“, I think that declaring 1964 as a great year in American history is a clever way to say “Republicans are not racists; Democrats are.”
It’s a foolish argument unless the point is to denigrate conservatives because the Civil Rights Act broke along liberal/conservative lines and party affiliation had little to do with the vote.
“Under President Lyndon Johnson, who had an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Congress, liberal Democrats, together with Conservative and Liberal Republicans led by Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, convinced all but six Republicans to vote for cloture on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This vote broke a Southern filibuster led by Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Strom Thurmond (D-SC). Though a greater percentage of Republicans than Democrats (about 80% versus 60% respectively) voted for cloture and for the bill, the 1964 GOP Presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), voted against cloture; before his presidential campaign Goldwater had supported civil rights legislation but opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on constitutional grounds, believing private individuals had the right to choose with whom they engaged in business. The GOP was massively defeated in 1964, but recovered its strength in the congressional elections of 1966, and elected Richard Nixon president in 1968. Throughout the 1954–1980 era the Republicans were a minority in both the House and Senate, but most of the time they cooperated with Conservative Democrats.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_coalition#Decline_and_end
For a dissent on the idea that the Federal Government should be dictating employment preferences to private enterprise: "Civil Rights" vs. Civil Liberties.