President Johnson DBQ Essay

Sometimes, politically powerful men do unexpected things, LBJ was one of them. Before LBJ’s presidency he was living in an incredibly poor area and was dealing with poverty, this is the place he was born and raised, so coming to the White House was a big stretch of ways for him. LBJ wanted to sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because he wanted to do what he thought was right, what he believed, that’s where his principle decision comes into place. If principle decisions are based on strongly-held beliefs, then Cotulla teaching, Ignoring Southern Reaction, and Change of Heart show that President Johnson was motivated to sign by his OWN principle beliefs.
One example that reveals President Johnson’s principled motivation can be found in Cotulla Teaching (Doc A). If President Johnson really was motivated by the principle decision then how does this document help support that? Well if LBJ really wanted to go with his beliefs then he would have done exactly what he did, he taught in Cotulla, Texas and did what he wanted to do for his students. He bought them new clothes and food for them since they
Whenever President Johnson said, “Free at Last” he was saying that now he was in office as president and he could make his own decisions and do what he wanted to do instead of listening to the people above him, he did what he believed was right. When he said that he was quoting Martin Luther King Jr., although he was not stating exactly what King was trying to say he was still saying he was free to do what he really wanted. Johnson knew what was right for his country so he did that exact thing, he integrated blacks and whites so segregation was no longer in place. Even though he didn’t vote for this as senator he now could do the principle decision and integrate everyone. Now you really know what types of principle decisions LBJ really made before and during his