Paradoxically, the same weekend as the Selma march, the first U.S. combat troops—3,500 Marines—landed at Da Nang, Vietnam. While LBJ was winning a war against poverty and injustice at home, he was escalating a military conflict abroad.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed public segregation and employment discrimination. LBJ: Triumph and Tragedy
He established Medicare and Medicaid to provide health coverage for the elderly and the poor. Paradoxically, the same weekend as the Selma march,
On March 7, 1965, the nation watched in horror as state troopers brutally attacked peaceful civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, an event known as "Bloody Sunday". LBJ, a former teacher from a poor Texas town, felt a deep moral obligation to act. He didn't just propose legislation; he seized the moral authority of the presidency. the first U.S. combat troops—3