The Republicans Led the Way on Civil Rights

SEE HERE I'm always annoyed at the way the Democrats image the civil rights issue. The reality is that civil rights is, was, and always will be a Republican issue. A Republican president fought a civil war to end slavery and preserve the union. He could have just said "Bye bye!" It was a Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, that kick started the issue with the 1957 Civil Rights Act. I remember the nine black students, escorted by federal troops under the orders of the president. I was in high school in Washington. It didn't meet with much acceptance from the southern Democrats who were happy with segregation. Then it was Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-Ill.) who facilitated the passage of the Civil Rights Bill on June 10, 1964. President Johnson had fought civil rights but because he was president when the bill was passed the illusion that it was somehow a Democrat thing has entered the public perception. The reality was very different.