Lyndon Baines Johnson spoke before Congress on March 15, 1965 for the voting rights act. Here are his words, words which won greater equality in this nation and may have lost the South for the Democrats for decades: (Italics added. NS)
“I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of Democracy. I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.
At times, history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There, long suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many of them were brutally assaulted. One good man–a man of God–was killed.
There … is cause for hope and for faith in our Democracy in what is happening here tonight. For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government–the government of the greatest nation on earth. Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country–to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man. In our time we have come to live with the moments of great crises. …
But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation. The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For, with a country as with a person, “what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
… This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose [and] the great phrases of that purpose still sound in every American heart, North and South: “All men are created equal.” “Government by consent of the governed.” “Give me liberty or give me death.” … Those words are promised to every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man… dignity [… that] rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others… that he shall share in freedom… that he shall choose his leaders, educate his children, provide for his family according to his ability and his merits as a human being….
We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend the Constitution that says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. …. We must now act in obedience to that oath. …
And we ought not, and we cannot, and we must not wait another eight months before we get a bill. We have already waited 100 years and more and the time for waiting is gone. So I ask you to join me in working long hours and nights and weekends, if necessary, to pass this bill… for outside this chamber is the outraged conscience of a nation, the grave concern of many nations and the harsh judgment of history on our acts. …
What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause too. Because it’s not just Negroes… all of us must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.
And we shall overcome.
As a man whose roots go deeply into Southern soil, I know how agonizing racial feelings are. I know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the structure of our society. But a century has passed–more than 100 years–since the Negro was freed. … A century has passed–more than 100 years–since equality was promised, and yet … the promise is unkept. The time of justice has now come, and I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back. It is Right in the eyes of man and God that it should come, and on the day that it comes, that day will brighten the lives of every American. …
This great rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all–all, black and white, North and South, sharecropper and city dweller. These are the enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease… not our fellow man, not our neighbor.”