Obama Strengths And Weaknesses

President Obama came to LBJ’s Presidential Library 49 years after he signed the historic Civil Rights Act, while Obama heaped praise upon the former President, he also commented upon his full record. Obama stated, “During his first 20 years in Congress," Obama said, "he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote, once calling the push for federal legislation a farce and a shame."(Selby) Now place yourself in the position of civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy and others facing this new President, would you be hopeful for the future? Yet that record was both LBJ’s strength and motivation, it was because he had been such an ardent segregationist in times gone that he was so effective at combating such
figures in the house, the senate, and even the governor’s mansion. However, this would be an all-out fight pitting himself against his own mentor Senator Russell, Governor George Wallace, and the entire southern wing of the Democratic party. King would find himself fighting ideological battles as well as physical ones with infamous figures such as Bull Conner’s, Malcom X, FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover and in the end LBJ himself. The 60’s would end in a storm of violence that in turn would sweep away each of these Titans in the maelstrom. The election of 1968 would be a referendum on these conflicts, as the counter revolution would take hold and try to turn back the tide of change that was sweeping the nation. LBJ wasted no time in acting calling for the immediate passage of the civil rights act only seven months after Kennedy’s death. According to the JFK library the act consisted of “(1) protecting African Americans against discrimination in voter qualification tests; (2) outlawing discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; (3) authorizing the US Attorney General's Office to file legal suits to enforce desegregation in public schools; (4) authorizing the withdrawal of federal funds from programs practicing discrimination; and (5) outlawing discrimination in employment in any business exceeding 25 people and creating an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to review complaints.”, (Naftali). The law while impactful did not strike at the core of the democratic process, the right to
vote.
King along with his confederates decided the best way to hold Johnson to his word was to press forward on all fronts.
The movement took pages right out of Gandhi’s book on non-violent resistance, they took on Bull Conner in Mississippi, by marching children for the vote, once he unleashed the dogs on innocent black children the world took notice. LBJ, did too halting the rest of his legislative agenda for 1965, thus forcing the Senate to take up the voting rights act for immediate consideration. Johnson finally achieved final passage by crossing the aisle to get Republican vote, as well as combined political pressure from King. The heat also began to turn up as another titan across the pacific began to go on the offensive in South Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was determined to gain his nations independence no matter the cost. Johnson along with his advisors had reversed President Kennedy’s withdrawal from 1964 and doubled U.S. forces on the ground. Now that the Vietcong were on the move Johnson decided to take a progressive approach to the conflict by bombing defensively only as far as the Vietnamese moved south, the operation was known as Rolling Thunder. This was beginning of the parallel anti-war movement, as more people would become aware of the cost involved in fighting for freedom, it would grow in
strength.
While King balanced a difficult relationship between Johnson and his contemporary leaders within the civil rights movement Malcom X’s brand of wit as well as bravado was earning him a strong following. Malcom’s message was simple, nonviolence was not intelligent, if you are attacked you should defend yourself. Malcom X referred to King and other civil rights leaders as “uncle tom’s,” preferring violence to peaceful protest. (History Channel) The truth of the matter was if King was the voice of reason for black’s than X was the angry voice of those who were oppressed. X grew disillusioned with his own organization, due to the fact that they continued to remain on the sidelines while Marshall, King, Johnson, and others took center stage in the battle for equality. X broke off from the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malik El-Shabazz, this was the beginning of the end as he started his own organization and expressed interest in working with King and others for full equality; he was later assassinated.