L.B.J.: Sense of JUSTICE or Fear of REVOLUTION

I have heard several times American presidents [FDR may have been one of those presidents] say something like the following: "I would gladly sign your proposed legislation, but you will have to force me to do so."  They meant you and your friends will have to create the social and political pressure to force Congress and me, usually rich white males, to create and sign your legislation.

My favorite political scientist, Peter Bienart [December 2018, The Atlantic] recently showed me that the threat of disorder/revolution forced LBJ to act on civil rights legislation and social justice legislation more than a sense of justice did.

The following quotation is from Peter Bienart:

"After Kennedy's death, the promise of further disorder prodded Lyndon B. Johnson to pressure a recalcitrant Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act.  To overcome a filibuster, he needed the support of the Senate minority leader, the Republican Everett Dirksen.  He got it not long after the Congress of Racial Equality threatened to picket Dirksens's house.  After the passage of the civil-rights bill, King pressured Johnson on voting rights, warning him that if he stalled, "you'll see demonstrations on a level you have never seen before."  Fear of unrest also influenced Johnson's decision to launch the Great Society, which included federal aid for education, food stamps, job training, Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, and a domestic analogue to the Peace Corps.  As Johnson said after riots in Harlem in 1964, "They've got no jobs.  They can't do anything.  They're just raising hell."



1960's Civil Rights Movement [Revolution]

1. Righteous rage of oppressed blacks.
2. Fear of oppressor whites--REVOLUTION.
3. REVOLUTION would damage/destroy the empire of the oppresser.
4. To avoid our destruction we need to do some justice to appease blacks.
5. LBJ and Congress passed civil rights laws, voting rights laws, and Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc. 1964-1965. 
6. LBJ appointed the Kerner Commission to study the cause of black ghettos and riots.  The Kerner Commission concluded that white racism was the cause. The Kerner Commission got it right, but nobody was listening. 1968.
7. LBJ rejected the white racism cause of his own commission.
8. Thus began the white backlash to the Civil Rights Movement; this led to the election of first Nixon, then Ronald Reagan.