The phrase "affirmative action" and much of the executive order Trump is repealing, itself built on one signed by Johnson's predecessor John F. Kennedy in March 1961, which asked government contractors to "take affirmative action" to insure employees and applicants were treated "without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin."

By revoking Executive Order 11246, Donald Trump has erased key civil rights protections for federal contractors.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, promoting affirmative action in federal contracting, was among the number of DEI policies targeted by the president.

The new president just unwound a landmark anti-discrimination measure implemented amid the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

With a stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on Tuesday that overturned government policies going back six decades that banned discrimination and required affirmative action by federal contractors.

The warning came one day after the administration ordered that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across the government be shut down by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Learn about the history of Executive Order 11246 following President Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI programs and remove DEI employees within a week.

Among the first executive actions signed by President Donald Trump during his first day in office was ending “radical and wasteful” diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies. In a phone call Monday morning ahead of Trump’s swearing-in,

President Donald Trump’s sweeping orders to end the government’s diversity, equity and inclusion effort mark a sea change for the country.

President Donald Trump ramped up his attack on federal DEI efforts Tuesday, dismantling DEI offices and rolling back decades-old protections put in place during the Civil Rights Movement.

Trump revoked a decades-old executive order saying federal contractors must take affirmative action to avoid discrimination in hiring and employment.