Explain How Significant Was President Lyndon Johnson During The 1960s

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How significant was President Lyndon Johnson during the years of 1963-1969 in improving the lives of black Americans? President Lyndon Johnson was significant in improving the lives of black Americans during the years of his presidency of 1963-1969. Despite his Texan background ‘Johnson supported black civil rights more vigorously than either of his immediate predecessors’. However there were barriers that limited Johnson’s significance towards improving the lives of black Americans such as the backlash from white racist’s resistance towards change and the distraction of the Vietnamese war limiting Johnson in alleviating the US’s domestic problems of poverty and unemployment amongst black Americans. Johnson was very significant in being the president who saw through the Civil Rights act of 1964. Due to President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Johnson succeeded him as President and pushed for the Civil Rights Bill,…show more content…
highlights the change brought about by the bill to the significance of the marchers and Martin Luther King as he led them as Source 5 states that ‘King, concentrated on achieving a federal voting-rights law. In March 1965 he organized a protest march from Selma’, Source 5 emphasises how King is responsible for the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and conflicts with the view that Johnson was significant, as if King did not organise the march, the Act may never have been pressed by Johnson to be passed, especially as Johnson asked King to call off the next march. Due to the havoc marches provoked, although peaceful on the behalf of the activists. Overall by 1965, Johnson had played an important role in improving the lives of black Americans. With the passing of the Voting Rights Act Johnson had transformed Southern politics, and gave African Americans the chance to vote without fear. However Johnson’s involvement once again highlighted and proved that real change came through the power of federal government in the form of
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