Remembering LBJ Who Died 52 Years Ago Today.

Posted on | January 22, 2025 | 2 Comments

Mike Magee

This is the 52nd anniversary of the death of Lyndon Baines Johnson from his 5th Heart Attack. And two days ago was the 39th anniversary of the first celebration of a new federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In signing that original proclamation in 1983, President Ronald Reagan said, “The majesty of his message, the dignity of his bearing, and the righteousness of his cause are a lasting legacy. In a few short years he changed America for all time.”

The MLK federal holiday was not so “Kum ba yah” (“Come by here”) this year. President Trump was in no mood to be tutored on this 60’s phrase derived from an African American spiritual made famous by Pete Seeger. Rather, he took advantage of the convergence of MLK’s day and his own coronation to trash all things DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion).

Of those supporting the 2nd term President, from here and beyond, few could have had a broader smile on his face than dearly departed (July 4, 2008) former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. Helms led the opposition to the MLK bill, submitting a 300-page report that labelled King an “action-oriented Marxist” and a communist. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY) was so enraged at the time that he declared the report a “packet of filth”, threw it on the Senate floor, and then unceremoniously repeatedly stomped on it.

So, as a nation, we have been down this road before. As history.com reports: “On the day of Nixon’s second inaugural celebration, Johnson watched sullenly as Nixon announced the dismantling of many of Johnson’s Great Society social programs… The following day, while Lady Bird and their daughters were in Austin, Johnson suffered a fatal heart attack at his ranch in Johnson City.”

In yesterday’s Washington Post, George Will provided us all with a much needed reality check by quoting Stanford professor of government, Stephen Kotkin, who in the lead up to the election said, “Who’s the ‘we’? Trump is not an alien who landed from some other planet.”

“This is somebody the American people voted for who reflects something deep and abiding about American culture. Think of all the worlds that he has inhabited and that lifted him up. Pro wrestling. Reality TV. Casinos and gambling, which are no longer just in Las Vegas or Atlantic City, but everywhere, embedded in daily life. Celebrity culture. Social media. All of that looks to me like America. And yes, so does fraud, and brazen lying, and the P.T. Barnum, carnival barker stuff. But there is an audience, and not a small one, for where Trump came from and who he is.”

LBJ was 64 when he died. He would be 117 today. The Civil Rights Act that he signed on July 2, 1964, “altered the legal, political, and social landscape of America as radically as any law of the twentieth century,” according to presidential historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin. And yet, LBJ defined himself more as a pragmatist than in heroic terms. He said, “I know a lot of people around those Georgetown parties are saying that I wasn’t much of crusader for civil rights when I was in the Senate. On balance, they’re right about me. I wasn’t a crusader. I represented a southern state, and if I got too far ahead of my voters they’d have sent me right back to Johnson City . . . Now I represent the whole country, and I can do what the whole country thinks is right.”

His remarks on that July 2nd evening signing were lofty:

We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.

We believe all men have certain inalienable 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-not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.

But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it…Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.

We have come now to a time of testing. We must not fail. Let us close the springs of racial poison.”

That very evening, LBJ speech writers, Bill Moyers and Dick Goodwin, encountered their boss in a pensive mood. This was the anniversary of his massive 1955 heart attack. Asked what was troubling him, he replied, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.”

Many years later, Dick Goodwin’s recollections of that night’s events were captured by his historian wife, Doris Kearns Goodwin. He said, “Who would have thought that the testing time that lay ahead would still be with us more than a half century later, that the springs of racial poison have still not been closed?”

Trump clearly wants his own Kennedy, if only a junior. But on this 52nd anniversary of his death, I’m “All The Way With LBJ.”

Comments

2 Responses to “Remembering LBJ Who Died 52 Years Ago Today.”

Lawrence Williams
January 22nd, 2025 @ 12:14 pm

Well Michael, here we go.
The convicted felon sitting in the Oval Office has just pardoned more than 1,000 fellow convicted felons who did his bidding on January 6, 2021 by violently attacking the Capitol Building and the police officers performing their sworn duty to protect the building and the members of Congress. Is it a mere coincidence that the 2nd Trump inauguration comes on the day designated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day or is it something more? At the very least it should force us to see that our new President stands against everything Rev. King stood for. And what does that say about the millions of American voters who elected the criminal? Nothing good I am afraid. And then there is Project 2025 which is as much a “packet of filth” as was the Helms generated report against Rev. King that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan so fittingly threw on the floor or the Senate and “repeatedly stomped on it”. Where is a good stomping senator when you need one? As a practicing attorney I never could have imagined a president with such total disrespect for the law and the basic democratic principles which have guided our nation since its founding. But here he is and here we are. What have we done to ourselves? And how will we fix it? I do not know how but I believe our nation will survive and sanity and decency will return to our government. Eventually.
My best to you and Patricia as always Mike.
Larry Williams
Mike Magee
January 22nd, 2025 @ 7:09 pm

Perhaps without proof at this moment, Larry, I share your optimism that “I believe our nation will survive and sanity and decency will return to our government.” Next week I will share an iconic speech by RFK in South Africa when apartheid was still the law of the land. Humans, and their governmenbts, are unpredictable, unruly, and sometimes courageous. Thanks for your voice. It lightens my load! Best, Mike