The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

W. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in appointment to a committee while retaining it in terms of chairmanships. Though Kennedy may have intended this to remain a more nominal position Taylor Branch in Pillar of Fire contends that Johnson served to push the Kennedy administration's actions for civil rights further and faster than Kennedy originally intended to go.

Johnson a Democrat from Texas served as a United States Representative from 1937–1949 and as a Senator from 1949–1961 including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. The involvement stimulated a large angry antiwar movement based especially on university campuses in the U. Republican Richard Nixon was elected to succeed him.