Introduction
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Civil Rights / Fair Housing
Excerpts from Speeches       Proceedings and Debates       Hearings       Committee prints and reports

President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Bill, April 11, 1968, (Senator Mondale is fourth from the right, behind President Johnson);
credit: U.S. News & World Report magazine collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The Civil Rights Act of 1964—the most sweeping civil rights legislation in history—prohibited housing discrimination in any program that received federal assistance. However, the housing provision was rarely enforced. Moreover, it did not address discrimination in the sale or rental of privately owned housing.

Fair housing legislation was the most sensitive area of civil rights legislation. The legislation would ban all discrimination in housing and would open the door for minorities to move into white neighborhoods. Most of the Senate was afraid to touch such an explosive issue, but Senator Mondale agreed to carry the legislation forward. During the summer of 1967 hearings were held on his bill to enact housing equality. Despite powerful testimony ranging from the U.S. Attorney General to top legal experts to individuals who were denied freedom of choice in housing, the bill failed to leave the committee and receive consideration by the full Senate. However, the hearings established the case for housing equality and they were instrumental to the eventual success of fair housing legislation. The following year, Senator Mondale, with Senator Brooke (R-MA), sponsored the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as an amendment to the pending civil rights bill. He was a key player in its success.

Debate on fair housing was contentious and spirited. Opponents called the bill "obnoxious," "discrimination in reverse," and claimed that it was "robbing all Americans of their basic rights of private property." Proponents argued that fair housing was "morally right," "economically sound," "socially responsible," and "legally and constitutionally correct."[1]90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (February 14, 1968) at 2986. As the debate proceeded, it became clear that the cause was gaining bipartisan support among Northern senators, as well as the support of the nation. Yet, filibuster by the opposition continued to threaten success. In order to ensure passage of a fair housing law, Senators Mondale and Brooke eventually tabled their legislation to make way for slightly less comprehensive legislation introduced by Senator Everett Dirksen (R-IL). On March 11, 1968 the Senate passed H.R. 2516, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included far-reaching fair housing requirements. The bill was sent to the more conservative House of Representatives, where changes to weaken the bill were expected.

These changes never happened. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 resulted in a sense of urgency regarding civil rights. On April 5, Senator Mondale stood on the Senate floor and said, "The foremost proponent of a nonviolent confrontation between the races is dead. His generosity to the white man, his belief in the basic good will of all men, and his dramatic, nonviolent action enabled him to speak to both races. . . . We can pray today that the death of the nonviolent leader will not bring violence to life. In the days ahead, we must act to fulfill King's dream. . . . It is up to Congress today to lend powerful support to the argument of black moderates by immediately passing the 1968 civil rights bill, and by moving quickly to provide employment and housing opportunities for all blacks and whites."[2]90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (April 5, 1968) at 9138.

On April 10, 1968, in the midst of the country's grief following Dr. King's assassination, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The bill was signed into law by President Johnson on April 11, 1968. The law prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, based on race, color, religion, national origin, and, in later amendments, sex, familial status, and handicap.

Within an hour after President Johnson signed the bill into law, Senator Phil Hart (D-MI) scribbled a note to Senator Mondale: “You were magnificent—your energy, your counsel, your courage, and your leadership combined to move the Senate ‘to do right.’”[3]Steven M. Gillon, The Democrats’ Dilemma (New York: Columbia Univ. Press) at 111.

 
Excerpts from Senator Mondale's speeches and writings on fair housing: [Top]

"To start off the hearings we called a remarkable witness, Carlos Campbell, a young African-American navy lieutenant.... After a series of impressive assignments in the navy, he had earned a posting to the Pentagon, but, try though they might, he and his wife couldn't find an apartment anywhere nearby. He told of going to various homes and apartment houses with For Rent signs. Many of the landlords, he said, had been encouraging over the telephone. But when they saw him in person, they would go into excuse-land. He kept right at it. His wife would go with him. The Defense Department had a housing office that tried to help him, and even they couldn't find anything in white neighborhoods. They knew what the problem was. Some of them even encouraged him to look in black neighborhoods. It was a disgrace. Here was a person good enough to perform tough assignments for our country in the armed forces, but not good enough to find housing for himself and his family."

Walter Mondale, The Good Fight (New York: Scribner) at 59.

"In the last few weeks, there has been talk of causes, cures, and civil rights. The proposed remedies are many. Their efficacy is uncertain. The truth is, it seems to me, that there is no one solution, but there are many solutions. Our cities are beset by a multitude of ills, which can be cured only by a multitude of remedies. But every solution and every plan for the multiple evils in our cities and their ghettos is drastically and seriously affected by racial segregation in housing. With high concentrations of low-income, poorly educated, and unemployed persons in our cities—and without dispersal or balance throughout our communities—our cities will never be able to solve the problems of de facto school segregation, slum housing, crime and violence, disease, blight, and pollution." 90th Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 113 (August 16, 1967) at 22841.

Rally for fair housing, Milwaukee, ca. 1967; credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"This legislation alone will not bring an end to the ghetto—but it will provide the opportunity for those persons economically able to escape the ghetto to do so, and to take their families with them. It will assure them free choice in the selection of their housing. For those still condemned by poverty to remain in the ghetto, there will be at least the knowledge that it is poverty—and not their fellow citizens or their Government—that forces them to live in the slums. There will be at least the knowledge that their children will have an opportunity to escape the restrictions and confines of the ghetto pressure cooker." 90th Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 113 (August 16, 1967) at 22842.

"I think that there is a crucial debate under way in American ghettos, and that debate involves a dispute about the basic decency of white America. . . . This proposal which we call 'fair housing' is fundamental to that debate. Because the resolution of that issue I think depends more upon white America than upon the persuasiveness of these two opposite points of view. Because we have to show that we intend to be decent Americans. We must show that we don't intend to live separately in this country but that we intend to live together." U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking and Currency. Fair Housing Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs. 90th Cong., 1st sess., August 21, 22, and 23, 1967 at 2.

"There is no doubt that national fair housing legislation is a controversial issue, but the grave urgency of the urban crisis requires immediate congressional action. The barriers of housing discrimination stifle hope and achievement, and promote rage and despair; they tell the Negro citizen trapped in an urban slum there is no escape, that even were he able to get a decent education and a good job, he would still not have the freedom other Americans enjoy to choose where he and his family will live. Outlawing discrimination in the sale or rental of housing will not free those trapped in ghetto squalor, but it is an absolutely essential first step which must be taken—and taken soon." 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (February 6, 1968) at 2274.

Fair housing protest in Seattle, WA, 1964; credit: Seattle Municipal Archives, Item No: 63897

"The image of the tumbledown slatboard shack in the rural South has been replaced by what is to my mind an even more regrettable, more terrible alternative—the filthy, freezing urban slum tenement. Added to the monumental problem of poverty in the cities is the totally related problem of segregated housing. These two monstrous national disgraces are really only one." 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (February 14, 1968) at 2992.

Civil rights march on Washington, D.C., 1963; credit: U.S. News & World Report magazine collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

"De facto segregation in schools and education is directly traceable to the existing patterns of racially segregated housing. We cannot afford to allow our efforts to provide the best education possible to all Americans to be thwarted by actions of private persons, actions which are antisocial, immoral, and which ultimately amount to contravention of our public policy in favor of equal educational opportunity. Fair housing is therefore more than merely housing. It is part of an educational bill of rights for all citizens." 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (February 15, 1968) at 3134.

"On Monday we face the fourth cloture vote on fair housing. A majority of the Senate is on record in favor of what the Riot Commission recommends—a law covering the sale or rental of all housing. We have compromised this stand in order that the Senate not remain paralyzed behind the cloture requirement. Monday's vote may be the final attempt—the choice remains with less than a majority of the Senate. Their choice is whether to send America further along the road of polarization and the ultimate destruction of a democracy based upon equality—or to indicate to Americans and to the world—that we are not a racist society. A vote for cloture on Monday will reinforce our determination to end the unconscionable insult of racial discrimination in housing." 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (March 2, 1968) at 4898.
Selected U.S. Senate proceedings and debates on fair housing, 1965-1971: [Top]
Note on cloture: Cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the current cloture rule, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, or 60 votes. Until 1975, the rule required a two-thirds majority — 67 votes if all senators were present and voting — to invoke cloture.
U.S. Senate hearings on housing and the Civil Rights Act of 1967 in which Senator Mondale participated: [Top]

  • Housing Legislation of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs, pt. 1, 90th Cong. (1967).

  • Fair Housing Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs, 90th Cong. (1967).

  • Civil Rights Act of 1967: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, 90th Cong. (1967).

  • Housing and Urban Development Legislation of 1968: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs, pt. 1, 90th Cong. (1968).

  • Housing and Urban Development Legislation of 1968: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs, pt. 2, 90th Cong. (1968).
Selected Senate committee reports on fair housing: [Top]

    Committee Reports

  • Interference with civil rights, S. Rep. No. 721, 90-1 (1967).

    • Congressional Research Service Reports

  • Raymond Celada, Cong. Research Serv., A-215, Analysis of H.R. 2516, A Bill Prescribing Penalties for Interfering with Civil Rights, Passed by the United States House of Representatives, Aug. 16, 1967 (1967).

  • Herbert A. Danner, Cong. Research Serv., A-239, Civil Rights Act of 1968: Brief Summary of Basic Provisions (1968).

  • Raymond J. Celada, Cong. Research Serv., A-242, Civil Rights Act of 1968: Background and Title-by-Title Analysis (1968).

  • Cong. Research Serv., ED-299, Tabular Comparison of the Recommendations of the National Advisory Council on Civil Disorders (Riots Commission) with Existing and Proposed Legislation and Programs (1968).

  • Cong. Research Serv., ED-317, Supplement to ED-299, Tabular Comparison of the Recommendations of the National Advisory Council on Civil Disorders (Riots Commission) with Existing and Proposed Legislation and Programs (1968).

  • Paul M. Downing, Cong. Research Serv., GGR 206, Civil Rights Legislation in the 90th Congress (1969).
Endnotes:[TOP]
  1. 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (February 14, 1968) at 2986.
  2. 90th Cong., 2nd sess., Congressional Record 114 (April 5, 1968) at 9138.
  3. Steven M. Gillon, The Democrats’ Dilemma (New York: Columbia Univ. Press) at 111.