Former President John F. Kennedy failed to fix civil rights in 1960s

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

The assassination was a tragic event that shook an entire nation and left a mark on countless Americans. This tragedy makes people look back upon Kennedy and his administration in a positive light, particularly in the area of civil rights.

While Kennedy has been remembered as a politician who championed the civil rights movement and fought for minority rights, many have forgotten that Kennedy had voted down previous civil rights bills in the past.

Kennedy most famously voted against the Republican-backed Civil Rights Act of 1957 that would eventually expand voting rights, the first major piece of civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction.

Kennedy, as well as many other Democrats within Congress, voted against the bill after they temporarily filibustered it in the Senate. The bill eventually passed.

If Kennedy truly was the civil rights advocate he claimed to be when he ran for president, then he should have voted to pass the bill regardless of how his fellow party members felt.

This inconsistency could be seen again in his presidency, when he promised to act quickly and resolve the hostile race relations that were plaguing America.

When he won office in 1960, Kennedy did very little in terms of actually passing or suggesting any laws to ease racial tensions.

This may have occurred for a number of reasons, ranging from the Bay of Pigs fiasco to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Kennedy may have promised to make these changes, and well intended to, but had to put those aside for cries that he felt were of greater importance.

Whatever the reason, he wasn’t the champion of civil rights he promised to be.

In the years near the end of his life, Kennedy began to show some indication of addressing the elephant in the room.

Had Kennedy kept his word and acted sooner, the civil rights movement could have progressed much more quickly.

Instead, Kennedy chose to remain fairly moderate and hold off doing anything major.

Whatever his reasons for this, people always speak of Kennedy in a positive light and remember him as being a great man of the civil rights movement.

While it is important to show some respect for Kennedy, one cannot let these emotions temper what actually transpired during Kennedy’s time in office.

When history becomes misunderstood, one cannot learn from it, and one is doomed to repeat it.

By analyzing the Kennedy administration more objectively, we can truly begin to understand how society reached where it currently is today.

Nick Chavez is a sophomore political science major and an assistant opinions editor.