lyndon b. johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States, assuming the office after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. He entered politics when he won a special election to a fill a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He caught the eye of President Franklin Roosevelt, who took Johnson under his wing. He helped him secure key committee assignments in Congress and steer much-needed electrification and water projects to his Texas district, where he grew up. He proved himself a master of party politics and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, and he rose to the position of Senate majority leader in 1955. People called his legendary ability to persuade senators to support his bills the “LBJ treatment.” His deft handling of Congress left to the pass of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, a voting rights measure that was the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 did not create new rights, but it increased protection of voting rights and laid the foundation for federal enforcement of civil rights law by creating the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, a Civil Rights Commission within the executive branch, and expanding federal enforcement authority to include civil lawsuits. After Kennedy was shot, Johnson pledged to carry on his work. On July 2, 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender. It gave all citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations. While Johnson continued his civil rights work, Congress finally passed Johnson’s Voting Rights Act of 1965, which eliminated the so-called literacy tests that had disqualified many voters. It also stated that federal examiners could enroll voters who had been denied suffrage by local officials. It marked a major civil rights victory.
Julie F.
Julie F.