Kennedy Executive Order 10925 introduces term 'affirmative action' for federal contractors

President John F. Kennedy signs Executive Order 10925, requiring federal contractors to take "affirmative action" to ensure employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin does not occur. The order creates the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and establishes that federal contractors cannot discriminate in hiring and must affirmatively work to recruit from minority groups. Though the order predates Title VII, it establishes the first federal mandates for affirmative employment actions and coins the term "affirmative action" in an executive context, laying groundwork for the civil rights era's employment discrimination framework.