Close. But no. I just turned 66.
That's why I say with respect to
@RabzonKhan , the version of history he is referring to is incomplete and with some inaccuracies.
A former coworker of mine lives in Puyallup, Washington (outside of Seattle). He loves to brag he was a Fulbright scholar. I enjoy reminding him that Fulbright was a supporter of communism and signatory to the Southern Manifesto.
The passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act was pushed in part by Republicans to get it into law. As noted above, Gore Sr. and others were against it.
In the House, many of the Southern Democrats were against it. LBJ, who was as racist as they came at the time was also politically astute. He knew full well they could keep the blacks "on the plantation" simply by passing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act the following year. He called Wilbur Mills, who was head of the House Ways & Means Committee and the time, and told him if he didn't support the Civil Rights Act he would see a lot of military facilities shut down. There were several major installations in Arkansas at the time. Mills folded.
In fact, if you look hard enough, you can find the leaked audio of LBJ stating if they got the Civil Rights Act passed, "those n***ers* will vote Democrat for 200 years."
