in housing was a major cause of black urban unrest, and
housing was foremost among the areas of discrimination still untouched
by federal legislation. The housing provision of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act was severely limited, and Johnson rejected the idea of yet another
executive order proposed by his Committee on Equal Opportunity in
Housing. Like the order signed by Kennedy, it could cover only new
housing and even that with dubious legality. Johnson, relying on the
civil rights momentum developed over the previous years, decided
instead to press for a comprehensive civil rights bill that would
outlaw discrimination in the sale of all housing. The new measure was
also designed to attack several other residual areas of
discrimination, including jury selection and the physical protection
of Negroes and civil rights workers. Although he enjoyed a measure of
bipartisan support for these latter sections of the bill, the
President failed to overcome the widespread opposition to open
housing, and the 1966 civil rights bill died in the Senate, thereby
postponing an effective law on open housing until after the
assassination of Dr. King in 1968.

The spectacle of demonstrators and riots in northern cities and the
appearance in 1966 of the "black power" slogan considered ominous by
many citizens were blamed for the bill's failure. Another and more
likely cause was that in violating the sanctity of the all-white
neighborhood Johnson had gone beyond any national consensus on civil
rights. In August 1966, for example, a survey by the Louis Harris
organization revealed that some 46 percent of white America would
object to having a black family as next-door neighbors and 70 percent
believed that Negroes "were trying to move too fast." Of particular
importance to the Department of Defense, which would be taking some
equal opportunity steps in the housing field in the next months, was
the fact that this opposition was not translated into a general
rejection of the concept of equal opportunity. In fact, although the
bill failed to win enough votes to apply the Senate's cloture rule,
the President could boast that he won a clear majority in both houses.
His defeat slowed the pace of the civil rights movement and postponed
a solution to a major domestic problem; postponed, because, as Roy
Wilkins reminded his fellow citizens at the time, "the problem is not
going away ... the Negro is not going away."[23-31]

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