On September 9, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the first civil rights act in the United States in 82 years. Under Title I, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was established as a temporary, independent, bipartisan, Federal agency. Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson hailed the entire piece of legislation as the greatest achievement in the 1 field of civil rights since the 13th amendment, and historian Foster Rhea Dulles described the Commission as "but one manifestation of the belated response of a conscience-stricken people to the imperative need somehow to make good the promises of democracy in support of equal protection of the laws regardless of 2 race, color, religion, or national origin."

In fact, both the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights were the result of Brown v. Board of 3

Education, the Supreme Court's landmark school desegregation decision in 1954. It was Southern resistance to compliance with Brown which led to mounting civil rights pressure and the consequent decision of the Eisenhower administration to introduce the

1. Dean Acheson, "A Word of Praise," Reporter, Sept. 5, 1957, p. 3.

Foster Rhea Dulles, The Civil Rights Commission: 1957-1965 (Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1968), p. ix.

2.

civil rights legislation.

4

And it was this same resistance which

produced almost a 2-year delay in passage of the civil rights act

and creation of the Commission.

The President, in his 1956 state of the Union message, had 5 asked Congress to create a civil rights commission to investigate charges "that in some localities Negro citizens are being deprived of their right to vote and likewise are being subjected to unwarranted economic pressures." A draft of the administration's proposal then was sent to the Senate and House of Representatives on April 9, 1956. The bill was passed by the House in July but died in committee in the Senate after threat of a filibuster.

President

Eisenhower resubmitted the bill as he began his second term, and an acceptable compromise version of the legislation finally was approved despite Southern attacks and characterization of the proposed Commission on Civil Rights as an agency "to perpetuate civil wrongs. Initially established for a period of 2 years, the Commission's life has been extended continuously since then, most recently on October 14, 1972, for a period of 5-1/2 years.

Briefly stated, the function of the Commission is to advise the President and Congress on conditions that may deprive American

4. Dulles, The Civil Rights Commission, p. 3.

5. To Secure These Rights, the 1947 report of President Harry S. Truman's Committee on Civil Rights, previously had recommended creation of such a commission to study the whole civil rights problem and make recommendations for its solution.

(Discrimination on the

citizens of equal treatment under the law because of their color,
race, religion, sex, or national origin.
basis of sex was added to the Commission's jurisdiction in 1972.)
The Commission has no power to enforce laws or correct any indi-
vidual injustice. Basically, its task is to collect, study, and
appraise information relating to civil rights throughout the
country and to make appropriate recommendations to the President
and Congress for corrective action. The Supreme Court has
described the Commission's statutory duties in this way:

....its function is purely investigative
and factfinding. It does not adjudicate.
It does not hold trials or determine any-
one's civil or criminal liability. It
does not issue orders. Nor does it indict,
punish, or impose any legal sanctions. It
does not make determinations depriving
anyone of his life, liberty, or property.
In short, the Commission does not and
cannot take any affirmative action which
will affect an individual's legal rights.
The only purpose of its existence is to
find facts which may subsequently be
used as the basis for legislative or
executive action.6

Specifically, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, as amended, directs

the Commission to:

6.

Hannah v. Larche 363 U.S. 420, 441 (1960). Louisiana voting registrars sought to enjoin the Commission from conducting a hearing into discriminatory denial of voting rights. When the lower court held that the Commission's procedural rules were not within its authority, the Commission appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court reversed the judgment below and held that the Commission's rules did not violate the due process clause of the fifth amendment.

Investigate complaints alleging denial of the
right to vote by reason of race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin, or by rea-
son of fraudulent practices;

Study and collect information concerning legal
developments constituting a denial of equal
protection of the laws under the Constitution
because of race, color, religion, sex, or
national origin, or in the administration of
justice;

Appraise Federal laws and policies with
respect to the denial of equal protection
of the laws because of race, color, religion,
sex, or national origin, or in the administra-
tion of justice;

Serve as a national clearinghouse for
information concerning denials of equal
protection of the laws because of race,
color, religion, sex, or national origin;

Submit reports, findings, and recommendations
to the President and Congress.

The material on which the Commission's reports are based has been obtained in various ways. In addition to its own hearings, conferences, investigations, surveys, and related research, the Commission has drawn on the cooperation of numerous Federal, State, and local agencies. Private organizations also have been of

immeasurable assistance. Another source of information has been

State Advisory Committees which, under the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the Commission has established throughout the country.

Since its creation, the Commission has issued more than 200 reports and made over 200 recommendations to the President and the Congress. These recommendations have encompassed the fields of

voting, housing, employment, education, administration of justice, equality of opportunity in the armed forces, and Federal enforcement of civil rights laws. The majority of these recommendations eventually have been included in Federal Executive orders, legislation, administrative regulations, and program guidelines.

It has

been reported that the "Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were built on the factual foundations of racial discrimination portrayed in the Commission's reports and in part

they embodied these reports' specific recommendations for immediate 7

action."

Throughout its 17-year history, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has "established national goals, conceived legislation, criticized inaction, uncovered and exposed denials of equality in many fields and places, prodded the Congress, nagged the Executive, and aided the Courts. Above all, it has lacerated, sensitized, and 8

perhaps even recreated the national conscience." The extent to which the Commission has achieved its results perhaps may be attributed in large measure to its continuing concern with constitutional rights on a nationwide basis and in all fields affected by race and ethnicity. "The interrelationship among

7. Dulles, The Civil Rights Commission, p. ix.

Berl Bernhard, Equality and 1964," Vital Speeches, July 15,

8.