Statement by the President on the Third Anniversary of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
THREE YEARS AGO today the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened its doors with the mandate from Congress to end discrimination in employment.
The doors of business and of labor had long been closed--barred by the color of a person's skin, or his national origin, or his religion, or barred just because the person was considered of the wrong sex.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is making encouraging progress toward the goals set by the Congress under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which I signed into law.
But a good deal remains to be done if we are to assure minority group members and women the equal job opportunity which the Congress mandated.
That is why I am appealing to the U.S. Senate--as we mark this third anniversary of EEOC--to restore the cut in funds made by the House of Representatives for this vital agency in its dedicated efforts to carry forward the national purpose.
Note: For the President's radio and television remarks upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which established the Commission, see 1963-64 volume, this series, Book II, Item 446.
The reduction in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission funds made by the House of Representatives was partially restored by title V of the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 1969 (Public Law 90-470, 82 Stat. 687).
Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President on the Third Anniversary of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236876