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Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Democrat Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson had Judiciary chairman Sen. James Eastland drastically water-down the House version, removing stringent voting protection clauses.<ref>https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/The-Civil-Rights-Act-of-1957/</ref><ref>Caro, Robert, ''Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson'', Chapter 39</ref> The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.<ref>HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42</ref> It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. Sen. [[John F. Kennedy]] of Massachusetts, who later became president, voted against it.<ref>HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75</ref> Kennedy's 1957 book, ''Profiles in Courage'', celebrated the vote of Sen. Edmund Ross to acquit Pres. [[Andrew Johnson]], the first step in ending Republican [[Reconstruction]] reforms and paving the way for the Democrat era of [[Jim Crow]] laws and the [[segregation]] era.<ref>https://brewminate.com/andrew-johnson-impeachment-and-reconstruction/</ref>

Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Democrat Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson had Judiciary chairman Sen. James Eastland drastically water-down the House version, removing stringent voting protection clauses.<ref>https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1951-2000/The-Civil-Rights-Act-of-1957/</ref><ref>Caro, Robert, ''Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson'', Chapter 39</ref> The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.<ref>HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42</ref> It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. Sen. [[John F. Kennedy]] of Massachusetts, who later became president, voted against it.<ref>HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75</ref> Kennedy's 1957 book, ''Profiles in Courage'', celebrated the vote of Sen. Edmund Ross to acquit Pres. [[Andrew Johnson]], the first step in ending Republican [[Reconstruction]] reforms and paving the way for the Democrat era of [[Jim Crow]] laws and the [[segregation]] era.<ref>https://brewminate.com/andrew-johnson-impeachment-and-reconstruction/</ref>

[[File:John Kennedy texas.png|left|300px|thumb|John Kennedy as Senator voted against the Civil Rights Act.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23535517?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents John F. Kennedy's Southern Strategy, 1956-1960], Guy Paul Land, ''The North Carolina Historical Review'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (January, 1979), pp. 41-63.</ref>]]

[[File:John Kennedy texas.png|left|300px|thumb|John Kennedy as Senator voted against the Civil Rights Act.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23535517?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents John F. Kennedy's Southern Strategy, 1956-1960], Guy Paul Land, ''The North Carolina Historical Review'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (January, 1979), pp. 41-63.</ref>]]

The 1957 Civil Rights Act was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Johnson told Sen. [[Richard Russell]], {{quotebox|"These Negroes, they're getting pretty [[uppity]] these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."<ref>Said to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in [http://books.google.com/books?id=HS9aAAAAYAAJ ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream''] (1977), by Doris Kearns Goodwin, New York: New American Library, p. 155.</ref>}}

{{quotebox|"These Negroes, they're getting pretty [[uppity]] these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."<ref>Said to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in [http://books.google.com/books?id=HS9aAAAAYAAJ ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream''] (1977), by Doris Kearns Goodwin, New York: New American Library, p. 155.</ref>}}

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965<ref>42 U.S.C. § 1973-1973aa-6</ref> authorized, and in some areas required, federal oversight of elections and election laws. Many (but not all) of these areas were in the South, which was at that time controlled by the [[Democratic Party]]. The Act gave the [[Department of Justice]] the power to approve or reject any change in a voting law in certain districts where less than 50% of the population were registered to vote in 1964.  The Act also outlawed literacy tests.

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965<ref>42 U.S.C. § 1973-1973aa-6</ref> authorized, and in some areas required, federal oversight of elections and election laws. Many (but not all) of these areas were in the South, which was at that time controlled by the [[Democratic Party]]. The Act gave the [[Department of Justice]] the power to approve or reject any change in a voting law in certain districts where less than 50% of the population were registered to vote in 1964.  The Act also outlawed literacy tests.