The Assassination of President

John F. Kennedy and its Affect

on Civil Rights

Student Example

Kennedy in Dallas, November 22, 1963
(Public Domain)
On a beautiful Dallas afternoon on
November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy
was campaigning for re-election. The young
president wanted to secure his presence in
Texas, the home of his Vice President Lyndon
Johnson. Johnson had delivered Texas for
Kennedy just three years earlier, helping
Kennedy to bring change to the United States.
President Kennedy represented something new
in America, and oversaw an informal revolution.
During his presidency, Kennedy increased
American involvement in the Vietnam War and
oversaw deteriorating relations with the Soviet
Union. Perhaps his greatest challenge, however,
was that of Civil Rights. Early in his presidency,
Kennedy made a legal argument in favor of civil
rights, but by 1963, his tone changed to a sense
of moral responsibility. In his “Report to the
American People on Civil Rights,” President
Kennedy argued that it was the moral
responsibility of the United States to ensure that
meaningful civil rights legislation be passed. This
was the basis of the legislation that was passed
under his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson.
However, Kennedy would’ve likely faced a tough Kennedy. After Oswald was arrested for the
road to passing his legislation. First, civil rights crime, he too was assassinated while in police
was still a contentious issue in the 1960’s. Many custody by a Dallas nightclub owner named Jack
Democrats, including most in the Southern Ruby.
United States, adamantly opposed any such
legislation. Second, Kennedy was a Northern
Democrat with not a lot of political ties in
Congress. Because of this, he was not in a great
position to negotiate a strong civil rights bill.
Anything he would’ve passed would have likely
been full of compromises.
These ambitions changed on that fateful day
in Dallas. At around noon on November 22,
1963, while riding in a top-down convertible
through Dealey Plaza, President Kennedy was
shot and killed by an assassin. The President was
rushed to the hospital where he died, and a
manhunt ensued to find the killer. Eventually
Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee at the Texas
Schoolbook Depository in Dallas, was arrested
for the crime. However, Oswald denied the crime
Lee Harvey Oswald shot by Jack Ruby,
and called himself a “pasty.”
November 24, 1963
It’s impossible to know if we’ll ever find out
(Public Domain)
the truth about what happened to President
 The unusual circumstances surround the
death of John F. Kennedy gave rise to numerous
conspiracy theories. Some of the more popular
theories involve the Soviets, the Cubans, the CIA,
the Mafia, and even Vice President Johnson
himself. Lee Harvey Oswald had defected to the
Soviet Union before coming back to Dallas to
shoot the President. Some have theorized that
Oswald was working for the Soviets when he
pulled the trigger. Others think the Cubans, who
Oswald was also friendly with, wanted to get
revenge on Kennedy for the botched Bay of Pigs
invasion in 1961. The Chicago Mafia actually
claimed to be responsible for killing the
President, but many don’t actually give this
credit. It is more likely the mafia is claiming the
assassination because it would give them
notoriety in a business where notoriety comes at
a premium. Those who think the Vice President
did it argue that Johnson resented being a tool
of Kennedy to help him win the election, and
that there was a fear that Johnson would be
dropped from the ticket in 1964. Whatever
happened, the Warren Commission - the official
government report on the assassination -
concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
in assassinating the President.
The American public seems to rally around its
leaders in times of tragedy, and that is exactly
what happened for President Lyndon Johnson in
the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination. In
February 1964, just a few months after
Kennedy’s death, Johnson enjoyed an approval
rating of 79%, unusually high for an American
president (Gallup, Inc.). This high approval rating
gave him the political capital needed to pass
Kennedy’s civil rights legislation.
Persuaded by Martin Luther King, Jr., Johnson
made the cause of civil rights his number one
issues. Shortly after taking office, King told the
President that the best way to honor the late
Kennedy was to “enact some of the great
progressive policies that he sought to
initiate” (Germany). King knew there was a
tremendous opportunity to pass meaningful
legislation, and he was committed to holding
President Johnson to it. He was aware of the
staunch opposition from the Southern
Democrats, who would do anything in their
power to halt civil rights legislation. But he also
knew of the tremendous power Johnson’s
wielded in the Congress from his decades of
serving there. Johnson’s tall stature made him
extremely intimidating in one-on-one
negotiations, thus making him a hard person to
say ‘no’ to. King respected this and knew it would
be beneficial to their cause.
President Johnson “negotiates” with
Senator Richard Russell on Civil Rights
(Public Domain)
Unlike Malcolm X, who was another civil
rights leader that didn’t believe in non-violent
movements, Dr. King advocated for change
through peaceful means. King pursued the
cause of civil rights through the organization of
rallies and marches. Later in his life he was
known for his march from Selma, Alabama to
Washington, D.C. and various other gatherings in
cities across America. The effectiveness of his
diplomatic approach was realized when
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into
law in July of 1964. Even further, his work also
produced the Voting Rights Act the following
year. These two monumental pieces of
legislation reduced many barriers that people of
color faced in America, from schooling to the
workplace; to diners and the voting booth.
The work of Dr. King and other activists in his
generation paved the way for generations of
activism for underprivileged communities in the
United States, a lot of which still takes place
today. Though these movements would likely
have taken off regardless of who was the
President, a unique opportunity was created in
the mid-1960’s to pass meaningful civil rights
Works Cited
reform due in part to the assassination of John F.
Kennedy. Gallup, Inc. (n.d). Presidential Approval Ratings.

Germany, K.B. (2014). Lyndon B. Johnson & Civil

Rights.

Images

Cisco, W. (1963, November 24). Kennedy in

Dallas [Digital Image].

Jackson, B. (1963, November 24). Oswald Shot

[Digital Image].

Okamoto, Y. (1963, December 17). Lyndon B.

Johnson meets with Sen. Richard Russell
[Digital Image].

Okamoto, Y. (1966, March 18). President Lyndon

Martin Luther King, Jr. and B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
President Johnson meet at the White House, 1966 [Digital Image].
(Public Domain)