President Lyndon Johnson - Speech on Voting Rights
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 มิ.ย. 2008
- View the full speech here: millercenter.org/scripps/archi...
Johnson states that every man should have the right to vote and that the civil rights problems challenge the entire country, not one region or group. The President asks Congress to help him pass legislation that dictates clear, uniform guidelines for voting regardless of race or ethnicity and that allows all citizens to register to vote free from harassment.
March 15th, 1965
![Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506.](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5NvPhiuGZ6I/mqdefault.jpg)
![Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506.](/img/tr.png)
I've always found LBJ to be one of the more fascinating American Presidents because he seems like so many different things at once. Tough and harsh, yet simultaneously soft hearted and compassionate. Brutal and intimidating, yet comforting and rather father-like. Racist, yet willing to work for other races benefit because despite his own personal racist feelings, he knew what was right superseded his own inclinations. A very, very interesting man, and of course as a Texan I like that he has a similar accent as myself and my father.
He was an enigma all right.
@@nguyendailam6703 I'm gonna need you to be careful on that second syllable
Lol
LBJ obtained passage of the Civil Rights Act , the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act (the act establishing Medicare as a health insurance program for the elderly), student loan programs, Headstart, the Job Corps, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the act establishing community health centers. No other President besides FDR has anything resembling that record for getting legislation passed and signed into law.
Great Legislator and without Vietnam, great President.
Why cut off, "and we shall overcome," at the end. It was what gave the entire speech meaning.
I agree. I came here specifically for that.
It was that phase that showed LBJ determination to bring civil rights to the South and his solidarity with those who had fought so long for it. lets hope todays election doesn't take that away.
Innit
Brings a tear to your eye in the end. Even with all of the conspiracy theories going around, it can't be denied that LBJ did what America SHOULD HAVE DONE during Reconstruction. That's why he will sit on my "favorite presidents list".
and I just read some idiot saying his carcass should be dug up and burned because of what happened in Vietnam. Its fucking mind-boggling that people could be so ignorant and stupid. Well, it explains why the United States is a complete mess of a shithole right now, actually.
@@Kj73908 Sad but true😔😔😔😔
@Spamboyant, Maybe Hillary killed him. You libtard
@Spamboyant, You are a southern Racist Demo. HA HA
"to gain the world, only to lose your own soul" - powerful stuff
What fascinates is that no one speaks of Johnson's eloquence -- only his power and shrewd use of it. Yet how heartfelt are these potent words, how well suited to his manner of speaking. He communicates the message with thunderous force. This listener was moved to tears.
People are stupid and they misunderstand things very easily. Especially Americans. Case closed.
Quite possibly one of the best speeches ever given by an American President. Johnson's speech really gets to the core of the issue. He truly was devoted to civil rights.
3:28... That powerful stare at the audience is so direct!
He had that intimidation about him that no other president had!
My favorite President of all time and the most consequential President in terms of Civil Rights ever thank you Lyndon you shine bright in the glow of history
@Spamboyant Vietnam destroyed Johnson, had it not been for that he would have been the greatest.
Lee WOOD he had been in support for the civil rights act since he was a teacher when he taught African American kids.
@Lee WOOD this is late but at least before the baby boomer president (Bill Clinton), it is very likely that every president upheld racist beliefs. Presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and even Ronald Reagan were racist. Of course, there are those who are not racist like JFK, Jimmy Carter, and H.W. Bush (I think), so there’s that. And then there’s LBJ. Though he was very (VERY) racist, he IS the civil rights president, and we can’t deny what he did for social equality.
@@alfonse2025 This is true. LBJ was a racist person, but when he became president, he knew what the people wanted. Even if he was racist, there's no denying that he realized that the Civil Rights bill was important and needed. LBJ was great at persuading Congress, without him, we might not even have the Civil Rights Bill today. I cannot think of any of the future presidents who would be able to convince the racist South to support the Civil Rights Bill.
Man the 60s was such a brutal time. I'm not sure if this man's heart was pure. Or if this man was more concerned about his image over human life. But I know that by the end he made a decision in favor of humanity. A decision that forever impacted politics and the lives of Black folks. And for that I am grateful.
Johnson was a very complicated and contradictory man. A real Shakespearean drama. No sound bite can describe his life. I highly recommend Robert A. Caro's biography.
As good as he was,and as bad as he was (I'm a 54 year-old Texan and believe me I know) he was/is the greatest president of my lifetime
You are lucky to live through one of the best American presidents we've ever had. LBJ is the most underrated president in my opinion
@@UnitedStates17 hahaha biggest racist out there!
Bubba-Get real LBJ crook,racist, blew Vietnam.
These are THE firm words that we needed in this time. I'm a big liberty buff, anyone who begins to put restrictions of voters for their skin or any other issue of the civil rights movement needs to get a long lecture from Lyndon B. Johnson.
He was in on the assassination of JFK.
He was racist, and was never in favor of the Voting Rights Act. He was actually pressured into it by the reaction of white racists to voting rights protestors.
He was a great president that's why they don't teach much about him in school.
1 of the greatest speeches by an American president . Because of Vietnam, we tend to forget the many great and good things that LBJ did in office. He set the ball the ball rolling on many things that are seen and cherished today.
Sorry I'm ten years late but he's racist.
The time for waiting is gone, a great sentence
i looked up classy lbj speech and this was what i got......... exactly what i was looking for
If LBJ didn't go down the Vietnam route he'd be in the top 5 all time greatest presidents, up there with Washington/Lincoln/FDR.
If ever in Austin, stop by his presidential library. It was probably my greatest stop at the city, though 6th street was nice. Lots of things there that were very insightful about this man. I have more respect for him, now.
Well, it has been fun educating you. All the best.
JWD1012 i come 5 years from the future to tell you that ur gay
@@peter-sw1pm Hes gay but hes kinda right tho…😳
GREAT MAN RIGHT HERE GOD BLESS LYNDON JOHNSON AND THANK GOD FOR HIM
59 years later we're still having issues with crime and poverty
Apparently Frank Underman was based on this guy
+Mike Hunt Frank Underwood*
I think he was also based on Richard the 3rd, Shakespearean play.
he speaks exactly as i imagined him to
Johnson spitting some truth here :D
I'd love to know how you'd give JFK credit for the 1965 Voting Rights Act, however, which was drafted under explicit instruction by Johnson.
Does anyone know who LBJ's primary speech writer was in 1965?
Great President.
Civil Rights, Medicare, Great Society and his ability to get things through the Senate like no other President.
His refusal to allow Communist aggression to succeed.
He wasn't perfect, he had his flaws, he made his fair share of mistakes but I still rate him as one of the best.
Poor technical quality: wrong aspect ratio.
That was a good speech
W President speech
Everyone should vote more often!
Him and Nixon are some of the most underrated us presidents. Were it not for Vietnam and watergate those two would be on Rushmore
😂😂😂
who is the Speaker?
evidence please?
Who wrote that?
He did in less than a day
peace
Nickatnite85.........
Also Eisenhower implemented the integration of the U.S. military forces.....
.Eisenhower was the first president to elevate an African-American to an executive level position in the White House. In July 1955, President Eisenhower appointed E. Frederic Morrow
I happened to see this in the archives on Eisenhower, he did many things but never bragged about it. A true leader and man... Also D-day= operation Overlord was his project also.
I didn't say he was a good person. I said he was a terrible person. His character was never in question. You questioned why he gets credit for civil rights progress. He gets credit because he was responsible. That's not a rant, that's facts. You have a peculiar grasp of how arguments work. I don't know what argument you thought you were having but I was never talking about whether he was a good person or whether or not you should like him. It doesn't make any difference if you like him.
@psbjr I thought of that, too, but i'll admit to you that it's a tough pill to swallow for me... though i understand the means/end relationship he would have to be working with to say something like that, you still have to see that the message in and of itself is for political gain. You're right, though: it IS a plausible explanation and i think anyone who knows the inner-workings of our political system, ESPECIALLY when in regards to the passing of legislation, would say that works.
Lovely
@calimar28 was he really a president or just someone who kinda "took over" he did hate the kennedys badly
It's really a shame that people dont know more about LBJ. One of the greatest presidents in U.S history and the most important figure in the civil rights movement. Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed the face of America. LBJ !
what you just said right there proves my point, only thing he did was complete what someone else already had setup.
Okay TH-cam what did Lyndon Baines Johnson say about the black folks 1965
If it wasn't for his lack of courage over Vietnam he might have well become a very successful President. Now he is only remembered as a dramatic figure who was not competent enough for the office.
2:12
Interesting to see the 4 or so people up front writing all this down on note pads. I guess this is how they recorded speeches in this decade
Very smart, I must say...
@045781 Was that sarcasm?
Rest in peace you great, great man
@emoviebuff87 naaah, that was reagan administration 4&5
Does history repeat itself? Listen to the issues being discussed and see if you can tell. Unfortunately we do not have a formal president willing to tackle the issues. Instead we've got two clowns that no one likes yet somehow they 'won' their elections.
Ha Ha I'm a African American Republican....LOL Loved your post!!! The fact is both parties have had their turn at being racist!
I’m so tired of leftist and right wingers trying to demagogue, oversimplify of misrepresent the complex bigotry of politicians to fit your own narrative.
.
WTF is with the Cryptkeeper to LBJ’s left leering at us
😂😂😂
LBJ was a momument to progress. He is a good example of what happens when liberal Democrats have control of both the White House and Congress. Anti-Poverty programs, civil rights, education and immigration reform, even beautification projects. A more equal and tolerant and, from social mobility perspective, a more free society.
LBJ and American social liberalism for the win. We'll fight the suspicions and rigid reactions of conservatives, and move the country forward, like we always have.
I know.
one of my favorite presidents, especially considering he came from texas.
Master of the senate is my favourite book. It shows LBJ to be a very complicated figure; brilliant yet deeply flawed.
If you haven't read Caro then you really should before commentin further on LBJ
Human beings are complex creatures. Johnson held a lot of racial prejudices. He also did more to improve the lot of African Americans than any president since Lincoln. Whether he did these things because he liked black people or because he liked to win at politics is a moot point. It doesn't matter if he was a terrible person. He did some good things that he deserves credit for.
JFK proposed the 1964 Civil Rights bill, yes. It wouldn't have passed under him. LBJ was a peerless vote-getter.
None of us is perfect. He was able to rise to his "higher self" do what was right.
It's like talking to a child.
What I said there doesn't prove your point. It doesn't even suggest the beginnings of support for your point. I'm not even sure what your point is.
@historyboy12 I'll glady go on record as saying that although the GOP's lack of caring for minorities and focus on individuals and private interests doesn't help blacks, neither does oversold and overused provision programs pushed by the Democratic party that perpetuate dependency in many [not all] situations where, if left to their own devices, people would be better off not receiving them in the long run.
It's always right to do right. Better men lived here in this world. Let us all be better than the leaders we find now in the 21st century. Only individuals can make America truly great.
He was racist I think.
He was a great man.. too bad he couldn't carry out his programs to completion due to the big spending on the Vietnam war; the only one that more or less survived was the college Pell grant and student loan program.
Talking of reading you should read JFK and The Unspeakable by James Douglass.
"This book should be required reading for every American citizen" (Princeton University International Law Professor)
Who were the enemies you think Bobby was making?
speaking of voting rights...
It's going to be hilarious when young kids will learn in schools about president Clinton or Trump, I wonder how much information they will need to take out.
@impala327 True, but it has happened many , many times in perpituity throughout history. Beginning with the aboriginal race, here.
@megarubies damn straight! Tell it.
Thanks for the vid. If If MLK "Dream Speech" was a grand slam, for this period of time, this was a pop up, to end the inning.
But yet all speeches of this time is so true here in the 21. From hoses to nutes, we can learn from history. While no one is perfect. And I was hoping for such comments, as to be so hateful. And seeing there was, I was not surprise. So let the Lord judge us by our deeds rather then our skins. So stop yanking your Johnson hate the guy is dead.
What happened to Jack and Bobby Kennedy were tragedies that I wish had been averted, but civil rights legislation was much better off in the hands of Johnson. And I'm not convinced the Vietnam meat grinder would have been much less protracted under JFK, who was more hawkish than many would like to remember.
The real surprise was how well LBJ spoke. The parallel construction brings out the Toastmaster in me. This was the highlight of LBJ's presidency; unfortunately it was all downhill afterward.
LBJ remains an above average president, usually around the tenth mark with Eisenhower and JFK. Certainly his efforts on passing legislation could Barak Obama use!
Some people don't like it when a president cajoles and bullies Congress to pass his legislation. Well, so what? We NEED it now!
@TheLastNaturalist I agree with everything in this comment of yours. I wish there were more moderates who understood that pragmatism and idealism aren't contradictory. One is a guiding light, the other a tool of accomplishing something.
Yes. There is no point in pragmatism without an ideal to achieve
Perhaps our greatest president if the US does not mind sharing LBJ with the UK and me
WTF are bill o reilly and voldemort doing in the back
Lmao
bill oreilly is a confirmed time traveler
Lmao
Thats great I still find SOME people out there who know LBJ's legacy was not just Vietnam.
@WHP1959 I am majoring in history and trust me there are other forces that made LBJ send troops to Vietnam. Look at the previous 2 president's policies on communism and containment.
people often think vietnam when they think of johnson
but they should also think of this...
precinct 13, baby!
:-D
shinersindacrix is obviously not any kind of Democrat, not even a Blue Dog. Notice that that character writes "Democrat Party," not "Democratic"--Republicans do that, not Democrats. Also, one of shinersindacrix's favorite videos is "Tribute to George W. Bush--The American Hero."
Ted Cruz, Louis Gohmert, even the Rick Perry's of the world make me pine for the days of LBJ, Nixon, Ronald Reagan politicians who where not flame throwers but they knew how to get shit done. But I suppose even the old days had flame throwing politicians Eugene McCarthy come to mind, people who could care less about how they were just one among the hundreds sent to make Washington work, yes
with compromise and maybe not so much efficacy but at the end of the day it did work.
@Myka Fisher MLK did not publicly support any party, but he made it his will to support righteousness, and we as human beings know the difference btween right and wrong, The lesson this past Sunday @Sunday school was tittle " The courage to speak" outlining Steven a great man of God, who had the courage to stand up and speak for right, and that courage and spirit was in the late MLK. So you see, in his speech " A knock at midnight" after praying to God, God said, ML, stand up for righteousness.
He said what they wanted to hear.
*needed
@PC3900 Mr. Goodwin
We speak of the "vicious cycle" for the poor--look no further than policies implemented to help them through incentives to remain poor, to remain unwed and have child, to remain dependent on government subsidies. Minorities are as poverty-stricken today as they were back then; its a shame so many fall for political rhetoric without actually opening their eyes to the economic consequences. Try the book "Losing Ground"--yet most people that fall for this rhetoric probably don't read
and we can see the republican party is not right, in reference to their policies, @Myka I would hope you would have that courage of Steven. Steven was willing to stand for right even if it meant him losing his life, some of us are quieted when our jobs are threatened, our social economic status
Speaker....of the House of Representatives. The man sitting behind LBJ and not HHH.
The racists are not clapping 👏
@historyboy12
1 - Stein, Ben, DeMuth, Phil, "Can America Survive?" P. 6.
2 - Kessler, Ronald, "Inside the Whitehouse." Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One
My claims were also based on his general racism; not just that quote. However, u don't see how his free and easy use of the word in the phone taps doesn't lend itself toward the belief that he would make the "200 year" quote? Really? I hear him throwing "n*gger" around and i find it relatively easy 2 conclude
So will Nixon
And when you have read that book, as I have, you will have read 3000 pages of minutely researched, verified and acclaimed political history on Lyndon Johnson, and I might then take your opinions on this matter seriously.
@chris falkenberg What the fuck are you on about?
Hello 👋
@steverouse56 especially for the poor in vietnam
@historyboy12 look: at the very least, based on some of his utterings, it's fair to admit that LBJ's attitude toward blacks in general wasn't as loving and nurturing as it is often painted to be. Now, whether he wanted to sacrifice himself for the party's gain or not IS debatable [and you know where i stand on it], but I'm convinced it was the case as a result of (1) that quote that I DO believe he made and (2) the simple reality of the state of politics in the USA.
He was too afraid of having the same luck of JFK that's he never ended the Vietnam war and he had more than enough time to do so..
Read a fucking book. As a matter of fact, read The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro (by no means a sympathetic biography of Johnson) if you want to learn not only 1) what actually happened but also 2) how it is possible for a racist to pass civil rights legislation.
talk to hand son - it's obvious the moat don't go all the way around your castle
@historyboy12 who threw the tantrum? i mentioned kessler....first two words of my response to you...that was eyewitness. i also listed circumstancial evidence that is a phone tap here in youtube....and gave you the link. What else did you want? I think i was pretty controlled in my response.
Does not redeem his war crimes
Too true.
I know. Imagine taking on Hoffa and The Mob in those days. I know Hoover and LBJ didnt like Bobby.
I admired him for trying to tackle corruption even though in the end he prob. lost his life for it.
His 68 campaign was for equality, the poor and an end to the war. Maybe he could have been a great Pres. Instead the war dragged on (and got worse in 69) and then Watergate.
What the fuck are you talking about LBJ said if he had the power to help poor people and especially poor people of color he would and once he took office thats exactly what he did. The greatest legislator of all time
@calimar28 Really? Worse than Nixon, Ford, Carter and W?