Here’s one for the history buffs: Forty years ago this month,
Lyndon Johnson was agonized to know that Americans thought of
him as the architect not of equal rights and Medicare but the
hated Vietnam War. In what would become his final interview just
10 days before his death, Johnson spoke to CBS’s Walter Cronkite
about his accomplishments. Listen here. President Lyndon Johnson
signed the Voting Rights Act on this day—August 6—in 1965. On
the occasion he said: …let me now say to every Negro in this
country: You must register. You must vote. You must learn, so
your choice advances your interest and the interest of our
beloved Nation. Your future, and your children’s future, depend
upon it, and I don’t believe that you are going to let them
down. This act is not only a victory for Negro leadership. This
act is a great challenge to that leadership. It is a challenge
which cannot be met simply by protests and demonstrations. It
means that dedicated leaders must work around the clock to teach
people their rights a