Polarized Times: The Civil Rights Act
Lyndon Johnson was a long time Washington politician who had served in the Senate from 1949 until his inauguration as Vice-President in January, 1961. He had been the Senate Majority Leader and was known as the "Master of the Senate" before becoming Vice-President and he became President of the United States on November 22, 1963, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
While in the Senate, Johnson was not inclined towards strong civil rights legislation. In sharp contrast to what would occur during his Presidency, Johnson was strongly opposed as Senate Majority Leader to President Dwight Eisenhower's 1957 Civil Rights Act. He was afraid that its passage would tear his party apart. He and Mississippi Senator James Eastland saw to it that the bill ended up being far weaker than it originally started, but after it became law and Johnson took credit for its passage.
As a Texan, Johnson would have to face a lot of southern resistance when he set out to convince Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That legislation outlawed most forms of racial segregation. President Kennedy had originally proposed the civil rights bill in June 1963 and as Vice-President, Johnson called the congressional leaders to the White House in late October 1963 to line up the necessary votes in the House for the bill to pass.
Johnson used the sympathy that flowed from Kennedy's death to create support for his Civil Rights bills. He pledged that he would continue Kennedy's agenda and he lived up to his reputation as a legislative master in bringing about passage of the most ambitious domestic legislative agenda since Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal." Johnson's approval rating reached its apex at 79% on March 5, 1964, just after his first 100 days in office. He worked with Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia to reduce the federal budget below $100 billion in exchange for what passage of the Revenue Act of 1964, which lowered tax rates. But this was only the beginning. In late 1963 Johnson took the first step in his War on Poverty. he appointed Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver, then head of the Peace Corps, to manage this program. In March 1964, Johnson asked Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which created the Job Corps and the Community Action Program, designed to attack poverty locally.
His biggest challenge would come in quarterbacking the civil-rights bill that his predecessor had sent to Congress in June 1963, which had met with strong opposition during Kennedy's presidency. Johnson asked the slain president's brother Robert Kennedy to lead the administration's effort on Capitol Hill. Some of his biographers believe that he did so for political cover, in case the effort failed. This time he bill was met with the same tactics that prevented the passage of civil rights bills in the past. Southern congressmen and senators used congressional procedure to prevent it from coming to a vote. They held up major administration bills that were considered urgent in order to bargain with the bill's supporters to pull the bill. Johnson was quite familiar with these tactics, as he had used them himself in the past. He had used a similar tactic against the civil rights bill that Harry Truman had submitted to congress fifteen years earlier.
On the return of Congress from the winter recess, it became apparent that public opinion in the North favored the bill and it was allowed to pass through the Rules Committee. Johnson was able to get the bill through the Rules Committee, which had been holding it up in an attempt to kill it. He used the threat of a discharge petition to force it onto the house floor. This got the House Rules Committee to approve the bill and moved it to the floor of the full house. The bill was brought to a vote in the House on February 10, 1964, and passed by a vote of 290 to 130, and sent to the Senate.
Johnson wanted the bill passed as soon as possible. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator James O. Eastland, a Democrat from Mississippi who was opposed to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield used procedural tactics to have the bill bypass the Judiciary Committee and immediately be sent to the Senate floor for debate. This parliamentary move led to a filibuster, but the senators eventually let it pass. The bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964 and a block of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator launched a filibuster to prevent its passage. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia said "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our states."
The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who said "these so-called Civil Rights Proposals, which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason. This is the worst civil-rights package ever presented to the Congress and is reminiscent of the Reconstruction proposals and actions of the radical Republican Congress."
Overcoming the filibuster required the support of over twenty Republicans, and they were not inclined to be cooperative going into an election year. Johnson convinced Republican leader Everett Dirksen to support the bill and Dirksen was able to attract the necessary Republican votes to overcome the filibuster in March 1964. After 54 days of filibuster, Dirksen and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey introduced a substitute bill that they hoped would attract enough Republican swing votes to end the filibuster. The compromise bill was weaker than the House version in regard to government power to regulate the conduct of private business. On the morning of June 10, 1964, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia completed a filibustering address that lasted 14 hours and 13 minutes.
After 75 hours of debate, the bill passed the senate by a vote of 71-29. Johnson signed the fortified Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2. That the evening after signing the bill, Johnson told an aide, "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come". He was correct.
One of the most vigorous opponents of the Civil Rights Bill was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, the man that Johnson would face off against in the 1964 Presidential Election. Goldwater disliked Johnson. He said that LBJ "used every dirty trick in the bag". Goldwater's 1964 campaign catered to conservatives. He opposed interference by the federal government in state affairs. Although he had supported all previous federal civil rights legislation and had supported the original senate version of the bill, Goldwater would later oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His stance was based on his view that the act was an intrusion by the federal government into the affairs of states and that the Act interfered with the rights of private persons to do or not do business with whomever they chose.
Johnson ran for President in 1964, campaigning on a slogan which described his proposed domestic agenda for 1965. His speechwriter Richard Goodwin called it "The Great Society"-and incorporated this in detail as part of a speech for Johnson in May 1964 at the University of Michigan. It covered Johnson's vision of urban renewal, modern transportation, clean environment, anti-poverty, healthcare reform, crime control, and educational reform. In the presidential election Johnson defeated Goldwater by a margin of 61.1% to 38.5% in the popular vote, and 486 to 52 in the electoral college.
In his second term, Johnson was able to achieve many of his "Great Society" legislative goals by expanding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, the arts, urban and rural development, public services, and continue his "War on Poverty". He was assisted in part by a growing economy, and his programs helped millions of Americans to rise above the poverty line during his administration. Civil rights bills that he signed into law banned racial discrimination in public facilities, interstate commerce, the workplace, and housing. The Voting Rights Act prohibited certain requirements in southern states used to disenfranchise African Americans. His downfall would come about from an even more polarizing and divisive issue, a problem originating on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
While in the Senate, Johnson was not inclined towards strong civil rights legislation. In sharp contrast to what would occur during his Presidency, Johnson was strongly opposed as Senate Majority Leader to President Dwight Eisenhower's 1957 Civil Rights Act. He was afraid that its passage would tear his party apart. He and Mississippi Senator James Eastland saw to it that the bill ended up being far weaker than it originally started, but after it became law and Johnson took credit for its passage.
As a Texan, Johnson would have to face a lot of southern resistance when he set out to convince Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That legislation outlawed most forms of racial segregation. President Kennedy had originally proposed the civil rights bill in June 1963 and as Vice-President, Johnson called the congressional leaders to the White House in late October 1963 to line up the necessary votes in the House for the bill to pass.
Johnson used the sympathy that flowed from Kennedy's death to create support for his Civil Rights bills. He pledged that he would continue Kennedy's agenda and he lived up to his reputation as a legislative master in bringing about passage of the most ambitious domestic legislative agenda since Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal." Johnson's approval rating reached its apex at 79% on March 5, 1964, just after his first 100 days in office. He worked with Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia to reduce the federal budget below $100 billion in exchange for what passage of the Revenue Act of 1964, which lowered tax rates. But this was only the beginning. In late 1963 Johnson took the first step in his War on Poverty. he appointed Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver, then head of the Peace Corps, to manage this program. In March 1964, Johnson asked Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which created the Job Corps and the Community Action Program, designed to attack poverty locally.
His biggest challenge would come in quarterbacking the civil-rights bill that his predecessor had sent to Congress in June 1963, which had met with strong opposition during Kennedy's presidency. Johnson asked the slain president's brother Robert Kennedy to lead the administration's effort on Capitol Hill. Some of his biographers believe that he did so for political cover, in case the effort failed. This time he bill was met with the same tactics that prevented the passage of civil rights bills in the past. Southern congressmen and senators used congressional procedure to prevent it from coming to a vote. They held up major administration bills that were considered urgent in order to bargain with the bill's supporters to pull the bill. Johnson was quite familiar with these tactics, as he had used them himself in the past. He had used a similar tactic against the civil rights bill that Harry Truman had submitted to congress fifteen years earlier.
On the return of Congress from the winter recess, it became apparent that public opinion in the North favored the bill and it was allowed to pass through the Rules Committee. Johnson was able to get the bill through the Rules Committee, which had been holding it up in an attempt to kill it. He used the threat of a discharge petition to force it onto the house floor. This got the House Rules Committee to approve the bill and moved it to the floor of the full house. The bill was brought to a vote in the House on February 10, 1964, and passed by a vote of 290 to 130, and sent to the Senate.
Johnson wanted the bill passed as soon as possible. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator James O. Eastland, a Democrat from Mississippi who was opposed to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield used procedural tactics to have the bill bypass the Judiciary Committee and immediately be sent to the Senate floor for debate. This parliamentary move led to a filibuster, but the senators eventually let it pass. The bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964 and a block of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator launched a filibuster to prevent its passage. Senator Richard Russell of Georgia said "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our states."
The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who said "these so-called Civil Rights Proposals, which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason. This is the worst civil-rights package ever presented to the Congress and is reminiscent of the Reconstruction proposals and actions of the radical Republican Congress."
Overcoming the filibuster required the support of over twenty Republicans, and they were not inclined to be cooperative going into an election year. Johnson convinced Republican leader Everett Dirksen to support the bill and Dirksen was able to attract the necessary Republican votes to overcome the filibuster in March 1964. After 54 days of filibuster, Dirksen and Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey introduced a substitute bill that they hoped would attract enough Republican swing votes to end the filibuster. The compromise bill was weaker than the House version in regard to government power to regulate the conduct of private business. On the morning of June 10, 1964, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia completed a filibustering address that lasted 14 hours and 13 minutes.
After 75 hours of debate, the bill passed the senate by a vote of 71-29. Johnson signed the fortified Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law on July 2. That the evening after signing the bill, Johnson told an aide, "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come". He was correct.
One of the most vigorous opponents of the Civil Rights Bill was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, the man that Johnson would face off against in the 1964 Presidential Election. Goldwater disliked Johnson. He said that LBJ "used every dirty trick in the bag". Goldwater's 1964 campaign catered to conservatives. He opposed interference by the federal government in state affairs. Although he had supported all previous federal civil rights legislation and had supported the original senate version of the bill, Goldwater would later oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His stance was based on his view that the act was an intrusion by the federal government into the affairs of states and that the Act interfered with the rights of private persons to do or not do business with whomever they chose.
Johnson ran for President in 1964, campaigning on a slogan which described his proposed domestic agenda for 1965. His speechwriter Richard Goodwin called it "The Great Society"-and incorporated this in detail as part of a speech for Johnson in May 1964 at the University of Michigan. It covered Johnson's vision of urban renewal, modern transportation, clean environment, anti-poverty, healthcare reform, crime control, and educational reform. In the presidential election Johnson defeated Goldwater by a margin of 61.1% to 38.5% in the popular vote, and 486 to 52 in the electoral college.
In his second term, Johnson was able to achieve many of his "Great Society" legislative goals by expanding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, the arts, urban and rural development, public services, and continue his "War on Poverty". He was assisted in part by a growing economy, and his programs helped millions of Americans to rise above the poverty line during his administration. Civil rights bills that he signed into law banned racial discrimination in public facilities, interstate commerce, the workplace, and housing. The Voting Rights Act prohibited certain requirements in southern states used to disenfranchise African Americans. His downfall would come about from an even more polarizing and divisive issue, a problem originating on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.