It's drama, not necessarily history.

LBJ played a central role -- forcefully working for the passage of the Civil Rights Act -- but I think it gives him too much of the credit. Robert Kennedy and Nicholas Katzenbach had brought a principled Republican congressman, Bill McCulloch of Ohio, (Boehner's district !) in to support the bill -- only with the promise that they would not compromise key elements as they had in 1957 and 1960. With his support for a strong bill, it was moving through the House. It had passed the House Judiciary Committee before Kennedy's death. LBJ promised a space project at Purdue to Charles Hallock, GOP minority leader, and that moved things quickly through the Rules Committee. the votes were always there on the House floor (no filibuster).

Hubert Humphrey was the floor leader for the bill in the Senate and did a wonderful job. Not ineffectual at all. One of his aides later wrote that LBJ might have changed the vote of only one senator, Carl Hayden of Arizona. From the start (JFK drafting the bill) everyone knew Dirksen was a key. That wasn't any mystery, and Humphrey handled the final negotiations with him.

"All the Way" takes substantial license by having Johnson agree to weaken the voting rights provisions in the Civil Rights Act. This never happened. So you have to ask, why did they change the facts? Because they wanted a plot line where wheeling-dealing Johnson pushes through the transformational bill where Kennedy failed. And there was not enough obvious Johnson wheeling-dealing to support the plot line, so they juiced it.
[Post edited by DanTheFan at 05/22/2016 9:02PM]

(In response to this post by WahooRQ)

Link: Another historian's perspective

Posted: 05/22/2016 at 3:46PM

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Anyone else checked out "All the Way" (HBO's movie about LBJ)? -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 1:04PM

Cranston becomes LBJ. Outstanding! Yes, Johnson was hugely impactful as -- Seattle .Hoo 05/22/2016 3:52PM

It's drama, not necessarily history. -- DanTheFan 05/22/2016 3:46PM

Thanks -- always appreciate your insight on history, Dan. -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 4:23PM

When you get into a debate with Dan you gotta bring your A game ** -- hoolstoptheheels 05/22/2016 6:24PM

Somewhere in between -- DanTheFan 05/22/2016 4:34PM

Very interesting! I ditto the others, you sure know your stuff ** -- 111Balz 05/23/2016 06:51AM

Interesting post. Always been an LBJ fan. ** -- Northbomb 05/22/2016 3:20PM

I wasn't alive when he was president, but he sure seems like an interesting -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 3:40PM

Some things never change, eh? -- PalmyraHoo 05/22/2016 1:33PM

Seems like it, although it's not exactly like the segregationist -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 2:48PM

Yes the Democratic Party was dominated by the Segs -- AlexHoo 05/22/2016 5:52PM

A different GOP then. -- DanTheFan 05/22/2016 8:07PM

Code words attacks, meaning he never said anything offensive -- AlexHoo 05/22/2016 9:42PM

Interested to hear your thoughts on Goldwater. -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 8:52PM

That's as good post RQ. I don't think Barry was a bad guy or a racist -- 111Balz 05/23/2016 06:59AM

Hillary was a Goldwater Girl...Wellesley took care of that. ** -- Tuckahokie 05/22/2016 10:41PM

Some people do take advantage of education to learn and grow ** -- 111Balz 05/23/2016 06:59AM

Do you mean indoctrination? ** -- Tuckahokie 05/23/2016 07:29AM

No I did not. ** -- 111Balz 05/23/2016 10:32AM

You must have forgotten about the other 2/3 of the Democratic Party -- WahooRQ 05/22/2016 7:24PM

A majority of Republicans voted for it, and I did not -- AlexHoo 05/22/2016 9:39PM

Thanks for the reminder ** -- wahoo138 05/22/2016 1:19PM