BIRDMAN, that was one great quote. Is it yours?
Throughout the 1950s, Barry Goldwater, in both the House and Senate, had been in the forefront of civil rights legislation. In his home state of Arizona, he led the efforts to desegregate the National Guard. He helped establish the Arizona Air National Guard and insisted on no segregation. He once said that he didn't care what the race, religion or nationality of the guy next to him in a foxhole was, he wanted to know if he could shoot straight.
In 1964, as he was running for the Republican presidential nomination, he voted against the civil rights bill on the grounds that it would lead to quotas in hiring, even going so far as citing the specific passages that would do it. Hubert Humphrey, who for his part was angling for the vacant vice-presidential spot on Lyndon Johnson's re-election ticket, after he'd succeeded to the presidency with John Kennedy's assassination, scoffed saying that if it did, he'd eat a copy of the bill on the Senate floor. The bill passed, Humphrey secured the coveted VP slot, Johnson landslided to victory over Barry, quotas became the norm, and Humphrey's diet never changed.
Goldwater had valid constitutional concerns over the bill but it had steamrollered to passage and emboldened by this, Lyndon Johnson, a previous segregationist, then proposed the 1965 civil rights bill that went even further and
established integration in accommodations, housing and other sectors of the economy. One (black) woman, even said, "I don't want to go where I'm not wanted."
From their years together in the Senate, Goldwater had nothing but cold contempt for Johnson. Contrariwise, he and Kennedy had been good friends and frequent lunchmates. They also often agreed and worked on legislation together. He called Goldwater 'a man of decency and character,' and was looking forward to his re-election campaign against a presumed Goldwater as nominee. Kennedy also shared Goldwater's view of Johnson.
The two bills were bad precedents and the big beneficiaries have been the lawyers and governmentalists who regard themselves as our society's Messiahs. The biggest victims have been limited government and The Constitution.