Today marks the anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's last great piece of civil rights legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The law comprised three major sections: hate crimes, Indian civil rights, and the Fair Housing Act. The law was passed and signed in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. President Johnson remarked at the signing, reflecting on the century that had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation:
"Few in the Nation--and the record will show that very few in that room that afternoon--believed that fair housing would--in our time--become the unchallenged law of this land.
And indeed, this bill has had a long and stormy trip. We did not get it in 1966. We pleaded for it again in 1967. But the Congress took no action that year. We asked for it again this year. And now--at long last this afternoon--its day has come.
I do not exaggerate when I say that the proudest moments of my Presidency have been times such as this when I have signed into law the promises of a century."
(photo: Johnson signing the 1968 Civil Rights Act. Warren K. Leffler)
