Read e-book online Freedom's Pragmatist: Lyndon Johnson and Civil Rights PDF

History has classified Lyndon B. Johnson "Lincoln's successor." yet how did a southern president representing a predominately conservative kingdom, with connections to a couple of the nation's prime segregationists, come to play such an influential position in civil rights background? In Freedom's Pragmatist, Sylvia Ellis tracks Johnson's own and political civil rights trip, from his early life and early maturity in Texas to his long profession in Congress and the Senate to his time as vp and president.

Once within the White residence, and confused always by way of grassroots civil rights protests, Johnson made a big contribution to the black freedom battle through his potent use of govt strength. He supplied much-needed ethical management on racial equality; secured the passage of landmark civil rights acts that ended criminal segregation and ensured balloting rights for blacks; driven for affirmative motion; brought antipoverty, schooling, and overall healthiness courses that benefited all; and made vital and symbolic appointments of African americans to key political positions.

Freedom's Pragmatist argues that position, old context, and private ambition are the keys to realizing Johnson on civil rights. And Johnson is vital to figuring out the heritage of civil rights within the usa. Ellis emphasizes Johnson's advanced love-hate dating with the South, his innate compassion for the deprived and dispossessed, and his political instincts and talents that allowed him to understand whilst and the way to enforce racial swap in a divided nation.