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President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard College in 1940. After distinguished military service during World War II, he served as a U.S. representative (1947–1953) and then as senator from Massachusetts (1953–1960). As the Democratic candidate for president in 1960, Kennedy supported his party's commitment to a strong civil rights program. He won 70 percent of the black vote in a tight election defeating opponent Richard Nixon.
As president, Kennedy appointed an unprecedented number of blacks to government posts and believed that executive action and executive orders would be the only effective tools to advance civil rights. However, Kennedy argued the issue of civil rights could divide the Democratic Party and cost him the chance to pass other vital legislation. The Birmingham crisis in the spring of 1963, which drew the world's attention to racial segregation in the South, moved him to send a full and comprehensive civil rights bill to Congress. |