First officially used in 1961 by President John Kennedy, who issued an executive order requiring employers who had contracts with the federal government to take “affirmative action” to ensure they did not discriminate against African Americans. Simultaneously with passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment, President Lyndon Johnson, by executive orders, extended affirmative action to other minorities and required federal contractors to actively recruit and set longterm goals to increase minority employment. By the late 1970s, the concept had expanded to cover women, and its scope embraced all levels of public employment, educational institutions and many private businesses.

Initially, it was widely accepted as a natural concomitant to the Civil Rights movement and the War on Poverty. It was viewed as an effective remedy to compensate for the accumulated impact of past discrimination as a means to apportion equitably government employment and publicly financed education, and as a method to endure racially, ethnically and multiculturally diverse student populations. It was also an instrument to insure that the racial and ethnic composition and life experiences of urban public employees, especially police officers and fire fighters, more closely mirrored the increasingly minority communities they served.

Affirmative action quickly became an extremely controversial national lightning rod for racial and social tensions. The conservative electorate responsible for the Reagan presidency, criticism spearheaded by a small group of black conservatives such as Clarence Thomas and increased competition for ever scarcer government employment and places at elite public universities coalesced in opposition. Affirmative action was labeled “reverse discrimination,” “racial preference programs” and “discriminatory quota systems.” In upholding the general principle of affirmative action in Bakke v. University of California (1978), the Supreme Court ruled that race could be considered along with other factors in university admissions, but fixed racial quotas could not be utilized. In Fullilove v. Klutnick (1980), the Court upheld the requirement that ten percent of federal funds for public works be allotted to qualified minority contractors. But, in 1989, the Court outlawed the use of similar set-aside programs by states unless precise evidence of racial discrimina tion existed. Finally, in 1995, the Rehnquist Court limited federal setaside programs to those justified by a “compelling government interest.” Anti-affirmative action sentiment solidified in successful referenda in California and Washington. Immediately, there were drastic declines in the number of African Americans and Latinos at the prestigious campuses of the California state system.

While many voluntary private sector employment and university admissions programs remain intact, affirmative action, a crucial factor in raising minority educational levels and middle-class membership, is rapidly becoming a victim of the changing social agenda of a conservative era.