Recognizing the 100th birthday of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President, designer of the Great Society, politician, educator, and civil rights enforcer.

I thank the distinguished gentleman from Virginia and I thank him for his words of tribute, as I thank the distinguished gentleman from Iowa for his words of tribute, two distinguished gentlemen, and of course the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Conyers and Mr. Smith.

I rise today with great enthusiasm to be able to commemorate this year, the 100th birthday of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. I am glad that Mr. King offered the fact that much of the legislation that was monumental, there was bipartisan support. That was a talent of Lyndon Baines Johnson. He managed to craft a legislative agenda as a President that was remarkable, I would say unbelievable, and he did it by reaching across the aisle.

So I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 354, commemorating President Lyndon Baines Johnson on the occasion of his centennial birthday celebration. I am proud to offer this legislation and to note that the President's official birth date is August 27, 1908. This will give us the opportunity to commemorate his legacy from this time until the month of August. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation is celebrating, however, the remarkable life and Presidency of this great man beginning today and the celebration will culminate with his family members and fellow former cabinet members and staff and supporters and Members of Congress, House and Senate, on this Wednesday, when the Senate will pass this concurrent resolution honoring President Johnson.

It is an honor to recognize President Lyndon Baines Johnson, not simply because he was President, but because he represented an era, because he convened a time in America that was troubled. But he was a true champion of civil rights for all Americans and he led the Nation during very turbulent political times, from the Civil Rights movement, the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Vietnam War.

But he was a teacher by profession in Texas. He proudly served the 10th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He was a commissioned officer in the Navy and valiantly served in World War II. He was a renaissance man, he was a whole man, he was an American person, an American man, if you will. During World War II he was conferred the Silver Star, the military's third highest medal, by General Douglas MacArthur.

He was a United States Senator and served as both minority and majority leader. He holds the current distinction of being the youngest Senate majority leader at the age of 46. He was also Vice President, head of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, and President of the United States.

As President, as was noted, he nominated historically the first African American, the first minority to be nominated to the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, who, of course, we all know argued that premier and prominent case civil rights legacy, Brown v. Board of Education, to the United States Supreme Court. All the world took note that this southern President from Texas could nominate an African American to the Supreme Court. That was Lyndon Baines Johnson.

He was truly a great Texan and a great patriot and a great American. He was a devoted husband to Lady Bird Johnson, and we acknowledged her passing sadly this year, and, of course, a father to his two beloved children, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb. History shows us that beside this giant of an a man, this historic legend, there were three great women.

President Johnson never forgot his beginnings in Texas. My predecessor in Congress, the incomparable Honorable Barbara Jordan of the 18th Congressional District in Texas, developed a good working relationship with President Johnson, and he appointed her to serve on the Commission on Income Maintenance in 1968.

In addition, after the 1965 Voting Rights Act was created, she along with many African Americans ascended to the United States Congress, for the Honorable Barbara Jordan had run before and had lost. With the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the redistricting that came about, she was able to be elected to the United States Congress, along with Andy Young, and the rest is history, as we have seen the numbers of African Americans and Hispanics come to the United States Congress, creating a more equal balance because of this legislation.

Of course, Barbara Jordan in 1968 amended the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by adding Spanish language. Later Barbara Jordan would serve as a professor at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and she would accept an appointment to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy at the university.

As a teacher, Johnson believed segregation condemned the South to educational and economic backwardness. I think it is important to note, as I said earlier, he was a son of the south. This was a very difficult stance to take. He took it out of his heart. He did not agree with segregation, and coming to the United States Congress and Senate, it freed him to do what was right.

In 1937, Johnson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a liberal New Dealer allied with Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Johnson commemorated his legislative life in tribute to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I truly believe, because he led on the War on Poverty.

Johnson successfully championed civil rights when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1948. Even then, as I said, as a son of the south, he was unashamed of his belief against segregation. In 1957, when a civil rights bill came before Congress, Johnson favored the bill and worked hard behind the scenes to win its passage. He moved from one side to the other, persuading southern Democrats and northern liberals to compromise. The Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation to pass since reconstruction, was

signed by President Eisenhower in September 1957. Civil right was bipartisan in this body, and President Johnson knew that.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy invited Johnson to join the Democratic presidential ticket as his running mate. Some would say there could not be two more different individuals. But what a match, what a wonderful match. And they went on to victory. As they went on to victory, they showed the world that different viewpoints can be united.

When Johnson met Dr. Martin Luther King a few days after Kennedy's assassination, Dr. King told Johnson that racial tensions could no longer be tempered by compromise. Johnson appreciated King's powers of persuasion and decided to utilize his experience to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Dr. King and President Johnson continued to work closely to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act.

It was difficult times. There were agreements and disagreements. But, lo and behold, the great and wonderful hopeful dream of Dr. Martin Luther King did his work and asked that President Johnson do his work, and together they did their work for America.

Reminiscing on the trials and triumphs on her young years in the White House, his daughter Luci Baines Johnson stated that her legacy from the White House days were ``a thousand friendships, a deep and abiding love of country and public service, a passion for learning, and the recognition that getting in life is truly to be found in the giving and the belief that I should try to live each day as if it is my last.''

President Johnson signed these bills into law, as I indicated: the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Open Housing Act. President Johnson started Head Start, Job Corps and Medicare, among many others. And if you look at his time in Congress and his time as President, you will find not just a Presidency, but you will find an era.

It is amazing the bills that President Johnson passed. I simply want to take note of them and will place into the Record two pages of legislation under the auspices and the administration of Lyndon Baines Johnson that included so many bills, the Kennedy Cultural Center, the Urban Mass Transit, Food Stamps, housing acts, Head Start and others.

We understand we are going into a hot summer, a summer where youth are looking for jobs. President Johnson offered Job Corps, Youth Jobs, Medicare for those who are up in years, and, of course, he declared the War on Poverty, the first President to do so. He developed 40 programs to eliminate poverty, and his programs were intended to improve the living conditions of all Americans.

Of course, he was a great educator. His daughter Lynda Robb once stated, ``But daddy wasn't as interested in the numbers of laws he helped enact as he was in the number of lives that he helped to enrich.''

I just want to show this body some of the pictures that show the working relationship with major civil rights leaders that worked closely with the President on these civil rights laws. It shows the passion that he had, that he was a-hands-on President.

As he met with Dr. Martin Luther King, this picture shows him giving the pen which he signed the 1964-1965 bill, and as well the signing ceremonies that took place during that time. This, of course, shows Barbara Jordan and Vernon Jordan who stood with the President on many, many issues.

Let me close by simply acknowledging one of the greatest moments I think this Congress had a chance to witness, and that was the President's speech to Congress as he dealt with this question of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. As he spoke to the Speaker and to the Members of Congress, he said, ``I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors from every section of this country to join me in that cause. At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.''

The President opened up his words by suggesting that we could do this together. These are his final words.

``So I ask you to join me in working long hours, nights and weekends, if necessary, to pass this bill. And I don't make that request lightly. For from the window where I sit, with the problems of our country, I recognize that outside this Chamber is the outraged conscience of a nation, the grave concern of many nations, and the harsh judgment of history on our acts.'' And, of course, he said ``We shall overcome.''

Mr. Speaker, I would say to you that President Lyndon Baines Johnson was the President of the United States, but he represents the compilation of all the dreams and aspirations of many who could not speak for themselves. He embraced the civil rights leaders. He understood as a son of the South that he could make a difference. He reached across the aisle and counted every vote. He knew how tough it was going to be to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and then ultimately after the violence of Selma, the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

He opened the doors to many of us. I stand here as a true testimony to all that he has done. All of us who have had the doors of education opened, the doors of political process opened, the doors of poverty removed, opened and then shut, owe that to President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

I started by saying that he is not just a President, but it is an era which we should remember. Joseph Califano said it is not a President that should be forgotten, but should be remembered. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation, and I ask them to do so enthusiastically.

Mr. Speaker, I include the list of legislation mentioned earlier:

Landmark Laws of the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration

1963

College Facilities, Clean Air, Vocational Education, Indian

Vocational Training, and Manpower Training.

1964

Inter-American Development Bank, Kennedy Cultural Center,

Tax Reduction, Presidential Transition, Federal Airport Aid,

Farm Program, Chamizal Convention, Pesticide Controls,

International Development Association, and Civil Rights Act

of 1964.

Campobello International Park, Urban Mass Transit, Water

Resources Research, Federal Highway, Civil Service Pay Raise,

War on Poverty, Criminal Justice, Truth-in-Securities,

Medicine Bow National Forest, and Ozark Scenic Riverway.

Administrative Conference, Fort Bowie Historic Site, Food

Stamp, Housing Act, Interest Equalization, Wilderness Areas,

Nurse Training, Revenues for Recreation, Fire Island National

Seashore, Library Services, and Federal Employee Health

Benefits.

1965

Medicare, Aid to Education, Higher Education, Four Year

Farm Program, Department of Housing and Urban Development,

Housing Act, Social Security Increase, Deaf-Blind Center,

College Work Study, and Rail Strike Settlement.

Voting Rights, Fair Immigration Law, Older Americans,

Heart, Cancer, Stroke Program, Law Enforcement Assistance,

National Crime Commission, Drug Controls, Mental Health

Facilities, Health Professions, and Medical Libraries.

Vocational Rehabilitation, Anti-Poverty Program, Arts and

Humanities Foundation, Aid to Appalachia, Highway Beauty,

Clean Air, Water Pollution Control, High Speed Transit,

Manpower Training, and Presidential Disability.

Child Health, Regional Development, Aid to Small

Businesses, Weather-Predicting Services, Military Pay

Increase, GI Life Insurance, Community Health Services, Water

Resources Council, Water Desalting, and Assateague National

Seashore.

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Delaware Water Gap

Recreation Area, Juvenile Delinquency Control, Arms Control,

Strengthening U.N. Charter, International Coffee Agreement,

and Retirement for Public Servants.

1966

Food for India, Child Nutrition, Department of

Transportation, Truth in Packaging, Model Cities, Rent

Supplements, Teachers Corps, Asian Development Bank, Clean

Rivers, Aid-to-Handicapped Children, Redwoods Park, and

Flaming Gorge Recreation Area.

Food for Freedom, Child Safety, Narcotics Rehabilitation,

Traffic Safety, Highway Safety, Mine Safety, International

Education, Bail Reform, Tire Safety, New GI Bill, and Minimum

Wage Increase.

Urban Mass Transit, Civil Procedure Reform, Federal Highway

Aid, Military Medicare, Public Health Reorganization, Cape

Lookout Seashore, Water Research, Guadalupe National Park,

Revolutionary War Bicentennial, and Fish-Wildlife

Preservation.

Water for Peace, Anti-Inflation Program, Scientific

Knowledge Exchange, Cultural Materials Exchange, Foreign

Investors Tax, Parcel Post Reform, Civil Service Pay Raise,

Stockpile Sales, Participation Certificates, Protection for

Savings, Flexible Interest Rates, and Freedom of Information.

1967

Education Professions, Education Act, Air Pollution

Control, Partnership for Health, Social Security Increases,

Age Discrimination, Wholesome Meat, Flammable Fabrics, Urban

Research, and Public Broadcasting.

Outer Space Treaty, Modern D.C. Government, Vietnam

Veterans Benefits, Federal Judicial Center, Civilian-Postal

Workers Pay, Summer Youth Programs, Food Stamps, Selective

Service, Urban Fellowships, and Consular Treaty.

Safety At Sea Treaty, Narcotics Treaty, Anti-Racketeering,

Product Safety Commission, Small Business Aid, and Inter-

American Bank.

1968

Fair Housing, Indian Bill of Rights, Safe Streets,

Wholesome Poultry, Food for Peace, Commodity Exchange Rules,

U.S. Grain Standards, School Breakfasts, Bank Protection, and

Defense Production.

Corporate Takeovers, Export Program, Gold Cover Removal,

Truth-in-Lending, Aircraft Noise Abatement, Auto Insurance

Study, New Narcotics Bureau, Gas Pipeline Safety, Fire

Safety, and Sea Grant Colleges.

D.C. School Board, Tax Surcharge, Better Housing,

International Monetary Reform, International Grains Treaty,

Oil Revenues for Recreation, Virgin Islands Elections, San

Rafael Wilderness, San Gabriel Wilderness, and Fair Federal

Juries.

Candidate Protection, Juvenile Delinquency Prevention,

Guaranteed Student Loans, D.C. Visitors Center, FHA-VA

Interest Rate Program, Health Manpower, Eisenhower College,

Gun Controls, Biscayne Park, and Heart, Cancer, and Stroke

Programs.

Hazardous Radiation Protection, Colorado River Reclamation,

Scenic Rivers, Scenic Trails, National Water Commission,

Federal Magistrates, Vocational Education, Veterans Pension

Increases, North Cascades Park, International Coffee

Agreement, Intergovernmental Manpower, Dangerous Drugs

Control, and Military Justice Code.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 354, commemorating President Lyndon Baines Johnson on the occasion of his centennial birthday celebration. I am pleased to have the opportunity of being the original author of this resolution along with 59 House sponsors.

I note that the President's official birthdate is August 27, 1908. However, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation is celebrating the remarkable life and presidency of this great man beginning today, and the celebration will culminate on this Wednesday when the Senate will pass its resolution honoring President Johnson. I would like to thank my staff for the hard work on this resolution.

It is an honor to recognize President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He was a true champion of civil rights for all Americans, and he led the Nation during very turbulent political times from the Civil Rights Movement, the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, and the Vietnam war.

He was a teacher by profession in Texas. He proudly served the 10th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He was a commissioned officer in the Navy and valiantly served in World War II, and was conferred the Silver Star, the military's third highest medal, by General Douglas MacArthur. He was a United States Senator and served as both Minority and Majority leader. He holds the current distinction of being the youngest Senate majority leader at the age of 46. He was also Vice President, head of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, and President of the United States.

As President, he nominated Thurgood Marshall as the first African- American to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

He was truly a great Texan. He was a devoted husband to Lady Bird Johnson and a father to his two beloved children: Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb. These women give new meaning to the old adage, behind every great man is a great woman. History shows us that beside this giant, this historic legend, there were three great women.

President Johnson never forgot his beginnings in Texas. My predecessor in Congress, the incomparable Honorable Barbara Jordan of the 18th Congressional District in Texas, developed a good working relationship with President Johnson and he appointed her to serve on the Commission on Income Maintenance in 1968. Later, she would serve as professor at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and she would accept an appointment to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy at the University.

As a teacher, Johnson believed segregation condemned the South to educational and economic backwardness. In 1937, Johnson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a liberal New Dealer allied with Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Johnson successfully championed civil rights when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1948.

In 1957, when a civil rights bill came before Congress, Johnson favored the bill and worked hard behind the scenes to win its passage. He moved from one side to the other, persuading southern Democrats and northern liberals to compromise. The Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation to pass since Reconstruction, was signed by President Eisenhower in September 1957.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy invited Johnson to join the Democratic presidential ticket as his running mate. Johnson pushed the more liberal Kennedy to go further and faster on civil rights.

When Johnson met with Dr. Martin Luther King a few days after Kennedy's assassination, Dr. King told Johnson that racial tensions could no longer be tempered by compromise. Johnson, who appreciated King's powers of persuasion, decided to utilize his experience to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Dr. King and President Johnson continued to work closely to pass the Voting Rights of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act.

Reminiscing on the trials and triumphs on her young years in the White House, his daughter Luci Baines Johnson stated that her legacy from the White House days were ``a thousand friendships, a deep and abiding love of country and public service, a passion for learning, the recognition that the getting in life is truly to be found in the giving and the belief that I should try to live each day as if it is my last.''

Over a quarter century ago, while delivering the commencement address at Howard University on June 4, 1965, President Johnson posed this question: ``. . . what is justice?'' His response was ``It is to fulfill the fair expectations of man.''

Throughout his life and administration, President Johnson sought justice for all Americans. His administration produced the greatest outpouring of legislation in America's history. Laws were enacted to end discrimination and to fight poverty, to provide medical care to the old and to extend educational opportunities to the young. In addition, acts were passed to clean the air and water and reverse the pollution of decades, to preserve precious land for public recreation and to protect the natural beauty of the continent. Legislation protected the consumer in the marketplace and enabled art, music and theater to be brought to all parts of America.

President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Open Housing Act of 1968. These Acts removed the barriers that restricted African Americans from using restaurants, restrooms, theaters, and other public accommodations; assured all citizens their constitutional right to vote; and provided African Americans and other minorities with the freedom to decide where they would live.

President Johnson started Head Start, Job Corps, and Medicare, among many other landmark pieces of legislation and programs. With his Head Start initiative, 4 and 5-year old children from disadvantaged families attended classes and were provided with nourishing meals and medical attention, and a chance to learn in schools.

Job Corps taught young men and women trades and vocational skills that would enable them to lead productive lives.

His Medicare initiative provided health care to all Americans over 65. With the passage of the Medicare Act, the threat of financial doom was lifted from senior citizens, and also from the sons and daughters who might also otherwise have been burdened with the responsibility for their parent's care.

His undertaking on the War on Poverty was expansive. He developed 40 programs to eliminate poverty, and his programs were intended not just to improve living conditions but to enable people trapped in the perpetual cycle of poverty the opportunity to lift themselves up out of poverty and improve their own conditions.

President Johnson also added a prodigious number of laws that extended education to young people. ``More than 60 education laws were part of the vast number of legislative measures that made up the Great Society,'' his daughter, Lynda Robb once stated. ``But Daddy wasn't as interested in the number of laws he helped enact as he was in the number of lives those laws help enrich.'' Luci Baines Johnson stated, ``Nothing meant more to my father than education.''

Today we celebrate the life of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He has given America many legislative victories. Importantly, his legislation had important elements of self-help that provided the people it was intended to serve with the opportunity to work to improve their own condition. Indeed, President Johnson ensured that all Americans would be assured their constitutional freedoms and that all Americans would enjoy the triumph against oppression and injustice. As President Johnson rightly said, quoting Winston Churchill on another triumph for freedom, ``it is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. That beginning is freedom and the barriers to that freedom are tumbling down.

President Johnson's administration made tremendous strides in the garnering of civil rights of all Americans. Let us be reminded that the barriers to freedom are still tumbling. Indeed, it is not yet the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning. The nation owes the end of the beginning to the leadership, foresight, and effectiveness of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. President Johnson and his administration have started the Nation on its trek to assure civil rights and freedoms to all, but the battle is not yet won, and we must continue to march on, in the courageous spirit of President Johnson, until victory is won, and all people are free.

In his very eloquent speech to the full Congress, President Johnson echoed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous words, ``We Shall Overcome.'' President Johnson's delivered his speech on March 15, 1965, a week after deadly racial violence erupted in Selma, Alabama, as African Americans were attacked by police while preparing to march to Montgomery to protest voting rights discrimination.

In his speech, President Johnson challenged the members of Congress, by stating ``I want this to be the Congress--Republicans and Democrats alike--which did all these things for all these people. Beyond this great chamber--out yonder--in fifty states are the people that we serve. Who can tell what deep and unspoken hopes are in their hearts tonight as they sit there and listen? We all can guess, from our own lives, how difficult they often find their own pursuit of happiness, how many problems each little family has. They look most of all to themselves for their future, but I think that they also look to each of us.''

This speech was historic not only in what it asked of Congress, but also, what it asked of the American people. I encourage everyone to read the text of this historic address in its entirety.

I will close with the words that President Johnson delivered in his historic commencement speech on June 4, 1965 before Howard University:

``The Scripture promises: `I shall light a candle of understanding in thine heart, which shall not be put out.' Together, and with millions more, we can light that candle of understanding in the heart of all America. And, once lit, it will never again go out.''

President Johnson has lit the candle, let us today continue to carry it and make sure that it will never go out.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 354) recognizing the 100th birthday of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President, designer of the Great Society, politician, educator, and civil rights enforcer.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, August 27 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of the United States. President Johnson served his home State of Texas and this Nation during some of the most tumultuous and extraordinary years of our history. From the Great Depression, to the New Deal, to World War II, to the Civil Rights Era, President Lyndon Johnson shaped the events and left this Nation more prosperous, more just, and more free.

Joining the House in 1937, his life embodied the values of the New Deal, progressive values that sought to secure for all Americans President Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom of want, and freedom from fear. In his own Presidency, the programs of the Great Society were the most ambitious of any administration before or since the New Deal.

In his 1964 State of the Union Address, President Johnson launched an unconditional war on poverty. As a former teacher, he understood the central importance of education. And so he said, ``It is our primary weapon in the war on poverty, and the principal tool for building a Great Society.''

Among his key accomplishments in the field of education were Project Head Start, still one of the most successful education programs; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and the Higher Education Act of 1965. As a son of Texas' Hill Country, he also understood the importance of economic security. He told the Nation, ``The second prong on the attack on poverty is to protect individuals and their families from poverty when their own earnings are insufficient because of age, disability, unemployment, or other family circumstances.''

The programs he launched included the Social Security Amendments of 1965 and 1967; the Revenue Act of 1964, which lowered the withholding tax on middle-income workers from 18 percent to 14 percent; the Minimum Wage Bill of 1966, which broadened the Federal minimum wage and overtime pay protection and lifted the minimum wage from $1.25 to $1.60 per hour; the School Breakfast Program; the Special Milk Program; and the Food Stamp Program of 1964, which this House recently voted to expand by a bipartisan veto-proof margin.

The third weapon in the War on Poverty was job creation. President Johnson once said, ``Our American answer to poverty is not to make the poor more secure in their poverty but to reach down and to help them lift themselves out of the ruts of poverty and move with the large majority along the high road of hope and prosperity.'' The programs included the Job Corps; the College Work Study Program; the Neighborhood Youth Corps; the Work Experience Program; and the Manpower Act.

Some of the greatest accomplishments were, of course, the Civil Rights Era. More than any other President, he was a guiding force behind the enactment of civil rights legislation that changed our Nation forever. Following bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, President Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of the Voting Rights Act. He told the Nation then that, ``What happens in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and State of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it's not just Negroes, but really it's all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.'' He closed with the rallying refrain of the civil rights movement by saying, ``And we shall overcome.''

Among his historic accomplishments were the Civil Rights Act of 1957, where, as leader of the Senate, he ushered through the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which this Congress recently extended for another 25 years; and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. These landmark measures guaranteed the right to vote for millions of Americans who had been disenfranchised for generations, and outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and in housing, and outlawed discrimination in employment.

President Johnson also made history when, in 1967, he appointed his Solicitor General, Thurgood Marshall, who, as the NAACP legal director from 1939 to 1961 had already argued many cases before the Supreme Court, including Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, to be the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Mr. Speaker, the life and accomplishments of President Johnson should inspire all of us to rededicate ourselves to the mission to which he devoted so much of his energies, to free all Americans from want, from fear, and from discrimination. This resolution is a fitting recognition of his accomplishments and his lasting inspiration.

I want to thank the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for bringing this to the floor today, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee), the author of the resolution.

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 354, honoring the birth of former President Lyndon B. Johnson. This resolution accompanies the LBJ Foundation's upcoming centennial celebration.

Lyndon Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, in central Texas, not far from Johnson City, which his family helped settle. He endured rural poverty in his younger years, working his way through Southwest Texas State Teachers College, now known as Texas State University, San Marcos.

President Johnson's well-known commitment to civil rights began early in his political career. When he was elected to Congress, Johnson worked to get

black farmers and school children equal treatment in his congressional district, and in 1938, secured Federal funding for housing in Austin, Texas, for those who lived in poverty.

After six terms in the House, Johnson was elected to the Senate in 1948. In 1953, he became the youngest minority leader in Senate history. The following year, he became the majority leader.

During his 24 years in Congress, Johnson garnered unprecedented experience in the passage of legislation, experience that materialized into the many civil rights laws he signed as President. When Lyndon Johnson took office following the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he spearheaded passage of the 1965 Higher Education Act, which quadrupled the number of African American college students within a decade. He did the same with Medicare and Medicaid legislation, and within another decade, African American infant mortality was reduced by half.

Johnson also played a crucial role in ending the de jure segregation in America by signing the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act into law, which banned discrimination in employment. As a proud Republican, I stand here, Mr. Speaker, I remind you and this body that that was with a majority of Republican votes in the House and in Senate that passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, and President Johnson truly worked in a bipartisan fashion across the aisle and could not have passed that without bipartisan support and a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate.

After Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, President Johnson said that even one American's disenfranchisement, ``undermines the freedom of every citizen.'' In that spirit, he signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act. His efforts allowed more African Americans to vote, and to run for office.

As a result of President Lyndon B. Johnson's historic efforts in the fight to end racial segregation, we now live in a more representative America. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would yield back the balance of my time and urge adoption.

I ask unanimous consent that we now look at the Judiciary Committee and discharge that committee from further consideration of H. Con. Res. 354.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.