Reply #37: What was 1968?

[Paschall]

Nixon supported "moderate civil rights" in 1960? You mean when, as Vice President, he was campaigning for the Presidency, or in "supporting" his boss Dwight Eisenhower's totally ineffectual Civil Rights Act of 1960, which Johnson later had to fix with the Voting Rights Act?

I don't think you can come anywhere close to building a case for Nixon as a civil rights supporter. He did, after all, serve on the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was a slap in the face at American civil liberties. And even later, as President, his policy of limiting school busing for desegregation was knocked down by the US Civil Rights Commission, circa 1971. The man never evolved; he did, however, unfortunately survive beyond usefulness.

ON EDIT: Just found this. Of relevance I think; it's a personal webpage, but the numbers are to footnotes, so the info is fully sourced.

<snip> Stepping in to "bring us together" was Richard Nixon, a candidate who believed that blacks were genetically inferior to whites. 26 He seized the Parker Doctrine and featured it as part of his "Southern Strategy," describing his position as being in favor of desegregation, but against integration. 27 A central tenet of his campaign platform was the passage of a constitutional amendment prohibiting busing to alleviate racial segregation. Nixon’s four Court appointments include the current Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who drafted the anti-busing amendment for Nixon, and, while clerking for Justice Robert Jackson, opined that Plessy v. Fergeson was "right and should be-reaffirmed." 28 </snip>

http://www.geocities.com/ebgold