LBJ's daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it

[riversedge]

Short story and glad I read it.



LBJ's daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it


By GARY FIELDS yesterday


https://apnews.com/article/lyndon-johnson-daughter-voting-rights-supreme-court-cf792bdb6228ba20f257a73f055eddb9

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Luci Baines Johnson was a somewhat impatient 18-year-old on Aug. 6, 1965, when she happened to be on what she called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.”

The occasion that day was President Lyndon Johnson’s scheduled signing of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress had passed the day before. She assumed the ceremony would be in the East Room of the White House, where the Civil Rights Act had been signed the previous year.

“And that would probably take an hour and then I could be on my way,” she recalled in a recent interview from the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.

Instead, her father met her and guided her to the South Portico, where the presidential motorcade was waiting. They were going to Congress.


Knowing a trip to Capitol Hill would take more time than she anticipated, she asked why.

“‘We are going to Congress because there are going to be some courageous men and women who may not be returning to Congress because of the stand they have taken on voting rights,’” she recalled her father telling her. ”‘And there are going to be some extraordinary men and women who will be able to come to the Congress because of this great day. That’s why we’re going to Congress.’”

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Luci Baines Johnson recounts stories of her father President Lyndon B. Johnson at the LBJ Presidential Library, May 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Johnson watched her father sign the Voting Rights Act in 1965, and recalls asking him why the ceremony was in the U.S. Capitol instead of the White House. She said personal relationships and events in her father's life influenced his thinking on civil rights and voting rights, as well as many of the social programs he helped established.(AP Photo/Stephen Spillman)

[czarjak]

1. The Civil Rights Act in 1964 threw poor Southern Democrats to the Republican side.

Racism then, now, and unfortunately probably forever. The Voting Rights Act just sealed the deal.

[Zambero]

2. Strom Thurmond led the charge

Johnson knew that, as a consequence of civil rights legislation, the "Solid South" would cease to exist. He figured that the south would eventually return to the fold after several decades, but that calculation proved way too optimistic. The backlash was immediate. In the 1964 presidential election, Mississippi voted 87% for Barry Goldwater after having supported JFK in the previous election.

[czarjak]

7. But, John Roberts said: "Racism is dead."

(To him) Surprised by today’s ruling. I’m certain he’s seen the light now. Conservative cred could be on the line?

[Zambero]

8. If he's indeed seen the light, then let it spread

to areas still in the dark. Wisconsin. Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, no name but a few.

[Aristus]

4. That was basically an unequivocal declaration of:

"I'm going to throw my political support behind the rich idiots who are keeping me in economic repression, because that's how much I hate black people."

[czarjak]

6. Alive and Well Today Too

[niyad]

3. Thank you for sharing this.

[anciano]

5. LBJ was a truly great President....

He guided us through a very turbulent decade that dramatically changed the sociopolitical fabric of the country. He was a "voice for those who had no voice", and his administration oversaw the passing of landmark legislation not only for civil rights and voting rights, but medical care for seniors as well.

[Hekate]

9. Great story from Luci and about her. Thanks, riversedge.