TLANTA - In his appearance with Vice President Al Gore yesterday, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman recalled his commitment to civil rights during the 1960s - helping to register black voters in the South and joining in the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic 1963 March on Washington.
But neither man mentioned that in March 1995 Lieberman called affirmative action programs ''patently unfair.'' In August 1995, the think tank affiliate of the Democratic Leadership Council, which Lieberman heads, called for a ''radical overhaul'' of such programs that would have eliminated race-based preferences in government contracting and hiring.
And just last month, Lieberman, as the council's chairman, signed the group's ''Hyde Park Declaration,'' which said it should ''resist an `identity politics' that confers rights and entitlements on groups.'' The declaration said the council's goal for 2010 should be to ''shift the emphasis of affirmative action strategies from group preferences to economic empowerment of all disadvantaged citizens.''
That appears to put Lieberman at odds with the party's platform, and Gore, who strongly endorses affirmative action. But late yesterday, a spokesman for Lieberman, responding to questions from the Globe, asserted that Lieberman, despite the views he has stated or endorsed on several occasions, also supports affirmative action.
Dan Gerstein, the spokesman, said Lieberman was one of a number of prominent Democrats in 1995 who ''raised questions about the future of affirmative action and its effectiveness.'' After the senator was criticized for his remarks, Gerstein said Lieberman ''clarified'' his position and ''reaffirmed his support for affirmative action.''
The declaration he signed last month, Gerstein insisted, merely reflects Lieberman's hope that by 2010, such programs will no longer be needed. Indeed, Lieberman has twice voted against GOP attempts to gut government affirmative action programs.
Gore needs enthusiastic support from the party's liberal base, and especially from minority voters, so Lieberman's relative conservatism on some issues is a delicate topic. But it is also one with a potential benefit: It might help draw some moderate to conservative voters into Gore's column.
With Gore and Lieberman hoping for a unified nominating convention in Los Angeles next week, civil rights leaders, as well as gay rights leaders who have been troubled by some of Lieberman's past votes, said they are satisfied that Lieberman supports their positions.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's nonvoting delegate in the House, said in an interview that she and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, during a conference call with Lieberman on Monday, embraced him as the nominee.
''It is true that his position on affirmative action has not always been as unequivocal as [that of] people like me, for example,'' Norton said. But, she said, ''I have no sense that he is against affirmative action.''
''This is a non-issue,'' said William Galston, a former White House domestic policy adviser who has long been an ally of both Gore and Lieberman. ''Whenever there is a disagreement, the vice president will subscribe to the agenda and policies of the president.''
But that would require quite a turnabout for Lieberman. Just after he took over as Democratic Leadership Council chairman in 1995, Lieberman clearly stated his opposition to affirmative action programs.
In remarks to reporters after a speech, Lieberman said, ''You can't defend policies that are based on group preferences as opposed to individual opportunities, which is what America has always been about.''
At that point, Lieberman said he supported a California ballot initiative, later approved in 1996, which ended racial preference programs in that state. ''When we have such policies,'' he said, ''we have the effect of breaking some of those ties in civil society that have held us together because they are patently unfair. Those who are the victims are going to lose out when a choice is made based on group preference rather than on individual ability.''
At the time, just after Republicans won control of the US House with a conservative agenda that included abolishing affirmative action, Democrats were divided over how to respond to preference programs that had generated substantial voter resentment.
In July, 1995, after a months-long review, President Clinton declared that the government should ''mend'' such programs rather than eliminate them, and focused on ending a handful of government programs that amounted to quotas.
But a month later, in August 1995, the Progressive Policy Institute, an affiliate of the Democratic Leadership Council, issued a report criticizing Clinton. Instead, it recommended retaining affirmative action by law only in college admissions, ending it for government hiring and contracting, and making it voluntary in the private sector.
In an interview yesterday, Chuck Alston, the DLC's director, said the council's new declaration, which covers a range of issues, was adopted at a conference in Hyde Park, N.Y., in May. He said Lieberman, who remains DLC chairman, signed the document last month. It was only printed last week. Among the other DLC members who signed it was Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, who was one of the three finalists to be Gore's running mate.
Alston agreed that the declaration's language could be characterized as expressing opposition to affirmative action programs, ''in that it advocates other means than affirmative action'' for ending discrimination.
Representative Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat of New York and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said his view is that Lieberman opposes quotas, and not affirmative action.
''Because quotas have had adverse effects on the Jewish community, they have opposed quotas,'' Rangel said of Lieberman, who is Jewish. ''But when it comes to fairness and equity, to set-asides and opportunities for minorities, Joe Lieberman is just where we want him to be.''
Gay rights groups have also expressed wariness about Lieberman's views in the past, though he has high ratings from both gay rights and civil rights groups.
In 1994, for example, Lieberman voted for an amendment offered by Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, which cut off federal funds to any school district that used educational materials that could be interpreted as supporting homosexuality.
David M. Smith, the communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates on behalf of gay rights, said in an interview that Lieberman ''has evolved'' over time. A statement issued by the the organization hinted at its wariness, saying Lieberman's record on gay rights was ''mostly positive'' and his votes reflect ''a growing understanding of our issues.''
One well-known civil rights leader, who expressed concern about Lieberman's views on affirmative action, was nonetheless supportive of Gore's choice, especially, he said, if it helps Gore to win the election.
The leader, who asked that he not be quoted by name, said he was more concerned with the voting record of Lieberman's opposite number, GOP vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney.
''Does Joe Lieberman have Ted Kennedy's record on these issues? No. Does he have a perfect rating? No. But he's certainly 10 times better than the Republican alternative.''
Milligan reported from Atlanta and Robinson from Boston. Yvonne Abraham of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
