Quote:
Originally Posted by Baron1710
It was good that some Democrats finally gave in to the Republican minority and passed the Act. And that Johnson who had opposed it when it came up as a Senator signed it into law as President.
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Barry Goldwater, the GOP nominee for President opposed the Civil Rights act- he is generally considered to be the forerunner of Ronald Reagan and the modern conservative movement. Most of the Democratic opposition to the act came from the segregated south, many of these folks subsequently became Republicans after its passage (e.g. Strom Thurmond). LBJ predicted that he had given the Republicans the South for the next hundred years for his work on Civil Rights-- his prophecy has proved to be largely right.
There where still many moderate Republicans in those days of the Eastern Liberal, Nelson Rockefeller variety and Midwesterners like Everett Dirksen and Gerald Ford. I doubt very seriously they would feel at home with the culture warriors, birthers and other fringe elements that consititute a large segment of the current Republican party.