The Fifth Freedom : Jobs, Politics, and Civil Rights in the United States, 1941-1972 / Anthony S. Chen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chen, Anthony S., 1972- author.

Series:

Princeton studies in American politics.

Princeton Studies in American Politics: Historical, International, and Comparative Perspectives ; 106

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Employment--History--20th century.

African Americans.

Discrimination in employment--Government policy--United States--History--20th century.

Discrimination in employment.

Affirmative action programs--United States--History--20th century.

Affirmative action programs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (424 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2009]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Where did affirmative action in employment come from? The conventional wisdom is that it was instituted during the Johnson and Nixon years through the backroom machinations of federal bureaucrats and judges. The Fifth Freedom presents a new perspective, tracing the roots of the policy to partisan conflicts over fair employment practices (FEP) legislation from the 1940s to the 1970s. Drawing on untapped sources, Anthony Chen chronicles the ironic, forgotten role played by American conservatives in the development of affirmative action. Decades before affirmative action began making headlines, millions of Americans across the country debated whether government could and should regulate job discrimination. On one side was an interfaith and interracial bloc of liberals, who demanded FEP legislation that would establish a centralized system for enforcing equal treatment in the labor market. On the other side was a bloc of business-friendly, small-government conservatives, who felt that it was unwise to "legislate tolerance" and who made common cause with the conservative wing of the Republican party. Conservatives ultimately prevailed, but their obstruction of FEP legislation unintentionally facilitated the rise of affirmative action, a policy their ideological heirs would find even more abhorrent. Broadly interdisciplinary, The Fifth Freedom sheds new light on the role of parties, elites, and institutions in the policymaking process; the impact of racial politics on electoral realignment; the history of civil rights; the decline of New Deal liberalism; and the rise of the New Right.Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Tables

Preface and Acknowledgments

1. On the Origins of Affirmative Action: Puzzles and Perspectives

2. The Strange Career of Fair Employment Practices in National Politics and Policy, 1941-1960

3. Experimenting with Civil Rights: The Politics of Ives-Quinn in New York State, 1941-1945

4. Laboratories of Democracy? The Unsteady March of Fair Employment in the States, 1945-1964

5. I Have a Dream Deferred: The Fall of Fair Employment and the Rise of Affirmative Action

6. Conclusions and Implications

Appendix

Abbreviations in the Notes

Index

Backmatter

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [291]-375) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9786612935725

9781282935723

1282935720

9781400831395

1400831393

OCLC:

700686861