How important were Eisenhowers Supreme Court appointments to the civil rights cause?
They were of immeasurable importance. He appointed five men to the court, none of whom was a segregationist sympathizer. He appointed Earl Warren, fully knowing that Warren was liberal on race; John Marshall Harlan II, namesake and grandson of the lone justice who had dissented from the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896; William Brennan, a liberal force on the court for three decades; and Potter Stewart, who openly supported Brown. You show that neither JFK nor LBJ was pro–civil rights during Eisenhower’s administration. Did Ike battle with them? JFK was not a senatorial power broker. Unlike Eisenhower, he appointed numerous segregationist judges early in his presidency. Johnson, as majority leader after 1954, ruled the Senate as few have. He and Eisenhower clashed over the 1957 civil rights bill. Johnson wanted a cosmetic bill that would enhance his presidential ambitions without alienating his Southern base. Eisenhower and Attorney General Herbert Brownell p
