CSPAN3 American Artifacts November 29, 2015
Lyndon johnson read before the nation upon the signing of the act on july 2, 1964. This is the copy that was put into the teleprompter. My fellow americans, im about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I want to take this occasion to talk to you about what that law means to every american. 188 years ago this week, a small band of valiant men began a long struggle for freedom. He did six drafts of the speech, and then he added extemporaneously the word long, to indicate the many decades, really centuries in the slow progression towards realizing civil rights. This bill began as a cul...