Video: 'John F. Kennedy's 1963 Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights'
(Tuesday, June 11, 1963, 8:00 p.m. EDT; during the Report to the American People on Civil Rights, part of the civil rights movement) — U.S. President Kennedy delivered a historic civil rights address tonight on radio and television in which he proposed legislation that would later become the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and asked for “the kind of equality of treatment that we would want for ourselves.”
Expressing civil rights as a moral issue, Kennedy moved past his previous appeals to legality and asserted that the pursuit of racial equality was a just cause.
The address signified a shift in his administration’s policy towards strong support of the civil rights movement and played a significant role in shaping his legacy as a proponent of civil rights.
Kennedy was initially cautious in his support of civil rights and desegregation in the United States. Concerned that dramatic actions would alienate legislators in the segregated southern United States, he limited his activities on the issue and confined his justifying rhetoric to legal arguments.
Video: 'June 11, 1963 - President John F. Kennedys report to the American People on Civil Rights'
As his term continued, African Americans became increasingly impatient with their lack of social progress and racial tensions escalated. The rising militancy of the civil rights movement troubled white Americans and the deteriorating situation reflected negatively on the United States abroad.
Kennedy came to conclude that he had to offer stronger support for civil rights, including the enactment of new legislation that would ensure desegregation in the commercial sector.
Earlier today, federal officials integrated the University of Alabama. Kennedy decided that it was an opportune moment to speak about civil rights, and instructed Ted Sorensen to draft a speech that he could deliver on television that evening.
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and his deputy, Burke Marshall, assisted Sorensen, who finished shortly before President Kennedy was due to begin speaking tonight.
