After Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson blamed former President Richard Nixon following 19 murders being committed in Chicago over the July 4 weekend, the Richard Nixon Foundation harshly criticized him. One hundred nine people were reportedly injured in the shootings.
“The spree spanned 74 separate incidents, including a horrific family slaying that saw an 8-year-old boy killed along with two relatives, while two other boys, aged 5 and 7, were injured in the same shooting,” The Daily Mail noted.
“Black death has been, unfortunately, accepted in this country for a very long time,” Johnson declared at a news conference. “We had a chance 60 years ago to get at the root causes, and people mocked President [Lyndon] Johnson. And we ended up with Richard Nixon.”
“Mayor Johnson’s reference to President Nixon is gratuitous and the facts are not on his side in his characterization of Richard Nixon and the Nixon administration’s civil rights record,” the Nixon Foundation stated on X, adding a litany of Nixon’s decisions to help the black community:
In 1971, the Nixon administration developed a plan to carry out the 1954 SCOTUS decision in Brown v. Board of Education to desegregate all schools in the South. In 1969, 64% of Southern Schools were segregated. By 1974, 8% were segregated. Done effectively and peacefully. From 1969 to 1972, federal funding for civil rights programs grew from $75 million to more than $600 million, the equivalent of more than $3.4 billion today. Nixon initiated the Emergency School Aid Act with $1.5 million to help end school segregation and pay for the promotion of interracial experiences among children where racial isolation existed.
Nixon issued an executive order calling on federal government agencies to apply equal-opportunity policies to every aspect of federal personnel policies and practices. Nixon allocated $12 million for research on sickle-cell anemia, a blood disorder that afflicts one out of every 500 black children, with the hope of decreasing that number. From 1969 to 1971, the government’s federal purchases from black-owned businesses increased more than 900 percent, from $13 million to $142 million. In 1969, Nixon issued an executive order creating an Office of Minority Business Enterprise in the Commerce Department. Nixon mandated that federal contractors had to comply with equal employment-opportunity laws. This “Philadelphia Plan,” led to the dismantling of institutionalized racism in labor unions. The Nixon administration was the first to institute plans to increase jobs for minorities in the construction industry. From 1969 to 1973, federal aid to predominantly black colleges and universities more than doubled.
“Richard Nixon was a champion of civil rights as Vice President and as President,” Jim Byron, the president and CEO of the Richard Nixon Foundation, fired back in a statement to Fox News. “The record is clear. Unfortunately there are many misconceptions about Richard Nixon, but perceptions of years ago are now being reconsidered as we see renewed interest in studying and understanding his life and legacy in full. As of now, our correction of the record is racing toward one million views on X alone.”
“What is happening in Chicago is heartbreaking, and I imagine the people of Chicago want leaders who take responsibility and work together to solve problems rather than try and pass the blame, in this case ridiculously and gratuitously,” he continued.
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