How did John F Kennedy Impact Civil Rights?

Learning Objectives Understand how JFK solved the problems left by Eisenhower Evaluate how successful JFK’s involvement with the Civil Rights Movement was

Starter Think about the situation in the USA when Kennedy was appointed What did previous presidents do for Civil Rights and how successful were they with this? What do you already know about Kennedy’s impact on Civil Rights?

America Before JFK Before JFK’s inauguration in 1961, America was still recovering from the economic problems created during Eisenhower’s presidency-the 1960s Recession. In terms of Civil Rights, there were only a few measures put in place to support the movement. Truman introduced desegregation into the military and was also one of the first presidents to speak out publicly over the issue. Eisenhower, on the other hand, distanced himself from the movement and only intervened in cases that were absolutely necessary, like in Little Rock.

WHAT CIVIL RIGHTS PROBLEMS DID JFK FACE? President Eisenhower left Kennedy with some problems regarding civil rights. Eisenhower never openly supported civil rights and so issues that rose during Eisenhower’s terms as president amounted to a huge pile of problems for Kennedy to resolve (Kennedy was a supporter of civil rights). Such problems were violent campaigns in America, the ‘Little rock nine’ aftermath and pressure from other American’s who were against civil rights. Kennedy had the task of improving the lives of millions of African American people as the following statistics show: 57% of African American housing was judged to be unacceptable African American life expectancy was 7 years less than whites African American infant mortality was twice as great as whites African Americans found it all but impossible to get mortgages from mortgage lenders Property values would drop a great deal if an African American family moved into a neighbourhood that was not a ghetto

TASK Read JFK booklet, page 55-58 ‘How much impact did Kennedy have on Civil Rights?’ Answer the following questions: What methods did Kennedy use to attempt to achieve a civil rights reform? What problems from the South did Kennedy face? What was the Civil Rights Act and why didn’t Kennedy want to propose it to Congress? How effective was Kennedy in progressing civil rights in America?

JFK’s Address on Civil Rights https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS4Qw4lIckg What incident did Kennedy mention in his speech? Did Kennedy enforce all his statements made during his speech? How was Kennedy seen during Civil Rights?

Plenary/Conclusive He achieved a lot more compared to Truman and Eisenhower Kennedy continued Eisenhower’s policy of appointing more African- Americans to senior positions He established many different laws, for instance the Commission on Equal Opportunity Employment and Civil Rights Act, which had a huge positive impact on Civil Rights He had taken more action, and was more passionate about embracing and solving the issues surrounding Civil Rights His assassination in November 1963 consequently led to congress finally passing the Civil Rights Acts The passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, paved a way for further reforms