Harry Middleton: Obama slighting Johnson
[Harry Middleton was formerly director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. He served as a White House speechwriter during the LBJ presidency.]
The road stretching from Tuesday, when America will inaugurate its first African-American president, back a-century-and-a-half to the end of slavery, has been long and rough and often torturous for black citizens.
But in the space of five years, four decades ago – the road got smoother…once-impassable obstacles were removed….and Tuesday’s events became possible.
In those five years, three major civil rights laws completed the promise of emancipation for the American Negro. Two of those laws ended legal segregation in public accommodations and housing – segregation that in effect had made people of colors second-class citizens in their own land.
The third law addressed the matter of voting. The 15th amendment to the Constitution, passed in the 1870s, gave the right to vote – the most precious prerogative in a democracy – to the newly-freed slaves. But in the years that followed, many states rendered that constitutional right virtually meaningless. A series of subterfuges – outlandish literacy and academic requirements, prohibitive poll taxes, and other shameful measures – made it impossible for black citizens to register.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed all that. It put the force of federal law behind the constitutional assurances. Registration was suddenly open for everyone. Voting booths were active. And the way we live in America changed forever. As a nation, we began to be served by black and well as white sheriffs and mayors, state legislators, senators and congressmen in the national capitol.
And 40 years after passage of that law, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.
There are many heroes in the Civil Rights triumphs of the 60s. Most have names that are now lost to history – the brave men and women who marched in hostile streets to protest the injustice of their condition, and demand the rights given to them in the Constitution.
Some, like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. will forever be celebrated and honored in the story of that great adventure.
But in terms of legislative effectiveness, one man towers over the field – the American president who used all the powers of his office and all the strength of his own persuasive abilities to present those laws as demands to the Congress, arouse the conscience of the nation, and force their passage. When it comes to delivering the goods, it can fairly be said that President Lyndon Johnson was instrumental in making possible the presidency that begins today. ...
Read entire article at Politico.com
The road stretching from Tuesday, when America will inaugurate its first African-American president, back a-century-and-a-half to the end of slavery, has been long and rough and often torturous for black citizens.
But in the space of five years, four decades ago – the road got smoother…once-impassable obstacles were removed….and Tuesday’s events became possible.
In those five years, three major civil rights laws completed the promise of emancipation for the American Negro. Two of those laws ended legal segregation in public accommodations and housing – segregation that in effect had made people of colors second-class citizens in their own land.
The third law addressed the matter of voting. The 15th amendment to the Constitution, passed in the 1870s, gave the right to vote – the most precious prerogative in a democracy – to the newly-freed slaves. But in the years that followed, many states rendered that constitutional right virtually meaningless. A series of subterfuges – outlandish literacy and academic requirements, prohibitive poll taxes, and other shameful measures – made it impossible for black citizens to register.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 changed all that. It put the force of federal law behind the constitutional assurances. Registration was suddenly open for everyone. Voting booths were active. And the way we live in America changed forever. As a nation, we began to be served by black and well as white sheriffs and mayors, state legislators, senators and congressmen in the national capitol.
And 40 years after passage of that law, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.
There are many heroes in the Civil Rights triumphs of the 60s. Most have names that are now lost to history – the brave men and women who marched in hostile streets to protest the injustice of their condition, and demand the rights given to them in the Constitution.
Some, like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. will forever be celebrated and honored in the story of that great adventure.
But in terms of legislative effectiveness, one man towers over the field – the American president who used all the powers of his office and all the strength of his own persuasive abilities to present those laws as demands to the Congress, arouse the conscience of the nation, and force their passage. When it comes to delivering the goods, it can fairly be said that President Lyndon Johnson was instrumental in making possible the presidency that begins today. ...