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49-634: (Redirected from Twenty-Sixth Amendment ) The Twenty-sixth Amendment may refer to the: Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution — provides that the right to vote may not be denied on account of age, by any state or by the United States, to any American citizen age 18 or older. Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland — permitted

98-739: A Presidential Research Board to be led by John Steelman , former Director of the War Mobilization and Reconversion, which Truman then did in October 1946. By 1948, other agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the United States Department of Defense had been established to fund specific domains of scientific research. The National Science Foundation would now solely fund basic science . In early 1948, Truman, Steelman, and Senator Smith reached

147-486: A bill for an agency more similar to Bush's vision. The Smith bill passed both houses of United States Congress . Kilgore encouraged his former colleague, now President Harry S. Truman to veto the Smith bill, in large part because of the potential it made for the military to dominate scientific research. Truman followed Kilgore's advice and let the bill expire through a pocket veto . Kilgore also encouraged Truman to establish

196-789: A captain in 1920; in 1921 he organized the West Virginia National Guard and retired as a colonel in 1953. He was married to Lois Elaine Lilly in Huntington, West Virginia, in 1921. He was judge of the Raleigh County criminal court from 1933 to 1940, and was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 1940, and won re-election twice. He was a member of the Senate from January 3, 1941, until his death in Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1956. Kilgore

245-563: A compromise in administration of the foundation. Later that year, Kilgore and Smith cosponsored the bill that President Truman would finally sign on May 10, 1950, to establish the National Science Foundation. While serving as Chairman of United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary , Kilgore spearheaded an investigation into corporate antitrust and monopoly. The Kilgore Subcommittee investigations were based on

294-552: A government-run funding agency, proposed calling the proposed organization a Foundation, to give the superficial impression of a private, philanthropic funding body like the Rockefeller Foundation . The scientists running the war-time Office of Scientific Research and Development sought to bypass the Kilgore Committee in forming a postwar science policy. While ostensibly working with Kilgore to plan for

343-452: A lower voting age from the 1940s through 1970 (and Chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee for much of that period), insisted that youth lacked "the good judgment" essential to good citizenship and that the qualities that made youth good soldiers did not also make them good voters. Professor William G. Carleton wondered why the vote was proposed for youth at a time when the period of adolescence had grown so substantially rather than in

392-528: A science administration, Vannevar Bush privately obtained an invitation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to write his own plan for a government-funded science foundation. Senator Warren Magnuson of Washington introduced a proposal based on Bush's report, Science, the Endless Frontier , in July 1945. The report contradicted much of Kilgore's vision of a science-funding organization accountable to

441-534: A separate system for federal elections would cost approximately $ 20   million. Bayh concluded that most states could not change their state constitutions in time for the 1972 election, mandating national action to avoid "chaos and confusion" at the polls. On March 2, 1971, Bayh's subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee approved the proposed constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18 for all elections. On March 10, 1971,

490-597: A small group of liberals, including Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey , trying to stop the McCarran Act of 1950 . The bill was designed to suppress the American Communist Party. Kilgore proposed a substitute bill that would allow the president to lock up subversives without trial in a time of national emergency. The model was the Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II . The goal

539-534: The Civil War , he asserted that literacy and education were not the grounds for limiting voting; rather, common sense and the capacity to understand the political system grounded voting-age restrictions. James J. Kilpatrick , a political columnist, asserted that the states were "extorted" into ratifying the Twenty-sixth Amendment. In his article, he claims that by passing the 1970 extension to

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588-510: The Senate voted 94–0 in favor of proposing a constitutional amendment to guarantee the minimum voting age could not be higher than 18. On March 23, 1971, the House of Representatives voted 401–19 in favor of the proposed amendment. Having been passed by the 92nd United States Congress , the proposed Twenty-sixth Amendment was sent to the state legislatures for their consideration. Which state

637-488: The U.S. Army , to serve in or support military combat operations in Vietnam. This means young men could be required to fight and possibly die for their nation in wartime at 18. However, these same citizens could not have a legal say in the government's decision to wage that war until the age of 21. A youth rights movement emerged in response, calling for a similarly reduced voting age. A common slogan of proponents of lowering

686-553: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 to lower the voting age nationally. On June 22, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections. In his statement on signing the extension, Nixon said: Despite my misgivings about the constitutionality of this one provision, I have signed the bill. I have directed

735-480: The state legislatures came under increasing pressure to lower the minimum voting age from 21 to 18. This was in large part due to the Vietnam War , in which many young men who were ineligible to vote were conscripted to fight in the war, thus lacking any means to influence the people sending them off to risk their lives. "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote" was a common slogan used by proponents of lowering

784-611: The "Young Americans in Concert" also signed the certificate as witnesses. During the signing ceremony, held in the East Room of the White House , Nixon talked about his confidence in the youth of America: As I meet with this group today, I sense that we can have confidence that America's new voters, America's young generation, will provide what America needs as we approach our bicentennial, not just strength and not just wealth but

833-460: The 'Spirit of '76' a spirit of moral courage, a spirit of high idealism in which we believe in the American dream, but in which we realize that the American dream can never be fulfilled until every American has an equal chance to fulfill it in their own life. The amendment was subsequently ratified by 5 more states, bringing the total number of ratifying states to 43: No action has been taken on

882-725: The 1954 Subcommittee's recommendation for a full investigation of monopolies and concentrations of economic power. Following its recommendations based on 1954 hearings, the Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee undertook in 1955 a full-scale inquiry into antitrust policies and monopolies. Harley M. Kilgore (D W. Va.) headed the Subcommittee for which the Senate March 18 voted $ 200,000 for investigations." In its 1954 report

931-630: The 38th to ratify, because he did not sign the ratification resolution until after North Carolina and Ohio completed their ratifications; however, the approval of the governor is not required to ratify an amendment. Having been ratified by three-fourths of the States (38), the Twenty-sixth Amendment became part of the Constitution. On July 5, 1971, the Administrator of General Services , Robert Kunzig , certified its adoption. President Nixon and Julianne Jones, Joseph W. Loyd Jr., and Paul S. Larimer of

980-545: The Attorney General to cooperate fully in expediting a swift court test of the constitutionality of the 18-year-old provision. Subsequently, Oregon and Texas challenged the law in court, and the case came before the Supreme Court in 1970 as Oregon v. Mitchell . By this time, four states had a minimum voting age below 21: Georgia, Kentucky, Alaska, and Hawaii. During debate of the 1970 extension of

1029-505: The Court upheld the provision establishing the voting age as 18 in federal elections. The Court was deeply divided in this case, and a majority of justices did not agree on a rationale for the holding. The decision resulted in states being able to maintain 21 as the voting age in state and local elections, but being required to establish separate voter rolls so that voters between 18 and 21 years old could vote in federal elections. Although

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1078-560: The Supreme Court would let the law stand if the justices could "perceive a basis" for Congress's actions. President Nixon disagreed with Kennedy in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the House minority and majority leaders, asserting that the issue was not whether the voting age should be lowered, but how. In his own interpretation of Katzenbach , Nixon argued that to include age as a possible parameter of discrimination would overstretch

1127-415: The Twenty-sixth Amendment passed faster than any other constitutional amendment, about 17 states refused to pass measures to lower their minimum voting ages after Nixon signed the 1970 extension to the Voting Rights Act. Opponents to extending the vote to youths questioned the maturity and responsibility of people at the age of 18. Representative Emanuel Celler of New York, one of the most vocal opponents of

1176-417: The Twenty-sixth Amendment, states had the authority to set their own minimum voting ages, which was typically 21 as the national standard. Senator Harley Kilgore began advocating for a lowered voting age in 1941 in the 77th Congress . Despite the support of fellow senators, representatives, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt , Congress failed to pass any national change. However, public interest in lowering

1225-595: The United States Constitution The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution establishes a nationally standardized minimum age of 18 for participation in state and federal elections. It was proposed by Congress on March 23, 1971, and three-fourths of the states ratified it by July 1, 1971. Various public officials had supported lowering the voting age during

1274-793: The Voting Rights Act, Congress effectively forced the States to ratify the amendment lest they be forced to financially and bureaucratically cope with maintaining two voting registers. George Gallup also mentions the cost of registration in his article showing percentages favoring or opposing the amendment, and he draws particular attention to the lower rates of support among adults aged 30–49 and over 50 (57% and 52% respectively) as opposed to those aged 18–20 and 21–29 (84% and 73% respectively). Senator Birch Bayh 's subcommittee on constitutional amendments began hearings on extending voting rights to 18-year-olds in 1968. After Oregon v. Mitchell , Bayh surveyed election officials in 47 states and found that registering an estimated 10   million young people in

1323-553: The Voting Rights Act, Senator Ted Kennedy argued that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment allowed Congress to pass national legislation lowering the voting age. In Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966), the Supreme Court had ruled that if Congress acted to enforce the 14th Amendment by passing a law declaring that a type of state law discriminates against a certain class of persons,

1372-480: The amendment by the states of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, or Utah. Harley Kilgore He was born on January 11, 1893, in Brown, West Virginia . He was born to Quimby Hugh Kilgore and Laura Jo Kilgore. His father worked as an oil driller and contractor. He attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of West Virginia University at Morgantown in 1914 and

1421-405: The civil rights movement and other movements for social and political change of the 1950s and 1960s. Increasing high-school graduation rates and young people's access to political information through new technologies also influenced more positive views of their preparation for the most important right of citizenship. Between 1942, when public debates about a lower voting age began in earnest, and

1470-414: The concept, and voiced concerns that the damage of a Supreme Court decision to overturn the Voting Rights Act could be disastrous. In Oregon v. Mitchell (1970), the Supreme Court considered whether the voting-age provisions Congress added to the Voting Rights Act in 1970 were constitutional. The Court struck down the provisions that established 18 as the voting age in state and local elections. However,

1519-480: The decisive vote on the evening of June 30, and that Alabama and North Carolina had ratified the amendment earlier in the day. As of 2013, however, the Government Printing Office states that North Carolina did not complete its ratification of the amendment until July 1, at which time it became the 38th state to ratify. Additionally, Alabama governor George Wallace claimed that his state was

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1568-425: The early 1970s, ideas about youth agency increasingly challenged the caretaking model that had previously dominated the nation's approaches to young people's rights. Characteristics traditionally associated with youth—idealism, lack of "vested interests", and openness to new ideas—came to be seen as positive qualities for a political system that seemed to be in crisis. In 1970, Senator Ted Kennedy proposed amending

1617-440: The government. Kilgore felt betrayed by Bush's failure to mention this alternate bill, and remained on hostile terms with Bush for years afterwards. After many months of negotiations with interest groups of scientists and manufacturers, Kilgore and Magnuson introduced a modified bill to fund the National Science Foundation in 1946, which did not pass. At the same time, Republican Senator Alexander Smith of New Jersey introduced

1666-479: The mid-20th century, but were unable to gain the legislative momentum necessary for passing a constitutional amendment. The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s and was driven in part by the military draft held during the Vietnam War . The draft conscripted young men between the ages of 18 and 21 into the United States Armed Forces , primarily

1715-431: The move to lower the voting age followed a historical pattern similar to other extensions of the franchise ; with the escalation of the war in Vietnam, constituents were mobilized and eventually a constitutional amendment passed. Those advocating for a lower voting age drew on a range of arguments to promote their cause, and scholarship increasingly links the rise of support for a lower voting age to young people's role in

1764-471: The organization would be able to draft scientists and facilities for the war effort. In 1943, government scientists, most notably Vannevar Bush , voiced agreement with the spirit of Kilgore's proposal, but opposed the bill's aim to involve government administration of science funding and patent sharing. As the war neared its end, many prominent scientists feared a peacetime Kilgore plan. The Kilgore Committee, in an effort to mollify scientists concerned with

1813-406: The past when people had more responsibilities at earlier ages. Carleton further criticized the move to lower the voting age, citing American preoccupations with youth in general, exaggerated reliance on higher education, and equating technological savvy with responsibility and intelligence. He denounced the military service argument as well, calling it a "cliche". Considering the ages of soldiers in

1862-565: The state to ratify the Nice Treaty . Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution of India — 28 December 1971, abolition of privy purse paid to former rulers of princely states which were incorporated into the Indian Republic Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

1911-503: The states ratified the Twenty-sixth Amendment. Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. The framers of the U.S. Constitution did not establish specific criteria for national citizenship or voting qualifications in state or federal elections. Before

1960-486: The title Twenty-sixth Amendment . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Twenty-sixth_Amendment&oldid=1255545738 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Twenty-sixth Amendment to

2009-517: The voting age became a topic of interest at the local level. In 1943 and 1955 respectively, the Georgia and Kentucky legislatures approved measures to lower the voting age to 18. President Dwight D. Eisenhower , in his 1954 State of the Union address, became the first president to publicly support prohibiting age-based denials of suffrage for those 18 and older. During the 1960s, both Congress and

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2058-555: The voting age was "old enough to fight, old enough to vote". Determined to get around inaction on the issue, congressional allies included a provision for the 18-year-old vote in a 1970 bill that extended the Voting Rights Act . The Supreme Court subsequently held in the case of Oregon v. Mitchell that Congress could not lower the voting age for state and local elections. Recognizing the confusion and costs that would be involved in maintaining separate voting rolls and elections for federal and state contests, Congress quickly proposed and

2107-495: The voting age. The slogan traced its roots to World War II , when President Franklin D. Roosevelt lowered the military draft age to 18. In 1963, the President's Commission on Registration and Voting Participation, in its report to President Lyndon Johnson , encouraged lowering the voting age. Johnson proposed an immediate national grant of the right to vote to 18-year-olds on May 29, 1968. Historian Thomas H. Neale argues that

2156-775: Was a member of the Truman Committee , and from October 1942, he chaired the Subcommittee on War Mobilization of the Military Affairs Committee, otherwise known as the Kilgore Committee , that oversaw U.S. mobilization efforts for World War II . He also helped establish the National Science Foundation in 1950. Senator Kilgore was West Virginia's favorite-son candidate in 1948 Democratic presidential primaries and won his home state unopposed. In 1950 Kilgore joined

2205-637: Was admitted to the bar the same year. He taught school in Hancock, West Virginia in 1914 and 1915, and organized the first high school in Raleigh County, West Virginia in the latter year. He was the school's first principal for a year, and commenced the practice of law in Beckley, West Virginia in 1916. During the First World War he served in the infantry from 1917 and was discharged as

2254-505: Was interred in Arlington National Cemetery . In 1942, American manufacturing expert Herbert Schimmel advised Kilgore to form a committee to centralize scientific research done for the war effort. The Kilgore Committee drafted legislation for an Office of Technological Mobilization, which would have power to fund research, share patents and trade secrets , and facilities that could help the war effort. Additionally,

2303-513: Was invalid because the amendment had not yet been sent to the states. The U.S. Senate parliamentarian ruled that Minnesota acted prematurely, but the legality of its ratification of the amendment was never officially challenged. Ratification was completed on June 30, 1971, after the amendment had been ratified by thirty-eight states. Which state was the 38th to ratify and thus put the amendment into effect has also been disputed. Contemporaneous reports agree that Ohio's House of Representatives cast

2352-534: Was the first to officially ratify the amendment was a matter of dispute: the Minnesota legislature approved the amendment at 3:14 p.m. CST (4:14 p.m. EST ), minutes before U.S. Senate president pro tempore Allen J. Ellender officially approved the federal law at approximately 4:35 or 4:40 pm. EST. Legislators in Delaware, which ratified the amendment at 4:51 pm, argued that Minnesota's ratification

2401-658: Was to split the McCarran coalition, but the substitute was instead added to the bill. For years. critics charged that the liberals favored concentration camps . The ploy failed to stop the new law; the Senate voted 57 to 10 to overturn Truman's veto, with Kilgore voting against the bill and in support of the veto. Kilgore did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto despite school segregation being legally required in West Virginia prior to Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Kilgore died on February 28, 1956, aged 63 and

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