Transcript: Chapter 06

Narrator: As Johnson prepared to return to Washington, the liberals within his own party began to attack him. When he courted the popular Republican president, Dwight Eisenhower, they accused him of selling out. They wanted stronger action on housing, jobs and civil rights.

Joseph Rauh, Jr., Americans for Democratic Action: My opinion was that he was destroying the Democratic Party and not doing his job. His job was the opposition to the Eisenhower Administration and he didn't do it. They were playing just hanky-panky with each other and there was really no Democratic opposition.

Howard Schuman: Well, one doesn't know whether he was a liberal or a reactionary. Probably he was neither. He probably was just an extraordinarily skillful parliamentarian who was an opportunist and who sensed the wind and then went in that direction.

Narrator: No one knew what Johnson really stood for. In 1957, when a civil rights bill came before Congress, it looked as if he would be finally forced to take a stand.

Man at Rally: We are not going to permit the NAACP to take over your schools. We are not going to permit our little children to be used as pawns in a game of power politics to get the racial vote in Northern cities.

Roger Wilkins, Attorney, Johnson Administration: We have to remember what the country was like for black people in 1957 and 1959 when Johnson was majority leader.

Ku Klux Klansmen: [KKK rally] They want to throw white children and colored children into the melting pot of integration, out of which will come a conglomerated mulatto mongrel class of people!

Mr. Wilkins: It was still a segregated country. Blacks still could expect random violence.

Narrator: Nobody knew what the majority leader of the Senate would do. Never in his life had Johnson voted for a civil rights bill, but now, determined to shake his Southern image and become a truly national politician, Johnson confronted his old friend and mentor, Richard Russell of Georgia.

S. Douglass Cater, Washington D.C. Reporter Special Assistant to the President: The very first thing he did was to meet with his old and closest advisers and say, "This time, we are going to get a bill and you might as well face up to it." Richard Russell suffered a great deal because they really did feel that this was the beginning of the end of the South as they knew it.

Narrator: Behind the scenes in the Senate cloakroom, Johnson moved from one side to the other, first trying to assure the Southern Democrats.

Robert Baker: He would just say, "If you don't pass this moderate bill, you're going to have a bill crammed down your throat because Richard Nixon is very smart politically and he is courting black people right now and you're going to get something that you can't live with."

Narrator: And Johnson knew just what to tell the Northern liberals.

Robert Baker: I heard him many times chew Hubert Humphrey's ass out. "Hubert, it don't take any genius to be for the civil rights from Minnesota." He said, "How many black people you got in Minnesota?" And Hubert would say, "Well, we've got 12,000." He says, "Well, you make me sick."

Narrator: By the middle of the summer, the Johnson treatment was having its effect.

2nd Reporter: Senator, there is some talk of a compromise. Do you see any area for compromise?

Senator Richard Russell, (D) Georgia: Well, I haven't had any compromise presented to me yet, but I am a realist and a reasonable man.

Narrator: By skillful maneuvering, Johnson engineered a bill acceptable to all sides.

Senator Johnson: A compromise has been negotiated. I am pleased that the bill was passed. It is a great step forward and a very important and delicate feat.

Narrator: On August 7, the Senate passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, but Johnson had traded away the muscle in the law. In theory, the law protected the voting rights of blacks. In fact, it gave the federal government no real power of enforcement.

Howard Schuman: That bill had nothing in it. In fact, when it was finally passed, Mr. Douglas said that it reminded him of Lincoln's old saying that it was like a soup made from the shadow of a crow which had starved to death.

Robert Baker: "Can you believe those bastards?" he said. "You know, I'm the first man in the history of this country to pass a civil rights bill, then they got to give me the shiv."

Narrator: The bill was pure Johnson compromise, a masterpiece of Senate politicking, but it was the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction. Johnson had freed himself from the shackles of his Southern image and he was ready to move on. By 1960, Lyndon Johnson made public what everyone already knew. He wanted to be president of the United States.

Senator Johnson: [1960 presidential campaign] The person you select as your president, the way he's carried, the burdens he knows, the decision he makes may well determine whether you live as free men.

Narrator: But John Kennedy, the young, wealthy, glamorous senator whom Johnson had casually dismissed as inexperienced, had the nomination all but wrapped up. Johnson resentfully called Kennedy "sonny boy."

Senator John F. Kennedy: [1960 Democratic Convention] I have found it extremely beneficial serving in the Senate with Senator Johnson as leader. I think if I emerge successfully in this convention, it will be the result of watching Senator Johnson proceed around the Senate for the last eight years. I have learned the lesson well, Lyndon, and I hope it may benefit me in the next 24 hours.

Narrator: On the eve of the Democratic Convention, Johnson challenged Kennedy to a debate. Kennedy coolly brushed Johnson aside.

Senator Kennedy: [I am] full of admiration for Senator Johnson, full of affection for him, strongly in support him for majority leader and I'm confident that in that position we're all going to be able to work together. Thank you.