Civil Rights and Political Realignment: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy

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Abstract

During his presidency, John F. Kennedy emerged as a powerful force for change in the area of equal rights for the nationʼs black population. In addition to the major civil rights legislation that he proposed and that Congress ultimately enacted, Kennedy served as the nationʼs teacher, trying to awaken in citizens a sense of understanding and fair-mindedness. He referred publicly to civil rights as a “national crisis of great dimensions,” and then worked hard in trying to resolve that crisis in a positive and peaceful way. However, the civil rights activities of both John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson contributed immeasurably to a powerful and enduring political realignment in the United States. Millions of Democrats, located heavily in the south, were highly disaffected by Kennedyʼs and Johnsonʼs activism in civil rights. Many moved out of the Democratic Party and then into the Republican Party after flirting in 1968 with the short-lived and overtly racist American Independent Party. Today, more than fifty years later, the south remains strongly Republican.

Keywords: Civil rights, John F. Kennedy presidency, Southern United States, Republican Party

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Bibliography: Gilbert, Robert E.: Civil Rights and Political Realignment: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy, PCS – Politics, Culture and Socialization, 2019-2020, pp. 18-50. https://doi.org/10.3224/pcs.v10i1-2.03