1. Government Response Chapter 20, Section 3 Notes

2. JFK and Civil Rights In the 1960 campaign, Kennedy made an all-out effort for the vote of African Americans. He endorsed the sit-ins and promised to sponsor a civil rights bill. He also pledged to end racial discrimination in federally supported housing projects. A test of Kennedy’s commitment came when Martin Luther King, Jr., was sentenced to four months on a rural prison road gang. Many feared for King’s life. Nixon did nothing. John Kennedy, however, called Coretta King, while Bobby Kennedy phoned the judge on King’s behalf.

3. JFK and Civil Rights The Kennedys received much of the credit for King’s release. In the narrow presidential election, African American votes helped put Kennedy into the White House. As President, Kennedy backed away from his promises. Instead he spent the first two years of his administration trying not to lose the votes of either white Southerners or African Americans. Rather than attacking segregation, Kennedy sought to keep black support by promising African Americans jobs and votes.

4. JFK and Civil Rights Aside from African American executive appointments, Kennedy was not very successful in producing either jobs or votes. Fun Fact- In 1962 Eleanor Roosevelt told her secretary, “I had the most wonderful dream last night.... I was marching and singing and sitting in with students in the South.” She invited Dr. King to discuss civil rights on nationwide TV. However, Eleanor’s death prevented the broadcast from occurring.

5. Kennedy and the Militants Kennedy knew that if violent white segregationists attacked nonviolent civil rights demonstrators, he would have to make a choice. The first choice came with the arrival of freedom riders—groups of interracial bus riders carefully selected by James Farmer, executive director of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Kennedy tried to avert mob attacks, but his efforts ultimately failed. In the end, Attorney General Robert Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to rule against segregation of interstate facilities.

6. Kennedy and the Militants To avoid future violence, Robert Kennedy stressed the importance of voting as a means of achieving change. To encourage voter registration drives, he called a meeting of representatives from SCLC, SNCC, CORE, and NAACP. The result was the Voter Education Project. Members of SNCC led the project. Their presence in Southern communities, however, provoked the terrorist responses that the Kennedys had hoped to avoid. When federal protection failed to appear, militants in the civil rights movement became alienated from the Kennedys.

7. Kennedy’s decision to use federal troops to enforce a court order to enroll James Meredith in the University of Mississippi was too little too late. In spring 1963 explosive confrontations in Birmingham between armed police and unarmed marchers, including children, proved that the Kennedy administration had lost control of the segregation issue.

8. Kennedy finally cast his lot with Martin Luther King, Jr. On June 11, 1963, he enforced court-ordered integration of the University of Alabama. That evening Kennedy told the nation that he would present Congress with a comprehensive civil rights bill. Hours later, a white sniper killed Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers.

9. Kennedy and the Militants In this explosive situation, civil rights leaders organized a massive protest march on Washington, D.C., in support of the civil rights bill. The dream of equality seemed to be within reach. Questions 1.How did politics shape Kennedy’s early civil rights policy? 2. Why did Kennedy finally side with Martin Luther King, Jr.?

10. The Triumph of Civil Rights Following Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, presidential leadership of civil rights efforts fell to Lyndon Johnson. Johnson used all of his political talents to push through the civil rights bill. After working behind the scenes to break a filibuster by Southern Senators, Johnson signed into law the 1964 Civil Rights Act—the most comprehensive civil rights legislation enacted up to that time. The act forbade segregation in public places and gave the government the job of bringing discrimination complaints before the courts.

11. The Triumph of Civil Rights The Civil Rights Act did not mean that the work of the civil rights movement was over. African Americans could still not vote in much of the South. To achieve this goal, King mounted another campaign of nonviolent protest, this time in Selma, Alabama. After enduring months of violence, King announced a dramatic march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery. On March 7, 1965, a march led by King’s aides ended in violence on a bridge outside Selma.

12. The Triumph of Civil Rights On March 9, 1963, King, who had been out of town, returned to lead a second march. At the last minute he turned around at the bridge. At the time, nobody knew that King had been talking with Johnson, who urged him to avoid all violence. On March 15, 1963, Johnson delivered a televised address promising to send a bill to Congress that would guarantee African Americans the right to vote. That bill became the Voting Rights Act of 1965. African Americans now had the voting power to help elect hundreds of African American officials.

13. Final Question What civil rights successes were achieved during the Johnson presidency?