A powerful account of America at its best--Congress ratifying a national demand for
civil rights for blacks. Robert Mann, a veteran Senate aid, recalls the political courage of
Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas and
Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota against the Senate. Despite criticism from liberals and conservatives, the two worked together to combat Richard B. Russell of Georgia, chairman of the Armed Services committee and leader of the Southern Democrats' effort to block civil rights measures. The tenacity and creativity of Johnson and Humphrey led to Russell's demise and the passing of John F. Kennedy's civil rights bill in
1964.
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Background Information
Lyndon B. Johnson, a powerful Democratic Senator from Texas, was JFK's vice-president in the 1960 election and succeeded him in November 1963. Hubert Humphrey was a liberal Democrat who served in the United States Senate from Minnesota until being elected vice-president in 1964. The rights guaranteed in the Constitution by the Fourteenth Amendment were not adequately enforced before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1964, the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater, an archconservative, who was roundly defeated by Lyndon Johnson.
