Explain Why Did Lbj Sign The Civil Rights Act Of 1964

Why Did LBJ Sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
In 1964 President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, but was he led by his determination to further his political standing or did he truly support the document? The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in voting, education, employment, and other areas of American life. These are known as civil rights, rights that give equal opportunities and treatment to every American. A political decision would be calculated, thought-out, and sometimes in one’s self interest. However, a principled decision is based on strongly-held beliefs. Granted, President L.B.J. previously experienced a background with the discriminated youth, he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for his political

President L.B.J. believed it was “the job of the states, not the federal government, to deal with those issues.” To clarify, President L.B.J. believed the states should decide what is “best” for their states, meaning a southern state could withstand discrimination against colored people. This would contradict his stance on the act as president before the presidential election. As a Senate Majority Leader, Johnson did not “directly oppose the civil right bill” however, he did help push through a provision stating that “anyone accused of violating the act would get a jury trial.”(Holland 1964). This provision made it likely that any defendant in the South would be “tried by an all white jury and acquitted.” This was represented in a drawing by cartoonist, Ed Holland, and published in the Chicago Tribute. To illustrate, the drawing displays President L.B.J. holding a sign that says “President Johnson’s parade lading for Civil Rights Bill” while tripping over a box that has “1957, Senator Johnson’s opposition to Civil Rights Bill” written on it. The cartoon was a playful inscription displaying how president L.B.J. had contradicted himself in order to further his political power in the

had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on his principles, he would have acted on the matter of subject sooner. To emphasize, if he supported the Civil Rights Bill he would have acted out sooner to have the bill pushed through earlier, but once the election began, he needed a way to gain more popularity. “Yet all Johnson’s rhetoric could not entirely disarm the suspicions of civil right advocates”(Dallek 1961-1973). To clarify, the suspicions about whether L.B.J. supported the bill or not could not be dissolved by the vague answers given by L.B.J. Additionally, Roy Wilkins, an important African-American civil-rights leader, asked if he had “felt so strongly about the issues, why had it taken him so long to act on it?” (Dallek 1961-1973). Ultimately, this displays that the public had concerns about L.B.J.’s principles and his