Video: 'August 28, 1963 - President John F. Kennedy meets with the leaders of the March On Washington'
(Wednesday, August 28, 1963, 5:00-6:12 p.m. EDT; during the civil rights movement) — Following the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, highlighted by the “I Have A Dream” speech delivered by American civil rights activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., 10 leaders of the event walked over to the White House today for a 72-minute meeting with President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Oval Office.
Kennedy had called on Congress June 19, 1963, to enact extensive civil rights legislation that he said would “go far toward providing reasonable men with reasonable means” for dealing with the national crisis in race relations.
The President served tea and sympathy and blunt political advice to the tired but proud leaders of the march on Washington
The main discussion between the march leaders and the President concerned prospects for civil rights legislation the leaders said afterwards.
They talked with Kennedy in the Cabinet room, where the leaders were served tea, coffee, canapes and sandwiches by Filipino mess boys.
Several of them had not eaten during a long exhausting day.
Video: 'August 28, 1963: March on Washington - www.NBCUniversalArchives.com' (4:30-5:00 p.m. EDT)
The leaders, a mixed black and white group for whom A. Philip Randolph served as spokesman, made it plain in a news conference after the meeting that they were exhilarated and encouraged by the day’s events.
Randolph the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters called it “one of the biggest most creative and constructive demonstrations ever held in the history of our nation” and one of which “every American could be proud.”
Kennedy concurred.
“One can not help but be impressed,” he said in a statement, “with the deep fervor and the quiet dignity that characterizes the thousands who have gathered in the nation’s capital from across the country to demonstrate their Faith and confidence in our democratic form of government.”
The leaders of the march, most of whom sooke briefly at the White House, emphasized their intention to seek strong bipartisan support for the civil rights legislation now pending in Congress.
