Representative Feighan did not initially endorse H.R.2580 and was close to organizations such as the American Legion and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies that resisted immigration reform. Feighan opposed several provisions of H.R. 2580…

House passage of H.R. 3014 provoked strong opposition from health organizations and liberal advocacy groups. On June 24, 1965, Americans for Democratic Action issued this press release stating that the Senate-passed bill “is at least tolerable,” but…

In his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for an expanded conservation program as part of his vision of the Great Society, and on February 8, 1965, he delivered this Natural Beauty Message declaring that “Every major river…

In January, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson met with civil rights leaders and told them that he would push for a law protecting voting rights after Congress passed an education bill and Medicare. Civil rights leaders refused to wait. After they…

In this press release of January 7, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that “this year is the year when… Congress should enact a hospital insurance program for the aged” and outlined major features of the program. Representative Cecil King…

As the Senate floor debate entered its third week, Mansfield and Dirksen began to explore ways to end debate and bring the bill to a vote. As they quietly polled members, on May 21, 1965, Philip A. Hart (D-MI), the bill’s floor manager, initiated a…

On January 11, 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a detailed report concluding that cigarette smoking was a health hazard warranting “appropriate remedial action.” In June 1964, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that beginning January…

On January 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson called on Congress to eliminate the nation’s forty-year-old national origins quota system as the basis for immigration and pass an immigration law “based on the work a man can do and not where he was…

The administration had to make concessions to Representative Feighan to get his support for the Celler bill. The House Judiciary Committee’s August 3, 1965 vote of 27 to 4 to report an amended H.R. 2580 to the House was the major milestone for…

On June 1, 1965, the House Judiciary Committee reported a revised H.R. 6400, but Celler endured a month’s delay in bringing the bill to the floor when Howard W. Smith (D-VA), chair of the House Committee on Rules, kept the voting rights bill bottled…