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The civil rights movement succeeded in conjuring up a lot [American flag waving]

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of new civil rights legislation, and yes it took a lot of nudging prodding

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protesting and maybe a few back rubs. But Congress in the White House did [Arms poking and rubbing the back of Uncle Sam]

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gradually get behind the cause. How? Well let's examine we'll start with president

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Dwight D Eisenhower, most historians agree that Eisenhower did a good job as

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president but he was hesitant to put the full weight of the federal government [Hand ticking things off on a 'presidential to do list'

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behind the civil rights movement. He was up for supporting equal voting rights

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and he did sign the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law but still [Eisenhower signing the Civil Rights Act]

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when it came to guaranteeing that African-Americans could get to the polls the law

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fizzled like a wet firework. It left hundreds of thousands of [Underwhelming firework goes off]

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African-Americans in the south with no political voice. Alright well next up to

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the presidential plate was John F Kennedy, JFK. Kennedy promised Americans a

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new frontier and argued for a bunch of domestic social programs from raising [JFK at a meeting]

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the minimum wage, to increasing federal aid for education. Well the one thing

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missing from this progressive platform was any firm stance on the issue of [JFK giving a speech on TV]

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racial inequality. All right well the truth is that at first JFK was actually

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a lukewarm supporter of civil rights. There were tons of Southern Democrats [JFK sat in a restaurant]

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who had spit in their grits before they let more civil rights legislation pass

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and JFK wasn't so sure he wanted to go up against his own party. Eventually

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though JFK turned a corner pretty sure he was helped around that corner by a [JFK walking as an arm shoves him]

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firm shove from the great Martin Luther King Jr. Well as MLK's nonviolent

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movement gained steam JFK couldn't help but be swept up in it. He supported with [JFK on the top of a fast freight train]

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federal troops when things turned ugly on the campus of Ole Miss. He supported

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the march on Washington and watched as two weeks later a bomb killed four

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little girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. Well in 1963 he said that racism

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has no place in American life or law and with this declaration he threw his [JFK giving a speech]

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support behind a large-scale civil rights bill that was aimed at ending

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discrimination in public facilities integrating all public schools and

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providing protection for black voters. Don't go pulling those [Confetti falls over the Civil Rights Bill]

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party poppers yet the Southern Democrats were just itching to be party poopers

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which is kind of a gross term when you think about it but anyway... The southern [Pony walks into a party and poops on the floor]

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dems blocked the bill since civil rights was a nasty phrase to them. Nowhere near

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as genteel at institutional racism, but JFK never got to continue the good fight

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he was assassinated later that year, it was up to his successor Lyndon B Johnson

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to pick up the torch. Well LBJ who was also cool enough to be referred to by [LBJ swearing in as president]

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his initials, demanded a vote on Kennedy's civil rights bill. This time on a wave of

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sympathy for JFK's murder the bill passed. The fight was a force far from

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over, but the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a huge step forward for [LBJ signing the act]

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the civil rights movement it was the farthest reaching civil rights

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legislation ever passed in America, it essentially told Jim Crow to go take a

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hike. Meaning you know that he should leave not that he should eat granola ['Jim Crow' walking in the woods and eating granola]

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while taking a pleasant walk in the woods...

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