"Amendments are No Cure for 'Evils'"

Title

Subject

A June 4, 1964 *Florence Herald* report on comments by Alabama Senator John Sparkman relative to Republican amendments to the Civil Rights Bill backed by the Johnson administration.

Description

A June 4, 1964 *Florence Herald* report on comments by Alabama Senator John Sparkman with respect to "75 or 80 clarifying or technical amendments introduced by Republicans" to the Civil Rights Bill backed by the Johnson Administration, in which Sparkman stated that "there may be some watering-down effect in these amendments, but even with them it is still a bad bill and we Southern Senators are against the bill in its entirety and hope to kill it in its entirety."

According to Sparkman, the passage of the Civil Rights Bill with these proposed amendments would serve as an implied threat to the Southern states to enact civil rights legislation or be "overrun by federal force." Racial problems, according to the Senator, could not be fixed simply by passing legislation.

Rights

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Files

Collection

Civil Rights

Citation

“"Amendments are No Cure for 'Evils'",” Shoals Black History, accessed June 8, 2026, https://shoalsblackhistory.omeka.net/items/show/938.