Essay On Why Johnson Decided To Sign The Civil Rights Act

In 1964 President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Some people wonder why he signed the act. Was it for political reasons or for principle reasons. If the signing was for political reasons then it would have been to help with popularity. If it was principle then he would have truly cared about the effects the act would have on the United States. The decision to sign the Civil Rights Act could have easily been a political decision. Polls taken in 1963 and 1964 showed that citizens thought that JFK was doing a better job than LBJ. Johnson could have changed his mind on the Civil Rights Act to get the approval rating higher and to help win the election. A cartoon drawn in 1964 shows Johnson stumbling over a block that shows his past opinion

During and after college Johnson’s first job was teaching in a Mexican-American school in Cotulla. Johnson cared about the students he taught at the school. When he signed the bill he could have been thinking about getting the proper rights for the people such as the students and the families of the students that he taught. A student that Johnson taught said that every day when the students came to school the first thing Johnson did was asked them to sing the class song. Two parts of the Civil Rights Act related to education in some way. The bill dealing with education rights may have lead him to want to help students be able to go to school where they want instead of the segregated schools. Johnson and Richard Russell were talking about the Civil Rights Bill, and during this conversation Russell mentions that the opinion Johnson has on the bill will cost him the South and the election. Even though it would cost him the election Johnson still takes that opinion on the bill. This could mean that he could have really cared about the act and its impact on the United States. Weather Johnson signed the act for political reasons or for principle reasons, nobody