Did LBJ Pass The Civil Rights Bill Because The Fear of Potential Black Uprisings?
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Did the fear of black uprisings encourage congressmen to pass civil rights legislation?
He took a lot of heat for it. He knew that it would hurt Democrats the in the south for decades to come. Perhaps he did because it was the right thing to do?
I actually think it had less to do with a black uprising then the potential for race riots and general unrest throughout the country. Remember that alot of Northern Whites, while racist, still fully supported the civil rights movement and thought it was harmful for the US to have 2 "classes" of citizens.
However, and this is me being the conspiracy theorist, I think the civil rights bill was also to placate MLK since, IMO, the govt was very scared of MLK and his views on "economics" for all races.
LBJ was far more liberal than JFK ever was. Giving lip-service to civil rights when you are from Massachusetts or California (Nixon) - didn't cost you much. Coming from Texas? It was hard. If you don't get re-elected, you aren't in a position to influence policy. He had to get re-elected and had to hide his beliefs to ensure he had power. But he was an FDR New Dealer, big time. He had had to rein in his beliefs about racial equality for decades to ensure his re-election in Texas. When he could finally let rip with his true feelings, he held all the trump cards he had carefully collected over the years from the racist Southern Democrats - and J. Edgar Hoover. The man was an operator.
thanks
I'm well aware that the law has those provisions.
I was referring to the political back story being referred to by majoun
Perhaps I should have left more in the quote that I edited.
"Even though 13 women served in the entire congressional body in 1964, some may be still be surprised to learn that the gender discrimination clause was introduced with the intent of killing the entire bill.
"The move was the brainchild of Howard Smith, a representative and renowned Virginian segregationist who saw his proviso as a joke and, more importantly, as a means of killing the Civil Rights Bill once and for all. What Howard did not expect, however, was for Representative Martha Griffiths to take up the proposal, build a serious platform and begin lobbying for its support."
Since "knowledge is key," you might be interested to know that the Civil Rights Bill was a part of the Kennedy Administration's program. Had JFK lived, he would have been the one responsible for its becoming law. President Johnson was simply continuing the work for which Kennedy had laid the foundation. It had nothing to do with fear of black uprisings; and as majoun pointed out, it preceded the ones that took place in the mid-60s.
The "uprising" at the time was a white Southern racist uprising. There were some black reprisals - like Robert Williams, a World War II veteran in North Carolina, organizing a black vigilante group to fight back against the Klan - but there was far more white violence than black violence in the South (MLK had a great deal to do with limiting violent reprisals by Southern blacks).
"Even though 13 women served in the entire congressional body in 1964, some may be still be surprised to learn that the gender discrimination clause was introduced with the intent of killing the entire bill.
"The move was the brainchild of Howard Smith, a representative and renowned Virginian segregationist who saw his proviso as a joke and, more importantly, as a means of killing the Civil Rights Bill once and for all. What Howard did not expect, however, was for Representative Martha Griffiths to take up the proposal, build a serious platform and begin lobbying for its support."
He took a lot of heat for it. He knew that it would hurt Democrats the in the south for decades to come. Perhaps he did because it was the right thing to do?
This. There had not been any major violent "black uprisings" in that period. Whites opposed to Civil Rights were the violent ones. MLK was still alive and practiced non-violence, techniques of which many partcipants in the CRM learned and put into practice in order to highlight the excessive craziness of white people when they were confronted with someone eating at the whites only counters, etc.
Besides, just like today, if there were an actual "black uprising" the government would probably bring in the military to squash it immediately.
Did the fear of black uprisings encourage congressmen to pass civil rights legislation?
It actually had more to do with Cuba. It's hard to condemn a country when it's equality laws are superior to yours.
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