Would Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson allow Nixon to get a win on Civil Rights, especially if he plans on running for the 1964 Democratic nomination? He may want to hold off on it so he could sign it himself once in office in 1965.
Would Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson allow Nixon to get a win on Civil Rights, especially if he plans on running for the 1964 Democratic nomination? He may want to hold off on it so he could sign it himself once in office in 1965.
I doubt he'd be the one to stop it. It would likely be stopped by other powerful southerners before it got to him. It may not even get past committee.
More than likely he works hard for it. If he tries to block it, it will play into the national stereotype of Southron political leaders, that LBJ was working so hard to distance himself from throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Working with Nixon to get the bill passed would show Johnson as a Southron liberal, willing to cross the aisle to work with Republicans for the greater good, and would allow him to paint himself in a heroic light. I doubt Johnson would pass up the chance, especially when the alternative narrative could be disastrous for him on the national level.
Of course LBJ wouldn't be seen as stopping it. But he wouldn't go out of his way to push it through Congress as well.
I disagree. He wouldn't actively work to block it, but wouldn't work to push it through either. I think he would hold off so he could take credit for it after getting elected President in 1964.
I doubt he'd be the one to stop it. It would likely be stopped by other powerful southerners before it got to him. It may not even get past committee.