lyndon b. johnson signed the voting rights act of 1965.
lyndon b. johnson signed the voting rights act of 1965.
who signed the voting rights act of 1965?
lyndon b. johnson
congress responded to rampant discrimination against racial minorities in public accommodations and government services by passing the civil rights act of 1964. the act included some voting rights protections; it required registrars to equally administer literacy tests in writing to each voter and to accept applications that contained minor errors, and it created a rebuttable presumption that persons with a sixth-grade education were sufficiently literate to vote. however, despite lobbying from civil rights leaders, the act did not prohibit most forms of voting discrimination. president lyndon b. johnson recognized this, and shortly after the 1964 elections in which democrats gained overwhelming majorities in both chambers of congress, he privately instructed attorney general nicholas katzenbach to draft "the goddamndest, toughest voting rights act that you can". however, johnson did not publicly push for the legislation at the time; his advisers warned him of political costs for vigorously pursuing a voting rights bill so soon after congress had passed the civil rights act of 1964, and johnson was concerned that championing voting rights would endanger his great society reforms by angering southern democrats in congress.
voting rights act of 1965
to defeat the voting rights act, mcculloch introduced an alternative bill, h.r. 7896. it would have allowed the attorney general to appoint federal registrars after receiving 25 serious complaints of discrimination against a jurisdiction, and it would have imposed a nationwide ban on literacy tests for persons who could prove they attained a sixth-grade education. mcculloch's bill was co-sponsored by house minority leader gerald ford (r-mi) and supported by southern democrats as an alternative to the voting rights act. the johnson administration viewed h.r. 7896 as a serious threat to passing the voting rights act. however, support for h.r. 7896 dissipated after william m. tuck (d-va) publicly said he preferred h.r. 7896 because the voting rights act would legitimately ensure that african americans could vote. his statement alienated most supporters of h.r. 7896, and the bill failed on the house floor by a 171-248 vote on july 9. later that night, the house passed the voting rights act by a 333-85 vote (democrats 221-61, republicans 112-24).
voting rights act of 1965