Fifty years ago today — Oct. 2, 1967 — Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. A former White House aide says President Lyndon B. Johnson knew he was going to nominate Marshall from the moment he became president in 1963.
“Both of them knew it would be a really vicious battle in the confirmation process,” said Joseph A. Califano Jr., Johnson’s Chief Assistant for Domestic Affairs from 1965 to 1969.
“The southern Senators who controlled these committees, they believed in segregation as a way of life. They believed that blacks should walk on the other side of the street. All of that came out during this hearing,” Califano said.
But with an impeccable nominee and a strong president who knew how Washington worked, “you could overwhelm all the racism,” he said.
