misconception that that is stopping the information about martin luther king from getting out. that information is more available today than it has ever been in the past including the time when martin luther king was alive. all you have to do is do a google search and you would see what i'm saying is true. look and find all the books that have been written about martin luther king. there are more books of martin luther king's writings and ideas today than there were at the time of his death. >> professor clayborne carson, thanks for doing battle there with some of the music in the background and for being with us today. clayborne carson is the director of the martin luther king jr. research and education institute at stanford and the author of "martin's dream: my journey and legacy of martin luther king." thank you for being with us

today. american history brings you archive archivel film that helps tell the story. in 1959 people were attacked. images gained attention around the world. eight days later on march 15 1965, president lyndon johnson spoke to a joint session of congress asking for the introduction and passage of a voting rights law and appealing for equal rights for all americans. and now here's president johnson's entire 48-minute speech. >> mr. speaker, the president of the united states! [ applause ]

[ applause ]

>> members of the congress, i have the great pleasure, the highest privilege and the distinguished, and i might also say, personal honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. [ applause ]

>> speaker, members of the congress, 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

apomatics. so it was last week in selma alabama. there, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as americans. many were brutally assaulted. one good man a man of god was killed. there is no cause for pride in what has happened in selma. there is no cause for self-satisfaction and the long denial of equal rights of millions of americans. but there is cause for hope and for faith inu ymp8kcñ our democracy andb. what is happening here tonight. for the cries of pain and the

hymns and protests of opressed÷ñ people have summoned in communication all the majestyu of this greatí government, the government oneát greatest nation on earth. our mission is that once the oldest and the most basic of this country to right wrong, to do cjustice, to serve man. in our time we have come to live with the moments of great crisis. our lives have been marked with debate about great issues issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. but rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secretñi heart

ofó[ america itself. rarely are)n challenge not to our growth, our abundance abundance, our welfare, our security, but rather the values, the purpose, and the meaning of our beloved nation. the issue of equal rights for american negroesko is such an issue. and should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars&ñ and still be unequal to this issue then we will have failed as as tr(t&háhp &hc% people and as a ñrnation. for with a country as with a person, what is a man profiting if he shall gain&ñ the whole world

and lose hisc own soul? [ applause ]dg9 >> there is no negro problem. there is no southern problem. there is no northern problem. there is only an american lp problem. [ applause ] as americans, not as democrats or republicans. we are met here as americans to solve that problem. this was the first nation in the

history of the world to be founded with a purpose. the great praises of that purpose still sound in every american heart, north and south. 1 men are4 created ñiequal. government, by consent of the governed, give me liberty or give me death. those are not just clever words or those are not just employment theories. in their name americans have fought and died for two centuries. and tonight around the world they stand there as guardians of our liberty, risking their lives. those words are a promise to

every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man. this dignity cannot be found in a man's possessions. it cannot be found in his power or in his position. it really rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others. it says that he shall share in freedom. he shall choose his leaders educate his children, provide for his family according to his ability, and his merits as a human being. to applye1 any other test, to deny at( man his hopes because of his color or race or his religion or

the place of his birthxd is not only to do injustice, it is to deny america and to dishonor the dead who g americanúrpu freedom. [ applause ] >> our fathers believe that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish it must be rooted in democracy. the most basic right ofñi all was the right to choose your own leaders. the history of this country in large measure is the history of expansion of that right to all of our people.

many of theq issues of civil right difficult. but about this there can and should be no argument. every american5a citizen must have an equal right to vote. [ applause ] >> there is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. there is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right. yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country, men and women areym kept from voting

simply because they're negroes. everywd device pw of which human in jegentlemen -- ñiingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. every american negro has been told that the day is wrong, the hour is late or the position in charge islp absent. and if he persists and he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name or because he abbreviated a word on the application. and if he manages to fill out an application, he is given a test. the registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. he may be asked to recite the

entire constitution or(añ explain the mostiññ complex provisions of state law and even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write. for the fact is that then /÷ only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin. experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and in ingenuous discrimination. no law we now have on the books, and i have helped to put three of them there -- [ applause ] -- can ensure the right to vote

when local officials are determined to deny it. in such a case, our duty must be clear to all of us. the constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his racer or his color.sìáhp &hc% we have all sworn an oath before god to support and tonb defend that constitution. we must now act in obedience to that ñoath. [ applause ]é@ >> wednesday i will send to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote.,k÷ [ applause ]

>> the broad principles of that bill will be in the hands of the democratic and republican leaders tomorrow. after they have reviewed it, it will come here formally as9wx a bill. i am grateful for this opportunity tofjh come here tonight at the invitation of the leadership to reason with my friends friends, to give them my views and to visit with my former colleagues. i have had prepared a more comprehensive analysis of the legislation, which i had intended to transmit to the clerk tomorrow. but which i will submit to/c the clerks tonight, but i want to really discuss with you now briefly, the main proposals of this legislation.

this bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections. [ applause ] >> federal, state and local. [ applause ] >> which have been used to deny negroes the right to vote. this bill will establish a simple uniform standard which cannot be used however ingenuous the effort to flout our constitution. it will provide for citizens to be registered by officials of the united states government. [ applause ]

>> if the state officials refuse to%açam& of congress. i have no doubt that i will get some on ways and means to strengthen this law and to make

it effective. but experience has plainly shown that this is the only path to carry out the command of the constitution. to those who seek to avoid action by their national government in their home communities who want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections the answer is simple. open your polling places to all your people. [ applause ] >> allow men and women to reg14y et vote whatever the color of their skin. [ applause ]

>> extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land. there is no constitutional issue here. the command of the constitution is plain. there is no moral issue. it is wrong deadly wrong, to deny any of your fellow americans the right to vote in this country. [ applause ] >> there is no issue of states' rights or national rights. there is only the struggle for human rights. [ applause ]

>> i have not the slightest doubt what will be your answer. but the last time a president sent a civil rights bill to the congress, it contained a provision to protect voting rights in federal elections. that civil rights bill was passed after eight long months of debate. and when that bill came to my desk from the congress for my signature, the heart of the voting provision had been eliminated. this time, on this issue, there must be no delay or no hesitation or no compromise without purpose. [ applause ]ñ

[ applause ] >> we cannot, we must not refuse to protect the right of every american to vote in every election that he may desire to participate in.

[ applause ]x6 >> and we ought not and we cannot and we must not wait another eight months before we get a bill. [ applause ] >> we have already waited 100 years and more. and the time for waiting is gone. [ applause ] >> so i ask you to join me in working long hours and nights and weekends if necessary to pass this bill. and i don't make that request lightly. far from the window where i sit

are the problems of our country. i recognize that from 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. but even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. what happened in selmac is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of america. it is the effort of americand negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of american life 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. and we shall overcome. [ applause ] >> as a man whose roots go deeply into southern soil i know how agonizing racial feelings are. i know how difficult it is to reshape the attitudes and the

structure of our society. but a century has passed more than 100 years since a was freed and he is not fully freed tonight. it was more than a hundred years ago that abraham lincoln, a great president of another party, signed the emancipation proclamation. but emancipation is a proclamation, and not a fact. a century has passed, more than a hundred years, since equal was promised, and yet the negro is not equal. a century has passed since the day of promise, and the promise is unkept.qu/0

the time of justice has now ax÷mpfq come. i tell you that i believe sincerely that nos for can hold it back. it is right in the eyes of man and god that it should come, and when it does, i think that day will brighten the lives of every american. [ applause ]lpe/+ for negroes are not the only victims. how many white children have gone uneducated? how many white families have

lived in stark poverty? how many white lives have been scarred by fear because we've wasted our energy and our substance to maintain the barriers of hatred and terror? [ applause ] and so i say to all of you here, and to all in the nation tonight, that those who appeal to you to hold on to the past dor so at the cost of denying you your future. this great, rich, restless country can offer opportunity and education and hope to all. all black and white.z all north and south. share cropper and city dweller.

these are the enemies. poverty, ignorance, disease, re enemies, not our fellow man, not our neighbor. and these enemies, too, poverty, disease, and ignorance, we shall overcome. [ applause ]t( now, let none of us in any section look with prideful righteousness on the troubles in another section or the problems 6z of our neighbors. there's really no part of america where the promise of

equality has been fully kept. in buffalo, as well as in birmingham, in philadelphia as nb well as selma, americans are oizñ struggling for the fruits of freedom. this is one nation. what happens in selma or in cincinnati is a matter of : 38mt legitimate concern to every american. but let each of us look within mz our own hearts and our own communities and let each of us put onb#shoulder to the wheel to root out injustice wherever it exists. [ applause ]

as we meet here in this peaceful, historic chamber tonight, men from the south, some of whom were at iwo jiwa%h"nd men from the north who have carried oldxg=ie"u)q our corners of the world and brought it back without a stain on it men from the east and from the jfw3 west are all fighting together without regard to religion or color or region in vietnam. men from every region fought forw3 us across the world 20 years ago. and now in these common dangers and these common sacrifices, the south made its contribution of &ñ

honor and gallantry no less than any other region of the ,7ñ great republic. and in some instances a great many of them more. and i have not the slightest doubt that good men from everywhere in this country, from the great lakes to the gulf of mexico, from the golden gate to w3 the harbors along the atlantic, káp&ly now together in this xd cause to vindicate the freedom ó[ of all americans. [ applause ]nbíklp for all of us owe this duty and i believe that all of us will respond to it. your president makes that request of every american. the real hero of this struggle is the american negro.+++n3l

good the promise of america. and who among us can say that we would have made the same progress where it not for his persistent bravery and his faith in american democracy. [ applause ]

for at the real heart of battle for equality is a deep seeded belief in the democratic process. jju equality depends not on the force of arms or tear gas, but depends upon the force of moral right, not on recourse to violence but on respect for law and order. [ applause ] and there have been many pressures upon your president, and there will be others as the days come and go, but i pledge

you tonight that we intend to fight this battle where it should be fought, in the courts and in the congress and in the hearts of men. [ applause ] we must preserve the right of free speech and the right of free assembly. but the right of free speech does not carry with it as has been said, the right to holler fire in a crowded theater. we must preserve the right to free assembly, but free assembly does not carry with it the right to block public thoroughfares. to traffic. [ applause ]

we do have a right to protest and a right to march under conditions that do not infringe the constitutional rights of our neighbors. and i intend to protect all those rights as long as i am permitted to serve in this office. [ applause ] we will guard against violence. knowing it strikes from our hands the very weapons which we seek -- progress, obedience to law, and belief in american values. in selma, as elsewhere, we seek

and pray for peace. ñym(ñr"npd ñ we seek order. we seek unity.d but we will not accept the peace of stifled rights or the order =ñiñmt that stifles protests for peace cannot be purchased at the cost of liberty. [ applause ]e1ó and selma tonight, as in every -- and we had a good day there, as in every city, we7sñ are working for a just and peaceful settlement.: and we must all remember after this speech i'm making tonight, after the police and the fbi and the marshals haved after you have promptly passeda+=

and the other cities of the nation, must still live and worknbñ together. and when the attention of thexd nation has gone elsewhere, they must try to heal the wounds and to build a new community. this cannot be easily done on a battleground of violence. as the history of the south itself shows.-9 it is in recognition of this that men of both races have shown such an outstandingly impressive responsibility in fe recent days. last tuesday, again today, the bill that i am presenting to you

will be known as a civil rights bill. but in larger sense most of the program i am recommending is a @sz civil rights program. its object is to open the city of hope to all people of all races.." because all americans just must have the right to vote. and we are going to give them 0l that right. [ applause ] all americans must have the fá3w privileges of citizenship, $zsx regardless of race.p, and they are going to have those privileges of citizenship cwa regardless of race.ñiçó

but i would like to caution you and remind you that to exercise these privileges takes much more than just legal right.nd8a

black and white, the)xdlp that they need to walk through those gates.ñiu my first job after college was as a teacher in catula, texas inhwv,[m ásp&l mexican-american school. two of them could speak english, they never seemed to know why people disliked them but they knew it was so because i saw it in their eyes.a4ñym i often walked home, late in the afternoon, after the classes were finished, wishing there wasq more that i could do.

but all i knew was to teach them the little that i knew, hoping that it might help them against hgw and somehow you never forget z w what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the cb@ñ hopeful face of a young child.ó[ i never thought then, in 1928, [y!r÷ that i would be standing here, in 1965. it never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that i might p,xd have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country.b'nr? @r(t&ho

but now i do have that chance ym and i will let you in on a secret. [ applause ] the might of past empires is little compared to ours. but i do not want to be the

president who built empires or sought grandeur or extended dominion. i want to be the president who educated young children to the wonders of their world. [ applause ] i want to be the president who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of tax eaters. [ applause ] i want to be the president who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election. [ applause ]

i want to be the president who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties. [ applause ] i want to be the president who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth. [ applause ] and so, at the request of your beloved speaker and the senator from montana, the majority leader and senator from illinois, the minority leader, mr. mccullough and other members

of both parties, i came here tonight not as president roosevelt came down one time in person to veto a bonus bill. not as president truman came down one time to urge the passage of a railroad bill. but i came down here to ask you to share this task with me and to share it with the people that we both work for. 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 50 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. above the pyramid on the great seal of the united states it says, in latin, god has favored our undertaking.zawñ6z 9x])

it is rather our duty to divine his will. but i cannot help believing that he truly understands and that he really favors the undertaking that we begin here tonight. [ applause ]

later today the brookings institution hears from deputy secretary of state tony blinken. he'll talk about current priorities and future prospects for u.s. engagement in central asia. that will be live on c-span starting at 3:30 p.m. eastern. and the runoff election is scheduled for april 7th in chicago's mayoral race. chicago mayor rahm emanuel faces as challenger jesus garcia. they'll face off in a live candidates forum hosted by wptw tv in chicago. neither candidate won a majority in february's election. you can see the candidate's forum tonight starting at 8:00 eastern on c-span. tonight, on american history tv programs on the 150th anniversary of president abraham lincoln's second inaugural. on march 4th, 1865. less than six weeks before his assassination. at 8:00