Civil Rights Dbq Essay

475 Words2 Pages

Politics influenced LBJ's decision to sign the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the bill that put a law on discrimination and voting and education because he knew it would help him win the votes of the American people. Johnson knew how to satisfy the country as a whole rather than limiting his votes to racist whites. By signing the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, Johnson won the respect of blacks along with many whites who were posibly even for segregation. His motive for signing the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 had to be for politics because he did not support it before, he needed to be re-elected, and to make himself look better. He did not support the rights during his senate years. When President Truman proposed laws against lynching and poll taxes, Johnson opposed them. Johnson said is was the job of the states, and not the federal government to create laws for this. He only signed the bill to get the African American vote even though he lost the white-southerners vote. Johnson did support a federal law on voting rights, but the final bill was so watered-down it had little efffect. …show more content…

He chanced not getting elected again by gambling with his votes from the southern population. He risked losing their votes just to gain the black vote and possibly more of the northern vote. He also thought it was the best thing to do because he'd get most of the votes from the blacks and he would be president for four more years. Surely after being re-elected his actions towards blacks reverted, but the bill had been signed so it did not

Open Document