Books in Brief

Right Turn: William Bradford Reynolds, the Reagan Administration, and Black Civil Rights, by Raymond Wolters (Transaction, 499 pp., $49.95)

WHEN Ronald Reagan was elected President, racial discrimination had once again become the law of the land. The guiding principle in the 1954 Brown v. Board decision was that assignment of students to public schools must not take race into account; in 1971 the Supreme Court ruled, in the busing cases, that assignments must be based upon race. The 1964 Civil Rights Act forbade racial discrimination in employment; in 1980 bureaucrats and judges mandated racial quotas. Similarly, the 1965 Voting Rights Act degenerated into a policy of gerrymandering to ensure the election of blacks. Reagan thought that drift immoral and unconstitutional, and he pledged to work toward achieving a color-blind America. The effort was largely entrusted to William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Though Reynolds was far more active in protecting minority rights than his predecessors, he succeeded to a considerable extent in undoing the mischief wrought by the civil-rights establishment. Raymond Wolters tells this story persuasively and in meticulous and fascinating detail.

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Right Turn: William Bradford Reynolds, the Reagan Administration, and Black Civil Rights, by Raymond Wolters (Transaction, 499 pp., $49.95)

WHEN Ronald Reagan was elected President, racial discrimination had once again become the law of the land. The guiding principle in the 1954 Brown v. Board decision was that assignment of students to public schools must not take race into account; in 1971 the Supreme Court ruled, in the busing cases, that assignments must be based upon race. The 1964 Civil Rights Act forbade racial discrimination in employment; in 1980 bureaucrats and judges mandated racial quotas. Similarly, the 1965 Voting Rights Act degenerated into a policy of gerrymandering to ensure the election of blacks. Reagan thought that drift immoral and unconstitutional, and he pledged to work toward achieving a color-blind America. The effort was largely entrusted to William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Though Reynolds was far more active in protecting minority rights than his predecessors, he succeeded to a considerable extent in undoing the mischief wrought by the civil-rights establishment. Raymond Wolters tells this story persuasively and in meticulous and fascinating detail.