him:

"Eisenhower was forced to send federal troops to escort the new students to school. Eisenhower also proposed and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was intended to guarantee the voting rights of all African Americans. This was the first civil rights legislation to pass since Reconstruction. It was followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which was an attempt to further strengthen voting rights by mandating federal inspection of local voter registration polls."

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1960 do?

* It introduced penalties against anybody who obstructed a person's attempt to register to vote or to vote.

* It created a Civil Rights Commission was created to monitor this law and report to the White House. Though some complained this law didn't have any teeth and was just a way of passing the buck, it could be argued that it was probably the most Eisenhower could do. After all, southern politicians held a tremendous amount of power in congress, controlling many of its key committees.

President Eisenhower was a complex character. Though a general, he spoke out against war and the "industrial complex" that used war to make profits off the country's treasury. Though a white guy from a party that coveted apartheid in the South, he also played a role in putting the White House on a path of tackling the issue of apartheid and getting rid of this scourge on the American landscape. Of course it would be up to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other brave Americans to end southern apartheid and to make "the American dream" more than slogan and a living reality, a struggle that still goes on today. But it's important to remember
that it was President Eisenhower that put it on the White House's agenda and, through The Civil Rights Act of 1960, put the civil rights issue on a path from which it could never turn back.

Source:
1. African American registry (http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=1814).
2. Wilkipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower).
3. Our White House: Looking in, Looking Out (http://www.ourwhitehouse.org/prespgs/ddeisenhower.html).

10 comments:

Mike said...

To think Eisenhower was in the party of Trent Lott and Jeff Sessions. Weird.

Anonymous said...

Are you going to get back to writing about poetry and music?

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

Heather: Thanks for becoming a follower of daddyBstrong. We look forward to you coming back and sharing your thoughts with us. Blessings.

Kentucky Rain said...

It is weird to think of Ike being in the same party as Lott and Sessions.

SagaciousHillbilly said...

Ike was a true old school republican. Maybe he was one of the last. He believed in working for the common good of all Americans. He was level headed and understood the dangers of extremism.
Ike is my archetype of how a president should look and present himself.
Obama is the closest to that image I've seen since.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
XO said...

nice post. that is a major contribution Ike made getting the ball rolling on civil rights

also coining term "military industrial complex" important criticism coming from high ranking military too bad no-one heeded his warning

and now we have "medical industrial complex" and 1000 times the corporate lobbying to go along with it. he would be horrified.

I would like to visit his presidential library one day.

what presidential library(s) do you want to visit?

XO said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

Sushi: Don't come on this blog, unless you are going to comment on the specific post presented. I do not want to take action against you for doing this. But if I have to, I will.

Corey said...

OMG ! ! !
When I saw Eisenhower's photo here, I started to get nervous thinking "the daddy done stole my post". I have one scheduled on Eisenhower, where I'm using this exact same photo. But when I started to read, your text is SO DIFFERENT from what I'll be doing, that all I could do was laugh!

Still, this is a VERY FINE and VERY INFORMATIVE post ! ! ! !