English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama Speaks on Civil Rights.webm

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,430
The President: What a singular
honor

2
00:00:02,433 --> 00:00:05,263
it is for me to be here today.

3
00:00:05,266 --> 00:00:08,996
I want to thank, first
and foremost, the Johnson

4
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,930
family for giving us
this opportunity and the

5
00:00:13,934 --> 00:00:15,934
graciousness with which
Michelle

6
00:00:15,934 --> 00:00:19,504
and I have been received.

7
00:00:19,500 --> 00:00:21,170
We came down a little
bit late because

8
00:00:21,166 --> 00:00:26,166
we were upstairs looking at some
of the exhibits and some

9
00:00:26,166 --> 00:00:30,396
of the private offices
that were used

10
00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:33,100
by President Johnson
and Mrs. Johnson.

11
00:00:33,100 --> 00:00:36,930
And Michelle was in
particular interested

12
00:00:36,934 --> 00:00:42,104
to -- of a recording in which
Lady Bird is critiquing

13
00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:44,900
President Johnson's
performance.

14
00:00:44,900 --> 00:00:45,900
(laughter)

15
00:00:45,900 --> 00:00:47,770
And she said,
come, come, you need

16
00:00:47,767 --> 00:00:49,297
to listen to this.

17
00:00:49,300 --> 00:00:50,300
(laughter)

18
00:00:50,300 --> 00:00:52,300
And she pressed
the button

19
00:00:52,300 --> 00:00:53,600
and nodded her head.

20
00:00:56,133 --> 00:00:58,933
Some things do not
change -- (laughter) --

21
00:00:58,934 --> 00:01:01,964
even 50 years later.

22
00:01:01,967 --> 00:01:07,037
To all the members of
Congress, the warriors

23
00:01:07,033 --> 00:01:11,363
for justice, the elected
officials and community

24
00:01:11,367 --> 00:01:16,737
leaders who are here today
-- I want to thank you.

25
00:01:16,734 --> 00:01:23,864
Four days into his sudden
presidency -- and the

26
00:01:23,867 --> 00:01:28,267
night before he would
address a joint session

27
00:01:28,266 --> 00:01:32,996
of the Congress in which he
once served --

28
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,670
Lyndon Johnson sat around a
table with his closest advisors,

29
00:01:36,667 --> 00:01:38,637
preparing his remarks

30
00:01:38,633 --> 00:01:40,803
to a shattered and grieving nation.

31
00:01:43,133 --> 00:01:45,403
He wanted to call
on senators and

32
00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:51,100
representatives to pass a
civil rights bill --

33
00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:53,570
the most sweeping since
Reconstruction.

34
00:01:53,567 --> 00:01:59,567
And most of his staff
counseled him against it.

35
00:02:02,233 --> 00:02:06,133
They said it was hopeless;
that it would anger

36
00:02:06,133 --> 00:02:09,203
powerful Southern
Democrats and committee

37
00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:13,600
chairmen; that it risked
derailing

38
00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,230
the rest of his domestic agenda.

39
00:02:15,233 --> 00:02:20,403
And one particularly bold
aide said

40
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,200
he did not believe a President
should spend his time and power

41
00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:27,130
on lost causes, however
worthy they might be.

42
00:02:30,467 --> 00:02:34,537
To which, it is said,
President Johnson replied,

43
00:02:34,533 --> 00:02:36,703
"Well, what the hell's
the presidency for?"

44
00:02:36,700 --> 00:02:37,700
(laughter

45
00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:43,670
and applause)
What the hell's the

46
00:02:50,033 --> 00:02:54,303
presidency for if not
to fight

47
00:02:54,300 --> 00:02:57,800
for causes you believe in?

48
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,100
Today, as we commemorate
the 50th anniversary

49
00:03:01,100 --> 00:03:06,270
of the Civil Rights Act, we
honor the men and women

50
00:03:06,266 --> 00:03:08,896
who made it possible.

51
00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:12,400
Some of them
are here today.

52
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,070
We celebrate giants like
John Lewis and

53
00:03:16,066 --> 00:03:18,536
Andrew Young and Julian Bond.

54
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,930
We recall the countless
unheralded Americans,

55
00:03:23,934 --> 00:03:28,634
black and white, students
and scholars,

56
00:03:28,633 --> 00:03:34,303
preachers and housekeepers --
whose names are etched

57
00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:37,600
not on monuments, but in the
hearts of their loved

58
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:42,330
ones, and in the fabric of
the country

59
00:03:42,333 --> 00:03:43,403
they helped to change.

60
00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:50,030
But we also gather here,
deep in the heart

61
00:03:50,033 --> 00:03:55,403
of the state that shaped him, to
recall one giant man's

62
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:59,400
remarkable efforts to make
real the promise

63
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:05,130
of our founding: "We hold these
truths to be self-evident,

64
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,730
that all men are
created equal."

65
00:04:14,734 --> 00:04:19,104
Those of us who have had
the singular privilege

66
00:04:19,100 --> 00:04:23,170
to hold the office of the
Presidency know well that

67
00:04:23,166 --> 00:04:25,296
progress in this
country can be hard

68
00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:31,170
and it can be slow, frustrating
and sometimes you're stymied.

69
00:04:33,567 --> 00:04:34,567
The office humbles you.

70
00:04:36,967 --> 00:04:39,537
You're reminded daily that
in this great democracy,

71
00:04:39,533 --> 00:04:42,533
you are but a relay
swimmer in the currents

72
00:04:42,533 --> 00:04:46,503
of history, bound by
decisions made by those

73
00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:50,370
who came before, reliant
on the efforts

74
00:04:50,367 --> 00:04:55,437
of those who will follow to
fully vindicate your vision.

75
00:04:58,367 --> 00:04:59,867
But the presidency
also affords

76
00:04:59,867 --> 00:05:04,497
a unique opportunity to bend
those currents --

77
00:05:04,500 --> 00:05:11,100
by shaping our laws and by
shaping our debates; by working

78
00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:14,300
within the confines of the world
as it is, but also

79
00:05:14,300 --> 00:05:17,530
by reimagining the world
as it should be.

80
00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,500
This was President
Johnson's genius.

81
00:05:25,867 --> 00:05:28,397
As a master of politics
and the legislative

82
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,300
process, he grasped like
few others the power

83
00:05:33,300 --> 00:05:35,100
of government to
bring about change.

84
00:05:38,100 --> 00:05:39,930
LBJ was nothing
if not a realist.

85
00:05:39,934 --> 00:05:43,734
He was well aware that the
law alone isn't enough

86
00:05:43,734 --> 00:05:45,404
to change hearts and minds.

87
00:05:47,900 --> 00:05:50,330
A full century after
Lincoln's time, he said,

88
00:05:50,333 --> 00:05:53,403
"Until justice is blind to
color, until education

89
00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:57,370
is unaware of race, until
opportunity is unconcerned

90
00:05:57,367 --> 00:05:58,967
with the color of men's
skins,

91
00:05:58,967 --> 00:06:02,437
emancipation will be a
proclamation but not a fact."

92
00:06:05,300 --> 00:06:08,430
He understood laws

93
00:06:08,433 --> 00:06:11,103
couldn't accomplish everything.

94
00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:14,930
But he also knew that
only the law could anchor

95
00:06:14,934 --> 00:06:17,664
change, and set hearts
and minds

96
00:06:17,667 --> 00:06:18,667
on a different course.

97
00:06:18,667 --> 00:06:23,337
And a lot of Americans
needed

98
00:06:23,333 --> 00:06:27,103
the law's most basic protections
at that time.

99
00:06:29,767 --> 00:06:31,497
As Dr. King said at the
time,

100
00:06:31,500 --> 00:06:36,370
"It may be true that the law
can't make a man love me but

101
00:06:36,367 --> 00:06:38,697
it can keep him from lynching
me,

102
00:06:38,700 --> 00:06:44,400
and I think that's pretty important."

103
00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:50,400
(applause) And passing
laws was what

104
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,800
LBJ knew how to do.

105
00:06:57,033 --> 00:07:03,503
No one knew politics and
no one loved legislating

106
00:07:03,500 --> 00:07:04,630
more than
President Johnson.

107
00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:10,430
He was charming when he
needed to be,

108
00:07:10,433 --> 00:07:11,503
ruthless when required.

109
00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:14,770
(laughter)

110
00:07:14,767 --> 00:07:16,537
He could wear
you down with logic

111
00:07:16,533 --> 00:07:19,063
and argument.

112
00:07:19,066 --> 00:07:22,466
He could horse trade,
and he could flatter.

113
00:07:24,934 --> 00:07:27,964
"You come with me on this
bill," he would reportedly

114
00:07:27,967 --> 00:07:31,067
tell a key Republican
leader from my home state

115
00:07:31,066 --> 00:07:34,496
during the fight for the
Civil Rights Bill,

116
00:07:34,500 --> 00:07:37,170
"and 200 years from now,
schoolchildren will know

117
00:07:37,166 --> 00:07:43,166
only two names: Abraham
Lincoln and Everett Dirksen!"

118
00:07:46,433 --> 00:07:49,963
(laughter)

119
00:07:49,967 --> 00:07:51,097
And he knew
that senators would

120
00:07:51,100 --> 00:07:55,070
believe things like that.

121
00:07:55,066 --> 00:08:03,066
(laughter and applause)

122
00:08:03,066 --> 00:08:06,496
President Johnson liked power.

123
00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:12,600
He liked the feel of
it, the wielding of it.

124
00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:19,330
But that hunger was
harnessed and redeemed

125
00:08:19,333 --> 00:08:21,303
by a deeper understanding of
the human condition;

126
00:08:24,734 --> 00:08:29,264
by a sympathy for the underdog,
for the downtrodden,

127
00:08:29,266 --> 00:08:32,166
for the outcast.

128
00:08:32,166 --> 00:08:33,366
And it was a sympathy
rooted

129
00:08:33,367 --> 00:08:34,537
in his own experience.

130
00:08:37,300 --> 00:08:41,370
As a young boy growing up
in the Texas Hill Country,

131
00:08:41,367 --> 00:08:44,367
Johnson knew what
being poor felt like.

132
00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,100
"Poverty was so common,"
he would later say,

133
00:08:50,100 --> 00:08:51,570
"we didn't even know
it had a name."

134
00:08:51,567 --> 00:08:55,267
(laughter)

135
00:08:55,266 --> 00:08:56,296
The family home
didn't have

136
00:08:56,300 --> 00:08:59,100
electricity or indoor plumbing.

137
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,630
Everybody worked hard,
including the children.

138
00:09:05,633 --> 00:09:09,363
President Johnson had
known the metallic

139
00:09:09,367 --> 00:09:15,967
taste of hunger; the feel of a
mother's calloused hands,

140
00:09:15,967 --> 00:09:19,437
rubbed raw from washing
and cleaning and holding

141
00:09:19,433 --> 00:09:20,433
a household together.

142
00:09:23,533 --> 00:09:26,763
His cousin Ava remembered
sweltering days spent

143
00:09:26,767 --> 00:09:29,597
on her hands and knees in the
cotton fields,

144
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:34,430
with Lyndon whispering beside
her, "Boy, there's got

145
00:09:34,433 --> 00:09:36,333
to be a better way to make
a living than this.

146
00:09:36,333 --> 00:09:38,963
There's got to
be a better way."

147
00:09:42,266 --> 00:09:45,136
It wasn't until years
later when he was teaching

148
00:09:45,133 --> 00:09:49,263
at a so-called Mexican
school in a tiny town

149
00:09:49,266 --> 00:09:55,066
in Texas that he came to
understand how much worse

150
00:09:55,066 --> 00:09:58,266
the persistent pain of
poverty could be for other

151
00:09:58,266 --> 00:10:01,596
races in a Jim Crow South.

152
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,200
Oftentimes his students
would show

153
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,100
up to class hungry.

154
00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:11,930
And when he'd visit their
homes, he'd meet fathers

155
00:10:11,934 --> 00:10:14,134
who were paid slave wages
by the farmers

156
00:10:14,133 --> 00:10:15,133
they worked for.

157
00:10:18,433 --> 00:10:20,303
Those children were
taught, he would later

158
00:10:20,300 --> 00:10:25,230
say, "that the end of
life is in a beet row,

159
00:10:25,233 --> 00:10:27,963
a spinach field, or
a cotton patch."

160
00:10:31,734 --> 00:10:34,164
Deprivation and
discrimination --

161
00:10:34,166 --> 00:10:38,696
these were not abstractions to
Lyndon Baines Johnson.

162
00:10:41,166 --> 00:10:43,266
He knew that poverty
and injustice are

163
00:10:43,266 --> 00:10:46,596
as inseparable as opportunity
and justice are joined.

164
00:10:50,133 --> 00:10:55,403
So that was in him
from an early age.

165
00:10:58,467 --> 00:11:00,467
Now, like any of us, he
was not a perfect man.

166
00:11:03,166 --> 00:11:06,396
His experiences in rural
Texas may have stretched

167
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:11,570
his moral imagination, but
he was ambitious,

168
00:11:11,567 --> 00:11:15,867
very ambitious, a young man in
a hurry to plot

169
00:11:15,867 --> 00:11:19,537
his own escape from poverty and
to chart

170
00:11:19,533 --> 00:11:20,863
his own political career.

171
00:11:23,033 --> 00:11:24,603
And in the Jim Crow South,
that meant

172
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:25,870
not challenging convention.

173
00:11:29,266 --> 00:11:31,266
During his first 20 years
in Congress,

174
00:11:31,266 --> 00:11:34,866
he opposed every civil rights
bill that came up for a vote,

175
00:11:34,867 --> 00:11:37,067
once calling the push for
federal legislation

176
00:11:37,066 --> 00:11:38,066
"a farce and a sham."

177
00:11:41,100 --> 00:11:43,570
He was chosen as a vice
Presidential nominee

178
00:11:43,567 --> 00:11:45,597
in part because of his
affinity with,

179
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:50,630
and ability to deliver, that
Southern white vote.

180
00:11:50,633 --> 00:11:52,233
And at the beginning
of the Kennedy

181
00:11:52,233 --> 00:11:55,603
administration, he shared
with President Kennedy

182
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,270
a caution towards
racial controversy.

183
00:11:58,266 --> 00:11:59,266
But marchers
kept marching.

184
00:11:59,266 --> 00:12:05,336
Four little girls were
killed in a church.

185
00:12:11,100 --> 00:12:12,100
Bloody Sunday happened.

186
00:12:14,934 --> 00:12:16,364
The winds of change blew.

187
00:12:19,567 --> 00:12:25,637
And when the time came,
when LBJ stood in the Oval

188
00:12:25,633 --> 00:12:28,203
Office -- I picture him
standing there,

189
00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,630
taking up the entire doorframe,
looking out over the South

190
00:12:32,633 --> 00:12:38,303
Lawn in a quiet moment --
and asked himself what

191
00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:44,300
the true purpose of his office
was for, what was the

192
00:12:47,133 --> 00:12:54,233
endpoint of his ambitions,
he would reach back

193
00:12:54,233 --> 00:12:59,133
in his own memory and he'd
remember his own

194
00:12:59,133 --> 00:13:00,533
experience with want.

195
00:13:04,066 --> 00:13:06,336
And he knew that he had a
unique capacity,

196
00:13:06,333 --> 00:13:12,333
as the most powerful white
politician from the South,

197
00:13:15,433 --> 00:13:19,833
to not merely challenge
the convention that had

198
00:13:19,834 --> 00:13:24,004
crushed the dreams of so
many, but to ultimately

199
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,430
dismantle for good the
structures

200
00:13:27,433 --> 00:13:28,763
of legal segregation.

201
00:13:32,133 --> 00:13:36,733
He's the only guy who
could do it --

202
00:13:36,734 --> 00:13:41,604
and he knew there would be a
cost, famously saying

203
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,630
the Democratic Party may "have
lost the South

204
00:13:46,633 --> 00:13:47,633
for a generation."

205
00:13:53,133 --> 00:13:54,733
That's what his
presidency was for.

206
00:13:57,367 --> 00:13:59,697
That's where he
meets his moment.

207
00:14:02,533 --> 00:14:07,533
And possessed with an iron
will, possessed with

208
00:14:07,533 --> 00:14:13,663
those skills that he had honed
so many years in Congress,

209
00:14:13,667 --> 00:14:17,237
pushed and supported by a
movement of those

210
00:14:17,233 --> 00:14:20,503
willing to sacrifice everything
for their own liberation,

211
00:14:23,133 --> 00:14:28,233
President Johnson fought
for and argued and horse

212
00:14:28,233 --> 00:14:35,863
traded and bullied and
persuaded until

213
00:14:35,867 --> 00:14:39,197
ultimately he signed the Civil
Rights Act into law.

214
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,930
And he didn't stop there
-- even though his

215
00:14:46,934 --> 00:14:51,964
advisors again told him to
wait, again told him

216
00:14:51,967 --> 00:14:56,197
let the dust settle, let
the country

217
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,800
absorb this momentous decision.

218
00:15:02,166 --> 00:15:03,166
He shook them off.

219
00:15:05,633 --> 00:15:08,333
"The meat in the coconut,"
as President Johnson would

220
00:15:08,333 --> 00:15:14,763
put it, was the Voting
Rights Act, so he fought

221
00:15:14,767 --> 00:15:16,237
for and passed
that as well.

222
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,400
Immigration reform
came shortly after.

223
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,070
And then, a Fair
Housing Act.

224
00:15:26,834 --> 00:15:28,464
And then, a health care
law that opponents

225
00:15:28,467 --> 00:15:30,697
described as "socialized
medicine" that would

226
00:15:30,700 --> 00:15:33,770
curtail America's freedom,
but ultimately freed

227
00:15:33,767 --> 00:15:36,437
millions of seniors from
the fear that illness

228
00:15:36,433 --> 00:15:38,203
could rob them of dignity
and security in their

229
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,900
golden years, which we now
know today as Medicare.

230
00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:46,900
(applause) What President
Johnson understood was

231
00:15:56,233 --> 00:15:57,933
that equality required
more than

232
00:15:57,934 --> 00:15:59,334
the absence of oppression.

233
00:16:02,233 --> 00:16:05,163
It required the presence
of economic opportunity.

234
00:16:10,934 --> 00:16:13,034
He wouldn't be as eloquent
as Dr. King would

235
00:16:13,033 --> 00:16:19,933
be in describing that linkage,
as Dr. King moved into

236
00:16:19,934 --> 00:16:23,204
mobilizing sanitation
workers and a poor

237
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,200
people's movement, but he
understood that

238
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:26,200
connection because he had lived it.

239
00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:36,730
A decent job, decent
wages, health care --

240
00:16:36,734 --> 00:16:39,364
those, too, were civil
rights worth fighting for.

241
00:16:41,934 --> 00:16:44,134
An economy where hard
work is rewarded and

242
00:16:44,133 --> 00:16:46,863
success is shared, that was his goal.

243
00:16:46,867 --> 00:16:52,967
And he knew, as someone
who had seen the New Deal

244
00:16:52,967 --> 00:16:57,797
transform the landscape of
his Texas childhood,

245
00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,900
who had seen the difference
electricity had made

246
00:17:00,900 --> 00:17:03,030
because of the Tennessee
Valley Authority,

247
00:17:05,533 --> 00:17:08,903
the transformation concretely
day in and day out in the

248
00:17:08,900 --> 00:17:13,900
life of his own family, he
understood that government

249
00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:17,200
had a role to play in
broadening prosperity

250
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:22,570
to all those who would
strive for it.

251
00:17:22,567 --> 00:17:25,437
"We want to open the gates
to opportunity,"

252
00:17:25,433 --> 00:17:29,663
President Johnson said, "But we
are also going to give all our

253
00:17:29,667 --> 00:17:34,237
people, black and white,
the help they need

254
00:17:34,233 --> 00:17:35,463
to walk through those gates."

255
00:17:35,467 --> 00:17:41,467
Now, if some of this
sounds familiar,

256
00:17:44,967 --> 00:17:48,437
it's because today we remain
locked in this same great

257
00:17:48,433 --> 00:17:53,163
debate about equality and
opportunity,

258
00:17:53,166 --> 00:17:57,896
and the role of government in
ensuring each.

259
00:18:00,767 --> 00:18:04,337
As was true 50 years
ago, there are those who

260
00:18:04,333 --> 00:18:08,363
dismiss the Great Society
as a failed experiment

261
00:18:08,367 --> 00:18:12,567
and an encroachment on
liberty; who argue that

262
00:18:12,567 --> 00:18:14,737
government has become the
true source of all that

263
00:18:14,734 --> 00:18:16,904
ails us, and that poverty
is due to the moral

264
00:18:16,900 --> 00:18:20,970
failings of those
who suffer from it.

265
00:18:20,967 --> 00:18:26,797
There are also those who
argue, John, that nothing

266
00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:32,800
has changed; that racism
is so embedded in our

267
00:18:36,834 --> 00:18:43,564
DNA that there is no use
trying politics --

268
00:18:43,567 --> 00:18:44,567
the game is rigged.

269
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,100
But such theories
ignore history.

270
00:18:55,767 --> 00:18:57,897
Yes, it's true that,
despite laws like

271
00:18:57,900 --> 00:19:01,070
the Civil Rights Act, and the
Voting Rights Act and

272
00:19:01,066 --> 00:19:03,636
Medicare, our society is
still

273
00:19:03,633 --> 00:19:05,703
racked with division and poverty.

274
00:19:08,967 --> 00:19:12,997
Yes, race still colors our
political debates,

275
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,770
and there have been government
programs

276
00:19:14,767 --> 00:19:15,767
that have fallen short.

277
00:19:19,467 --> 00:19:22,137
In a time when cynicism is
too often passed off

278
00:19:22,133 --> 00:19:26,833
as wisdom, it's perhaps easy
to conclude that there

279
00:19:26,834 --> 00:19:30,404
are limits to change; that we
are trapped

280
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:35,230
by our own history; and politics
is a fool's errand, and we'd

281
00:19:35,233 --> 00:19:39,063
be better off if we roll
back big chunks of LBJ's

282
00:19:39,066 --> 00:19:44,136
legacy, or at least if we
don't put too much

283
00:19:44,133 --> 00:19:48,403
of our hope, invest too much
of our hope

284
00:19:51,467 --> 00:19:52,467
in our government.

285
00:19:55,533 --> 00:19:56,903
I reject such thinking.

286
00:19:56,900 --> 00:20:02,900
(applause) Not just
because Medicare and

287
00:20:10,166 --> 00:20:13,596
Medicaid have lifted
millions from suffering;

288
00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:15,170
not just because the
poverty rate

289
00:20:15,166 --> 00:20:17,936
in this nation would be far
worse without food stamps and

290
00:20:17,934 --> 00:20:20,334
Head Start and all the
Great Society programs

291
00:20:20,333 --> 00:20:21,563
that survive to this day.

292
00:20:24,934 --> 00:20:27,464
I reject such cynicism
because I have lived

293
00:20:27,467 --> 00:20:30,437
out the promise of
LBJ's efforts.

294
00:20:30,433 --> 00:20:34,333
Because Michelle has lived
out the legacy

295
00:20:34,333 --> 00:20:35,333
of those efforts.

296
00:20:35,333 --> 00:20:37,933
Because my daughters have
lived out the legacy

297
00:20:37,934 --> 00:20:38,934
of those efforts.

298
00:20:38,934 --> 00:20:41,004
Because I and millions of
my generation were

299
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,200
in a position to take the baton
that he handed to us.

300
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:50,200
(applause)

301
00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:58,830
Because of the
Civil Rights movement,

302
00:20:58,834 --> 00:21:02,604
because of the laws
President Johnson signed,

303
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,530
new doors of opportunity
and education swung open

304
00:21:05,533 --> 00:21:09,203
for everybody -- not all
at once,

305
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,170
but they swung open.

306
00:21:13,467 --> 00:21:16,567
Not just blacks and
whites, but also women

307
00:21:16,567 --> 00:21:20,337
and Latinos; and Asians and
Native Americans;

308
00:21:20,333 --> 00:21:25,363
and gay Americans and Americans
with a disability.

309
00:21:25,367 --> 00:21:27,337
They swung open for you,
and they swung

310
00:21:27,333 --> 00:21:28,333
open for me.

311
00:21:28,333 --> 00:21:32,103
And that's why I'm
standing here today --

312
00:21:32,100 --> 00:21:38,100
because of those efforts,
because of that legacy.

313
00:21:43,100 --> 00:21:45,530
(applause)

314
00:21:45,533 --> 00:21:47,863
And that means
we've got a debt to pay.

315
00:21:51,133 --> 00:21:52,803
That means we can't
afford to be cynical.

316
00:21:58,033 --> 00:22:02,263
Half a century later, the
laws LBJ passed are now

317
00:22:02,266 --> 00:22:04,766
as fundamental to our
conception of ourselves

318
00:22:04,767 --> 00:22:08,297
and our democracy as the
Constitution

319
00:22:08,300 --> 00:22:09,300
and the Bill of Rights.

320
00:22:11,467 --> 00:22:15,997
They are foundational; an
essential piece

321
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000
of the American character.

322
00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:22,370
But we are here today
because we know

323
00:22:22,367 --> 00:22:23,637
we cannot be complacent.

324
00:22:25,667 --> 00:22:27,997
For history travels not
only forwards;

325
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,070
history can travel backwards,
history can travel sideways.

326
00:22:34,100 --> 00:22:36,230
And securing the gains
this country

327
00:22:36,233 --> 00:22:40,063
has made requires the vigilance
of its citizens.

328
00:22:43,367 --> 00:22:47,997
Our rights, our freedoms
-- they are not given.

329
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,370
They must be won.

330
00:22:49,367 --> 00:22:51,467
They must be nurtured
through struggle

331
00:22:51,467 --> 00:22:54,137
and discipline, and
persistence and faith.

332
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,700
And one concern I have
sometimes during these

333
00:23:01,700 --> 00:23:06,670
moments, the celebration
of the signing

334
00:23:06,667 --> 00:23:13,767
of the Civil Rights Act, the
March on Washington --

335
00:23:13,767 --> 00:23:14,997
from a distance, sometimes
these

336
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,100
commemorations seem inevitable,
they seem easy.

337
00:23:21,667 --> 00:23:23,897
All the pain and
difficulty

338
00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:29,230
and struggle and doubt -- all
that is rubbed away.

339
00:23:31,533 --> 00:23:33,133
And we look at ourselves
and we say, oh,

340
00:23:33,133 --> 00:23:36,403
things are just too different
now; we couldn't possibly

341
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,430
do what was done then -- these
giants,

342
00:23:39,433 --> 00:23:40,433
what they accomplished.

343
00:23:40,433 --> 00:23:44,733
And yet, they were
men and women, too.

344
00:23:44,734 --> 00:23:47,334
It wasn't easy then.

345
00:23:47,333 --> 00:23:48,663
It wasn't certain then.

346
00:23:56,166 --> 00:23:59,596
Still, the story of
America

347
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,170
is a story of progress.

348
00:24:04,166 --> 00:24:09,166
However slow, however
incomplete, however

349
00:24:09,166 --> 00:24:14,536
harshly challenged at each
point on our journey,

350
00:24:14,533 --> 00:24:20,503
however flawed our
leaders, however many

351
00:24:20,500 --> 00:24:22,470
times we have to take a
quarter of a loaf

352
00:24:22,467 --> 00:24:27,597
or half a loaf -- the story of
America

353
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:28,870
is a story of progress.

354
00:24:32,767 --> 00:24:35,167
And that's true because of
men like

355
00:24:35,166 --> 00:24:37,566
President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

356
00:24:37,567 --> 00:24:48,167
(applause)

357
00:24:48,166 --> 00:24:50,236
In so many
ways, he embodied America,

358
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,030
with all our gifts and
all our flaws,

359
00:24:56,033 --> 00:24:59,003
in all our restlessness and
all our big dreams.

360
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:09,530
This man -- born into
poverty, weaned

361
00:25:09,533 --> 00:25:14,933
in a world full of racial hatred
-- somehow found within

362
00:25:14,934 --> 00:25:20,764
himself the ability to
connect his experience

363
00:25:20,767 --> 00:25:24,237
with the brown child in
a small Texas town;

364
00:25:26,367 --> 00:25:32,367
the white child in Appalachia;
the black child in Watts.

365
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:40,500
As powerful as he became
in that Oval Office,

366
00:25:42,867 --> 00:25:43,867
he understood them.

367
00:25:47,700 --> 00:25:49,200
He understood what it
meant

368
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,630
to be on the outside.

369
00:25:51,633 --> 00:25:56,333
And he believed that their
plight was his plight too;

370
00:25:56,333 --> 00:25:58,403
that his freedom
ultimately was wrapped

371
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,630
up in theirs; and that making
their lives better

372
00:26:02,633 --> 00:26:05,003
was what the hell the
presidency was for.

373
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,000
(applause)

374
00:26:20,033 --> 00:26:21,463
And those
children were on his mind

375
00:26:21,467 --> 00:26:23,767
when he strode to the
podium that night

376
00:26:23,767 --> 00:26:27,667
in the House Chamber, when he
called for the vote

377
00:26:27,667 --> 00:26:28,667
on the Civil Rights law.

378
00:26:31,533 --> 00:26:34,303
"It never occurred to me,"
he said, "in my fondest

379
00:26:34,300 --> 00:26:37,630
dreams that I might have
the chance to help

380
00:26:37,633 --> 00:26:40,233
the sons and daughters of
those students"

381
00:26:40,233 --> 00:26:43,963
that he had taught so many years
ago, "and to help people

382
00:26:43,967 --> 00:26:47,567
like them all
over this country.

383
00:26:47,567 --> 00:26:51,737
But now I do
have that chance.

384
00:26:51,734 --> 00:26:54,934
And I'll let you in on a
secret --

385
00:26:54,934 --> 00:26:56,964
I mean to use it.

386
00:26:56,967 --> 00:27:00,297
And I hope that you
will use it with me."

387
00:27:00,300 --> 00:27:06,270
(applause)

388
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,230
That was
LBJ's greatness.

389
00:27:14,367 --> 00:27:17,997
That's why we
remember him.

390
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,030
And if there is one thing
that he and this year's

391
00:27:20,033 --> 00:27:22,703
anniversary should teach
us, if there's one lesson

392
00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:26,130
I hope that Malia and
Sasha and young people

393
00:27:26,133 --> 00:27:30,403
everywhere learn from this
day, it's that with enough

394
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,330
effort, and enough
empathy, and enough

395
00:27:33,333 --> 00:27:35,363
perseverance, and enough
courage,

396
00:27:37,533 --> 00:27:39,133
people who love their country can change it.

397
00:27:42,767 --> 00:27:46,197
In his final year,
President Johnson stood on

398
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:53,570
this stage, racked with
pain, battered

399
00:27:53,567 --> 00:27:59,697
by the controversies of Vietnam,
looking far older than his

400
00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:03,470
64 years, and he delivered
what would

401
00:28:03,467 --> 00:28:04,937
be his final public speech.

402
00:28:08,500 --> 00:28:10,830
"We have proved that great
progress

403
00:28:10,834 --> 00:28:13,764
is possible," he said.

404
00:28:13,767 --> 00:28:16,167
"We know how much still
remains to be done.

405
00:28:18,233 --> 00:28:19,503
And if our efforts
continue,

406
00:28:19,500 --> 00:28:25,430
and if our will is strong, and
if our hearts are right,

407
00:28:25,433 --> 00:28:29,533
and if courage remains
our constant companion,

408
00:28:29,533 --> 00:28:32,333
then, my fellow Americans, I
am confident,

409
00:28:32,333 --> 00:28:33,363
we shall overcome."

410
00:28:33,367 --> 00:28:39,337
(applause)

411
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,670
We
shall overcome.

412
00:28:52,266 --> 00:28:56,936
We, the citizens of
the United States.

413
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:04,070
Like Dr. King, like
Abraham Lincoln,

414
00:29:04,066 --> 00:29:06,596
like countless citizens who
have driven this country

415
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,100
inexorably forward,
President Johnson knew

416
00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:14,830
that ours in the end is a
story of optimism,

417
00:29:14,834 --> 00:29:17,334
a story of achievement and
constant striving

418
00:29:17,333 --> 00:29:18,903
that is unique upon this Earth.

419
00:29:21,133 --> 00:29:25,133
He knew because he
had lived that story.

420
00:29:25,133 --> 00:29:27,303
He believed that together
we can build an America

421
00:29:27,300 --> 00:29:33,070
that is more fair, more
equal, and more free

422
00:29:33,066 --> 00:29:36,066
than the one we inherited.

423
00:29:36,066 --> 00:29:38,566
He believed we make
our own destiny.

424
00:29:40,967 --> 00:29:44,537
And in part because of
him, we must believe

425
00:29:44,533 --> 00:29:46,603
it as well.

426
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:47,600
Thank you.

427
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:48,600
God bless you.

428
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:50,330
God bless the United
States of America.

429
00:29:50,333 --> 00:29:51,933
(applause)