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Question:

How many Republican Senators voted yes for the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

I am interested in knowing how many senators of each of the party supported the civil rights acts (1960, 1964 and 1968)

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Posted by bknoxdds on Wednesday August 26, 2009 at 1:17 PM and tagged with civil rights acts, democrat, history, republican, senators.


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  1. linda-allen Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Very good question. Here's how the votes tallied:

    In the House of Representatives, the vote was 152 Democrats for, 96 against; 138 Republicans for, 34 against. That is, 61% of the Democrats and 80% of the Republican members of Congress voted to pass the bill.

    In the Senate, 46 Democrats voted for and 21 against; 27 Republicans voted for, and only 6 voted against the bill. That makes 69% of the Dems and 82% of the Repubs senators voted to pass the law.

    Wikipedia breaks the votes down further into party and region, and that's where the numbers get very telling:

    The original House version:

    • Southern Democrats: 7-87   (7%-93%)
    • Southern Republicans: 0-10   (0%-100%)
    • Northern Democrats: 145-9   (94%-6%)
    • Northern Republicans: 138-24   (85%-15%)

    The Senate version:

    • Southern Democrats: 1-20   (5%-95%)
    • Southern Republicans: 0-1   (0%-100%)
    • Northern Democrats: 45-1   (98%-2%)
    • Northern Republicans: 27-5   (84%-16%)

    It's interesting that the one northern Democrat senator who voted against the bill is still in the Senate: Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

    These numbers represent the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Visit the links below for more information.

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    Posted by linda-allen on Wednesday August 26, 2009 at 2:52 PM

  2. nohmart
    nohmart Teacher
    Middle School

    I believe it was 228 Republicans and 182 Democrats who voted yes.

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    Posted by nohmart on Wednesday August 26, 2009 at 4:41 PM