In a significant move to preserve institutional integrity, career diplomats and foreign service officers formalized enhanced internal resistance and preservation mechanisms in response to potential political disruptions. Building on the historical ‘dissent channel’ established in 1971, …
State DepartmentCareer DiplomatsForeign Service OfficersDepartment of State Leadershipinstitutional-resistancegovernment-integritydiplomatic-ethicsbureaucratic-resiliencestate-department-reform
On April 22, 1975, the Senate formally established the Church Committee to investigate systematic abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies. Led by Senator Frank Church, the committee exposed unprecedented violations of constitutional rights by the CIA, NSA, and FBI, including illegal surveillance of …
Senator Frank ChurchSenator John TowerU.S. SenateCIANSA+2 moreinstitutional-resistanceintelligence-oversightdemocratic-safeguardsconstitutional-rightsgovernment-accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Miranda v. Arizona that law enforcement must warn suspects of their constitutional rights before custodial interrogation, or else statements cannot be used as evidence at trial. The decision requires police to inform suspects of: (1) the right to remain silent; …
U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice Earl WarrenRichard NixonLaw enforcement organizationslaw-enforcementcivil-libertiesinstitutional-resistanceconservative-backlashpolice-state
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act) into law at the base of the Statue of Liberty, abolishing the National Origins Formula that has governed U.S. immigration policy since the 1920s. The legislation dismantles the racist quota system that …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonSenator Philip HartRepresentative Emanuel CellerSenator James EastlandSenator Samuel Ervin+1 moreimmigrationcivil-rightsinstitutional-resistancecongressional-obstruction
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, outlawing discriminatory voting practices that have disenfranchised millions of African Americans since Reconstruction. The legislation passes the Senate 77-19 on May 26 and the House 333-85 on July 9, overcoming a 24-day …
President Lyndon B. JohnsonMartin Luther King Jr.John LewisSouthern Democratic SenatorsRichard Russellvoting-rightscivil-rightssouthern-strategyinstitutional-resistancevoter-suppression
On December 2, 1954, the Senate voted 67-22 to censure Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led the fight in Congress to root out suspected Communists from the Federal Government. The Democrats voted solidly for McCarthy’s rebuke, but Republicans split straight down the middle with 22 voting for …
Joseph McCarthyRalph FlandersArthur WatkinsMargaret Chase Smithred-scareinstitutional-resistancepolitical-accountabilitysenate-procedures
On the 30th day of the Army-McCarthy hearings, Boston lawyer Joseph Welch—hired by the Army to make its case—delivered one of the most famous rebukes in American political history. The hearings, which ran from April to June 1954, investigated conflicting accusations between the U.S. Army and Senator …
Joseph WelchJoseph McCarthyRoy CohnG. David Schinered-scarepolitical-persecutioninstitutional-resistancemedia
On April 22, 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings began—36 days of televised proceedings that exposed Senator Joseph McCarthy’s methods to a national audience and began his political downfall. The hearings were triggered by the Army’s March 11 report charging McCarthy and his chief counsel …
Joseph McCarthyRoy CohnRobert StevensJoseph WelchG. David Schine+2 moremccarthyismcongressional-actionmilitary-politicspolitical-theaterinstitutional-resistance
Throughout the 1910s, as women’s suffrage gained momentum following state victories in the West and increasing militant activism in the East, multiple corporate interests mobilized systematic opposition to protect their economic interests from potential voter-supported reforms. The liquor …
Liquor IndustryTextile ManufacturersRailroad CompaniesNational Association Opposed to Woman Suffragewomens-suffragecorporate-oppositioninstitutional-resistanceeconomic-interestsanti-democratic-forces
On March 3, 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson’s presidential inauguration, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, newly-appointed chairs of NAWSA’s Congressional Committee, organized the first major civil rights march on Washington, D.C. Lawyer and activist Inez Milholland, riding a white horse …
Alice PaulLucy BurnsInez MilhollandIda B. WellsWoodrow Wilsonwomens-suffragestate-violenceracial-segregationmedia-strategyinstitutional-resistance
The Seneca Falls Convention, held July 19-20, 1848, at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls, New York, marked the first organized women’s rights convention in the United States. Organized primarily by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott along with local Quaker women, the …
Elizabeth Cady StantonLucretia MottFrederick DouglassJane HuntMary Ann McClintock+1 morewomens-suffragedemocratic-expansioncivil-rightsinstitutional-resistanceabolitionist-movement