Reply #5: Robert Caro covers the rather interesting evolution of Johnson with regards to Civil Rights [View All]

[MADem]

in his MASTER OF THE SENATE opus. Johnson, ironically, was able to seize power by courting the Southern Democrats, who were a bunch of racist fucks (and who, today, would be called Senate Republicans!). For the longest time he upheld the status quo, but when he was finally in a position to really DO something, and he had the votes AND the power to sign the legislation, he stepped up to the plate. He knew, too, that he'd lost the south to the Democratic party for a 'generation' or more.

I love the way people are framing that sentence by Clinton as an either-or situation. The ones who are doing so are NOT students of history, at all. They really need to go back and walk Johnson's path, and pay particular attention to where it converged with MLK's.

Here's a NEWSFLASH--LBJ and MLK used to TALK to one another! They were ON THE SAME TEAM when it came to civil rights!

Such a SHOCK, that!


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/july-dec97/lbj_10-14.html

PHIL PONCE: The first conversation we're going to hear an excerpt from is a conversation between President Johnson and Martin Luther King. Sum it up for us briefly.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: It's a few days after Johnson became President. There were a lot of people in this country who were very worried about Johnson on civil rights. When he first ran for the Senate in ‘48, he did so as an anti-civil rights candidate, as many did in Texas in those days. And so many black leaders especially worried that when Johnson, the first southern president in all that time, became president, he might not have the kind of commitment to civil rights that John Kennedy had. Here is talking to Martin Luther King, assuring him of his commitment to civil rights.

President Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.



PRESIDENT JOHNSON: A good many people told me that they heard about your statement. I guess on TV, wasn't it?

MARTIN LUTHER KING: Yes, that's right.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: I've been locked up in this office and haven't seen it, but I want to tell you how grateful I am and how worthy I'm going to try to be of all your hopes.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: Well, thank you very much. I'm so happy to hear that, and I knew that you had just that great spirit. And you know you have our support and backing. We know what a difficult period this is.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: It's just an impossible period. We've got a budget coming up that we've got nothing to do with. It's practically already made. And we've got a civil rights bill that hasn't even passed the House and it's November, and Hubert Humphrey told me yesterday that everybody wanted to go home, and I'm going to ask the Congress Wednesday to just stay there till they pass ‘em all. They won't do it, but we'll just keep them there next year until they do, and we just won't give up an inch.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: Uh-huh. Well, this is mighty fine. I think it's so imperative. I think one of the great tributes that we can pay a memory of President Kennedy is to try to enact some of the great progressive policies that he sought to initiate

PRESIDENT JOHNSON: Well, I'm going to support ‘em all, and you can count on that. And I'm going to do my best to get other men to do likewise. I'll have to have you-all's help. And I never needed it more than I do now.