Lyndon B. Johnson And The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

MPM732 Critical Thinking for Managers Trimester 2, 2018

MPM732 Critical Thinking for Managers Trimester 2, 2018

Lyndon Johnson’s role in the Civil Rights Movement

Lyndon Johnson made the most significant presidential contribution to civil rights when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into existence. He did what John F. Kennedy could not. Overshadowed by his predecessor, Johnson is remembered by the prolonged Vietnam War and as someone simply dwarfed in comparison to Kennedy; not for his getting approved the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps. Kennedy initiated the legislation of granting black Americans the same rights and liberties as all others, spoke life into the idea, yet did little to make it happen. He feared to lose the necessary southerners that surrounded him in office. Once Johnson took reign, he acted (Burns, 2011). The Great Society was put forth, enacting a series of programs with the elimination of poverty and racism ultimatum. Despite being aware of the political disapproval of such plans, he chose to go forth with it. Johnson was better suited to do this job than Kennedy, even if Kennedy decided to try and pass his proposed legislation. A Southerner himself, Johnson had sway over the same people Kennedy feared doing battle with. Lyndon Johnson believed that was the responsibility of the big government to offer solutions to some problems facing American citizens. Concerning this, Lyndon believed that the social problems the Americans faced could only get a solution from the tax and the government. Johnson valued the program of the great society that aimed at giving quality life to all Americans. The program involved itself in ensuring a better education for the Americans and jobs. Also, the program could help in fighting poverty as well as empowering the civil societies. The notion behind this was that, the civil societies could help in speaking for the poor through demonstrations and dialog.

Civil rights movement accomplished more than just removal of racial barriers; it also refurbished America socially, politically and culturally (Caro, 2014). The government and judicial attitudes towards blacks and other minority group were altered to incorporate the rights of the subjects. Civil rights did not just begin in the 1950s; it began when Africans were initially brought to America as slaves. The blacks were the pioneers of the civil rights when fought tirelessly for their enslavement and demanded their fundamental citizenship rights that were blunt.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is historically significant because it encompasses the rights and privileges of every individual in every field in the United States. It may not have been fully successful in its stated goal of abolishing discrimination, but it had opened new doors to lessen or slowly eradicate discrimination in the United States. It had opened a new perspective and a new light for every individual to live at peace with their differences in gender, race, religious beliefs, culture and color (Gold, 2011). The policy plays a vital role in the transitional phase of the country’s accepting ethnic and cultural diversity of its residents. Even in the process of passing the Act, many opposed it, but at the end of the day, it succeeded and brought with it a new perspective to Americans. It played a vital role in the aspect of racial, gender and religious discrimination in the different sectors. It is essential to look back on how the policy was established to assess the usefulness and the importance of the policy today.

The significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

During the early years in the 1960s, there was unequal treatment of and opportunities for Blacks and Whites who resided in America. There was an invisible line that prevented the Blacks from securing any governmental position. They have even experienced discrimination within the public and private establishments. About this, during the 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was considered as the most racist place in the U.S. Many of the discriminatory acts against African Americans were done within the limits of the state. On May 2, 1963, a march against the racist state was held by more than a thousand of African-American children. The protest was aired over national television and Kennedy, along with the world, witnessed how the protest was stopped by the police (Harvey, n.d.). The police used dogs against the children as they knocked the children out with sprays (Vox). It became a window for Kennedy to understand how racism and discrimination could lead people to hurt and even try to kill children. With this on hand, on June 6, 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced on national television that he was urging people to take part in the equal treatment of every individual of different races (Johns, 2011). After his plea, Kennedy suggested that the Congress should implement a law that would cater to every individual. The law suggested was to address racial discrimination, the voting rights, the right to education and the right of every individual for federal assistance. However, Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, which could have caused a delay in the passing of the Act.

Nonetheless, the assassination of Kennedy did not deter the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the vice president, Lyndon Johnson became the president.  He signed it into law on the same day the House approved it. It took only a few months before the signing of the act into a law in July of 1964 (“Civil Rights Act”). The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not immediately end discrimination and inequality among the other races who resided in America. However, there were profound changes that led to the enhancement of the rights of Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and women. Before the passing of the Act, there was a local and state law on color segregation, which allowed business owners and local government agencies do not accommodate Asians, Blacks, Latinos and other races. However, the Act’s greatest achievement was the ending of this segregation and in return, allowed other races to sue public and private establishments that discriminated or violated their rights (Johnson & Stevenson, 1964).

The impact of the Civil Rights Movement on American society

NAACP later employed the tactic of directly challenging the constitutionality of “separate but equal “education. By 1955, most blacks were frustrated by the slow approach that was taken by the federal and state governments to look into their plights. This prompted the black leadership to adopt a collective strategy of direct action and nonviolent resistance which was popularly known as civil disobedience which produced a crisis in the country (Johnson, 2011).

Strategies used by the Civil Rights Movement especially civil disobedience caused a lot of concern between the movement’s members and the federal and state governments thus forcing them to act. Mass actions which were accompanied by violence, lynching led to public exposure which brought about the substantive change since the progress and the needs for the movement became a reality. During the 1960s, television covered the protests in various places such as in Birmingham, Alabama and other places which shocked viewers across America.

President Lyndon Baine Johnson is a figure whose contribution in the actualization of the civil rights movements dream appears to have received very little praises, but one, which was a landmark in US politics, and policy (Roehling & Posthuma, n.d). He had managed to rally the Congress behind him to visualize and walk in his direction as far as American steering system was concerned. In fact, the success of the highly celebrated Civil Rights Acts 1965 should be a credit to him. My interpretation is that while Martin did the campaigns, Lyndon Baine Johnson did the pen part. Before that, there were 1957, 1960, and 1964 concerns and petitions in which the US Department of Justice was empowered to investigate voting rights violations. The department of justice was also tasked to litigate the voting rights violations. These can be seen as developments that indeed set the ground ready for the Act, which was to follow the assassination of John F Kennedy.

The earlier challenge was that enforcement on such cases when taken on an individual basis, as is the due process in law turned out to be expensive time wise. As noted earlier, examples of black voter registration exercises were, as was the order of the day, approached with high handedness (Rosenzweig, n.d.). Lyndon Baine Johnson’s contributions are best exemplified by analyzing the previous events before the enactment of the 1965 Act. The closest occurrence that depicts the necessity to have changed was an event that occurred in 1964. Johnson’s contribution to the realization of civil rights movement dreams was more of a moral stand than prevailing circumstances. He, nevertheless, used the current conditions to push for the long-awaited change. Both of them played critical roles, Martin at the conception of the dream and John at the realization of the dream. For sure, Luther made ready the path for Johnson to finalize the quest. In my opinion, Johnson is the uncelebrated champion of the civil rights movement. It is Johnson’s speech that had the most significant impact on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He was thoroughly convinced that discrimination was not morally right and so un-American given the constitution and the nation’s history (Sarantakes, 2011).

Kennedy’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement

Conclusion

The Federal Government was reluctant to act because President Kennedy feared that the protests and mass actions would make it harder to convince Congress members who did not concur with him to create a civil rights bill. However, after watching the incidences on the television, he was forced to act by sending thousands of troops to Alabama airbase and comprehensive civil rights bill to the Congress (Whalen & Whalen, 2010). There were many achievements of the movement in 1968 during President John F. Kennedy’s reign. By 1968, segregation in public places was abolished especially from the very resistant part of the South making it one of the most remarkable achievements. Public transport facilities were integrated and many blacks registered as voters. A good number of American citizens acknowledged the principle of equality and black people occupied senior positions in the public offices. Considering the armed forces, blacks were integrated into the army and were allowed to rise to high rank within the troops. Many state governments implemented the racial integration of school by even introducing bussing to ferry students from different places to another as a way of achieving ethnic mix (Sargent, 2014).

However, the civil rights movement lost momentum because of major economic and social challenges that remained significant in both the north and the south. Additionally, the campaign was weakened and divided over the best tactics to employ as well as the considerable assassination of their spokesmen. However, the civil rights movement completely changed the face of America regarding law, politics, and culture. There was legislation that led to the protection of minority groups’ rights and further improved the role of the judiciary by making the Supreme Court active in defending individual rights (Schwartz, 2015).

Kennedy’s assassination most likely spurred the social unrest and activists into such a force that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was inevitable. The country was shocked and confused, for the Cold War had just begun so that it could have been related to Russian enemies, and the black Americans movement meant it could have been someone unhappy with Kennedy’s advancement towards equal rights. Because he was a beloved president, with some of the highest approval ratings in American presidential history, Johnson pushed the bill through Congress with unusual rapidity (Whalen & Whalen, 2010). The discussion on the whole idea went on during an election year, something that would not have occurred should Kennedy have lived, and Johnson utilized the new wound in American minds to get people to agree on account of honoring his predecessor, as he so clearly stated in his first address to Congress, saying that, “No memorial oration 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.” Without the assassination of John Kennedy, there would be no Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Uhl, 2016).

Challenges faced by the Civil Rights Movement

The video of violent acts of racial discrimination and hostility contributed to the passing of the Civil Rights bill as well. John Kennedy was not one who had been known for civil rights, nor was he aware of the atrocities before witnessing the video footage that reached the media thanks to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” persuaded the president to intervene and get him out on bail, also spawning a relationship/partnership that would further the movement. The videos that enveloped the media in 1963 spread awareness. In an article, “The Guardian”, in 2013, Candace Allen explains her own experience of the events: “Though the crisis was experienced from the relative safety of suburban Connecticut, as a Negro child I had been rendered chronically, residually anxious by the beatings, bombings and dog attacks” Without the disheartening images, much of northern America would never have understood just how horrible the brutality was.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 failed to include voters’ rights, possibly, because 1964 was an election year and by the time the act was passed, the deadlines for voter registration had also passed. Therefore, the Voters Rights Act of 1965 would have had the same effect it did then, in 1964, and, since Johnson was in a hurry to push the Civil Rights Act through Congress, there was no time to include a new passage, or improvise the bill (Whalen & Whalen, 2010).

References

Burns, L. M. (2011). Lady Bird Johnson. A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson, 57-75. doi:10.1002/9781444347494.ch4

Caro, R. A. (2014). The years of Lyndon Johnson: Vol. 4.

Gold, S. D. (2011). The Civil Rights Act of 1964. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.

Harvey, G. E. (n.d.). The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Encyclopedia of Leadership. doi:10.4135/9781412952392.n47

Johns, A. L. (2011). The Legacy of Lyndon B. Johnson. A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson, 504-519. doi:10.1002/9781444347494.ch29

Johnson, L. B., & Stevenson, A. E. (1964). A time for action: A selection from speeches and writings of Lyndon B. Johnson 1953-1964 ; introduction by Adlai E. Stevenson. New York: Washington Square Press.

Johnson, R. D. (2011). LBJ and the Constitution. A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson, 228-244. doi:10.1002/9781444347494.ch13

Roehling, M. V., & Posthuma, R. A. (n.d.). Civil Rights Act of 1964, Civil Rights Act of 1991. Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. doi:10.4135/9781412952651.n30

Rosenzweig, S. M. (n.d.). Civil Rights Act of 1964. Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education. doi:10.4135/9781412963985.n59

Sarantakes, N. E. (2011). Lyndon B. Johnson and the World. A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson, 487-503. doi:10.1002/9781444347494.ch28

Sargent, D. (2014). Lyndon Johnson and the Challenges of Economic Globalization. Beyond the Cold War, 17-43. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199790692.003.0001

Schwartz, H. E. (2015). The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A primary source exploration of the landmark legislation.

The History Place – Great Speeches Collection: Lyndon B. Johnson Speech – We Shall Overcome. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2018, from https://www.historyplace.com/speeches/johnson.htm

Uhl, X. M. (2016). The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Whalen, C. W., & Whalen, B. (2010). The longest debate: A legislative history of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.