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Examining the Opposition to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: “Nothing More than Bad Quality Hogwash”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

IAN MILDEN
IAN MILDEN*
Affiliation:
Western Kentucky University
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Abstract

This article examines the divide within the Republican Party between business interests and conservative evangelicals during the debate over the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Business interests were able to build compromises by raising their concerns over practical matters such as costs. Conservative evangelicals advocated for changes due to their moral and ideological positions on homosexuality and HIV. Conservative evangelicals did not receive their desired changes because they constructed their concerns with public safety themes. This led to conservative evangelicals and their opponents talking past each other instead of addressing their concerns. The dynamics shown from the opposition of conservative evangelicals in the ADA debate demonstrate that their influence in elections did not lead to dominance within the Republican Party in shaping policy.

Keywords

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990conservative evangelicalshomosexuality and HIVRepublican Party
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Policy History , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 2022 , pp. 505 - 528
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2022

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References

NOTES

1. Steven A. Holmes, “Costs, Not Quotas, Worry Some Foes of the Rights Bill,” New York Times, May 27, 1990, A4.

2. C-SPAN, “Senate Labor and Human Resources Subcommittee on Handicapped Hearing on Discrimination against the Disabled,” Video, September 27, 1988, https://www.c-span.org/video/?4387-1/discrimination-disabled. Senator Harkin makes this comment roughly at 10:40.

3. Mayerson, Arlene, “The Americans with Disabilities Act—An Historic Overview,” The Labor Lawyer 7, no. 1 (Winter 1991): 2,Google Scholar https://www.jstor.org/stable/40862116.

4. Mayerson, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” 2.

5. C-SPAN, “Hearing on Discrimination against the Disabled,” at 11:00.

6. Mayerson, 3.

7. The specific document is a “Dear colleague” letter, July 26, 1988, at p. 63, para. 2, Americans with Disabilities Act—letters, 1989-1992, entire folder, The Dole Archives, University of Kansas, Lawrence, http://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/collections/ada/files/s-leg_750_007_all.pdf (hereafter referred to as DA-ADA).

8. Mayerson, 4.

9. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” Vimeo, 2000, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Access Video, and University of San Francisco, at 5:45, https://vimeo.com/131353330 (hereafter referred to as USF-EDF).

10. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” at 5:45.

11. “The Making of the ADA—C. Boyden Gray,” Vimeo, 2000, USF-EDF, at 3:30, https://vimeo.com/135002107.

12. “The Making of the ADA—C. Boyden Gray,” at 2:30.

13. “The Making of the ADA—Dick Thornburgh,” Vimeo, 2000, USF-EDF, at 8:00, https://vimeo.com/136527180.

14. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” at 5:35. For more information on disability policy prior to the ADA, see Berkowitz, Edward D., Disabled Policy: America’s Programs for the Handicapped: A Twentieth Century Fund Report (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).Google Scholar

15. “The Making of the ADA—C. Boyden Gray,” at 0:45.

16. “The Making of the ADA—George H. W. Bush,” Vimeo, 2000, USF-EDF, at 2:30, https://vimeo.com/131333500.

17. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” at 0:45.

18. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Edward M. Kennedy,” Vimeo, 2000, USF-EDF, at 15:15, https://vimeo.com/126815119.

19. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright,” Vimeo, 2000, USF-EDF, at 2:30, https://vimeo.com/133857240.

20. Gary Miller and Norman Schofield, “The Transformation of the Republican and Democratic Party Coalitions in the U.S,” Perspectives on Politics 6, no. 3 (September 2008): 438, https://www.jstor.org/stable/20446754. Business interests had been regular supporters of the Republican Party since its founding.

21. Miller and Schofield, 439.

22. Corwin Smidt and Paul Kellstadt, “Evangelicals in the Post-Reagan Era: An Analysis of Evangelical Voters in the 1988 Presidential Election,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 31, no. 3 (September 1992): 332, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387123.

23. Smidt and Kellstadt, 332.

24. Smidt and Kellstadt, 332.

25. Smidt and Kellstadt, 330.

26. Clifton, , “Romancing the GOP: Assessing the Strategies Used by the Christian Coalition to Influence the Republican Party,” Party Politics 10, no. 5 (2004): 481 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1354068804045384.

27. Cathleen Decker, “Dannemeyer: Crusader or Rabble-Rouser of the Right?” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1991, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-18-mn-236-story.html. This article is dated after the ADA, but it does indicate that Dannemeyer got support from conservative evangelicals including the Christian Coalition.

28. William Dannemeyer (United States House of Representatives) letter to Edwin Meese (United States Department of Justice), C. Everett Koop Papers, 1986, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Washington DC, https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/qq/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101584930X197-doc.

29. Dannemeyer to Meese.

30. Price, Vincent and Hsu, Mei-Ling, “Public Opinion about AIDS Policies: The Role of Misinformation and Attitudes toward Homosexuals,” Public Opinion Quarterly 56, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 34–35 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, doi:10.1086/269294.

31. Price and Hsu, 45.

32. US House of Representatives, “Congress Profiles: 101st Congress (1989-1991),” US House of Representatives, accessed March 3, 2019, https://history.house.gov/Congressional-Overview/Profiles/101st/; United States Senate, “U.S. Senate: Party Division,” U.S. Senate, last modified January 3, 2019, https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm.

33. “Dear colleague” letter, July 26, 1988, p. 64, DA-ADA.

34. C-SPAN, “Hearing on Discrimination against the Disabled,” at 12:25.

35. Dianne B. Piastro, “Opponents Slam Rights Bill,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 13, 1990, D3.

36. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” Video, May 21, 1990, https://www.c-span.org/video/?12363-1/americans-disabilities-act. This was a debate between Judith Heumann of the National Council of Independent Living and Mary Reed, a lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Business. C-SPAN had people call in to ask questions about the ADA and the groups’ positions.

37. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990.

38. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” Video, May 17, 1990, https://www.c-span.org/video/?12302-1/americans-disabilities-act-debate. Congressman DeLay’s comment starts roughly at 20:15.

39. Ray Garland, “Litigious Liberalism Marches on as Taxpayers Enter the Poorhouse,” Newport News Daily Press, June 5, 1990, A9. Although this is not a nationally influential person or newspaper, the same arguments were being used in nationally influential newspapers.

40. Garland, “Litigious Liberalism.”

41. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990.

42. Alexander Trowbridge to Senator William Armstrong, June 27, 1989, 138, para. 3, DA-ADA.

43. Garland, “Litigious Liberalism.”

44. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990.

45. Dianne B. Piastro, “Opponents Slam Rights Bill,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 13, 1990, D3.

46. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” May 17, 1990, roughly at 19:10.

47. Letter written on March 29, 1990, 48–49, DA-ADA.

48. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” May 17, 1990, at 13:28.

49. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright,” at 9:00.

50. Letter written on September 5, 1989, 129, para. 4, DA-ADA, for the quote. The letter extends until page 130.

51. John R. Davis, “Disabilities Act Perils Small Business,” Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1990, 10, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-01-02-9001010278-story.html.

52. C-SPAN, “Presidential Address at the Opening Session of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities,” Video, May 2, 1990, https://www.c-span.org/video/?12331-1/presidential-address.

53. Davis, at 5:00.

54. Memorandum for Governor Sununu from Roger B. Porter and David Q. Bates Regarding Development of Administration Disability Policy, April 21, 1989, National Archives, Washington DC, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6037491.

55. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990, at 21:00. Heumann also worked with the National Council on Independent Living, which promoted independent living for people with disabilities.

56. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990, at 7:27.

57. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” at 0:35.

58. Erkulwater, Jennifer L., “How the Nation’s Largest Minority Became White: Race Politics and the Disability Rights Movement, 1970–1980,” The Journal of Policy History 30, no. 3 (2018): 367–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898030618000143.

59. Dianne B. Piastro, “Opponents Slam Rights Bill,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 13, 1990, D3.

60. Piastro, “Opponents.”

61. Piastro, “Opponents.”

62. Holmes, “Costs, Not Quotas.”

63. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990.

64. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” at 16:20.

65. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” May 17, 1990, at 34:45 to 35:30.

66. Berkowitz, Edward D., “A Historical Preface to the Americans with Disabilities Act,” The Journal of Policy History 6, no. 1 (1994): 99 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, https://doi.org/10.1017/S089803060000364X.

67. Memorandum written by Michael Lechner, April 27, 1990, pp. 44–47, DA-ADA. For the quote, see §2 and §3 on p. 2. The entire memorandum is worth reading.

68. Michael Lechner, memorandum, April 27, 1990. See conclusion of the memo.

69. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate.” Congressman Hoyer’s speech is the last seven minutes of the video.

70. United States Department of Justice, Americans with Disabilities Act Title III Regulations: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities (Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, 2017), https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/titleIII_2010_regulations.htm.

71. Alexander Trowbridge to Senator William Armstrong, June 27, 1989, 138, para. 3, DA-ADA.

72. Trowbridge to Armstrong, September 5, 1989, 129–30, DA-ADA. The date is at the top of both pages.

73. Piastro, “Opponents.”

74. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” May 21, 1990, at 11:55. I suspect that the congressman who introduced the amendment being discussed is Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, but I do not have enough information to confirm that.

75. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act,” at 11:55.

76. “The Making of the ADA—Dick Thornburgh,” at 12:20.

77. Deval Patrick memorandum to the staff of Senator Bob Dole, January 10, 1995, DA-ADA. For the whole document, see pp. 111–13. The specific quote is in the second to last paragraph on p. 111.

78. Patrick to Dole, January 10, 1995, bottom of p. 111 and top of p. 112.

79. Patrick to Dole, January 10, 1995, first full paragraph on p. 112.

80. Bruce Buursma, “AIDS MAY BE CHURCHES’ MINISTRY OF THE ’80S,” The Chicago Tribune, last modified November 16, 1985, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-11-16-8503190311-story.html.

81. Buursma, “AIDS.”

82. Letter to Senators Harkin and Kennedy, May 8, 1989, 109–10, DA-ADA.

83. Talking Points: Exclusion of People with HIV Disease from Coverage under the Bill, The Dole Archives, University of Kansas, Lawrence, https://dolearchives.ku.edu/sites/dolearchive.drupal.ku.edu/files/files/historyday/originals/hd13_ada_014.pdf.

84. Talking Points: Exclusion of People with HIV Disease.

85. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” May 17, 1990, at 41:40.

86. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” at 41:40.

87. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” at 42:10.

88. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” at 45:10.

89. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate.” This remark comes shortly after the previous quote.

90. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” at 46:05.

91. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate.” DeLay’s complaint is at 21:00.

92. Letter, March 29, 1990, 49, last bullet point.

93. C-SPAN, “Americans with Disabilities Act Debate,” at 46:52.

94. Talking Points.

95. Dr. C. Everett Koop to Senator Ted Kennedy, June 27, 1990, 155, para. 3, DA-ADA.

96. Dr. C. Everett Koop to Senator Ted Kennedy, June 27, 1990, 155, last para., DA-ADA.

97. Letter written by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, June 11, 1990, 157, para. 3, DA-ADA.

98. Willie Baker of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union to Congressman Steny Hoyer, May 17, 1990, 167–68, DA-ADA. First reference is in para. 2 on p. 167.

99. The United States Congress, “Actions—S.933—101st Congress (1989-1990): Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,” last modified July 26, 1990, https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/933/all-actions-without-amendments. This may not have been realistically feasible for many employers.

100. Associated Press, “AIDS Amendment Holds Up Final Vote on Bill for Rights of Disabled,” Orlando Sentinel, May 19, 1990, A14.

101. “AIDS Amendment Holds Up Final Vote.” Congressman Douglas was not reelected in 1990.

102. “AIDS Amendment Holds Up Final Vote.”

103. Reuters, “Helms Change Added to Disabled Rights Act,” New York Times, June 7, 1990, B6.

104. “Helms Change Added.”

105. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright, Ralph Neas and John Wodatch,” Vimeo, 2000, USF–EDF, at 16:20, https://vimeo.com/130944856.

106. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright, Ralph Neas and John Wodatch,” at 17:40.

107. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright,” at 14:25.

108. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,”at 13:30.

109. “AIDS Amendment Holds Up Final Vote.”

110. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” at 7:45.

111. “The Making of the ADA—Senator Tom Harkin,” at 9:10 through 13:15; “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright,” at 6:30.

112. Letter written by Sharon Daly, June 27, 1990, 166, DA-ADA. Many similar letters can be found in West—Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—Chapman—AIDS Amendment 1990—entire folder, The Dole Archives, University of Kansas, Lawrence, https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/collections/ada/files/s-leg_578_010_all.pdf. There are also some letters in support of the Chapman Amendment in that file.

113. Chapman Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act Documents, DA-ADA, http://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/collections/ada/files/s-leg_749_003_all.pdf. The specific document is an undated question and answer document about the Chapman Amendment. It does not have an author listed, but the author clearly opposes the Chapman Amendment. See pp. 1–2.

114. Chapman Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act Documents.

115. “The Making of the ADA—Pat Wright,” at 7:30.

116. “Actions—S.933—101st Congress (1989-1990): Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.”

117. House Committee on Rules, “The Motion to Recommit,” House Committee on Rules, accessed March 6, 2019, https://archives-democrats-rules.house.gov/archives/recommit_mot.htm.

118. House Committee on Rules, “The Motion to Recommit.”

119. C-SPAN, “C-SPAN—35 Years—July 12th, 1990,” Video, March 11, 2014, https://www.c-span.org/video/?318187-13/span-35-years-1990.

120. West—Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—Chapman—AIDS Amendment 1990. The specific document is a draft version of the amendment. It is on pp. 30 and 31.

121. “C-SPAN—35 Years.”

122. “C-SPAN—35 Years.”

123. Steven A. Holmes, “House, 377-28, Approves Bill to Protect Disabled,” New York Times, July 13, 1990, A11.

124. House of Representatives, “Recorded Vote on the Conference Report for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,” Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, last modified July 12, 1990, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1990/roll228.xml.

125. The White House Office of the Press Secretary, “Remarks by the President during Ceremony for the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,” July 16, 1990, The National Archives, Washington DC, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6037492.

126. “Remarks by the President.”

127. “Remarks by the President.”

128. “Remarks by the President.”