Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America

InthefirstthoroughaccountofthecomplexworkingrelationshipbetweenLyndonBainesJohnsonandMartinLutherKing,Jr.,PulitzerPrizewinningjournalistNickKotzoffersanengrossinginvestigationofalittle-knownelementoftheJohnsonpresidency.Tracingbothleaders'paths,fromJohnson'sassumptionofthepresidencyin1963toKing'sassassinationin1968,KotzdescribeshowtheyformedawaryalliancethatwouldbecomeinstrumentalinproducingsomeofthemostsubstantialcivilrightslegislationinAmericanhistory:theCivilRightsActof1964andtheVotingRightsActof1965.DrawingonawealthofnewlyavailablesourcesJohnson'stapedtelephoneconversations,voluminousFBIwiretaplogs,andsecretcommunicationsbetweenFBIdirectorJ.EdgarHooverandthepresidentKotzexaminestheforcesthatdrewthecharismaticmentogetherandthosethateventuallydrovethemapart.Kotz'sfocusedandincisiveexaminationsignificantlyenrichesourunderstandingofbothmen.