NATION President hails Civil Rights Act

Bush expressed admiration for President Johnson's commitment to the 1964 bill.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- President Bush used the grand stage of the White House East Room to mark the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, praising Democratic heroes such as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson who fought for its passage.
Bush, who has generally received low approval ratings from blacks, cautioned Thursday that four decades after the landmark law was signed, "the work of equality is not done, because the evil of bigotry is not finally defeated."
The Civil Rights Act, signed by President Johnson on July 2, 1964, in the East Room, banned segregation in any facility offering public services and outlawed discrimination in hiring.
It was a crowning achievement of the civil-rights movement after years of political and physical battle.
"We must not rest until the day 'when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream,'" said Bush, quoting civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Praising dedication
Bush praised Johnson for having the courage to fight for a controversial but noble cause, knowing it might cost him re-election. In the end, Johnson, engulfed by anti-Vietnam War protests, chose not to run.
"It was more than the force of Johnson's personality that helped win the day," Bush said. "It was the force of President Johnson's conviction on behalf of a just cause."
Bush has often portrayed himself as willing to make tough decisions whatever the political cost, and his praise for Johnson, a fellow Texan, seemed to echo such comments.
It was the second time in recent weeks that Bush has spoken effusively about a Democratic former president. When Bill Clinton's portrait was unveiled at the White House, Bush praised Clinton as being caring and charming.
The president spoke Thursday before a predominantly black audience that also included Johnson's daughter Luci Baines Johnson and Thurgood Marshall Jr., the son of the first black Supreme Court justice.
In 2000, nine out of 10 black Americans voted for former Vice President Al Gore, following a long tradition of being the most reliable of the Democratic Party's constituencies. Bush drew 9 percent of the black vote in 2000.