Affirmative Action as defined by the Meriam Webster's Dictionary is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups or women. In 1961 John F. Kennedy issued an executive order calling for Affirmative Action as a means to promote equal opportunity for racial minorities, in hiring by federal contractors. This was the first official use of the term by the Federal Government. Eight years later Nixon as President beefed up …showed first 75 words of 1631 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1631 total…at UCLA, had his own thesis about affirmative action. He contended that Afro-Americans and other minorities have historically succeeded without the help of affirmative action and that such preferences could be dispensed with today for all groups except Afro-Americans. Ward Connerly, the black businessman and regent who proposed the resolutions to terminate the preference programs, has argued that affirmative action has outlived its usefulness and now undermines achievement by Afro-Americans.(NY Times, May 3 1995, pp.B9)