"We are talking about a civil rights bill for Congress."

In good conscience, we cannot support the administration's civil rights bill.

But Johnson bet his all on getting a civil rights bill passed.

Two hours later, the Senate passed the first civil rights bill since 1875.

A less charitable view is that the President let himself be used by people who didn't want a civil rights bill.

He did, however, part company with the Republican right to vote for the civil rights bills of 1964 and 1965.

"The President would like to sign a civil rights bill," he said, "and we will be working toward that end."

From that moment forward, the great civil rights bills of 1964 and 1965 were not only possible but near accomplished.

There were some other losers in the agreement on the civil rights bill.