Bourgeois commentator Ben Shapiro claimed on a December. three episode of his podcast that, compared to Democrats, a greater percentage of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"More Republicans voted for the Ceremonious Rights Act as a percent than Democrats did," he said on the testify.

Verdict: True

While the landmark act received a bulk of support from both parties, a greater percentage of Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, Republicans were generally more than unified than Democrats in support of ceremonious rights legislation, as many Southern Democrats voted in opposition.

Fact Check:

Shapiro made the claim in response to a question put forward by Franklin Foer in an commodity he wrote for The Atlantic. "What if the moderate Republicans of the late 1950s and early '60s had aggressively owned the civil-rights agenda—and rendered the cause of racial justice a bipartisan business organization?" asked Foer.

"By the way, they did," responded Shapiro.

As the civil rights motility gained momentum in the 1950s and '60s, the federal government passed a number of civil rights bills, 4 of which were named the Civil Rights Act.

Of the four acts passed betwixt 1957 and 1968, Republicans in both chambers of Congress voted in favor at a higher rate than Democrats in all but one case. Republicans oftentimes had fewer total votes in back up than Democrats due to the substantial majorities Democrats held in both the Business firm and Senate.

During this period, the South was a Democratic stronghold that consistently resisted the civil rights move.

In 1956, many Southern members of Congress signed the "Southern Manifesto," voicing their opposition to the ruling in the 1954 Supreme Courtroom example Brown v. Board of Instruction, which declared that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. Democrats were geographically divided on matters of civil rights, while Republicans largely represented non-Southern states and were more unified.

The most unremarkably cited of the Civil Rights Acts is the ane passed in 1964. Shapiro told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he was referring to the 1964 act.

Originally proposed in 1963 past former President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, the bill ended segregation in public places and made employment discrimination illegal.

The House passed the beak after 70 days of public hearings and testimony in a 290-130 vote. The bill received 152 "yea" votes from Democrats, or 60 pct of their political party, and 138 votes from Republicans, or 78 percent of their party.

These percentages include iv vote categories—"yea," "nay," "present," and "not voting."

In the Senate, the bill faced strong and organized opposition from Southern Democrats. Influential senators like Richard Russell, Strom Thurmond (who would presently switch to the Republican Party), Robert Byrd, William Fulbright, and Sam Ervin joined together to launch a delay that lasted for 57 days.

Russell, a Democrat from Georgia, at one point argued that the bill would lead to the destruction of the Due south'due south "two different social orders" and result in the "amalgamation and mongrelization of our people."

After some changes were made to the bill and the filibuster ended, it passed the Senate with a 73-27 vote. About 82 percent of Republicans in the Senate voted for the bill, as did 69 percentage of Democrats. The amended Senate pecker was then sent dorsum to the Firm where it passed with 76 per centum support from Republicans and 60 percentage support from Democrats.

A number of powerful Democrats, such equally President Lyndon B. Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, played of import roles in getting the legislation passed.

Prior to this, Congress had passed the Civil Rights Deed of 1957, the first major civil rights legislation to be enacted in decades, which sought to protect the voting rights of black Americans. The neb passed the House in a 286-126 vote. Only 51 percent of Democrats voted in favor of the neb, or 119 of their 235 members, compared to 84 percent of Republicans, or 167 of their 199 members.

The bill was and then brought to the Senate where Thurmond, an ardent foe of integration, filibustered the vote for a total of 24 hours and 18 minutes in protest—the longest individual filibuster in history. Thurmond once said in a speech that "there's not enough troops in the regular army to forcefulness the southern people to suspension down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches."

Afterward the filibuster ended and a number of changes had been made, the bill passed in a 72-18 vote. The nib received 43 of 46 Republican votes, or 93 percent, and 29 of 49 Democratic votes, or 59 percent.

The Senate version was sent back to the House, where it was canonical subsequently amendment in a 279-97 vote (75 pct of Republicans voting in favor and 55 pct of Democrats). The Senate agreed to the subpoena, with back up from 80 percent of Republicans and 46 percent of Democrats. Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into police force on Sept. nine, 1957.

Congress also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which further addressed the voting rights of blackness Americans and established penalties for those who tried to foreclose people from voting. The bill passed the House on a 311-109 vote that garnered support from the majority of both parties. Roughly 87 per centum of Republicans voted in favor of the act, every bit did 64 percent of Democrats.

In the Senate, the beak was then amended and passed with like levels of back up—83 percent of Republicans voted "yea" versus 65 percentage of Democrats. The House approved the final bill in a 288-95 vote, with 81 pct of Republicans and 59 pct of Democrats in favor.

Congress later passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as well known as the Fair Housing Act. It initially passed the Firm in a 327-93 vote, with 68 percent support from Democrats and 87 per centum back up from Republicans. It so went to the Senate, where information technology was amended and voted upon, passing in a 71-20 vote in which 42 Democrats (66 percent) and 29 Republicans (81 per centum) voted in favor.

The bill was and then sent dorsum to the House where it passed in a 250-172 vote. In this concluding vote, 61 percent of Firm Democrats voted in favor of the bill, compared to 53 percent of Republicans, mark the only time in all 4 of the Civil Rights Acts that Democrats voted in favor at a higher percentage than Republicans.

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