After reading Shelby Steele's excellent Dec. 18 essay "American Conservatism: Of Race and Imagination" we felt compelled to respond to the popular misconception that "conservatism, for all its commitment to freedom, did not make itself the principled enemy of racism during the civil-rights era." With a little research, the actual voting record for both Houses of Congress shows that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed the Senate on a 73-to-27 vote. The Democratic supermajority in the Senate split their vote 46 (69%) for and 21 (31%) against. The Republicans, on the other hand, split their vote 27 for...