Timeline of events related to the Bricker Amendment

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This page is a timeline of dates important in consideration of the Bricker Amendment.

• March 4, 1789. The United States Constitution comes into force.
• October 24, 1945. The United Nations Charter comes into force.
• 1946. United Nations Commission on Human Rights created.
• February 25, 1948. The American Bar Association's House of Delegates votes for its Committee on Peace and Law Through the United Nations to study the proposed U.N. conventions.
• September 9, 1948. The ABA House of Delegates votes to oppose the Covenant on Human Rights.
• September 17, 1948. American Bar Association president Frank E. Holman begins his campaign against "treaty law" with a speech to the State Bar of California in Santa Barbara.
• February 1, 1949. The ABA House of Delegates votes to oppose the Genocide Convention.
• June 16, 1949. President Harry S. Truman sends the Genocide Convention to the United States Senate for ratification.
• July 17, 1951. Senator John W. Bricker (R-Ohio) introduces S. Res. 177, a sense of the Senate resolution against the Convenant on Human Rights, calling it "a covenant on human slavery or subservience to government."
• September 14, 1951. Senator Bricker introduces the first version of his constitutional amendment, S.J. Res. 102.
• February 7, 1952. Senator Bricker introduces a revised proposal, S.J. Res. 130, with 58 co-sponsors, including every Republican except Senator Eugene D. Millikin of Colorado.
• February 22, 1952. The ABA House of Delegates vote to support a constitutional amendment to limit the treaty power.
• April 11, 1952. John Foster Dulles tells the American Bar Association's regional meeting in Louisville, Kentucky of the dangers of treaties.
• May 21, 1952. Hearings begin before the Senate Judiciary Committee on S.J. Res. 130.
• June 13, 1952. The Judiciary Committee hearings conclude.
• July 7, 1952. The Second Session of the 82nd Congress adjourns without action on S.J. Res 130.
• September 15, 1952. The ABA House of Delegates votes to endorse S.J. Res. 122, introduced by Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), to limit executive agreements.
• November 4, 1952. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President of the United States. Republican majorities are elected to both the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.
• January 3, 1953. The 83rd Congress convenes.
• January 7, 1953. Senator Bricker introduces another version of his constitutional amendment, S.J. Res. 1.
• January 20, 1953. President Eisenhower is inaugurated.
• February 4, 1953. Senator George Smathers (R-Florida) adds his name as a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 1, giving it 64 sponsors, exactly the two-thirds vote necessary for passage.
• February 16, 1953. Senator Arthur V. Watkins (R-Utah) introduces S.J. Res. 43, which was the text endorsed by the ABA.
• February 18, 1953. Hearings begin before the Senate Judiciary Committee on S.J. Res 1 and 43.
• February 23, 1953. Holman meets with President Eisenhower, who promises he will take no public stance on the Bricker Amendment.
• March 26, 1953. President Eisenhower publicly declares his opposition to the Bricker Amendment.
• April 11, 1953. The Judicary Committee hearings end.
• June 10, 1953. Majority Leader Robert A. Taft (R-Ohio) resigns his leadership post because of ill-health. He is replaced by Senator William F. Knowland (R-California).
• June 15, 1953. With Senator Taft no longer preventing it, the Judiciary Committee reports S.J. Res. 1 to the full Senate on a vote of 9-5.
• July 1, 1953. President Eisenhower at his weekly press conference said he did not believe a treaty could override the Constitution, but he would support a Constitutional amendment to make that explicit.
• July 17, 1953. President Eisenhower and his cabinet discuss the Amendment. He is told by Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Attorney General Herbert Brownell that the Amendment will split the Republican Party.
• July 21, 1953. Senate Republicans meet to discuss the issue with Attorney General Brownell, Secretary Dulles, and Senate Bricker. A compromise is reached, Bricker believes.
• July 22, 1953. Senator Knowland introduces a substitute to S.J. Res. 1 and President Eisenhower announces his support for it. Senator Bricker feels betrayed.
• August 3, 1953. The First Session of the 83rd Congress adjourns.
• January 6, 1954. The Second Session of the 83rd Congress convenes.
• January 20, 1954. Debate begins on the Bricker Amendment in the Senate.
• January 25, 1954. President Eisenhower writes Knowland in opposition to the Amendment. Six hundred members of the 300,000 member Vigilant Women for the Bricker Amendment arrive in Washington to lobby Congress.
• January 27, 1954. Senator Walter F. George (D-Georgia) introduces his substitute to S.J. Res. 1.
• January 29, 1954. Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nevada) introduces his substitute to S.J. Res. 1.
• January 31, 1954. Senator Bricker says on Meet the Press the George Substitute met "the cardinal principles" of his original proposal.
• February 2, 1954. Senator Homer S. Ferguson (R-Michigan) introduces an amendment to S.J. Res. 1. Senator Francis H. Case (R-South Dakota) introduces another amendment.
• February 4, 1954. Senator Bricker proposes an amendment to S.J. Res. 1.
• February 15, 1954. The first section of the Ferguson amendment is adopted, 62-20.
• February 16, 1954. The third section of the Ferguson amendment is adopted, 72-16.
• February 17, 1954. The second section of the Ferguson amendment is adopted, 44-43.
• February 25, 1954. The Bricker substitute fails, 50-42.
• February 26, 1954. The George substitute is adopted, 61-30. The amended Bricker Amendment fails on final passage, 61-30, losing by one vote.
• August 5, 1954. Senator Bricker introduces a revised proposal, S.J. Res. 181.
• December 2, 1954. The 83rd Congress adjourns.
• January 5, 1955. The 84th Congress convenes.
• January 6, 1955. Senator Bricker introduces his amendment as S.J. Res. 1.
• April 27, 1955. The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings on S.J. Res. 1.
• May 12, 1955. The Judiciary Committee hearings end.
• March 27, 1956. The Senate Judiciary Committee reports a revised version of S.J. Res. 1 to the full Senate.
• July 27, 1956. The 84th Congress adjourns without acting on S.J. Res. 1.
• January 3, 1957. The 85th Congress convenes.
• January 7, 1957. Senator Bricker again introduces his constitutional amendment as S.J. Res. 3.
• June 25, 1957. The Senate Judiciary Committee hold a one-day hearing on S.J. Res. 3.
• August 24, 1958. The 85th Congress adjourns.
• November 4, 1958. Senator Bricker is defeated for re-election to a third term by Stephen M. Young.
• January 3, 1959. Senator Bricker's term ends.