October 9, 1964: LBJ in New Orleans and his famous "N" word speech

[book_worm]

Reading a book on the '64 election and thought this was of interest.

Johnson went to New Orleons in three weeks before the election to try and win some votes in the deep south where white reaction to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was quite negative. Barry Goldwater was making big strides in the region and LBJ's advisors thought it best he didn't speak on civil rights. The president choose to ignore that advise:

Johnson told the audience about a Southern Senator of his acquaintance who at the end of his career had told the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, 'Sammy, I wish I felt a little better...I would like to go back...down and make one more Democratic speech. I feel just like I have one in me. The poor old state, they haven't heard a Democratic speech in thirty years. All they hear at election time is 'nigger, nigger, nigger!' He was bellowing, his arms upraised and flailing as he reached this point. One correspondent in the audience swears that a towering Negro was so carried away by the revival attitude of the meeting that he yelled, 'Knock yourself out, L-B Baby! Knock yourself out!.'