... Order #11246 at Howard University, which required federal contractors "to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed . . . without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. (Miller 72)" When Lyndon Banes Johnson signed that order, he enacted one of the most discriminating pieces of legislature since the Jim Crow Laws. Affirmative action was created in an effort to help minorities leap the discriminative barriers that were ever so present in 1965, when the bill was first enacted. At that time, the country was in the wake of nationwide civil-rights demonstrations, and racial tension was at its peak. White males, who controlled the hiring and firing of employees, occupied most corporate executive and managerial positions. In 1965, the U.S. government believed that these employers discriminated against minorities and believed that there was no better time than the present to bring about change. During this time ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now