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 ...