88th Congress. 1st Session. S.1732 ... A Bill to eliminate discrimination in public accommodations affecting interstate commerce ...

£5,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd · No longer available

A rare survival critical to the passing of the Civil Rights Act through Congress. Slip bills were printed in limited numbers for use within Congress and are rarely seen in commerce. This bill in particular proved important in the Kennedy government’s legal strategy and the passing of the Act. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s Birmingham campaign in the spring of 1963 proved a watershed moment in the civil rights movement, leading directly to President John F. Kennedy’s changing position on the issue. In a televised address on June 11, 1963, the President announced the urgent need for legislation. A week later, Kennedy sent his civil rights bill to Congress, calling for the enforcement of voting rights, equal accommodations in public facilities, provisions for the Attorney General to initiate school desegregation suits, new programs to ensure fair employment practices such as support of a Fair Employment Practice Committee, the establishment of a Community Relations Service, and the granting of authority to the federal government to withhold funds from programs and activities in which discrimination had occurred. Senate Majority leader Mike Mansfield (D, Montana) immediately took on Kennedy’s proposal and on June 19 introduced it as three bills within the Senate. The first, S. 1731, comprising the exact text of the administration’s proposal, was read twice and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The second, S. 1732 [i.e. the present printing], included only the second article o

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