The Importance Of Vice-President Johnson's 1965 Higher Education Act

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When Johnson became a Congressman, he wanted to gain the minority vote and so he considered employing a Mexican or Spanish-American to show his “appreciation” of his Mexican supporters; cynical Texans called his behaviour a publicity stunt. Many felt that any Texan who wanted to represent the segregated state had to appear to be a segregationist and his gesture didn’t. His attempts were also hampered by the riots in Watts, Los Angeles in August 1965. It was however beneficial to Johnson as it won him the minority vote and made him, a politician with national ambitions, look free from sectional prejudices. We’re in a race with time. Vice- President Johnson knew something had to be done “The Negro fought in the war , and….he’s not gonna keep taking the shit we’re dishing out. If we don’t act, we’re gonna have blood in the streets.” As Vice- President Johnson’s greatest challenge was chairing Kennedy’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO).

However Johnson was warned by other Southerners that he was staking his political career on passing this bill into law. During his period as John F. Kennedy’s Vice- President, racism became an increasingly important political issue. …show more content…
Johnson became President of the USA, in November 1963 after the assassination of Kennedy. It was then that Lyndon Johnson announced his vision of a “Great Society” for America, with “an end to poverty and racial injustice”. Johnson felt he and Congress owed it to the late president to see his civil rights bill passed. Johnson was convinced that discrimination was morally wrong and wanted change to lead to economic, political and spiritual reintegration of the South within the
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