The bill passed the Senate on December 2, 1971, with a vote of 63 to 17, and the House on December 7, 1971, with a vote of 211 to 187. President
Richard Nixon vetoed the bill on December 10, 1971. The veto was upheld when an attempted override gained 51 votes in favor and 36 opposed, short of the
supermajority needed to override a presidential veto. Nixon's veto and his accompanying rationale reveal several staple thought processes of
Cold War politics in the United States. He said that the bill would implement a "communal approach to child-rearing," tying it to broad-based fears of Communism and labeling it the "most radical piece of legislation" to have ever crossed his desk. He also said it had "family-weakening implications." The bill incited some political backlash from anti-welfare and anti-feminist activists who opposed the idea of
women in the workforce and who were leery of allowing children to be partially raised outside of the home. ==References==