By the time this assignment is due, Joseph Biden Jr will be the President of the United States. Although this is no longer an issue among the media, but prior to his old boss Barack Obama winning the presidency in 2008, no US senator had been elevated to the Oval Office since Lyndon Johnson, who served from 1963 to 1969. And if there’s a person that Biden could be compared to, it’s indeed Lyndon Johnson. And as far as domestic legislation is concerned, we should hope the comparison is apt.
Joe Biden’s 36 years in the US Senate led to few signature accomplishmentsthe most noteworthy being the 1994 Crime Bill, which included the Violence Against Women Actbut plenty of goodwill with his fellow senators despite never staying late to party. But whereas Biden’s reputation hinged on being a person of impeccable moral character, Johnson’s relationships enabled him to be a skilled negotiator and deal maker.
For all the potential obstruction or resistance to civil rights legislation, Johnson did something few presidents would do: pass socially progressive legislation knowing full well the backlash would haunt him, his party, and the country far into the future. But he was able to get that legislation passed because of the relationships he had built on Capitol Hill (where Congress meets) after 12 years in the senate, half of those as senate majority leader. He moved up the ranks that fast because of his ability to work build coalitions and broker dealers across all barriers, with a folksiness and sincerity so unique that historian Robert Caro called Johnson the “Master of the Senate.”
At the same time, history is contextual. If we’re constantly being told that it’s the elites who make history, then we’re more likely to discount or ignore the role activists and community members played in historical change. It’s no accident that Barack Obama was able to wrestle away the Black vote from Hillary Clinton back in 2008 in no small part because she adopted a very defensive stance when Obama wanted to give credit to regular (i.e. African American) people for making the Civil Rights Movement a success. Here’s the quote:
I would point to the fact that that Dr. Kings dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when he was able to get through Congress something that President Kennedy was hopeful to do, the president before had not even tried, but it took a president to get it done, she said. That dream became a reality, the power of that dream became real in peoples lives because we had a president who said we are going to do it and actually got it accomplished.
Besides being insensitive to the legacy of Dr. King, Senator Hillary Clinton’s remarks do little service to the cause of historical accuracy and historical truth. While it did technically require a president to sign a bill into law, but that statement belittles the decades-long struggle that made it possible for Johnsonand not any of his predecessorsto sign the legislation. Using American football as a metaphor, even if Johnson helped the movement get those last 20 yards before crossing the goal line, those folks who moved the ball the rest of the way downfield deserve some credit, too.
To assume that progress happens merely when the right leader comes along would be shocked at what happened in the most recent US presidential election. Joe Biden didn’t earn the most votes in US history because he was an transcendent inspirational figure or the best senator or best vice president ever or had the most passionate supporters. Those distinctions would’ve applied to other candidates, Instead, a 77-year-old man who has certainly lost a step accomplished the near-impossible because America at large was sick and tired of Donald Trump. Joe won in red states like Arizona and Georgia because enough Republicans and Independents had given up on Trump, while he reclaimed swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania for the same reason. This is in addition to sky high Democratic turnout, especially in the major metropolitan areas.
If Joe Biden signs any major progressive legislation, it wasn’t because he was the leader of the movement. He didn’t stand for any particular policy goals beyond a generic Democratic platform. He was simply the guy who people thought could beat back Donald Trump.
As you watch the film and post to this discussion forum, please address the following questions:
1. If you didn’t know who Lyndon Johnson was, what impression would you have of him after watching this movie?
2. If you didn’t know who Martin Luther King was, what impression would you have of him after watching this movie?
3. If you were teaching a class about the Civil Rights Movement, which one of these films would you rather show to your students? Pick one and explain why.
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