19-09-2015, 04:21 PM
To hammer this point home, no president since Reconstruction ever had a plan to break down the walls of discrimination in the south when he entered office. And no president ever stuck to that plan as JFK did, for any length of time. And by sticking to it, and by talking about it, he managed to gain synergy--from other sources-- to solve the problem.
In this case, the plan was Title 3 as modified by the Wofford memo. Wofford wrote that the problem was that the courts were more or less out there on their own in civil rights. Previous presidents had done little or nothing, and you could not get anything through congress because of the combination of Republicans and souther Democrats, who threatened a filibuster. One good example was A Philip Randolph's attempt for a previous March of Washington. FDR, a man I much admire, called him into the White House and talked him out of it since he thought it would endanger passage of his New Deal programs. Instead, FDR said he sould hire black Americans in these programs and Randolph settled for it. Randolph regretted he did, which is why he brought it up again under JFK.
In recognition of all this, Kennedy decided on a tactical plan with a strategic goal:
1.) Push the envelope even further with legal actions through Title 3
2.) Do all he could with executive actions which did not require any congressional approval
3.) When these took hold, push for a really good civil rights bill
In other words, as Bernstein notes, he was following the Wofford memo. And as I note above, he did this in a number of ways that no one had done before e.g. in federal government contracting in 1961, and then in housing in 1962. For all intents and purposes, he also did this by instituting an informal version of affirmative action in the executive branch. But he also made clear to the south that he would never appear at any function or join an institution which discriminated against black Americans--and he expected no employee of his to do that either. Finally, by making the Civil Rights commission an advocacy body, he also signaled the south that there was a new sheriff in town. Ike and Tricky Dick were gone.
As we can see, Kennedy's strategy was thought out, mutil leveled and comprehensive. And it worked. As more than one author has noted, by 1963, JFK had the winds at his back on the issue. So he made his fine speech in Hawaii on the subject, he then went on national TV for his sterling civil rights speech, and he then backed the March on Washington--actually, through RFK, he organized it.
This monumental achievement has been all but buried by a combination of MSM sluts, and left wing axe grinders. But its all there in the record, if you know where to look.
I would not dare post this at JFK Facts, because it would be moderated for weeks while Bill Clarke was dancing around the site with the Orwellian declaration that Truman and Grant did as much as JFK for black Americans on civil rights.
In this case, the plan was Title 3 as modified by the Wofford memo. Wofford wrote that the problem was that the courts were more or less out there on their own in civil rights. Previous presidents had done little or nothing, and you could not get anything through congress because of the combination of Republicans and souther Democrats, who threatened a filibuster. One good example was A Philip Randolph's attempt for a previous March of Washington. FDR, a man I much admire, called him into the White House and talked him out of it since he thought it would endanger passage of his New Deal programs. Instead, FDR said he sould hire black Americans in these programs and Randolph settled for it. Randolph regretted he did, which is why he brought it up again under JFK.
In recognition of all this, Kennedy decided on a tactical plan with a strategic goal:
1.) Push the envelope even further with legal actions through Title 3
2.) Do all he could with executive actions which did not require any congressional approval
3.) When these took hold, push for a really good civil rights bill
In other words, as Bernstein notes, he was following the Wofford memo. And as I note above, he did this in a number of ways that no one had done before e.g. in federal government contracting in 1961, and then in housing in 1962. For all intents and purposes, he also did this by instituting an informal version of affirmative action in the executive branch. But he also made clear to the south that he would never appear at any function or join an institution which discriminated against black Americans--and he expected no employee of his to do that either. Finally, by making the Civil Rights commission an advocacy body, he also signaled the south that there was a new sheriff in town. Ike and Tricky Dick were gone.
As we can see, Kennedy's strategy was thought out, mutil leveled and comprehensive. And it worked. As more than one author has noted, by 1963, JFK had the winds at his back on the issue. So he made his fine speech in Hawaii on the subject, he then went on national TV for his sterling civil rights speech, and he then backed the March on Washington--actually, through RFK, he organized it.
This monumental achievement has been all but buried by a combination of MSM sluts, and left wing axe grinders. But its all there in the record, if you know where to look.
I would not dare post this at JFK Facts, because it would be moderated for weeks while Bill Clarke was dancing around the site with the Orwellian declaration that Truman and Grant did as much as JFK for black Americans on civil rights.