Which U.S. president signed the Fair Housing Act into law?

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act into law.

He signed it on April 11, 1968, as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The law prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing on grounds including race, color, religion, and national origin. Sex was added as a protected category through a 1974 amendment, and disability and familial status were added by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.

The legislation followed years of campaigning, congressional resistance, and civil-rights organizing. Its passage came shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Johnson urged Congress to act, and the bill became law less than a week later. The act also gave the federal government a stronger framework for addressing housing discrimination, with enforcement responsibilities involving the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A frequent confusion is with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed by President Johnson four years earlier. That law addressed discrimination in areas such as public accommodations and employment; the Fair Housing Act specifically established federal protections in housing. Jimmy Carter later signed major housing legislation, but not the original Fair Housing Act.