From Lincoln To LBJ, Doris Kearns Goodwin Examines What It Means To Lead

"The most important thing about a speech is, does it mobilize people to action? And the great thing it did was, by using the phrase, 'We shall overcome,' it meant that [Johnson] was connecting to the civil rights movement, and when you have the person in power and this movement coming from the outside in, then that's when you really get something. ... It's an amazing speech. It starts out, 'Every now and then, history and fate meet at a certain place, at a certain time. So it was at Lexington and Concord, so it was in Appomattox, so it was in Selma, Alabama.' ... He had only that day to write the speech. I couldn't do it if my life depended on it. There's no way, honest to God."