For reasons that are obvious, at a recent editorial meeting topic of conversation swung toward some of the most shocking things ever said by U.S. presidents. Of course Lyndon Baines Johnson’s name quickly popped up.
LBJ, a beer-swilling, blunt-speaking Texan, didn’t shy from using what today we refer to as The N Word. One sentence often attributed to LBJ, which has gained great fame on the internet, is this: “I’ll have those n*ggers voting Democratic for 200 years.”
The line is often trotted out to allege that the civil rights legislation LBJ pushed and ultimately signed was motivated not by altruism but a cynical ploy to lock up votes.
Did LBJ really say that, someone asked at our meeting?
I said I believed the source of the quote was historian Doris Kearn Goodwin’s biography of LBJ, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, and that she was a pretty credible source (despite the plagiarism charges).
The source was not Goodwin, however. I had confused that LBJ quote with this one:
These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.
This quote appears on page 155 of Goodwin’s LBJ biography. The utterance was made to Richard Russell, a fellow Democratic Senator from Georgia.
The source of the “200 years” quote is Ronald Kessler’s 1995 book Inside the White House. Kessler got the quote from Robert MacMillan, an Air Force One steward who said LBJ uttered this comment to two governors during a conversation on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Snopes, a fact-checking website, states “there’s little evidence to back up” the quote.
It’s a strange claim since Snopes admits the quote “wouldn’t have been entirely out of character for LBJ” and other sources corroborated many of the other “juicy tidbits” MacMillan gave Kessler (such as LBJ’s penchant for walking around nude in the presence of others).
So why doubt the quote’s authenticity?
Snopes brings into question MacMillan’s veracity, noting that “Luci Baines Johnson flatly denied MacMillan’s claim that when she was a teenager she once screamed at him to go ‘Find my n*gger’ (i.e., her servant) and threatened to slap him if he didn’t.”
It must not have occurred to Snopes that many people would “flatly deny” such a claim. The fact-checking outfit, which has a notable left-leaning tilt, seems primarily concerned with defending the idea that LBJ’s action on civil rights was anything but “genuine idealism.” They ignore or overlook the following facts to reach this conclusion:
- Kessler’s source is historically sound (a firsthand account from an eyewitness).
- LBJ’s paternal and racist rhetoric toward African Americans (his fondness for the use of the word “n*gger” is well documented) casts some doubt on the idea that his motivations on civil rights were altruistic.
- Luci Baines Johnson, who likely heard her father use racial epithets, would have motivation to deny any racist utterances she might have made.
- Goodwin’s quote confirms that LBJ possessed a well-honed political calculus on the issue of civil rights.
- If LBJ said what MacMillan claimed, MacMillan’s “editorializing” comments, which Snopes frowned upon, make sense. (MacMillan used the words “phony” and “ploy” to characterize LBJ’s motivations on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.)
- Numerous historians have LBJ on the record referring to the Civil Rights Act of 1957 as “the n*gger bill,” a phrase that runs counter to altruism on civil rights.
- One can imagine LBJ saying what MacMillan claims he said, especially if LBJ was trying to whip up support for his bill among reluctant Democrats.
We likely never will know for certain if LBJ said what MacMillan claims, but Snopes’ case falls short of casting serious doubt on the testimony of an eyewitness account.
13 Comments
Dennis Dugan
July 5, 2022, 1:13 amI have an 87 year old friend who can name one of her friends that was in the White House when LBJ made that N*** word comment!
REPLYCal Lawrence@Dennis Dugan
August 10, 2022, 6:12 pmThat’s interesting, Dennis. Given that MacMillan and Kessler claim that LBJ made that comment on Air Force One, NOT in the White House.
REPLYShirley @Dennis Dugan
September 17, 2022, 4:20 pmIf he said it in one place, he wouldn’t have had a problem continually saying it, in his outright ignorance, such as yours now.
REPLYDem Opponent Of Mayra Flores Slammed For Racist And Sexist Attacks Made By Hired Gun Lefty Blogger
July 20, 2022, 4:47 pm[…] racist ways and for decades it has (inexplicably) worked in keeping them voting just the way that LBJ had (allegedly) predicted back when he signed the Civil Rights […]
REPLYrobert newman
September 7, 2022, 12:56 amkeep on voting for your masters,its everybody else who is raciss
REPLYRay Schellenber, MD
October 28, 2022, 9:39 amCalling Snopes a "fact checking website" is hysterical.
REPLYThat’s like saying that a criminal fact checked himself (or the propaganda papers, or the alphabet soup agencies we all know now are bought and paid for and sway one way).
You don’t get to "fact check" your own corruption and call it misinformation, unless you’re quoting Orwell. And then you better get it right.
Joe Cearlock
July 15, 2023, 9:12 pmI've been looking for verification of this quote, and noticed the same issues with the snopes argument. Although I generally agree with your assessment, I would point out something about. They way people spoke in those times compared to now is different, especially in the south I would guess. My grandmother was born and raised in Alabama in the 1930's. Although I didn't here use the N word much as she spent most of her adult life in the north and in a different time than she was born into, when we visited the places of her youth she referred to places with the n word used. For example N** quarters was the part of town where most blacks lived (she did as well for a time). In a past time in the south that is just our people spoke. My point being although we in modern times see the use of the word as malicious and racist, for people in a different time and place it was necessarily malicious or purposely meant to be demeaning. I'm not arguing that LBJ wasn't racist, but I'm arguing that his racisms wasn't necessarily fueled by any type of hate like the modern use of the work might be seen as. My grandmother was a southern democrat in her time who disagreed with the Jim Crow laws and segregation of her time, but still at times used the N word or similar words as that was the culture of the south in that time. Based on this understanding I'd argue that LBJ could be both a racist and a defender equality under the law. In modern leftist racial positions there is a tendency in some to view minorities as needing the help from those with white privilege. This in itself is racist in some ways as it assumes minorities can't help themselves with out white people. I'd argue it is mostly an unconscious belief in white superiority that manifests as an attempt to care for the poor minorities. I think this might be the case with LBJ. It's not black and white, but complicated. It's doing the right thing but knowing that by doing so your political team will benefit greatly. LBJ didn't just pass the civil rights act, but also the food stamp act which at that stage was allowed for people to become dependent on the government. In practice the other legislation he signed set up a system in which poor people could become dependent on the state and have no incentive to become independent, and in turn those people would vote for the Democratic party which would in practice would do exactly what the quote said with the 200 years part yet to be determined.
REPLYKg@Joe Cearlock
October 25, 2023, 8:18 amWow. You literally just contradicted the whole advocating of rights statement at the end. If all the things you have mentioned were set in place for the reasons of dependency on government for votes….. thats malice. I will also mention that planned parenthood and the idea of pro choice is a tool for keeping the black pop down. Face it, Dems lost the civil war and will continue to exploit in the name of virtue to reclaim what they lost. Except its not subject to one race this time…
REPLYmcsam@Kg
October 6, 2024, 7:32 pmDuring the 1960s and 1970s, the Indian Health Service (IHS) and associated physicians engaged in sterilizations of Native American women, often without their informed consent. Some women were deceived into thinking these procedures were reversible. Others underwent sterilization without fully understanding or consenting, including minors as young as 11 years old. Similar practices affected black women and poor white women. As awareness grew, Family Planning centers were terminating pregnancies. Young, impoverished couples seeking help at these centers were provided with birth control pills and condoms but received no actual planning guidance. This affected my sister, aunt, and their spouses.
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