United Under One Nation
A Review of Judgment
Days
by Nick Kotz
Author Biography
Nick Kotz had wrote a total of six books,
Judgment Days was the last of which was published. His books
have focused on politics, civil rights and social justice in
American history. He lives in Broad Run, Virginia, and has
received a Pulitzer Prize and a National Magazine Award for
his writings.
In 1963, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was pushing (lightly) for a
change in equality between white Americans and African
Americans. On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot in
Dallas, Texas and was declared dead hours later at Parkland
Memorial Hospital in Dallas. This assassination marked the
beginning of social changes in America under Lyndon B.
Johnson, Kennedy’s Vice President, and then, President.
Though overwhelmed by the sudden loss and the new position
he held, Johnson quickly began to tackle his new role.
Reverend Martin Luther King, a civil rights activist—and
future national civil rights leader—believed that the
“finest tribute that the American people [can] pay to the
late President Kennedy is to implement the progressive
policies that he sought to initiate.”1 King had a
hard time accepting Kennedy’s death, but believed that it
might speed up the process of passing civil rights
legislation in Congress. The devastating death of young
Kennedy stirred the nation, but also caused hostility
between members of the government. Attorney General Robert
Kennedy, who already disliked Johnson, became completely
hostile towards him, as Johnson assumed the presidency the
same day as John Kennedy’s death. Johnson, eager to continue
Kennedy’s work and pending legislation, demanded that all of
his legislation be pushed through Congress and passed, with
no change and no compromise. This opened a gateway for the
rough, rocky and “unlikely partnership” of Lyndon B. Johnson
and Martin Luther King Jr. in the pressing matter of civil
rights.2
November 22, 1963 was one of the most tragic days in history
and also one of the busiest days politically. The transition
from John Kennedy to Lyndon Johnson was rough and unwelcomed
by most. The nation was content with Kennedy as the
president for the most part. White southerners weren’t fond
of him for pushing the civil rights bills he proposed even
though it appeared a small and cautious step. However, with
Johnson in the oval office, everyone, even his fellow
southerners, were at an unease with his new powerful
position. While northerners feared his southern roots,
southerners feared his changing view towards civil rights,
which had been growing stronger since the mid 1950’s. His
entrance into the Presidency was quick; Johnson took the
oath before entering the presidential plane to return to
Washington the same day of Kennedy’s death. These actions
were quickly shunned by the entire Kennedy administration,
which Johnson kept during his presidency. One of Johnson’s
first steps was to call Roy Wilkins to his office, where he
first announced to the civil rights leader “I want that bill
passed,” referring to Kennedy’s civil rights bill.3
Before this meeting, Wilkins believed Johnson to be a man
of alternative motives, but upon leaving, Wilkin’s “doubts
about the president’s intentions were largely dispelled” and
he ultimately believed in Johnson’s intentions on moving the
civil rights bill through congress.4 Along with
Wilkins, Johnson also met with Reverend Martin Luther King
Jr. A “black visionary who inspired a nation by fighting a
nonviolent war” throughout the entire US, King was one of
the most prominent leaders for the movement.5 He
fought mostly against the southern states of Mississippi
and Alabama, where cities and towns that had ignored the
desegregation act of 1954 and continued to have segregated
schools in their towns. These nonviolent protests caused
riots and outlandish anti-civil rights groups behavior,
mostly by the Ku Klux Klan. Another problem for the
unknowing King was Edgar J. Hoover, director of the FBI—both
an anticommunist and anti civil rights activist. Hoover
tried to destroy King by tapping his hotel rooms and
alerting the president of King’s behavior.
However, Johnson kept meeting with King, finally reaching a
common interest in civil rights.
In 1964, Johnson walked into Forty Acres, a University of
Texas faculty retreat, with Gerri Whittington, his new
personal secretary. This was Johnson’s “symbolic first
strike.”6 Johnson had vowed that he would assert
the presidency’s power to “tear down the walls of official
racial discrimination in American Society.”7
However, it was much easier said than done. On January 8,
1964, Johnson delivered his first State of the Union address
to a joint session of congress. He spoke strongly, opening
with “let this session of congress be known as the session
which did more for civil rights than the last one hundred
sessions combined.”8 These words not only
captured his audience, but also peaked their interest for
the rest of his speech. He finished by urging congress to
pass, not only Johnson’s bill, but also Kennedy’s unfinished
bill supporting civil rights, federal aid to education,
medical care for the elderly, and tax cuts. What was harder
than pressing Congress to pass Kennedy’s legislation, was
fighting the angry Ku Klux Klan who was constantly fighting
against the SNCC, NACCP and SCLC who worked hard to create
Freedom schools to teach African Americans about their
constitutional rights. In retaliation, the KKK bombed a
church, killing 4 young African American girls. This action
caused more protests and violent reactions from the KKK.
However, as the bill pushed through Congress, the KKK, angry
about the civil rights bill, continued bullying African
Americans, which the president was unable to stop due to the
law enforcement in the south not enforcing previous bills
passed.
Besides the KKK, Johnson also had trouble with the civil
rights activist groups. The Civil Rights Bill was passed in
1964, but segregation prevailed. The worst segregated states
were Alabama and Mississippi, which Johnson was afraid of
losing in the presidential election. Then, however, he
decided to support the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
The MFDP were African Americans who tried to register to
vote in Mississippi. However, it was difficult to go about
it peacefully. Throughout their marches and demonstrations
they were arrested, despite the fact that a judge permitted
them to march. Then, King won the Nobel Peace Prize and
visited the Pope at the Vatican, which caused an uproar on
the homefront. Hoover, who was still feeding information to
Johnson and Robert Kennedy, stated to his fellow FBI agents
that he was “amazed that the Pope gave an audience to such a
degenerate,” which ended up sprawled across the newspaper
headlines.9 This open attack on King was frowned
upon by not only the rest of the FBI, but also by Robert
Kennedy and Johnson. Although Johnson didn’t necessarily
disapprove of the wire tapping, he didn’t encourage openly
slanderous remarks. Johnson was too driven towards winning
the new election to focus on King anymore. With the civil
rights bill passed, Johnson was more determined to remain
the president, only speaking on civil rights in his speeches.
Nick Kotz, the author of Judgment Days, mainly focused was
the trials and tribulations of the civil rights bill passage
and its effect on the entire country. His thesis was focused
on what Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson managed to
produce in their union—“the most dramatic social change in
America since the Emancipation Proclamation.”10
His book was strongly based around the thesis that the major
push for the civil rights bill was the death of John
Kennedy. His death—the grief that the country held—was a
motivator to pass the bill that Kennedy had written and
supported. Kennedy’s tragic assassination was the biggest
push that the civil rights bill had ever had. The meetings
that Johnson and King had together; their constant struggle
with America; their encounters outside of the office and not
in person; the corrupt vision of the FBI; and the violence
that followed civil rights activist would have never
happened if Kennedy hadn’t been killed. The historiography
behind the book was evoked by the current question of
equality in America: are gay marriages legal? This
questioning of equality happened before, and the United
States needs to be reminded.
Publisher’s Weekly called it a “sympathetic but complex and
critical assessment” of Johnson and King, who were so
different on the outside but the same on the
inside.11 The review analyzed Kotz’s method and
writing style, admiring how he managed to show in detail the
wary partnership of two of the most inspirational leaders of
the 1960’s. It also admired their out of touch yet close
connection that they shared from having similar roots, and
similar experiences. Their work together was difficult and
straining, since the two leaders were working in a time
when “politics really was infused with the highest moral
values.”12
Donald P. Kommers, a Professor of Political Science at the
University of Notre Dame, also reviewed Kotz’s book. He
commended it for being a “dramatic narrative woven by the
author around the torments, weaknesses and power plays” of
the two most complex leaders.13 He also claims
that Kotz helps to “destroy popular stereotypes of his main
characters.”14Kommers admires how Kotz wraps up
an entire period of distress and excellence into one novel,
and manages to override all of the bad with the good that
occurs.
According to Kotz, 1963-1965 was a turning point in American
history. The events that occurred were cause and effect, one
effect leading to a new cause in a vicious cycle.
Politically, the world was changed because Johnson had set a
new precedence for the presidency. Johnson used multiple
tactics to push for Kennedy’s legislation to go through
Congress. He befriended people he had once considered
enemies, nearly betrayed those who were his friends, and
allowed wire tapping to occur over King, his partner in the
civil rights. Culturally, the civil rights bill turned the
world upside down. Everything that Americans had once known
had been thrown aside and rewritten with the influence of
leaders of two different colors. All of the segregation
between white Americans and African Americans had been
shattered and rebuilt to make blacks and whites equal in the
eyes of the law. This dramatic change in history, as Kotz
sees it, was remarkable among both the people and the
government.
The sixties marked a historical, social, cultural and
political turning point in America. Many changes happened
that have affected life today in America. The fight for
civil rights, equality for all, is what we are now based on.
The civil rights moment was one of the biggest cultural
movements to happen in American history. Nothing came close
to being as heart felt, dangerous, meaningful and necessary
all at once. For two men of different color to look past
their skin and their own prejudices in order to work
together for the greater good of the nation was unheard of.
Johnson and King’s constant effort in the civil rights
helped to bring this nation together as one. There were also
political changes in this period that were remarkable and
set a new standard, a new precedent, for our government
today. Johnson took control, telling the people that they
were all Americans, despite their skin color. He took the
White House by storm, coming in almost too fast and
demanding the changes that the people had been seeking,
talking to every person he needed help from personally,
doing all the dirty work himself. He got his hands dirty
trying to unite millions, spending long days working towards
improving the law, the government and the nation. Johnson’s
authority and control set a standard that shows every future
president that they have the ability to make a difference if
they speak, act and move loudly enough. The political and
cultural change during the sixties was a turning point in
our history, a legacy in which we now carry with us today.
Johnson and King were two extraordinary men working together
for one common goal of equality. Through all of the
obstacles that stood in the way; through all of the speeches
they created; through all of the violence that came with the
suggestion of peace and equality; through all of the people
in the country and in the government who stood in front of
them trying to block their path—they stood strong with their
hopes uniting the country under one common belief—equality.
The unexpected partnership of Johnson and King—because of
their differences and their similarities—they brought to
America a bill that would forever change history and unite
every American, not just white, under one constitution and
one solid nation.
review by Aubrey Dinneen
- Kotz, Nick. Judgment Days. New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 2005. 9
- Kotz, Nick xi
- Kotz, Nick 23
- Kotz, Nick 23
- Kotz, Nick 182
- Kotz, Nick 87
- Kotz, Nick 87
- Kotz, Nick 229
- Kotz, Nick 229
- Kotz, Nick xi
- Seldes, Timothy. Publishers Weekly, 2004.
- Seldes, Timothy.
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