Although the report was a bestseller, Johnson found the conclusions politically untenable and distanced himself from the commission report.

Torn between his need to balance Southern votes and his ambition to leave a strong civil rights legacy, Johnson proceeded along a very cautious path.

He did nothing about the report.

U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke, Black Massachusetts Republican, was one of the 11 members on the commission.

In his book “Bridging the Divide,” Brooke explained Johnson’s reticence.

“In retrospect,” he wrote, “I can see that our report was too strong for him to take. It suggested that all his great achievements — his civil rights legislation, his antipoverty programs, Head Start, housing legislation, and all the rest of it – had been only a beginning. It asked him, in an election year, to endorse the idea that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion.”

Even for a politician like Johnson, that proved too much to handle.

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Travis Knoll does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.