Kennedy decided it was time to introduce civil rights legislation. At 8:00 P.M. on June 11, with only part of a speech in front of him, Kennedy addressed the nation. He combined the remarks from his prepared text with a contemporaneous discussion about the moral issue of segregation. Kennedy asserted that segregation was wrong, and it was unfair for blacks to have to fight for their rights. He called for legislation that would make desegregation of public facilities and public schools not merely the law but the reality as well. Kennedy wanted Congress to find a way for the federal government to enforce desegregation and voting rights.

Kennedy presented his civil rights legislation to Congress on June 19. The right to vote would extend to any citizen with a sixthgrade education and all public places would have to be desegregated. He requested that the attorney general receive substantial power over court-ordered public school desegregation cases.

The proposed civil rights bill was a progressive step toward the elimination of discrimination and segregation. All the same, King and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph decided to put pressure on Congress to pass the bill with a March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Kennedy had already encountered enough opposition from some legislators, and he worried about how Congress would respond to the march. He immediately met with King, Randolph, and other civil rights leaders. He explained to them that the march could jeopardize the passage of the bill. King, however, refused to budge. Kennedy reflected that the bill might not pass, and his strong support of it might endanger his own reelection.