Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorNovember 25, 2014

After years of race riots in major cities, President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 established the Kerner Commission, shorthand for the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. He wanted to know their causes and how to prevent them. Released in 1968, the report concluded, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — […]

Martin DyckmanApril 14, 2014

Fifty years ago, Congress was moving toward enacting the first meaningful civil rights law. Lyndon Johnson, the masterful president who was about to accomplish what had seemed impossible, was looking for someone to help implement the legislation. The choice would fall on LeRoy Collins, Florida’s former governor. It would toll the end of his political […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 26, 2014

Listening to all the punditry in the wake of the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty has led to one conclusion: Most of the common assumptions Americans have about poverty are dead wrong. Among them: – Most poor people are black. While the poverty rate among African Americans is more than double […]

Tag: Lyndon Johnson
Image via AP.

Stephen Goldstein: 50 years later, Florida remains ‘separate and unequal’

Martin Dyckman: Battle for civil rights cost some politicians their careers

Andrew Skerritt: Most assumptions about the poor are dead wrong