<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Fifty years ago today, preparing to be nominated by his party for a presidential term on his own, and warming up to put the screws to some very brave people in Mississippi along the way, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The everlasting assessment of LBJ&amp;#039;s presidency, once you have conceded the disaster in Vietnam\u2014which is a considerable concession, I admit\u2014has to come down somewhere between what Johnson said and did on this date half-a-century ago, and what happened to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in Atlantic City later that summer. This is some of what that president said upon signing the bill. Americans of every race and color have died in battle to protect our freedom. Americans of every race and color have worked to build a nation of widening opportunities. Now our generation of Americans has been called on to continue the unending search for justice within our own borders. We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment. We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights. We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings\u2014not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin. The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand\u2014without rancor or hatred\u2014how this all happened. But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it. And he saw the specious arguments that would arise against the bill, arguments that have been freshened up for use by the conservatives of our present moment, the conservatives that LBJ also saw coming when, upon signing this bill, he turned to an aide and explained that, by signing it, he had lost the entire South for a generation. Or, alas, as it turns out, longer than that. The purpose of the law is simple. It does not restrict the freedom of any American, so long as he respects the rights of others. It does not give special treatment to any citizen. It does say the only limit to a man&amp;#039;s hope for happiness, and for the future of his children, shall be his own ability. It does say that there are those who are equal before God shall now also be equal in the polling booths, in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and other places that provide service to the public. And then he sold racial equality and expanded freedom, not as a pronouncement from on high, but as a national project, just like the Interstate Highway System or the Erie Canal. Racial equality was a space program of the mind and of the heart and of the soul. We must not approach the observance and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit. Its purpose is not to punish. Its purpose is not to divide, but to end divisions\u2014divisions which have lasted all too long. Its purpose is national, not regional. Its purpose is to promote a more abiding commitment to freedom, a more constant pursuit of justice, and a deeper respect for human dignity. We will achieve these goals because most Americans are law-abiding citizens who want to do what is right. This is why the Civil Rights Act relies first on voluntary compliance, then on the efforts of local communities and States to secure the rights of citizens. It provides for the national authority to step in only when others cannot or will not do the job. This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our States, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country. So tonight I urge every public official, every religious leader, every business and professional man, every workingman, every housewife I urge every American to join in this effort to bring justice and hope to all our people and to bring peace to our land. My fellow citizens, we have come now to a time of testing. We must not fail. That charge is still upon the nation. The great project is incomplete, and too many people still remain determined to blow the whole thing up on the pad. That was a helluva day, though. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a21095/this-day-in-lbj/>