we talked earlier about the reluctance of the kennedy administration to get behind the march. belatedly president kennedy. the march goes off. it is a success. all of the detractors were wrong. it s the end of august 1963. obviously, president kennedy is killed a few months later. but within a year the civil rights act of 1964 is enacted. what role did the march play in that enactment? it played a diminishing role in some ways politically. i think that by the end of the year there was a lot of despair in the civil rights movement. what they expected that march to do had, at least before kennedy s assassination, had not come to pass. then kennedy is aassassinated a lyndon johnson is president. there s this moment, as kennedy it was clear the civil rights bill was not going to get out of the out of the house judiciary committee. it could not be moved.
republican, liberal versus democrat. tough brilliance of dr. king and attach that movement to a voter strategy and a voter education strategy, and you don t you know, dough don t work at trying to see who you can keep out. you actually keep julian bond and william bond together. i wasn t even born in 1963. i was in my mother s womb. i was born in august 1963. but the value is, when he and i can consult and learn the wisdom of the past, bring the nuances of the present, and have what we call in north carolina a values coalition, not raw personnel, but around deep moral values, deep constitution values, and fusion movement. we went to mitchell county, north carolina. 99% white, 89% republican and took the dream. the gang chains, the republican chair announced going to moral monday. 10,000 people in asheville, in a city that s 5% black.
his dream proves elusive, then our union remains imperfect. jon? i think that august 1963 is a moment that ranks with philadelphia s 76, with lincoln at gettysburg, fdr and the depression. i think you then go to this moment on a wednesday in late august, 50 years ago, and then the next moment would be president johnson and the voting rights act speech after the great heroism of lewis and williams at selma. the first three, jefferson, lincoln, they created a context, they created a promise. it was king and then lewis courage, the courage of the marchers in selma and johnson s speech, that took us from promise to a broader reality for
where it might be warranted. what do you think? this is a day that is not unlike the momentous occasions where we mark the march on washington in august 1963 or the signing of the voting rights act of 1965 because we have broken yet another barrier that restricts the boundaries of democracy. and that s why there was such joyous celebration that occurred in washington, d.c., and all over the country because this step was long overdue. one of the things that was interesting, just to say with this for one second, there was an interesting dynamic between the white house and groups that were advocating on this. advocates were not quiet, they were noisy, chaining themselves to the fence and people felt like maybe the white house was slow walking this. and in the end they both seem sort of borne out. i wonder in historical context is that the thing you generally see from the successful movement movements? today this remindeded me of the sacrifices of a social rights icon named baird rus
advocates for repeal. many service members in the audience, many staffers who served on the senate and congressional offices that helped push this through. and so it was like a victory party in many ways. and the energy was absolutely wonderful, and the president seemed relaxed, joyous and proud. professor, i want to get a sense of you of the sort of significance of this in the long sweep of social progress in this country. people have called this one of the most significance pieces of civil rights legislation in decades. it is hard to figure out the analogy, the civil rights struggle against segregation, so iconic, sometimes those analogies can seem very fraught, but this seems like a place where it might be warranted. what do you think? this is a day that is not unlike the momentous occasions where we mark the march on washington in august 1963 or the signing of the voting rights act of 1965 because we have broken