LBJ on Affirmative Action

One of President Johnson's priorities in filling vacancies in the federal government was to appoint more women and minorities, which he had championed as chairman of the President's Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity while vice president. In early January 1964, he had appointed two black judges to the federal bench. Here, he spoke with one of his closest black advisers--the civil rights leader and NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins about the feasibility of moving Carl Rowan from his ambassadorship in Finland to head up the United States Information Agency in Washington. This snippet displays some of Johnson's thinking about affirmative action. The specific issue is whether leaders of African nations would oppose the appointment of a black U.S. ambassador in their countries.

Date: Jan 16, 1964
Participants: Lyndon Johnson, Roy Wilkins

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(President Johnson): . . . And what I want to do is enlarge them a little more. They don�t have their 12 percent in public office. And I�m not a percentage man, but until, if we can, find some of the top people in this country. I mean, you take either of the Nabrits Howard University President James Nabrit or his brother Texas Southern University President Samuel Nabrit would be wonderful ambassadors to some country. But top men. I would like to get them up to where they�re at least in walking distance of the rest of us.

(Roy Wilkins): Exactly. And--

(President Johnson): And I can't do it, though, if I've got the twenty or thirty Latin American countries and thirty-odd African countries and they're just barred because somebody says so. Now I thought it was the Negro community in this country that was objected to it. It's--it's the countries--

(Roy Wilkins): No, they woulnd't unclear like the African's would object if it became the uniform policy--

(President Johnson): Oh, no.

(Roy Wilkins): --but I don't believe they would object. The Africans are the ones

(President Johnson): We've got--we've got one in Sweden now and a good one on my Scandinavian trip, a Negro.

(Roy Wilkins): Yes.

(President Johnson): Now,... so I�m going to try to add one or two. And you might get one or two of the most outstanding ones that you know in the United States. You ought to have me a list of that. You better just go work, and if you want Whitney Young or somebody, get me some real outstanding leaders. The worst job I can perform is to name one that�s a failure.

(Wilkins): That�s true. That�s very true, and I agree with you 100 percent.

(President Johnson): And I don�t know this field as well as you do. I�m going to rely on you. So you get me four or five of the top ones that are like Bob Weaver or like Carl Rowan.