Fifty years ago today, August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. Mike Mansfield played a critical role in passing the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting. As Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield worked with Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen and others to draft the legislation, and he and Sen. Dirksen jointly sponsored the bill.