President John F. Kennedy inaugurated the federal policy of
affirmative action with Executive Order 10295. This Executive
Order, which established the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, also declared that companies contracting business
with the federal government needed to take "affirmative action"
to hire minorities. President Johnson later expanded the
government's affirmative action programs in 1965, with Executive
Order, which decreed that all federal government agencies must
take "affirmative action." Since its inception, affirmative
action has been a controversial policy and it has evolved over
time. It has been controversial and some commentators have
blamed affirmative action for causing the split in the liberal
coalition that led American politics for much of the post-World
War II period. The following section contains subscription links
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Links Affirmative Action in Employment A "Bes