![]() And finally, the most dramatic of all was in the spring of 1963, under the leadership of Dr. PURDUM: Well, beginning early in his administration with the sit-ins at lunch counters around the South, and then the freedom rides to integrate interstate transportation of buses and so forth. GROSS: What were some of the actions of the civil rights movement that were most effective in pushing President Kennedy to move forward with civil rights legislation? So in a very important way, this law, which is often called the most important law of the 20th century, created the world we live in today. It's hard to remember that just 50 years ago, they were anything but taken for granted, and people were literally fighting and dying for them. TODD PURDUM: In a very real sense, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created modern America - the things we take for granted today - people in restaurants and hotels and motels and transportation, enjoying it regardless of race - the things my children take absolutely for granted. What would you describe as the biggest changes that were brought about by the Civil Rights Act? The book will be published in paperback next month. I spoke with Purdum last year, a few weeks before the book was published. ![]() Our guest, Todd Purdum, is the author of the book, "An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, And The Battle For The Civil Rights Act Of 1964." The two presidents are Kennedy and Johnson. The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in public accommodations, including restaurants, hotels and motels, ending the era of legal segregation in those places. Martin Luther King didn't have a vote in Congress, but the bill wouldn't even have been introduced without him and the movement that he helped lead. On this Presidents' Day, we're going to hear about the legislative and political battle to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The film "Selma," which is nominated for an Oscar for best picture, has reawakened interest in the relationship between Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson and the pressure the civil rights movement exerted on the president and Congress to move forward with civil rights legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
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