LBJ Page #9

President Kennedy's vision...

...a reality.

Just checking to see if you need anything.

I don't understand what you want this to be.

Is it supposed to be a speech...

- ...or a eulogy...?

- Both.

A country's final goodbye

to President Kennedy...

...and its first introduction

to President Johnson.

It's a eulogy, it's an opening statement...

...it's a State of the Union,

it's an inaugural address.

And you have less than 21 hours to write it.

Do you really believe

he can accomplish all this?

I do.

How can he?

The same way he always has.

You are as worthless as porkless pig.

Now get me the goddamn list!

Senator Dirksen's office said he can stop by.

- I'll go to him.

- Mr. President...

...I need to know your thinking on Vietnam.

My thinking on Vietnam is that

I don't wanna think about Vietnam.

You stayed on the line to wait for me

to hang up on you?

- Rusk needs 10 minutes.

- He can have them in 20.

- There's gonna be a Southern filibuster.

- What's the count on cloture?

- About 56.

- You can leave about now.

Trust me, Bob.

I am not gonna be the president to let

Southeast Asia fall to the communists.

When I ask for a number,

I need a goddamn number.

Senator Dirksen,

this civil rights bill will have its day.

Oh, it's gonna have more than its day, sir.

There's going to be all-out war,

and I need men.

Men with principle.

Because the Southerners in my party,

most of them anyway...

...are gonna rise up against us.

Now, Senator Yarborough, are you up for that?

It is my sincere hope that the Republicans...

...the party of Lincoln...

...fire the final shot.

Sir, I serve at your pleasure.

Good.

This is your f***ing mess I'm cleaning up.

Good to see you, Dick.

How you getting along?

Why don't we have a drink?

No.

No, I... I think I'm done drinking with you.

You hurt the very people

who made you who you are.

And for what?

Civil rights is an idea whose time has come.

This will define your presidency.

I can only hope.

You're willing to hitch your wagon

to the outcome of this bill?

We've been talking about this forever,

and we never say a damn thing.

Well... What...? What do you wanna say?

That you're gonna turn your back on me?

That you don't care about

everything I've done for you?

- That you're willing to betray me?

- That you're a racist.

All your talk about the Southern way of

life and loving the negra as your brother...

...and all the while, you plot against him

like he is a sworn enemy.

I don't care where we're standing.

No man is gonna talk to me like that.

You are a good man, Dick.

World-class.

I admire you more than any man alive.

But you are wrong on this.

You are just plain wrong.

I'm gonna fight you

with everything that I have.

Fine. Fight me.

But not in here.

And not in backrooms in hushed conversation.

Fight me on the floor

of the United States Senate...

...in front of the entire world.

And on that battlefield...

...let each man write his own legacy.

Time to go.

Try not to look at the Southern Caucus

when talking about civil rights.

How will he know where they're sitting?

Don't worry. I'll spot them.

They'll be the ones not clapping.

Are you ready, sir?

Yes.

Mr. Speaker.

The president of the United States.

Mr. President.

Good, Mr. President.

Mr. President.

Mr. Speaker.

Mr. President.

Members of the House,

Members of the Senate...

...my fellow Americans.

All I have...

...I would have given gladly

not to be standing here today.

The greatest leader of our time...

...has been struck down...

...by the foulest deed of our time.

Today...

...John Fitzgerald Kennedy lives on.

He lives on in the mind

and memories of mankind.

He lives on in the hearts of his countrymen.

No words are sad enough...

...to express our sense of loss.

No words are strong enough...

...to express our determination...

...to continue...

...the forward thrust...

...of America that he began.

An assassin's bullet has thrust upon me...

...the awesome burden of the presidency.

And in this critical moment...

...it is our duty...

...yours and mine...

...as the government of the United States...

...to do away with uncertainty

and doubt and delay...

...and to show that we are capable

of decisive action.

That from the brutal loss of our leader...

...we will derive not weakness...

...but strength.

John Kennedy's death commands

what his life conveyed:

That America must move forward.

The time has come...

...for Americans of all races and creeds...

...and political beliefs...

...to understand...

...and to respect one another.

So let us put an end to the teaching...

...and the preaching of hate and evil...

...and violence.

I profoundly hope...

...that the tragedy and the torment

of these terrible days...

...will bind us together in new fellowship...

...making us one people

in our hour of sorrow.

So let us, here, highly resolve...

...that John Fitzgerald Kennedy

did not live...

...or die in vain.

No memorial oration or eulogy

could more eloquently honor...

...President Kennedy's memory...

...than the earliest possible passage

of the civil rights bill...

...for which he fought so long.

We have talked long enough

in this country about equal rights.

We have talked for 100 years or more.

It is time now to write the next chapter...

...and to write it in the books of law.

On the 20th day of January, in 19 and 61...

...John F. Kennedy told his countrymen...

...that our national work...

...would not be finished

in the first thousand days...

...nor in the life of this administration.

Nor even perhaps

in our lifetime on this planet.

But he said:

"Let us begin."

Today...

...in this moment of new resolve...

...I would say to all my fellow Americans:

Let us continue.

Sir, we need to move beyond

civil rights and start thinking about...

...whatever else it is that we aim to do.

Well, if we've learned anything

from President Kennedy...

...it's that life is precious

and time is fleeting.

And I don't intend to waste either.

Mistakes will be made,

but inaction won't be one of them.

John Kennedy gave people hope.

Now we are gonna give them results.

Let's get to work.

- Thank you, Mr. President.

- Thank you.

Sir, I have the request from McNamara.

Can I get your signature right there?

Excuse me, Mr. President.

This is the brief...

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