President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. on August 6, 1965. Present at the signing ceremony were Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, John Lewis, and other civil rights activists and dignitaries. In his remarks that day, Johnson reflected on American history, stating “millions of Americans are denied the right to vote because of their color. This law will ensure them the right to vote. The wrong is one which no American, in his heart, can justify. The right is one which no American, true to our principles, can deny…there were those who said this is an old injustice, and there is no need to hurry. But 95 years have passed since the 15th amendment gave all Negroes the right to vote…the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.