The presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson began on November 22, 1963, when Johnson became the 36th President of the United States upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and ended on January 20, 1969. Signed into law on February 26, 1964, the act cut individual income tax rates across the board by approximately 20 percent, cut the top marginal tax rate from 91 to 70 percent, and slightly reduced corporate tax rates. Passage of the long-stalled tax cut facilitated efforts to move ahead on civil rights legislation. In April 1964, Johnson proposed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which would create the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to oversee local Community Action Agencies charged with dispensing aid to those in poverty. The act would also create the Job Corps, a work-training program, and AmeriCorps VISTA, a domestic version of the Peace Corps. The bill reflected Johnson's belief that the government could best help the impoverished by providing them with economic opportunities.