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The popular political notion is that 20th century Democrats were the ones supportive of civil rights, and that Republicans didn't much care or even opposed it, having supposedly long before sold ought freed slaves to political expediency. The history is completely different. The "Civil Rights Movement" of the mid-20th century was supported in various ways by Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Truman began strong efforts to integrate the military, which were greatly expanded by Eisenhower. In fact, while Truman talked much more about it, Eisenhower, who talked little and sought to "do the right thing", accomplished much more. (Partly because of this difference between rhetoric and actual policy, Eisenhower is seldom given the credit due him in this area, though some new research into his Presidency is beginning to rectify that, as seen in the 2007 book, A Matter of Justice, by David A. Nichols http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2007/11/21/an_inside_look_at_eisenhowers_civil_rights_record/) Eisenhower quickly and decisively forced equal treatment in Washington D.C. backed Supreme Court justices & the enforcement of their decisions (beginning esp with Brown v the Board of education)in favor of civil rights and secured passage of the first great modern Civil Rights Act in 1957. Kennedy's support for the movement was mixed. Lyndon Johnson is often most associated with the movement, since it was 'on his watch' that the most extensive legal gains were made. His record was not as good in the 1950s when, as a powerful Texas Senator he had played a bit of both sides - wanting Northern support and credit for helping to pass civil rights legislation but without offending his constituents and fellow Southern Democratic Senators. (In 1960 his lukewarm support almost prevented the Civil Rights bill Eisenhower wanted, but in the end members of the administration compromised .) But during his Presidency Johnson strongly backed such legislation, and was finally able to pass it, though only through the overwhelming support of Republican Senators who short-circuited Southern Democratic filibuster attempts. Support for "the movement" (and more importantly for civil rights) continued under Richard Nixon, who also gets little credit for the major gains under his policies which quickly and peacefully integrated schools, for example. (Again, and unfortunately, political posturing and misinformation has led to the popular notion that Nixon didn't care much about civil rights. It is often alleged that Nixon's "Southern strategy" to gain the Presidency was a move built on bringing white racists to the Republican Party. On the contrary, at that time BOTH parties were signalling that they would NOT tolerate racist policies, so that people would have to choose a party for OTHER reasons. Nixon had also been a strong supporter of civil rights record in the Senate, including when he presided there, long before Kennedy or Johnson.) http://www.nixonera.com/library/domestic.asp http://hnn.us/articles/5331.html It should also be noted that many earlier Republican Presidents from the time of Reconstruction (Grant) to the 1920s (Harding) made many attempts to expand the civil rights protections of blacks, though often thwarted, esp. by the unified South.

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JFK, Lydon b. Johnson

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Q: Which Presidents were supportive of the Civil Rights Movement?
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