Published on Apr 10, 2014
'I have lived out the promise of LBJ's efforts'
'My fellow Americans, I am confident we shall overcome'
Obama marks 50th anniversary of Civil Rights Act
President Obama Speaking At UT For Civil Rights Summit
AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) -
President Barack Obama has arrived at the University of Texas campus for his part in a civil rights summit.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama flew from Houston to Austin late Thursday morning. The first couple and the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, Mark Updegrove, viewed the "Corner Stones of Civil Rights" exhibit at the presidential center.
Obama remembered Lyndon B. Johnson as a giant of a man whose efforts to pass the Civil Rights Act made real the promise of the nation's founders. That is — Obama says — that all men are created equal.
"I have lived out the promise of LBJ's efforts," Obama said, speaking at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, the landmark legislation that helped clear the way for him to become the nation's first black president.
Obama praised Johnson's ability to cajole and strong-arm the legislation through Congress over the objections of lawmakers from his own Democratic Party, calling him a man who understood the power of his office. But amid the celebrations of the law, Obama cautioned that work remains in order to fulfill the goals of the legislation Johnson championed.
"The story of America is a story of progress, however slow, however incomplete," Obama said.
This is the final day of ceremonies to commemorate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. LBJ's daughters Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb were on hand for Obama's address in the Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT.
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