Lyndon B. Johnson

36th President of the United States (d. 1973)

President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.

The U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces the goals of his Great Society social reforms to bring an "end to poverty and racial injustice" in America.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.

Activists planned a large march, from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, to publicize their cause. It was initiated and organized by SCLC's Director of Direct Action, James Bevel. This march represented one of the political and emotional peaks of the modern civil rights movement. On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 civil rights marchers departed Selma on U.S. Highway 80, heading east to the capital. After they passed over the crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and left the boundaries of the city six blocks away, they were confronted by state troopers and county sheriff's deputies, who attacked them using tear gas and billy clubs, and drove them back to Selma. Because of the brutal attacks, this became known as "Bloody Sunday." It was covered by national press and television news, reaching many American and international homes. Two days after the first march, on March 9, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a symbolic march to the bridge. By then local activists and residents had been joined by hundreds of protesters from across the country, including numerous clergy and nuns. Whites made up one-third of the marchers. That day King pulled the marchers back from confrontation with troops. But, that night white minister James Reeb from Boston was attacked and killed by white attackers in Selma. King and other civil rights leaders failed to get court protection for a third, larger-scale march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. Frank Minis Johnson, Jr., the Federal District Court Judge for the area, decided in favor of the demonstrators, saying: The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups… and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways. —Frank Johnson On March 21, 1965, a Sunday, approximately 3,200 marchers departed for Montgomery. They walked 12 miles per day, and slept in nearby fields. The federal government provided protection by military troops. Thousands of people joined them along the way. By the time the marchers reached the capitol four days later on March 25, their strength had swelled to around 25,000 people. Their moral campaign had attracted thousands more people from across the country. The events at Selma helped increase public support for the cause; later that year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an effort whose bill was introduced, supported and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It provided for federal oversight and enforcement of voting rights for all citizens in state or jurisdictions where patterns of under-representation showed discrimination against certain populations, historically ethnic minorities.

Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.

President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not run for re-election.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.