Today In History: Obamas Adopt Bo; Johnson Talks Voting Rights; Kathleen Willey Speaks Out On Bill Clinton

March 15, 2017, is the 74th day of the year, with 291 days remaining. The moon is in a waning gibbous phase, with illumination at 92 percent.

Johnson Addresses Congress on Voting Rights for Blacks

A 1965 speech to Congress comprised President Lyndon Johnson’s outline of the deceitful ways that election officials denied black citizens voting rights. Election officials often told black Americans that the latter had mistaken the date, time or polling location, that officials were late or absent, the voting application had been incorrectly completed or referred to insufficiency in literacy skills, the latter having been suffered at a high rate due to centuries of oppression and concurrent poverty. Johnson also informed Congress that voting officials, primarily in southern states, had been known to force black voters to recite the constitution in full or “explain the most complex provisions of state laws,” a task white voters were believed to have been hard-pressed to accomplish as well.

The Voting Rights Act came to pass five months later in August, but state and local enforcement of the law was weak and often outright ignored, chiefly in southern states and in areas where the proportion of black residents in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo. Nevertheless, the Voting Rights Act gave black Americans the legal means to challenge voting restrictions, vastly improving voter turnout in black communities. Mississippi saw an increase in voter turnout among black residents from 6 percent in 1964 to 59 percent in 1969.

Kathleen Willey Accuses Bill Clinton of Sexual Advances

One not-so-idle Sunday saw former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey publicly asserting that President Bill Clinton had lied when, under oath, the president denied sexually groping Willey during a private encounter at the White House in 1993.

Willey said, during an broadcast interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” that she and Clinton were in his private study when the president “embraced her tightly, kissed her on the mouth, fondled her breast and then placed her hand on his genitals.” She further insisted that these advances were unwelcome and that she had done nothing to signal Clinton toward the notion that she might have been interested in a sexual encounter, but nevertheless, “the president was aroused.”

Willey told CBS interview Ed Bradley that she met with Clinton to discuss his help in obtaining a paying job because her husband, Ed, was experiencing “severe legal and financial” troubles. The Willeys had been involved in Clinton’s 1992 campaign, consequently becoming friends.

Kathleen Willey stated on “60 Minutes” that she believed she had been taken advantage of by Clinton, that the president had betrayed her friendship.

President Obama Welcomes New Family Puppy to White House

President Barack Obama was famously photographed running down the White House’s East Colonnade with the first family’s new puppy, Bo, a Portuguese water dog, in what was Bo’s first visit to the Executive Mansion. The president had made a campaign promise to adopt a rescue dog upon his arrival to the White House, their search initially complicated by daughter Malia’s allergies.

Enter Bo, a 6-month-old puppy who was given up by his first owner and matched with the Obamas through the puppy’s breeders.

Wayne Nacelle, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, described Bo as a “quasi-rescue dog.”

The Obama family eventually adopted a second Portuguese water dog in 2013, named Sunny.

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Photo credit: Pete Souza via White House (2009)