Sherman blurs facts on Civil Rights Act vote

In Norman Sherman’s July 17 opinion column he stated the 1964 Civil Rights Act “passed with some Republican support.” By using the word “some” he is attempting to suggest that the GOP had little to do with the passage of the historic act.

Here’s the truth: Democrats controlled the U.S. Senate in 1964 by a 67-33 margin, what we call today (and did back then) a filibuster-proof majority. The Senate cloture vote, which came after a lengthy filibuster led by southern Democrat Senators, passed 71 to 29. The Democrat majority only got 44 votes from their party on the cloture vote. In other words, just 66 percent of the Democrats voted for cloture. The “some Republican support” that Sherman stated was actually the reason the cloture vote passed ending the filibuster.

Of the 33 Republicans in the Senate in 1964, 27 of them (that’s 82 percent) voted to support cloture and ending the filibuster. And on final passage of the Civil Rights Act, the vote was 73-27. What Norman Sherman should have stated if he wanted to be factual was that without strong Republican support the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would have never passed.

Greg Spenner

Waukee