November 1963: Kennedy's assassination
Lyndon B Johnson took over
May have accelerated the Civil Rights Act;
- Johnson: more experienced than Kennedy and exceptionally skilled as a political "fixer" at getting conroversial legislation through Congress
- Used Kennedy's assassination to increase support for the Civil Rights Bill
- Genuine supporter of civil rights: almost the only southern senator who had refused to sign the Southern Manifesto opposing the Brown judgement and to have voted for the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 &1960
- Able to get Republican support by getting the Republican leader of the Senate, Everett Dickson and the former Republican presidents, Hoover and Eisenhower on his side. He knew Southern Democrats woud refuse the Bill
Johnson was rewarded for supporting civil rights by winning 96% of the black vote in the 1964 presidential election: enabled him to win despite southern white voting for his Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, who had opposed the Civil Rights Act
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