How Did Kennedy Support The Civil Rights Movement

In 1961, John F. Kennedy became president. His constant claim of Eisenhower neglecting “the needs and aspirations of the African people,” along with his actions, caused 70% of African Americans to vote for Kennedy (jfk.org). Due to the high support of African Americans, they had greater expectations for Kennedy to make a difference in the civil rights movement. During this time, African Americans had no voting rights and were segregated from whites in public places and facilities. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) was in jail for protesting in Atlanta, Georgia, so Kennedy took this into his own hands and called Dr. King’s wife to express his concerns. Meanwhile, Robert Kennedy called the judge to safely secure the release of Dr. King (csmonitor.com). This personal intervention led to the approval of Dr. King and his many supporters.
Kennedy did not want to push the civil rights movement in fear of losing support from the southern legislation. Keeping this in mind, Kennedy hired African Americans to available positions in the administration. Doing this would strengthen the commission for the movement. Kennedy made sure to speak out about school segregation. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s brother, the Attorney General Robert Kennedy, put his main attention towards voting rights. Although John Kennedy was taking small steps towards the voting rights, African Americans all over the nation could not wait. Eventually the administration had no choice but to act. In May 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality, led by James Farmer, organized the Freedom Riders to break segregation on transportation. This caused them to get arrested in North Carolina, beaten in South Carolina, and in Alabama a bus was burned and attacked the riders with baseball bats. Robert Kennedy sent about 400 federal marshals to protect the freedom