before his death. but it was president johnson who devoted extraordinary energy to ensuring the act of 1964 became law. johnson did not shy away from using the memory of the slain president as a weapon in the fight. ensuring that his predecessor would end up being the one remembered as the great civil rights leader, he said no memorial or eulogy could honor president kennedy s memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long. in july of 1964, johnson signed the bill that outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, made possible by a slain president. another assassination gave johnson what he needed to pass his final critical piece of civil rights legislation four years later in 1968. the day after reverend dr. martin luther king jr. was assassinated on a memphis balcony, johnson sent a leet leather to speaker of the house of representatives that read in part, when the nation so urgently needs a healing balm of unity, a brew wall wound