I just watched it and it was a good watch at least in a vacuum and it certainly nailed the very behavior and essence of LBJ, and the resistance of the democratic party regarding the CRA and republicans being accepting of it was accurate. The only flaw is that it takes the liberty of pretending that LBJ was fighting for the CRA out of the goodness of his heart and that couldn't be further from the truth. Sure he may have believed in it personally but he also saw a shite ton political value in it as democrats passing the CRA would lock down the black vote for the democrats forever and that's true today. LBJ opposed every civil rights measure that came up for a vote in congress until 1957 and that was because he only wanted to be POTUS and he needed credibility with the liberal wing of the party.

All in all, it's a good movie but it conveniently ignores LBJ's past and hidden motivations.

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Posted by rlebl39

League City, TX

Member since Jun 2011

4741 posts

Posted on 5/23/16 at 7:42 am to Sentrius

quote:
The only flaw is that it takes the liberty of pretending that LBJ was fighting for the CRA out of the goodness of his heart and that couldn't be further from the truth.

They may not have hit on it as hard as it was in real life but LBJ did say something along the lines of the CRA being important to solidify him being re-elected. Even MLK said to the NAACP and other black leader guys about how he was probably just doing it for votes at their first meeting the movie showed.

I liked how the movie showed that LBJ was naturally more of a dixiecrat but he had to pander to the more liberal side of the party to win re-election.

I was also glad to see they included a scene of him on the crapper and telling his tailor that he needed room in his pants for his balls.

This post was edited on 5/23/16 at 7:45 am

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