What a difference a death makes: JFK, LBJ, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Abstract

When the Kennedy assassination occurred in November 1963, it was not clear that his civil rights bill would pass without major modifications, and most Americans told pollsters that they were unsure of his policy. Fifty years later, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is seen by Kennedy apologists as evidence of what JFK could have achieved had he lived, and by Lyndon Johnson biographers as evidence of LBJ’s superior political skill. This article argues that Kennedy’s death made a difference but not simply by replacing one president with another. Far more importantly, it amplified pressure for action on moral and emotive grounds, mobilizing church groups (particularly midwestern Protestant ones), energizing liberal congressional leaders, and changing the mindset of US Justice Department insiders who moved from a posture of defending Kennedy from the minefield of the race question to acting to fulfill his legacy. The violent death and public reaction also shaped the conduct of moderate Republicans whose support for the measure was the margin of victory. The strategy for passing the Civil Rights Act did not change significantly after the events in Dallas, but the formula for success did.

Keywords:

• Civil Rights Act
• John F. Kennedy assassination
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Congress
• politics
• race relations

Notes

1. Mann, Walls of Jericho, 422.

2. Ellis, Freedom’s Pragmatist, 147.

3. Filvaroff and Wolfinger, “Origin and Enactment.” Filvaroff was a special assistant to Bobby Kennedy and Wolfinger was an aide for Hubert Humphrey.

4. Stern, Calculating Visions, 63, 113, 232.

5. Bryant, The Bystander.

6. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power.

7. Kohut, “JFK’s America.”

8. Rosenberg and Karabell, Kennedy, Johnson and the Quest, 114.

9. Ling, Martin Luther King, 160–4.

10. Transcript, Vice-President Johnson and Sorensen, 3 June 1963, “LBJ-REEDY-1, ‘Transcript of Edison Dictaphone Recording of Conversation between Lyndon Johnson and Ted Sorensen.’” Aides – Series: Office Files of George E. Reedy, LBJ-REEDY-1, LBJ Presidential Library. http://digital.lbjlibrary.org/record/DOC-1963-06-03_Sorensen-LBJ_tele2a; Mann, Walls of Jericho, 360–3.

11. Lee White, oral history interview, tape 1, pp. 12–13, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas.

12. Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, 237.

13. Rosenberg and Karabell, Kennedy, Johnson, 119.

14. Navasky, Kennedy Justice, 205.

15. Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, 332; Guthman, We Band of Brothers, 221.

16. Mann, Walls of Jericho, 352–3.

17. Purdum, An Idea, 65–6.

18. Kotz, Judgment Days, 7.

19. Ling, Martin Luther King, 121–2.

20. Zelizer, The Fierce Urgency of Now.

21. Burke Marshall, recorded interview by Larry J. Hackman, 19–20 January 1970, 33. John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program, RFKOH-BM-01. Accessed 30 June 2015.

22. Purdum, An Idea, 2–4.

23. “John F. Kennedy: Eulogies to the Late President Delivered in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, November 24, 1963 by Mike Mansfield, Earl Warren, and John W. McCormack.” United States Congress, Senate. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1963. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Fast-Facts/Eulogies.aspx

24. Watson, The Expanding Vista.

25. Sheatsley and Feldman, “A National Survey on Public Reactions.”

26. “Reactions to JFK’s Death Varied across the U.S.” WBNS-10 TV Ohio. Accessed 25 June 2015. http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/11/22/kennedy-assassination-anniversary-jfk-memories.html

27. Telephone conversation, no. 13, Everett Dirksen, 23 November 1963, time 1:50pm. Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations. LBJ Presidential Library. http://transition.lbjlibrary.org/items/show/67312; Purdum, An Idea, 150, 152.

28. Risen, The Bill of the Century, 86, 93; Purdum, An Idea, 117–22; Burke Marshall, recorded interview by Larry J. Hackman, 19–20 January 1970, 33–4. John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program, RFKOH-BM-01.

29. Risen, The Bill of the Century, 110–12; Loevy, To End All Segregation, 65.

30. “President Kennedy’s Statement by the President following Action on the Civil Rights Bill by the House Committee on Judiciary.” 29 October 1963. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=9503&st=&st1

31. “Joint Senate-House Republican Leadership Conferences.” 1963. http://www.dirksencenter.org/emd_audio/1963.htm#nov

32. Telephone conversation, no. 38, Whitney Young, 24 November 1963, time 5:55pm. Recordings and Transcripts of Telephone Conversations, LBJ Presidential Library. http://transition.lbjlibrary.org/items/show/67337; Joseph Rauh, Notes on a meeting with President Johnson, Clarence Mitchell, and Joseph Rauh, 21 January 1964. In Joseph Rauh Papers, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/civil-rights-act/civil-rights-act-of-1964.html

33. Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, 191.

34. Mann, Walls of Jericho, 393.

35. Loevy, To End All Segregation, 92.

36. Risen, The Bill of the Century, 161–2.

37. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power. 421–3, 472–83, 499, 552–3; Dallek, Flawed Giant, 72–3; Purdum, An Idea, 166, 170, 219; Risen, The Bill of the Century, 144, 175, 253–4.

38. Dallek, Flawed Giant, 5.

39. Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power, 563.

40. Mann, Walls of Jericho, 393–4, 426.

41. Purdum, An Idea, 210.

42. Hertzke, Representing God in Washington, 30–1.

43. Findlay, Church People in the Struggle.

44. Perlstein, Before the Storm.

45. Zelizer, The Fierce Urgency of Now, passim.

46. Filvaroff and Wolfinger, “Origin and Enactment,” 27.

47. Kotz, Judgment Days.