Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, which required racially diverse hiring from federal contractors, had survived five Republican presidents. It couldn’t survive Trump, who erased it with a command to end “illegal preferences and discrimination” across the government.

The president moved to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout the federal government with a flurry of executive orders, upending decades of policy.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order titled “ Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity ,” banning affirmative action and racial preferencing, including “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, in federal contracting and publicly-funded universities.