FACT CHECK: No, Pres. Biden did not get Strom Thurmond to sign the Civil Rights Act
At an event commemorating the March on Washington, Pres. Joe Biden made a confusing statement about his involvement in getting the Civil Rights Act passed. He said that he "literally" convinced Strom Thurmond, known to be a racist segregationist, to sign the Civil Rights Act. This statement is false.
President Biden had yet to enter Washington political life in 1965, having been elected as a U.S. Senator in 1972.
Strom Thurmond died in 2003, 40 years after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. He opposed it at the time, yet he endorsed a future iteration of the bill.
A clip of the president's comment circulated on the internet and some people noticed the error. Per the AP, "Some social media users suggested the 80-year-old Biden was actually referencing the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which strengthened provisions of the 1964 law dealing with employment discrimination. That bill passed overwhelmingly, with both Biden and Thurmond voting in favor."
Thurmond, a South Carolina Senator seemed to have had a change of heart politically in his latter years. It became known that he fathered an interracial child, Essie Mae Washington-Williams after his passing. Pres. Biden eulogized Thurmond, saying at his funeral he had “moved to the good side.”
The White House said the president "misspoke."
The context of his faux pas makes it puzzling to understand how he misspoke.
While speaking to a group of Black Lawyers associated with the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, Biden reflected on the racial tension in America.
He mentioned the Jacksonville, FL shooting in which a racist white gunman killed three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida on the same day the nation marked the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial. The president lamented the reality that there has been a lack of racial progress when he'd hoped race relations had changed from Thurmond's day to the present day. This sentiment is understandable in connection with the events that he tied into his remarks. However, based on the conveyance of his words, an unknowing observer may place him in the presence of Thurmond in the late sixties, which was not a possibility.
He mentioned the Jacksonville, FL shooting in which a racist white gunman killed three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida on the same day the nation marked the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial. The president lamented the reality that there has been a lack of racial progress when he'd hoped race relations had changed from Thurmond's day to the present day. This sentiment is understandable in connection with the events that he tied into his remarks. However, based on the conveyance of his words, an unknowing observer may place him in the presence of Thurmond in the late sixties, which was not a possibility.
In the verbatim passage of his remarks he emphasized that he "literally convinced Strom Thurmond to sign the landmark Civil Rights legislation:
After the racist mass shootings in Buffalo last
year, I got an opportunity to meet with every one of the family members.
The Lawyers’ Committee and other leaders helped us host a United -- United We
Stand summit here in the East Room in the White House.
We made clear that America is the most multiracial, most dynamic nation in the history of the world. All of us -- all of us need to say clearly and forcefully -- as forcefully as we can -- that hate will not prevail in America. Hate will not prevail in America.
But pause for just a moment. I thought things had changed. I was able -- literally, not figuratively -- talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the -- the Civil Rights Act before he died. And I thought, “Well, maybe there's real progress.”
We made clear that America is the most multiracial, most dynamic nation in the history of the world. All of us -- all of us need to say clearly and forcefully -- as forcefully as we can -- that hate will not prevail in America. Hate will not prevail in America.
But pause for just a moment. I thought things had changed. I was able -- literally, not figuratively -- talk Strom Thurmond into voting for the -- the Civil Rights Act before he died. And I thought, “Well, maybe there's real progress.”
