Judgement Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America, Kotz - A*

                     "With the passage of the 1964 and 1965 civil rights acts, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. told the president of the United States, 'You have created a Second Emancipation.'" They were indispensable leaders during a tumultuous time. Because of them, all people enjoy the privilege to vote, are able to eat in a public restaurant, use a public restroom, hold a job, and choose where to live. Their partnership was never easy, but it was essential. At the time of JFK's assassination,  progress on civil rights was at a dead end. LBJ and MLK became allies in the making of civil rights a moral issue. Although they later fell out over Vietnam, and each man died unhappy, "they shared a shining moment, a story that Americans would do well to remember."

                      Johnson called King on the 25th, the day of Jack Kennedy's funeral, asked for his support and stated that he'd get the civil rights bill passed. Both men realized that grief over the assassination might provide momentum to advance the legislation. They met in the Oval Office on Dec. 3rd. LBJ dominated the meeting with the details of how he would move the bill forward. King had many enemies throughout the US, but none more focused on destroying him than the Director of the FBI. Hoover despised King, believing he was a communist, and was equally obsessed with MLK's personal moral failures. On Feb. 10, the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed the House by a vote of 290-130. Attention turned to the Senate and the need to marshal votes for cloture. LBJ tasked Hubert Humphrey to manage the bill and swing Everett Dirksen over to support the vote to stop the debate. The challenge was the conservative Republicans from farm states, where there were few people of color. The religious institutions in those states took up the challenge and began to pressure their senators. LBJ hosted 150 leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention and spoke to them about the bill. By April, the filibuster stood and the votes were still not there to stop it. Johnson continued his relentless pursuit of his goal by speaking to and making deals with as many Senators as he could. On June 10th, the cloture vote passed. The following week, the bill passed the Senate in a 73-27 vote. It was a pure Lyndon Johnson triumph.

                   The summer of 1964 saw continued violence and no abeyance of racial stressors in America. In Harlem, there were riots after the police killing of a teenager. Mississippi was the center of vicious KKK attacks on Blacks and civil rights workers from the north. The murders of Cheney, Schwerner and Goodman galvanized the nation and displayed the cold blooded brutality of the state's white racists, who indiscriminately killed people and burned homes and churches. The problems in Mississippi carried over to the convention in Atlantic City, where a Black delegation sought to be seated. Fearing a white backlash, LBJ succumbed to Hoover's constant drumbeat that the movement was filled with communists. He had the FBI wiretap anyone who had anything to do with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party with the goal of making certain they were not seated. He orchestrated a compromise whereby the MFDP received two votes. In November, LBJ won overwhelmingly and looked forward to working with the largest congressional majority in a generation. 

                That fall, MLK was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The bestowing of this honor on a man Hoover considered a degenerate and communist drove the FBI director over the edge. He shared extensive information about King's extracurricular sexual activities throughout the government and tried to peddle it to major news organizations. When LBJ called King in January of 1965 he told him about the importance of passing a Voting Rights Act. At that point in time, MLK began his crusade for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. King masterfully played his hand in Selma with hundreds, including high school students, arrested, massive amounts of press coverage, attention from celebrities and congressmen, and even an acknowledgement of support from the president. King and his supporters were showing the country why a voting bill was necessary. They advanced their cause with their march in Selma, which ended with police brutality and another shock to the nation. A week later, LBJ made his famous 'We Shall Overcome' speech to Congress fully endorsing dramatic voting rights legislation, and moving  ahead on immigration, poverty, education and health care reform. He signed the landmark voting rights legislation in August. King and Johnson provided "legal equality for all voting age adults, at last fulfilling the promise made to America by the Fifteenth Amendment nearly a century before."

                The high point of their achievements quickly passed. A week later, massive race riots tore apart Watts in Los Angeles. King came under increasing pressure to disavow LBJ's actions in Vietnam, and to move beyond his nonviolent, passive resistance tactics. King spent time in Chicago trying to desegregate the north's most segregated city and gave up after a few months. LBJ tried to pass another civil rights act in 1966 and was unable to stop the filibuster. In April of the following year, King made a major speech in opposition to the war in Vietnam. Johnson was livid and would never speak to King again. As 1968 began, both men were fading from their leadership roles in our society. The war was absolutely destroying the president. King was exhausted and uncertain where to turn to advance the cause. At the end of March, LBJ announced he would not run for reelection. Five days later, Martin Luther King was murdered. In the following days, LBJ was able to push through Fair Housing legislation. 

                  Four years later, an ailing  LBJ spoke at a conference in Austin. The final words of his last speech were, "We shall overcome." Decades later, Black Americans live in a better world thanks to all that Lyndon Johnson accomplished. Middle class Blacks are doing well and African-Americans have important positions throughout our society, but they still trail whites in all economic categories. "Johnson's and King's challenges remain to be answered." This is a great book, and I thank my brother Will for the suggestion. For me, the incredibly bigoted J. Edgar Hoover deserves all the disdain and enmity that was felt for him sixty years ago. This book highlights the extraordinary skills MLK used to organize and anticipate issues in a way that materially advanced the cause of civil rights. LBJ, of course, remains perhaps the most tragic figure in our history, a man who accomplished so much, but who fell so far from grace. Lastly, reading again about the mid-sixties led me to wonder if any president or national leader could have successfully navigated such a treacherous time. I think not.