In 1967, Republican candidate Richard Nixon called the United States, "an inferno of urban anarchy". It was the long, hot summer of 1967 when 159 riots erupted across the United States from Atlanta to Boston and from Birmingham to Toledo. The most destructive riots in Newark and Detroit were described as "battles" in the newspaper headlines. In Newark New Jersey alone, 7917 members of police and National guard were deployed to end the violence. After six days of riots, looting and violence the city woke up to the hard-cruel reality that 16 civilians, one police officer and one firefighter were dead along with 8 suspects. By the end of the summer, 83 people had lost their life in riots across the country, thousands were injured, and entire neighborhoods had been burned. President Johnson, who was a champion of the Civil Rights act of 1964 had become the symbol and reflection of racial divide in America.
1968 was an election year, and Lyndon B. Johnson's popularity was already suffering from the Vietnam war. Civil unrest was tearing the country apart and the leading candidate in the Republican primary, Richard Nixon was pushing for more law and order. In October of 1967, Reader's Digest published an article by Nixon, entitled "What has Happened to America?" In doing so, Nixon tapped into the anxieties of what he called the "silent majority". Just three years after landmark civil rights was passed, Nixon posed the question, "With this star of racial peace and progress before us, how did it happen that last summer saw the United States blazing in an inferno of urban anarchy?" As Nixon described it, "Central cities were abandoned to snipers, looters and arsonists. Only the state militia or federal soldiers could regain the city and restore peace". Nixon lamented that America was far from being a "great society” and was now "becoming a lawless society". Nixon blamed the lawlessness on fundamental changes in America that made it permissive towards the violation of law and order and the "indulgence of crime because of sympathy for the past grievances of those who have become criminal". Nixon pointed to weak justices, "opinion-makers" who blamed society rather than the criminal, and politicians who advocated that individuals should determine for themselves what laws should be followed. Nixon called for an end to this violence through programs to better pay and equip law enforcement agencies. He also called for an increase in the number of police along with better pay and better training.
In July of 1967, Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots and provide recommendations for the future. The commission, known as the Kerner Commission reported one of the main causes of urban violence was white racism and blamed America for the black rioting and rebellion. The report called for new jobs, new housing and end to segregation that created the destructive ghettos. The most memorable passage warned: "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal." It was a damning report, but one that President Johnson chose to largely ignore. Perhaps it was an election year calculation, but rather than follow the report of the Kerner commission, President Johnson instead followed the advice of Richard Nixon. In his 1968, State of the Union Address President Johnson called for strengthening law and order. He echoed Nixon's sentiment "that the American people have had enough of rising crime and lawlessness in this country." Johnson offered his view that "law enforcement is first the duty of local police and local government", but was now ready to urge Congress to "help the cities and the States in their war on crime to the full extent of its resources and its constitutional authority". Johnson did not explicitly call for increased police force but did repeat Nixon's call for "better training and better pay for police". Johnson called for Congress to pass the "Safe Streets Act" and double the requested funding under this act to $100 million. The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 contained legislation on wiretapping and gun control, but also included $50 million earmarked for assistance to local law enforcement agencies to deal with riot control and organized crime.
Here are the words of Lyndon B. Johnson from his final State of the Union Address in 1968:
"We, at every level of the government, State, local, Federal, know that the American people have had enough of rising crime and lawlessness in this country.
They recognize that law enforcement is first the duty of local police and local government.
They recognize that the frontline headquarters against crime is in the home, the church, the city hall and the county courthouse and the statehouse--not in the far-removed National Capital of Washington.
But the people also recognize that the National Government can and the National Government should help the cities and the States in their war on crime to the full extent of its resources and its constitutional authority. And this we shall do.
This does not mean a national police force. It does mean help and financial support:
--to develop State and local master plans to combat crime,
--to provide better training and better pay for police, and
--to bring the most advanced technology to the war on crime in every city and every county in America.
There is no more urgent business before this Congress than to pass the Safe Streets Act this year that I proposed last year. That law will provide these required funds. They are so critically needed that I have doubled my request under this act to $100 million in fiscal 1969."
In November, Congress passed the Safe Streets Act, and President Johnson signed it into law, but not until after Johnson had already announced that he would not seek re-election. It was a shock to the nation, but in March of 1968, Johnson declared, "There is division in the American house now". The division and the civil unrest were real and President Johnson had become the symbol and reflection of the deep divide. No amount of political sacrifice on Johnson's part could heal the nation or his party, and on November 5, 1968 the "silent majority" elected Richard Nixon who had run on a law and order platform.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2020. Annual Message To The Congress On The State Of The Union. | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-the-congress-the-state-the-union-29> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
College.cengage.com. 2020. Richard Nixon, "What Has Happened To America?", 1967. [online] Available at: <https://college.cengage.com/history/ayers_primary_sources/nixon_1967.htm> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Kerner Commission. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerner_Commission> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Omnibus Crime Control And Safe Streets Act Of 1968. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Crime_Control_and_Safe_Streets_Act_of_1968> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
History.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://www.history.com/news/lbj-exit-1968-presidential-race> [Accessed 9 September 2020].
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