we know what a difficult period it is. it s, just an impossible period. he hasn t yet figured out how yet to deal with president johnson. he said, you know, when you meet with president kennedy, he would ask questions for an hour. when you met with president johnson he would talk for an hour. one of the great tributes we can pay memory to president kennedy is try to enact some of the great progressive policies that he thought to initiate. well i want to support them all and you can count on that and i m going to do my best to do other men to do likewise and need your all s help, never more than i do now. when johnson took over for kennedy, somehow he was able to see a path to the passage for civil rights legislation. automatically assumes the mantle
see a path to the passing of civil rights legislation. johnson immediately assumes the mantle of the martyred president and says that we will pass federal civil rights legislation as a tribute to john f. kennedy. no memorial or eulogy could more eloquently honor president kennedy s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long. you haven t been elected. you have to run for re-election. you want to take on civil rights, which is talk about stir the pot in the south. that s like throwing a match on gasoline in the south. as he said to his aides, what the hell is the presidency for? if you are not going to do something bold, why be here?
people like richard russell who was one of his mentors. richard russell was a person of towering stature among segregationists in the south. he made me and i know it. i don t ever forget. nobody meant more to me than you, except my mother. lbj knew you couldn t exercise political power unless you had it. for lbj, growing up in texas, the only way he could get political power was to tow the line on segregation. great pride in the civil rights act, the first civil rights legislation since the war between the states was passed under his direction. when he served in the senate as majority leader, he was one of the architects of the 1957 civil rights bill. the 57 civil rights bill, i don t think it would have been brought up had it not been for lyndon johnson. he couldn t get 100% of what he
my fellow americans, i am about to sign into law a civil rights act of 1964. only a southern president could have shepherd that bill, only the former master of the senate could shepherd that bill. i think it would have been easier for southerners to oppose a civil rights bill introduced by a northern liberal. the civil rights act is the big one, because kennedy had pursued it and not been able to break through that southern wall. johnson had a tremendous historical accomplishment and one that sets him apart as an effective president in his own right. what s the sense of being a political leader from the south and having political power if you don t use it? it s probably the most important civil rights legislation passed since reconstruction.
is a perversion of the american way of life. my fellow americans, i am about to sign into law a civil rights act of 1964. only a southern president could have shepherd that bill, only the former master of the senate could shepherd that bill. i think it would have been easier for southerners to oppose a civil rights bill introduced by a northern liberal. the civil rights act is the big one, because kennedy had pursued it and not been able to break through that southern wall. johnson had a tremendous historical accomplishment and one that sets him apart as an effective president in his own right. what s the sense of being a political leader from the south and having political power if you don t use it? it s probably the most