Would George Wallace have signed the Civil Rights Act?

[King]

Despite LBJ's Southern gentleman racism, he believed in his heart that non-whites still had rights to not live in poverty and have access to public education and healthcare.

I'd take a racist like LBJ over a completely non-racist Randite any day.

[King]

Another foolish aspect is the idea that any other President beside Johnson would've been even able to sign the Civil Rights Act. Johnson rammed it through on savvy and swindle. A nice guy from the North like Kennedy would not have gotten it done. Nixon wouldn't have bothered. It might not have been law until the Carter Administration if it weren't for LBJ and who knows then with how much Carter relied on Southern support. Would Reagan have bothered? Bush Sr. have the stones?

I mean, just thinking about the domino effect of Presidents and Congresses after LBJ and honestly the can could've been kicked way to the 1990s and set this country back immensely.

[King]

I'm not questioning about whether they would have signed it, I'm questioning whether they would have fought tooth and nail to have a bill to sign.  You have to have a Civil Rights Act passed in order for a President to sign it. LBJ got it done.

Momentum in terms of support means nothing in Washington, there's momentum to legalize marijuana and raise the minimum wage at the moment, but it's not happening in DC. The political momentum LBJ had was Kennedy's assassination, which neither Kennedy nor Nixon nor Eisenhower nor Stevenson would have had it if they were President in 1964. LBJ was a man for his time, plain and simple.

It's difficult to say if Carter, Reagan, or Bush would've signed either because it's difficult to say what America would be without it. The Civil Rights Act dissolved the New Deal Coalition in the South. It changed Congress and Presidential politics after it.

LBJ and George W Bush are the only two Presidents of the last 50 years to have a relatively good relationship with their Congress. That means something with landmark legislation like the CRA.