As of this date, June 22, 1970, 18-year-olds could begin voting in elections, thanks to President Richard M. Nixon signing the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court limited this right, so the following year the 26th Amendment was passed to confirm it. This was spurred by the protests during the Vietnam War, where students declared, “If we’re old enough to fight, we’re old enough to vote.” In his Inaugural Address, President Nixon stated: “The laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is … to insure … that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.”
