How Far Did Condition for Blacks Improve Under Democratic Presidents 1961-1968?
From the years of 1961-1968, conditions for blacks continued to improve, duly down to the recognisance from President Kennedy that blacks were still being treated harshly and wanted to put an end to it. His thoughts were made clear in his civil rights speech, when he spoke of blacks and whites being equal and that whites were living a better lifestyle. This is shown by the fact that the average life expectancy of a white person compared to a black person was 7 years longer for whites. Kennedy wanted to abolish all these problems and so put forward his civil rights bill. In 1963, Kennedy was assassinated and his vice, Lyndon Johnson was appointed to the presidential position. Johnson decided to keep with Kennedys legacy and continue with the Civil Rights Bill (which was confirmed in 1964) in order to gain a political advantage.
Under the appointment of Kennedy, conditions for blacks were starting to improve, due to Kennedys promise to help blacks once he was elected president. The first sign of improvements made under Kennedy was economically, whereby the number of blacks appointed to office increased. Kennedy put a lot of pressure on the civil service to employ blacks, and was shocked when he learnt how few blacks were employed in important positions by the federal government. For example, the FBI employed 13,649 people and yet only 48 were black. This showed the need for change to the federal government, and in doing so Kennedy made many black appointments to the FBI (more than any previous president). As well as this, Kennedy appointed 40 blacks to top posts, such as associate white house press secretary. He also appointed 5 black federal judges. However, 20% of his Deep South judicial appointments were segregationists, of whom one referred to black litigants as ‘niggers and ‘chimpanzees. Although Kennedy did show improvements by appointing more blacks, he still didnt get rid of anti black protestors. Kennedy during his reign showed that he was willing to help black as he created he Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO) which aimed to ensure all Americans had equal employment opportunities within the government and with those who had contracts with the government. This encouraged companies to hire more blacks. However, the CEEO failed to bring about a great increase in black employment by federal agencies or companies doing business with the federal government and exaggerated its success herein.
Improvements in conditions for blacks changed politically, whereby Kennedy gave the impression that he was committed to racial equality. This was shown by the fact that he invited more blacks to the White House than any previous president. As well as this the president showed his support for blacks by resigning from an exclusive club that refused to admit blacks. Kennedy also made sure that segregation would no longer remain within sport, so in doing so he refused the Washington Redskins