Lee President Ford restoring Lee's citizenship rights - 1975

At the time that took place I think we need to look at the changes taking place regarding desegregation and civil rights. I think that this was an effort to appease some of the dissatisfaction with the Federal government that the South was surely feeling. I would hazard a guess that it was not an appreciable amount different than what they were feeling in 1861. Just a guess though.
Edited.
 
That's all nice and such but the congressional Act of June 6, 1898, 30 Stat. 432, ch. 389, removed all remaining disabilities under the 14th Amendment -- if any still applied to R.E. Lee -- and restored all rights to all former rebels including Lee, thus making the action of President Ford and Congress redundant and a waste of money.

To a politician, currying votes is never a waste of money. :smile:
 
So why was it nearly unanimous? One member suggested it was done for their electibility next time around. Edited.

Among white southerners he sure was.

I remember George Will, in the 1980s, saying on one of the Sunday talk shows that each morning 535 people in Washington wake up and as they're looking in the mirror they believe they are seeing the next President of the United States.

It never hurts any politician to curry votes, whether they are current votes or future votes.
 
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