President+Kennedy

John F. Kennedy Born 29 May, 1917. Died 22 November, 1963  //The 35th president of the United States of America, in office from 1961 to 1963. //  John F. Kennedy was the leader of the Democratic government of the United States from 1961 to 1963. Commonly known as JFK, he defeated Richard Nixon in the 1960 election and was in office during events such as the Space Race and the Cuban Missile Crisis (TWH, 1998). During JFK’s early years he lived in Boston and his family experienced social discrimination and disrespect due to his Irish heritage, as he was seen as being vulgar and lesser (History Learning’s, 2000).

JFK was the first President to elect African Americans to Federal positions, laying the ground-work for African-American power. ( Oracle, 2001) JFK’s role in the civil rights movement was inevitable because he was serving as President at the time. JFK assisted African-Americans in finding employment by imposing new anti-discrimination laws to do with the workplace. JFK also threatened to take legal action on all persons expressing racist social behaviours and/or values. There have been many arguments made against JFK, claiming that he only supported and assisted in the civil rights movement because his hands were tied and that he was ‘pushed into action’ (History Learning’s, 2000).

JFK was the first president to assist and support the African American community to achieve desegregation. JFK was also the first president to grant African-Americans roles in the government and judicial system; JFK appointed approximately 40 African Americans into significant roles in these areas. The Civil Rights Act of 1963 was led by JFK; he worked with congress into making all acts of discrimination illegal. The Civil Rights Act of 1963 had a significant effect on the way people perceived the African American community but nothing was ever made official by law. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all laws that JFK proposed became official by law, unfortunately JFK was assassinated before these proposals were made legal (Think Library Quest, 2001).

"All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the lifetime of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." (John F Kennedy, 1961)



//John F. Kennedy//. Retrieved June 09, 2010, from The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy //John F. Kennedy, The 35th President of the United States//. Retrieved June 09, 2010, from John F. Kennedy - Presidential Library & Museum: [] Zapruders, A. (2008, June 30). //JFK Assasination//. Retrieved June 06, 2010, from YouTube: []