Collision Course

Hugh Davis Graham

ISBN 10: 0195143183 / ISBN 13: 9780195143188

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, 2002

About this Item

This title looks at the impact of two great liberal reforms in the 1960's, the Civil Rights Act and the immigration and Naturalization Act, and how these have shaped discussions on illegal immigration, housing, education, the work force, and other issues on the state and federal level. It considers the 2000 census and similar issues, particularly the controversial California propositions in the 1990s.

Seller Inventory # CIN0195143183VG

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collision Course
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195143183
• ISBN 13: 9780195143188
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 were passed, they were seen as triumphs of liberal reform applauded by the majority of Americans. But today, as Hugh Graham shows in Collision Course, affirmative action is foundering in the great waves of immigration from Asia and Latin America, leading to direct conflict for jobs, housing, education, and government preference programs.
How did two such well-intended laws come to loggerheads? Graham argues that a sea change occurred in American political life in the late 1960s, when a system of split government--one party holding the White House, the other holding Congress--divided authority and enhanced the ability of interest groups to win expanded benefits. In civil rights, this led to a shift from nondiscrimination to the race-conscious remedies of hard affirmative action. In immigration, it led to a surge that by 2000 had brought 35 million immigrants to America, 26 million of them Asian or Latin American and therefore eligible, as "official minorities," for affirmative action preferences. The policies collided when employers, acting under affirmative action plans, hired millions of immigrants while leaving high unemployment among inner-city blacks. Affirmative action for immigrants stirred wide resentment and drew new attention to policy contradictions. Graham sees a troubled future for both programs. As the economy weakens and antiterrorist border controls tighten, the competition for jobs will intensify pressure on affirmative action and invite new restrictions on immigration.
Graham's insightful interpretation of the unintended consequences of these policies is original and controversial. A short, focused, and even-handed narrative, it illuminates many of the issues that vex the United States today.

About the Author

Hugh Davis Graham is Holland N. McTyeire Professor of History and Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University. An authority on contemporary political issues, he is the author of The Civil Rights Era (OUP), Civil Rights and the Presidency (OUP), and The Uncertain Triumph.