June 18, 1964
PAGE 14328
FINAL VOTE ON CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine is recognized.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, Senate passage of the civil rights bill at this point is a foregone conclusion. Months of time and millions of words have been consumed here in discussions of the need for it, and of the purposes and merits of the bill. What remains for us to do but to cast that final vote which will be the reflection of the convictions which each of us has shaped over these days and weeks of study, contemplation, and soul searching?
It is well, I think, that we should lift our eyes above the details with which we have been concerned for more than 100 rollcalls to consider the significance of what we are about to do, and the responsibility which every American will thereafter bear in applying our work to the realities of the problem.
The problem is that in America, the land of the free, the measure of freedom has varied, and still varies, for individual Americans for reasons which are inconsistent with freedom itself. I have heard no one in this Chamber argue that this is not so. I have heard no one argue that it can be justified. I have heard no one argue that the discrimination should not end.
It is our national objective, stated in the preamble to the Constitution, "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity." I have heard no one in this Chamber argue that some Americans, as of right, should forever have the power to exclude other Americans from the equal enjoyment of those blessings.
If then, we are agreed as to the objective, as I think we are, where do we disagree?
Differences have been pressed eloquently on this floor, with deep feeling, by Senators of ability, scholarship, and conviction. Who is right and who is wrong? How can we make sure that right prevails?
We all know that history does not always sustain the verdict of the majority. We know that the democratic process, as a decision making mechanism, is fallible. But we also know that the democratic institutions we have devised, that the experience which we as a people have acquired in their use, are more likely to be productive of public policy which serves our common good than any other system of government yet devised.
It has been said, in criticism of the bill, that it is a product of emotion. It is in the nature of the problem that emotions should run high, and that those seeking to serve only noble purposes should find themselves allied with others of baser motives. Such circumstances should be a challenge to action to men of reason and understanding, not an excuse for inaction.
It has been said that the bill is imperfect and that it will be ineffective in dealing with the problem. That it is imperfect, we can all agree. Whether it will be ineffective, only history can better judge than we; and history may sustain either side. I suggest that history would judge us more harshly for failing to act than for acting less effectively than we might if we ourselves were perfect.
It has been said that the bill discriminates in favor of the Negro at the expense of the rest of us. It seeks to do nothing more than to lift the Negro from the status of inequality to one of equality of treatment. To the extent that this deprives any of the rest of us of anything, it is intended to deprive us of the power to treat him as a lesser and unequal American. Such a power is not ours as of right, either as Americans or as children of God. To the extent that any of us wield it, we have no right to retain it, and should be deprived of it.
It has been said that the bill deprives the States of the right to deal with the problem in their own way. The right to deal with this problem is not a right to ignore it. If it had not been ignored, we would not be dealing with it.
It has been said that time and evolutionary processes, working upon the relations between the races, will solve the problem. One hundred years of time and evolution have not solved it. A majority in this body believe that, unaided, they will not solve it in time; and the evidence supports that belief.
Disagreements such as these reflect differences of perspective, differences in background, differences in our impression of the urgency of the problem, and differences of judgment. We have discussed these differences, debated them, and finally resolved them in accordance with our rules and traditions. In accordance with those same traditions it is now our responsibility, whatever our differences, to make this new policy work effectively. That responsibility is shared by every American of every race, color, creed, region, and national origin. I am confident that this responsibility will be met.
It has been said that we cannot legislate love. As to that, we will all agree. But our national experience teaches us that a free people, living and working under a government of law, will grow in tolerance, understanding, and appreciation of each other.