Now abridged for courses, this edition of Hugh D. Graham's groundbreaking history of national policy during the battle for civil rights recreates the intense debates in Congress and the White House that led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 banning discrimination against minorities and women. Following the implementation of these policies through a thickening maze of federal agencies and court decisions, the text reveals how the classic liberal agenda of non-discrimination evolved into the controversial program of affirmative action, surprisingly enough, under Richard Nixon. Based on extensive, groundbreaking research in the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon presidential archives and special collections of the Library of Congress, Civil Rights and the Presidency will be invaluable for courses in American history, political science, and black and women's studies.