The Affirmative
Action Debate

President Kennedy first used the term affirmative action to assert the need for positive or “affirmative” action to end racial discrimination in American society. While affirmative action takes various forms, it contains racial or gender guidelines as a way to measure compliance in recruitment programs in employment, government contracts, and school admissions.

Affirmative action became federal policy in 1965 after President Johnson issued Executive Order 11246. During his presidency, Johnson also added gender as a category for affirmative action. President Nixon expanded these programs further and upheld provisions that set affirmative action standards for contractors bidding on federally funded projects. During his administration, affirmative action policies were extended to include people with disabilities. Although affirmative action has always been a contentious topic, as Documents 27.7, 27.8, and 27.9 demonstrate, it came under increasing attack beginning in the late 1970s, and many programs across the country have been dismantled since then.

Opponents consider affirmative action to be “reverse discrimination” and argue that preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity, or gender is exactly what rights-based movements of the 1960s and 1970s fought against. They assert that all hiring and admissions decisions should be based only on individual qualifications, though the exact criteria for those qualifications vary. Those who favor affirmative action argue that it is important and necessary to redress past and present discrimination, and they point out that white men continue to control most positions of economic and political power in the United States. They also argue that creating more diverse schools and workplaces benefits the entire society. As you read the following documents, consider whether affirmative action is needed to ensure equality in American society and whether it has worked as a policy. If not affirmative action, then what should be substituted in its place?