The March on Washington
Since Kennedy was unable to convince King and the other civil rights leaders to call off the March on Washington, he publicly announced his support on July 17. Nevertheless, he remained apprehensive. He was most concerned with the possibility of violence, which he knew would quickly eliminate any chance his bill had in Congress. He put Bobby in charge of working with the planners, and it was agreed to hold the demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial. Nearby stores were scheduled for closure, and the rally was intended to last three hours. In case there was a controversial speech, the sound system could lose power in a matter of seconds.
President Kennedy and his brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, August 28, 1963.
Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton, White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
A Successful Demonstration
It seemed that every potential problem was planned for. However, when August 28, 1963, arrived, Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle, who was scheduled to deliver the invocation, threatened to leave. At issue was the wording of a speech by John Lewis, the president of Student Nonviolent Coordinating (SNCC). As opposed to King's well-seasoned SCLC, the SNCC was composed of students, whose youthful passion was often interpreted as more militant. The twenty-three-year-old Lewis planned to advocate marching through the South like Sherman did, and he threw in a few unsavory remarks about cheap political leaders and the pursuit of a scorched-earth policy. While these words were upsetting to O'Boyle, Kennedy focused on Lewis's comment that he would not support the civil rights bill. Initially Lewis stood firm in his plan to deliver the speech, but with only minutes until the program was scheduled to begin, he finally relented. The speech was revised, and Lewis's controversial language was omitted. In addition, he would proclaim that although he supported the bill, he did so with reservations.
THEY SAID…
“[Kennedy's] attempt to find a middle ground made him less effective in a fight that required unqualified expressions of faith in the righteousness of the cause. Since civil rights — more so than any other national issue confronting him — raised fundamental ethical questions, he certainly could have made it the one great domestic moral cause of his presidency.”
— Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life
As the rally began, Kennedy, just like many other Americans, sat down to watch the day's proceedings. The event began with O'Boyle and proceeded with speeches by A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young of the Urban League, and John Lewis's revised speech. It was King, however, whom Kennedy was waiting to hear, so when he stepped to the podium, Kennedy watched with anticipation. King began his speech, but in the middle he departed from his planned address. Instead, he was moved to deliver a speech that he had given on several other occasions. As Kennedy watched, King made his most memorable and powerful statement. “I have a dream,” he declared. It was a dream of brotherhood and the end of discrimination and segregation. He finished his speech with a proclamation that it was his belief that one day blacks and whites would sing together the words of an old spiritual, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Meeting with Civil Rights Leaders
Kennedy was impressed and pleased with the March. “He's damned good,” he proclaimed about King. Violence was absent and the presence of senators at the rally gave him confidence that if anything, the March would help gain support for the bill. Within an hour after the March ended, Kennedy met with the leaders of the event. When King arrived, Kennedy greeted him with the statement “I have a dream” and a head nod.
President Kennedy meets with the leaders of the March On Washington.
Photo credit: Cecil Stoughton, White House/John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Kennedy wanted to discuss the bill's support in Congress. The prospect of its passage without strong Republican support was not likely, he commented. He could only agree with Randolph who stated that a “crusade” was necessary in order for its passage.
An Objectionable Compromise on Civil Rights
Kennedy believed that while a crusade was certainly helpful, a limited civil rights bill would gain the support of hardliners. More than ever, with his reelection campaign near, Kennedy wanted to put the civil rights issue in the foreground temporarily. To that end, on October 23 he reached an agreement for a compromise bill with House leaders. The new bill made substantial changes to Kennedy's initial civil rights legislation. The public accommodation clause would apply to everything except retail stores and personal services, voting rights applied only to federal elections, a Fair Employment Practices Commission was no longer part of the bill, and the EEOC was limited in its power.
On November 20, Kennedy's compromise bill passed the Judiciary Committee. Next, the bill would have to pass the Rules Committee. Its chairman, a segregationist, stood ready to prevent its introduction to the House floor. Although the passage of his bill was in serious jeopardy, Kennedy headed off to Texas on November 21.
