January 11, 2001 Republican Elaine Chao, first Asian-American woman to hold a cabinet position, nominated as U.S. Secretary of Labor Another first for Republicans. Where were the Democrats? The first African-American, the first woman, the first Hispanic, the first, the first, the first. Even in the 21st century, the Republican party is breaking ground that the Democrats -- if they were truly the party of the people, the party of civil rights, the party of equality -- should have broken a hundred years ago. When is this fraud finally going to be put to rest?
7 comments:
Good for the GOP! We note from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_women_to_hold_U.S._Cabinet_Secretaryships
..that only two more appointments and they will have caught up with
the Dems.
That is not the point of the post. The point is, whenever there has been a civil rights advancement in this country, the Republicans have been first. Look at which party was the first to appoint minorities to many key political positions. And this is just in the last 50 years, when Democrats had more than enough opportunities to walk the walk, but failed to do so:
But that doesn't stop the Dems from claiming (falsely) that THEY are the party of diversity and civil rights.
I don't think you want to go back any earlier, when Republicans ended slavery, segregration, lynching, black codes and Jim Crow -- and when they established the NAACP, started the forerunner to Black History Week, fought for women's suffrage, etc., etc., etc. And mind you, this was all done over the intense opposition of the Democratic Party.
You can learn all about it by reading my blog. Thanks to liberal obfuscation, I don't know where else you can learn it.
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December 16, 2003 - President George W. Bush signs law creating National Museum of African American History and Culture
November 17, 2003 - First generation immigrant, Austrian-American Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, sworn in as Governor of California
May 23, 2003 - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduces bill to establish National Museum of African American History and Culture
May 8, 2003 - Speaker Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and other Republican leaders gather at Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, announce $1 million restoration effort
January 13, 2003 - Jennette Bradley (R-OH) becomes first African-American woman to be Lt. Governor of a state
December 20, 2000 - California Republican Ann Veneman nominated as first woman to be U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
December 17, 2000 - Republican Alberto Gonzales named as first Hispanic to serve as White House Counsel by President George W. Bush
December 15, 2000 - President-elect George W. Bush nominates Colin Powell as first African-American Secretary of State
December 5, 2000 - Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) becomes first woman elected to U.S. Senate Leadership
December 3, 2002 - Jewish Republican Linda Lingle (R-HI) inaugurated as state’s first woman governor
November 26, 2002 - Republican Judy Baar Topinka becomes first woman to chair either major party in Illinois
November 13, 2002 - U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) elected as Chair of House Republican Conference; she is highest-ranking woman in House majority leadership in U.S. history
November 5, 2002 - Michael Steele, former Chairman of Maryland Republican Party, elected as first African-American Lt. Governor in state history
November 12, 2001 - President George W. Bush proclaims National American Indian Heritage Month
September 4, 2001 - Republican U.S. Senate selects Alfonso Lenhardt as first African-American Sergeant at Arms
July 25, 2001 - California Republican Gaddi Vasquez nominated by President George W. Bush as first Hispanic to be Director of the Peace Corps
May 9, 2001 - President George W. Bush nominates Miguel Estrada to be first Hispanic to serve on U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit; Democrats in Senate successfully filibuster nomination
January 11, 2001 - Republican Elaine Chao, first Asian-American woman to hold a cabinet position, nominated as U.S. Secretary of Labor
January 20, 2001 - Mississippi Republican Rod Paige is confirmed as first African-American U.S. Secretary of Education
January 22, 2001 - Republican Condoleezza Rice becomes first woman and second African-American to serve as U.S. National Security Advisor
January 24, 2001 - Republican Mel MartÃnez, appointed by President George W. Bush as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, becomes first Cuban-American in Cabinet
January 30, 2001 - Republican Gale Norton, appointed by President George W. Bush, becomes first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of the Interior
June 6, 2001 - President George W. Bush issues Executive Order enhancing federal employment opportunities for Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders
July 31, 2000 - African-American U.S. Rep. J. C. Watts (R-OK) presides over Republican National Convention in Philadelphia
April 26, 1999 - `Legislation authored by U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) awarding Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is transmitted to President
November 28, 1989 - President George H. W. Bush establishes National Museum of the American Indian
August 20, 1996 - Bill authored by U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
June 25, 1996 - Death of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Elbert Tuttle, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower; eulogized for ensuring that Brown v. Board of Education became “a broad mandate for racial justice”
January 4, 1995 - SpeakerNewt Gingrich appoints Republican Cheryl Lau first Asian-American woman to serve as General Counsel of U.S. House;
January 4, 1995 - Republican Robin Carle becomes first woman elected Clerk of U.S. House
July 22, 1993 - Death of Roscoe Robinson, first African-American four-star general in the U.S. Army; promoted in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan
November 21, 1991 - President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 3, 1990 - President George H. W. Bush declares first National American Indian Heritage Month
July 26, 1990 - President George H. W. Bush signs Americans with Disabilities Act, world’s first comprehensive civil rights law for people with disabilities
May 7, 1990 - President George H. W. Bush proclaims first Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
March 8, 1990 - Republican Evan J. Kemp appointed by President George H. W. Bush
as Chairman of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; first person with a disability to serve on the Commission
August 29, 1989 - U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) becomes first Hispanic woman and first Cuban-American in Congress
September 13, 1988 - President Ronald Reagan proclaims first National Hispanic Heritage Week
August 10, 1988 - President Ronald Reagan signs Civil Liberties Act of 1988, compensating Japanese-Americans for deprivation of civil rights and property during World War II internment ordered by FDR
May 27, 1987 - Vietnamese-American cadet Hoang Nhu Tran, former boat person, graduates as valedictorian from U.S. Air Force Academy; nominated by U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong (R-CO)
November 4, 1986 - Republican Kay Orr of Nebraska elected as state’s first woman governor;
November 30, 1983 - Clarence Pendleton completes first term as first African-American Chairman of U.S. Civil Rights Commission; appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981
November 15, 1983 - President Ronald Reagan’s nominee to Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Susan Meredith Phillips, confirmed as first woman to serve as Chairman
November 2, 1983 - President Ronald Reagan makes Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday
October 2, 1983 - President Ronald Ronald Reagan proclaims first Minority Enterprise Development Week
May 13, 1983 - President Ronald Reagan designates first national observance of American Indian Day
May 5, 1983 - Hispanic Republican Patricia Diaz Dennis appointed by President Ronald Reagan as first Hispanic woman on National Labor Relations Board; later served as FCC Commissioner under Reagan and as Regent of Texas State University under Gov. George W. Bush
February 7, 1983 - Republican Elizabeth Dole appointed by President Ronald Reagan as first woman to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation; she would later become first woman to represent North Carolina in U.S. Senate
August 12, 1982 - Hispanic Republican Faith Evans, first woman in nation to serve as U.S. Marshal, sworn in following appointment by President Ronald Reagan
June 29, 1982 - President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
December 21, 1981 - President Ronald Reagan establishes Task Force on Legal Equality
for Women
September 25, 1981 - Republican Sandra Day O’ Connor, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, is sworn in as first woman to serve on U.S. Supreme Court
September 15, 1981 - President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
January 29, 1981 - Jeane Kirkpatrick appointed by President Ronald Reagan as first woman to be U.S. Ambassador to United Nations
August 9, 1988 - Lauro Cavazos, first Hispanic to serve in Cabinet, nominated by President Ronald Reagan to be Secretary of Education
July 15, 1980 - NAACP President Benjamin Hooks addresses Republican National Convention; previously appointed by President Richard Nixon in 1972 as first African-American member of U.S. Civil Rights Commission
February 19, 1976 - President Gerald Ford formally rescinds President Franklin Roosevelt’s notorious Executive Order authorizing internment of over 120,000 Japanese-Americans during WWII
September 1, 1975 - Gen. Daniel James receives fourth star from Republican President Gerald Ford; first African-American to hold that rank in U.S. Air Force
April 25, 1975 - Appointed by President Gerald Ford, Dick Yin Wong becomes first Asian-American to serve as judge on a U.S. District Court
March 10, 1975 - President Gerald Ford appoints Republican Carla Hills as first woman to be U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; later first woman to be U.S. Trade Representative, appointed by President George H. W. Bush
January 14, 1975 - Republican William T. Coleman nominated as first African-American to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation
July 12, 1974 - Republican National Chairman George H. W. Bush establishes Republican National Hispanic Assembly
April 24, 1974 - James M. Rogers, Jr. is first African-American selected National Teacher of the Year, by President Richard Nixon
October 1, 1973 - Richard Cavazos promoted by President Richard Nixon to be first Hispanic Brigadier General in U.S. Army; in 1982, President Ronald Reagan made him first Hispanic four–star General
February 17, 1973 - Republican Navy Secretary John Warner commissions frigate in honor of first African-American naval aviator, Jesse L. Brown, who died in combat during Korean War
October 24, 1972 - Death of Jackie Robinson, athlete and Republican civil rights activist
October 11, 1972 - Horacio Rivero, first Hispanic four-star Admiral, appointed by President Richard Nixon as U.S. Ambassador to Spain
May 14, 1971 - Republican Senators Jacob Javits (NY) and Charles Percy (IL) appoint the first female pages in U.S. Senate
April 28, 1971 - Rear Admiral Samuel Lee Gravely becomes first African-American to achieve Flag Rank in U.S. Navy, promoted by President Richard Nixon
April 23, 1971 - Republican appointee Herbert Choy becomes first Asian-American federal judge, named by President Richard Nixon to U.S. Court of Appeals
July 8, 1970 - In special message to Congress, President Richard Nixon calls for reversal of policy of forced termination of Native American rights and benefits
August 6, 1965 - Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
August 4, 1965 - Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose
March 21, 1965 - Republican federal judge Frank Johnson authorizes Martin Luther King’s protest march from Selma to Montgomery, overruling Democrat Governor George Wallace
June 20, 1964 - The Chicago Defender, renowned African-American newspaper, praises Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) for leading passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act
June 10, 1964 - Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality
June 9, 1964 - Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV), who still serves in the Senate
January 27, 1964 - U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), first woman to be considered for nomination by a major party, announces candidacy for President; she finishes 2nd at Republican National Convention
May 2, 1963 - Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
July 27, 1960 - At Republican National Convention, Vice President and eventual presidential nominee Richard Nixon insists on strong civil rights plank in platform
May 6, 1960 - President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
February 4, 1959 - President Eisenhower informs Republican leaders of his plan to introduce 1960 Civil Rights Act, despite staunch opposition from many Democrats
June 23, 1958 - President Dwight Eisenhower meets with Martin Luther King and other African-American leaders to discuss plans to advance civil rights
September 24, 1957 - Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys U.S. troops to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
September 9, 1957 - President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
November 6, 1956 - African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
July 9, 1955 - Republican attorney E. Frederic Morrow becomes first African-American executive in White House; served as advisor to President Dwight Eisenhower
May 17, 1954 - Chief Justice Earl Warren, three-term Republican Governor (CA) and Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948, wins unanimous support of Supreme Court for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education
LR,
Agree, the GOP has a long tradition of civil rights advancement starting with Lincoln and your blog describes most of them. It is hard to keep things straight since the 'south' went from Democrat to Republican and the 'north' went from GOP to Dem, etc. In fairness, both parties
have had their good and bad times and both sometimes take a generalized bad rap...I'm as guilty as the next guy.
It isn't hard at all. Slavery wasn't a geographical thing, it was a political thing. Had the North been Democratic and the South Republican, you would have seen slave auctions in Boston, Chicago and NYC. The Republican party was founded for the VERY PURPOSE of stopping the Democrats from spreading this evil to the territories and the free states. But you know Republicans, they can never leave well enough alone. As for both parties having good times and bad times, what could be a worse time than slavery, throwing Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, nuking another country -- twice. Giving nuclear secrets to our worst enemies, initiating welfare programs that did more to destroy black families than slavery ever did? Just out of curiosity, what bad times has the Republican Party had?
"Just out of curiosity, what bad times has the Republican Party had?"
US Grant had his problems, but I am an admirer of Grant, it was his appointees who were problematic. Harding is forever
associated with the TeaPot Dome
scandal, again appointing greedy people. Coolidge and Hoover oversaw the '29 market crash.
The GOP fought Lend-Lease.
Although teflon-coated, Reagan
ignored international law, mined
South American harbors when he
disagreed with their politics: for which we are villified throughout that area to this day..the selling of weapons to Iran so he could fund the round up and torture of
Nicaraguans (including unfortunately some US nuns) and he attempted to sell large Bureau of Lands properties to Japanese businessmen..and in my opinion started the divisiveness between
conservative and liberal which persists to this day. Nixon..well, Agnew, well, Gingrich, DeLay, all folks who made politics a criminal game..GWB alienated some of our oldest staunchest allies and decreased US popularity abroad (which should be pretty hard to do)here in my very red state, our GOP fought the Patriot Act as just a rewrite of the old Alien & Sedition Act and current internecine activity by Hagel, Snow, Coleman etc over their party's handling of Iraq. My opinion, but
those seem like 'bad times'...and I would be the first to admit that sometimes events are beyond a party's control..eg 1929..but still-bad times. Clearly, I am no historian, heck I think Ike was great, but he gets second billing, so that's my 2 cents...
You are citing individual Republicans, not Republican policy. If we want to go into the personal corruption of individual politicians (and we don't) we could be debating forever. Look at Nancy Pelosi's problems staffing leadership positions in the House. She apparently could not find a single untainted Democrat for those positions.
I am talking about the very soul of the political parties, their reaon for being, their platforms and policies.
The Federalists drafted the greatest political philosophy ever written by man, and created the first constitutional republic. The anti-Federalists – or "pre-Democrats" – were formed to oppose the Constitution, which, to a great extent, remains their position today.
The Republican Party emerged from the Whigs when the Whigs waffled on slavery. (They were "pro-choice" on slavery.) The Republican Party was founded expressly as the anti-slavery, pro-black party, which to a great extent remains their position today.
As far as I'm concerned, the Democratic Party should have been dismantled after the Civil War, just as the Nazi party was after WWII. Just imagine how different out history would have been. We quite probably would have avoided more than a hundred years of racial strife and suffering.
And that folks, is why you don't try to tear off the mask of the old Lone Rnager...
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