Should the TSBD be demolished?

[Richard Smith]

Why are so you bitter and misinformed?

What became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was first proposed by Kennedy in his "Report to the American People on Civil Rights" in June 1963. Which led to this famous meeting in the White House on August 28th.



Kennedy would not include certain of their proposals, including police brutality against blacks (seems a forewarning now). Then came the assassination and Johnson's plea before a joint session of Congress:

    "No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor
     President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible
     passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long."

The Southern states held out until the summer of '64 (Senator Yarborough the only Southern Senator voting for the bill; the lone Republican Senator John Tower voted against it). Johnson said "I know the risks are great and we might lose the South, but those sorts of states may be lost anyway." The Democrats drew a moral line in the sand that year and the Republicans began taking over the South with demagoguery and racist dog whistles.

Barry Goldwater, who was the Republican Presidential candidate that fall, voted against the bill, saying "You can't legislate morality."

BTW, the Johnsons took a pretty good picture too.



After Ike, the Republicans didn't get anyone photogenic until the wax figure Ronald Reagan. Sara Palin was smokin' hot.

The key word here is "proposed" which means JFK actually got nothing done.  The litany of excuses doesn't change that.  LBJ was the person who actually achieved something with Civil Rights.  If anyone is to be recognized for that, then LBJ is clearly the person to do so.  And trying to place the blame for the lack of progress on "racist" Republicans is revisionist history.  A small group of Dem Senators held up any Civil Rights legislation for decades.  It took LBJ to break up that resistance by democrats.     

[Ray Mitcham]

quite by LBJ

"No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honour President Kennedy's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil  rights bill for which he fought for so long"

Seems `JFK didn'tget the chance to get the bill through, Richard, despite him fighting for so long.

[Richard Smith]

So, Kennedy had nothing to do with the Moon Shot?

Boy, are you ever radicalized by Fox News or Breitbart, or whatever it is.

I don't remember you crediting the "get it done" folks when Trump rode into 2017 on the economic wave started by Obama/Biden. And how about Trump now taking credit for the dung-heap he bequeathed Old Joe?

Why is "racist" in quotes? Is this gaslighting?

Because they were re-elected so often in safe states, the Southern Democrats gained a disproportionate amount of seniority and so chaired or were ranking members of most committees in Congress. They knew each other personally and could hold up legislation for awhile. Remind you of what's going on in the Senate with Old Mitch, Lindsay (South Carolina), Cruz, Jim Jordan's misnomed Freedom Caucus and the rest of the Trump Republican bloc?



Map showing current US Senators. Georgia the beachhead.

I'm not following this.  You believe that Fox News radicalized me to promote LBJ as an icon of Civil Rights?  Unreal.  I must have missed that segment on Hannity.  I'm not sure why you constantly claim that republicans are racist.  It is offensive and untrue no matter how many times you repeat that woke talking point.  Whatever woke agenda you have with current politics, this discussion relates to the 1960s.  It was your Dems who held up Civil Rights legislation for decades.  That is simply a fact.  Trying to spin it any other way or deflect with fake CNN talking points is revisionist history.  If there is any racist in power, it is Trudeau and his blackface antics.  You are from Canada.  Why are you so obsessed with calling Americans racist while having a racist prime minister?

[Larry Baldwin]

An interesting little easter egg that I discovered today on Google Maps street view of Dealey Plaza.  Has anyone else discovered that if you click on the 6th floor window that Google street view takes you into the building at the window?  It is a shame that they didn't open up the view out the window, but kind of clever none the less.

Incidentally, if this is old news, no need to chide and ridicule because I just discovered it.  I haven't been on this site regularly in years.

[Richard Smith]

Youthful antics, like Megyn Kelly's memories of Halloween. So, if a Republican politician wore blackface or posted nasty texts in his youth, you would likewise say it defined him?

Youthful antics?  Trudeau was almost 30 when he did this.  Wow that's a lame defense from someone who is so concerned with racism. It makes me wonder if it is politics rather than racism that dictates your opinions.  Trudeau is a spoiled, elitist racist of the first order.  He wore blackface on more than one occasion.  Imagine the hue and cry if Trump had done that?  But that's fine because Trudeau is a liberal woke.  Nothing to see there.  Canadians need to concern themselves with America instead of their own racist guy.  BTW.  How many African-Americans are leaving "racist" America for your socialist utopia?  What percentage of the Canadian population is black?  Do they call it the Great White North for a reason?  Maybe ask Trudeau when he finishes singing "Ol' Man River" at his next frat party. 

[Steve M. Galbraith]

The key word here is "proposed" which means JFK actually got nothing done.  The litany of excuses doesn't change that.  LBJ was the person who actually achieved something with Civil Rights.  If anyone is to be recognized for that, then LBJ is clearly the person to do so.  And trying to place the blame for the lack of progress on "racist" Republicans is revisionist history.  A small group of Dem Senators held up any Civil Rights legislation for decades.  It took LBJ to break up that resistance by democrats.     

Shortly after the assassination (11/25/63), LBJ phoned Dr. King to inform him of the status of the civil rights bill and some of the other legislation that had stalled in Congress. The civil rights proposal was still in the House at that time and Congress was preparing to adjourn for the holidays. Nothing more was going to be accomplished for that session. The bill was dead at that time.

JFK meant well but he had little ability - or much interest at that time (note that he never mentioned the bill during his trip to Texas) - in really pushing the act through Congress. Thus the situation at the time of his death. With 1964 being an election year - when in normal times Congress essentially does nothing - there was no chance of the bill getting through.  And JFK, I would suggest, was simply not going to risk a potential loss of the South for that bill at that time. It was too risky. Domestically, JFK was a a pragmatist, a centrist and not a liberal; he showed that during his time in the Senate.

It would take JFK's death and LBJ's arm twisting (and more) to get the act through Congress. These claims that JFK gets credit for the bill are simply not historically accurate. LBJ himself ran in favor of the bill when he ran against JFK for the party's nomination. Note as well the risk that LBJ took. He would run for election in 1964 while aggressively pushing for the bill. Despite the strong possibility of losing the South and the presidency. The claim that he was behind the assassination is even more absurd when you realize what he did: he became president after killing JFK (allegedly) and then he risks all of that on the civil rights bill? It's absurd.

Recall that in LBJ's address to Congress and the nation after the assassination he said the "first thing" that had to be done to recognize JFK's legacy was pass the civil rights bill. As he told King in his call, "We just won’t give up an inch." LBJ is a difficult person to defend, to praise; he was a mean, nasty man and the horrors of Vietnam - and the lies and failures - define his presidency. But his accomplishments on behalf of racial justice cannot be challenged.

From the LBJ/King call:
MLK:  --because we know what a difficult period this is.  [Inaudible]

LBJ:  It’s just an impossible period.  We’ve got a budget coming up that’s—we’ve got nothing to do with it; it’s practically already made.  And we’ve got a civil rights bill that hadn’t even passed the House, and it’s November, and Hubert Humphrey told me yesterday everybody wanted to go home.  We’ve got a tax bill that they haven’t touched.  We just got to let up—not let up on any of them and keep going and-- 

MLK:  Yes.

LBJ:  --I guess they’ll say that I’m repudiated.  But I’m going to ask the Congress Wednesday to just stay there until they pass them all.  They won’t do it.  But we’ll just keep them there next year until they do, and we just won’t give up an inch.

MLK:  Uh-uh.  Well this is mighty fine.  I think it’s so imperative.  I think one of the great tributes that we can pay in memory of President Kennedy is to try to enact some of the great, progressive policies that he sought to initiate.

LBJ:  Well, I’m going to support them all, and you can count on that.  And I’m going to do my best to get other men to do likewise, and I’ll have to have y’all’s help.

http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/a-conversation-between-lbj-and-martin-luther-king-jr/

[Rick Plant]

LOL. Wasn't LBJ a "Democratic President"?  I suggested that he rather than do nothing JFK would be better recognized for his work with Civil Rights since the latter did nothing and LBJ actually did.  And talk about propaganda.   You have posted thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of posts that are simply cut and paste jobs that contain anti-Trump conspiracy theories and debunked falsehoods.  Unreal.

Nice try Richard. 

There are no "falsehoods". You can't even name one falsehood that you ridiculously claim. Everything that I've stated was 100% accurate including articles that I've posted.

Criminal Donald lost the election and I was 100% correct when I said he would lose since 2019. I also stated he will be indicted and that will happen soon. 

Every single Trump crime and scandal that I've posted is now being criminally investigated by the authorities. Everything  was accurate. And now it turns out Criminal Donald was spying on reporters and members of Congress.   

Everything you rant about is bogus made up right wing propaganda.