Part 5 Chapter 33 Summary

Recovering from his heart attack on the ranch in 1955, LBJ grew convinced that gaining the Democratic nomination in 1956 was his surest path to the White House. Even if he lost, he would be the front-runner when popular Ike was out of the picture in 1960, so he spent the fall maneuvering to position and finance himself well. This left only the necessity of lessening liberal sentiment against him and this he intended to do by passing the Social Security act.

In 1956, the South was a gaping wound, opened by the Till murder case and white determination to stand off northern impositions. It was widened in February of 1956 when the Supreme Court ordered the University of Alabama to admit a black student, Autherine Juanita Lucy. She wanted to be a librarian and since no black institution offered a graduate program, "separate but equal...