The LBJ Library: President Lyndon Johnson’s Meeting With Governor George C. Wallace, 3/18/65

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat 

President Lyndon Johnson talking about the need for Alabama Governor George C. Wallace’s need to enforce the law in Alabama. And in this case the law was a Federal court order that said civil rights marchers in Alabama had a right to march and that Alabama was responsible for keeping the peace and keep order in Alabama. What Governor Wallace I believe was trying to tell the President was that keeping order during this march would be difficult. And what President Johnson was saying was that he would help him do that in anyway he can.

The LBJ Library: LBJ & George Wallace- 3/18/1965

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Firing Line With William F. Buckley: Governor George C. Wallace- ‘The Wallace Crusade From 1968’

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– Interviewing Governor C. Wallace in 1968.

Source:The New Democrat 

“Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Wallace Crusade. Episode 088, Recorded on January 24, 1968 Guest: George C. (George Corley) Wallace.”

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley

Great debate between Bill Buckley and George Wallace, because Buckley was a true Conservative and he would’ve taken the more progressive or liberal stance against Wallace when it came to civil rights and segregation. Or least that it how it would seem. I even as a Liberal believe you can be a Conservative and still believe in commonsense American values like liberty, equality, equal rights and civil liberties. But that is me.

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PBS: Video: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill: How the Civil Rights Act Opened a Door to the American Dream

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This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

The civil rights acts literally opened the public business domain to all citizens.  It said that if you are open for business to the public you are open for business to every member of the public who wants and can afford for your service.  It prohibited the denial of service and employment to people by business owners on the grounds of race.  I believe that the people who claim property rights on this issue do not understand the American constitution when they say that American business owners have the right to discriminate against anyone they choose for whatever reason.

If you don’t want to serve the entire public, then don’t be open to the public.  Run a private club at which only members can get services and perhaps, employment.  If you are open to the public, that is the entire American public, not the Caucasian public, the African public, the Asian public or any other  racial or ethnic group.   That the public is the entire public and subgroups of  Americans cannot be discriminated against.

 

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KKD: Civil Rights at The 1960 Republican National Convention

Source:KKD– President Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican, Texas) at the 1960 Republican National Convention.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on WordPress.

“Now that the 2008 Republican National Convention has concluded, I thought I would go back into my old film clips & kinescopes to give everyone a sample of what old-time politics was like 48 years ago!
The 1960 Republican National Convention was held from July 25 – 28th, 1960 in Chicago, IL at the International Ampitheatre. Vice President Richard Nixon nearly had the nomination sewed up but he still had two contenders: NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Civil Rights was in the forefront and Rev Martin Luther King was in Chicago for the event. We also briefly see former President Herbert Hoover as he addresses the Convention. (An expanded view of his comments is seen in an earlier upload of mine.)
As the Convention continues, we’ll see Gov. Rockefeller withdraw from the race and into Day Three with an address from the President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Part Two is posted which contains a statement by Barry Goldwater and finally Richard Nixon as he accepts the nomination.
July 1960”

Source:KKD

Nelson Rockefeller, was a politician without a national political party in the 1960s and 70s, because he was an Right-Progressive (Center-Right Progressive) in a party that was moving right on economic policy. And Republicans were moving far away from progressive programs. Especially ones that were centralized at the Federal level. And we’re looking for politicians that were in favor shrinking the Federal Government and decentralizing power at the Federal level and giving more power to the states and individuals.

Nelson, was essentially a Theodore Roosevelt Progressive Republican, but who was also a Federalist and someone who believed in public infrastructure, public education, aid to the poor, but who was also a Federalist and wanted these social investments run at the state and local levels. Who was also a big believer in a strong defense and law enforcement and tough law enforcement, as well as equal rights.

Nelson was Progressive on economic policy and equal rights and even national defense. Who was able to win as a Republican, because he was a Northeastern Republican that had a strong Progressive faction, even into the 1960s.

And this debate or discussion about civil rights in the Republican Party in 1960s, is the perfect example of what type of party they were back then. You had the Progressive-Federalists, led by Nelson and others, but you also had a growing Conservative-Libertarian wing, led by Senator Barry Goldwater and other Republicans in Congress. That were strong economic Conservatives and didn’t want big government in people’s personal lives either. But we’re such believers in property rights that they believed that individuals had the right to deny service people even based on race. And Vice President Richard Nixon, trying to please both factions.

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Sikivu Hutchinson: ‘Dr King Speaks Deep’

Source:Sikivu Hutchinson– Dr. Reverend Martin L. King I believe in 1968.

“Dr King speaks deep”

From Sikivu Hutchinson

Sounds like Dr. King talking about proposing Federal public funding for African-American colleges and universities.

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PBS: Newshour- Gwen Ifill & William P. Jones- ‘March on Washington Had More Radical Roots Than Remembered’

Source:PBS NewsHour– Gwen Ifill interviewing Professor William P. Jones.

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. It is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.”

From Wikipedia

“Historian William P. Jones joins Gwen Ifill to offer an overview of how the March on Washington came to be, why President Kennedy feared it would cause negative aftermath and what roles women of color played on that historic day. Their discussion is one a series of conversations looking back at the legacy of August 28, 1963.”

From the PBS NewsHour

The 1963 March on Washington was about individual freedom and equal rights for African-Americans. That is how the civil rights movement started out in the 1950s and 60s.

But as the movement moved along and by the time the late 1960s came around especially after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act and 1968 Fair Housing Law all passed Congress and were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, the movement then shifted towards economic issues and policy.

What Socialists call economic justice and social justice which are about addressing poverty in America and creating an economic system that expanded economic opportunity to more Americans especially low-income Americans and wasn’t exclusively for African-Americans, but Americans in general who lived in poverty and had no hope for a bright future.

The civil rights movement moves from equal rights under law for all Americans in the early and mid 1960s, to economic and social justice by the late 1960s. And had a real social democratic feel to it and moving American past the New Deal and Great Society and building off of those agendas. Which is what Socialists especially on the Left say further Left in the Democratic Party and Green Party, talk about doing today.

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C-SPAN: U.S. Senator Robert Byrd- On The 1964 Civil Rights Laws (2009)

Source:CSPAN– U.S. Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat, West Virginia) talking to Brian Lamb about his votes against the civil rights laws in 2009.

“Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) explains why he would change his vote on the 1964 civil rights laws. This excerpt is from a Nov. 2005 interview C-SPAN conducted for the 2006 documentary The Capitol. On 11/18/09 Sen. Byrd becomes the longest-serving member of Congress.”

From CSPAN

Senator Byrd seems to be at least trying to put part of the blame for his votes against the civil rights laws in Congress on Dixiecrats that he served with in Congress. I might be over cynical here, but you can understand if you are someone who follows Congress and government and politics in general as much as I do for my cynicism.

In the second part of this interview Senator Byrd talks about losing his grandson and imagined if his grandson was African-American and was in some type of car crash in some area where there were no hospitals that treated African-Americans and probably other racial minorities. I think that’s the Robert Byrd that we can respect here and give him credit for growing up and maturing as a U.S. Senator, at least when it comes to the civil rights laws in America.

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