#ResistanceRoots #Voices4Victory Today in history, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson urges Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing every American citizen an equal right to vote. Johnson’s speech came amid growing violence against African Americans attempting to register voters. /1 - ThreadSky

bambooshooti.bsky.social • 1 day ago

#ResistanceRoots
#Voices4Victory

Today in history, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson urges Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing every American citizen an equal right to vote. Johnson’s speech came amid growing violence against African Americans attempting to register voters. /1

Comments

steenyswank.bsky.social•1 day ago

And LBJ thought he'd only lose the South for Dems for one generation--ha.

bee1436.bsky.social•1 day ago

While trump is trying to take it all away.

darealmistag.bsky.social•12 hours ago

The USA has a plethora of exceptions to universal suffrage. The idea that it is the 'bastion' of democracy is an absolute joke. And the notion that billions of advertising dollars are spent trying to get voters to even show up in order to help determine their nation's future is pathetic

nemstra.bsky.social•12 hours ago

So, what happened since? How many votes have been made invalid in ‘the greatest democracy in the world’?

jvanpassel.bsky.social•1 day ago

Times change.

dokterrudi.bsky.social•1 day ago

eskeff.bsky.social•1 day ago

To quote @radiofreetom.bsky.social , we are an unserious nation. We have forgotten where we’ve come from.

annaliisavilppu.bsky.social•1 day ago

Meanwhile Merca 2025: Everyone on the plane.

abqgnu.bsky.social•1 day ago

He was never (to me) a great president...but after learning more about the situation he was put into, and the choices he had in front of him, he did have moments of greatness. This was one of them.

patriciaabm.bsky.social•1 day ago

Lyndon Johnson did a lot for the civil rights movement. He deserves a lot of credit for doing his best to do the right thing.

dmac56.bsky.social•1 day ago

Imagine what could have been accomplished had there been no Vietnam War.

patriciaabm.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes; I lived through it, protested vehemently & know it was awful. The other thing is, all leaders make bad decisions, as did Johnson, but some also make good decisions, as did he. We can’t expect perfection. In the moment it’s hard to see it; looking back, both the good & bad are easier to discern.

elizabethpgraham.bsky.social•1 day ago

The white-haired man is Speaker McCormick. He retired at age 80.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._McCormack

elizabethpgraham.bsky.social•1 day ago

Here's an interesting article on McCormick. It closes with:

https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2017/06/27/john-mccormack-bio

greatfausto.bsky.social•12 hours ago

AND this single act of courage by a Texas Democrat led segregationists to switch to the Republican Party so that it became the party it is today.. a party of HATE

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

The Fifteenth Amendment gives all citizens the right to vote regardless of race or color. However, states continued to discriminate against African Americans through literacy tests, character tests and other requirements aimed at preventing them from voting. /2

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Johnson told the joint session of Congress that the cause of voting rights “must be our cause, too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” /3

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Eight days earlier, civil rights leader John Lewis and more than 500 peaceful marchers were attacked while planning to march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery. Two days after that attack, white Unitarian Minister James J. Reeb was murdered for supporting civil rights. /4

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Voting rights legislation had struggled in Congress, but television news coverage of the events in Alabama galvanized support. Less than five months later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act and Johnson signed it into law on Aug. 6, 1965. /end

crickettehkm.bsky.social•1 day ago

I am just now reading An Unfinished Love Story, and it breaks my heart knowing all the good of Kennedy/Johnson has been undone.

martyq01.bsky.social•1 day ago

We shall overcome. Again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKDVNSpsBZE

bambooshooti.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes, we will.

aubresky.bsky.social•1 day ago

And he was a rich Southerner . Outstanding courage.

aubresky.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Historically it is amazing that Lyndon Johnson accomplished this, given that he was rejected by mainstream politicians.

aubresky.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Thanks

calixthe.blue-ocean.social•1 day ago

When a virulent racist like Lyndon Johnson worked on behalf of more rights in 1965 than I have today in 2025, it is not lost on me how desperately wicked, useless & demonic people in the present day US are. He was absolutely correct in his assessment of his fellow racists.

dmac56.bsky.social•1 day ago

Kinda makes you wonder - if there had not been a Vietnam War what could have been accomplished. This guy knew how to get shit done.