What Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy promises to do on Day 1 if he becomes US president

Wealthy biotech entrepreneur and investor and the author of “Woke, Inc.” Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy has big plans for the US and tweeted about some of his potential promises. On Tuesday, just hours after joining the presidential race, alongside former President Donald Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, he announced that he would end "Affirmative Action", on his very first day of potential administration.

In a Twitter post he wrote, "As U.S. President, I will end federally mandated affirmative action - full stop. I will repeal Lyndon Johnson’s Executive Order 11246 which mandates race-based quotas. Every Republican since Johnson had the opportunity to do it. I’ll do it on Day 1 without apology."




In the same post he even took the opportunity to criticize other Republican president who failed to take such actions during their own presidencies. The comment was a subtle call-out to Donald Trump, who had previously served one presidential term in the While House from January 2017 to 2021.

Ramaswamy's early campaign also included other promises including, dismantling climate change, putting an 8-year limit on federal bureaucrats, eliminating "worthless" federal agencies, becoming totally independent of China, protecting political expression as a civil right, and combating and "annihilating" drug cartels.


He announced his presidential bid in a video release and formally launched his longshot bid by decrying what he called a "national identity crisis", that according to him is driven by a left wing ideology, wherein "faith, patriotism and hard work: has been replaced with “new secular religions like COVID-ism, climate-ism and gender ideology."

History and significance of Affirmative Action in the US

The Executive Order 11246 was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. This became a key landmark in a series of other federal actions which was aimed at ending racial, religious and ethnic discrimination.

According to the US Department of Labor official website this is what it had to say about the Affirmative Action law, "Executive Order 11246 charged the Secretary of Labor, a Cabinet–level official with strong enforcement authority, with the responsibility of ensuring equal opportunity for minorities in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices. Until that time, such efforts had been in the hands of various Presidential committees. Executive Order 11246 continued and reinforced the requirement that federal contractors not discriminate in employment and take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity based on race, color, religion, and national origin."

Currently, Ramaswamy at 37 years old, is the youngest of the three current Republican Party members in the 2024 primary presidential bid. Former president Donald Trump, 76, has announced his bid last year shortly after the midterm elections and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, 51, declared her candidacy earlier this month.

Born in Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, founded a biotechnology company before becoming the partner of a hedge fund. He is the author of the books “Woke, Inc.” and “Nation of Victims" and gained stature in conservative circles for his criticism of the environmental, social and corporate governance movement that aims to promote socially responsible investing.