Why Did Civil Rights Become a Big Issue During the Kennedy Years?

The administration of John F. Kennedy was cut short after little more than three years but his courage and humanity, combined with a youthful enthusiasm, hope and understanding of making decisions for the future today enabled his administration to retain a high degree of nobility in retrospect. Civil rights issues came to a head during Kennedy's administration and because he expressed caring and concern for blacks, despite Southern political opposition, he became a beloved leader of minorities, humanitarians and intellectuals. He used culture and historical tradition to support his visionary views on society and the future. His legal and moral battles for civil rights cost him effectiveness domestically, as he found it difficult to pass many of his proposals into law because of Southern opposition. The Civil Rights Movement, lead by Martin Luther King, Jr., is perhaps the most noble event in American history of the 20th century. King suffered at great personal expense to lead his people out of bondage and into the light of freedom. He did so through means that were peaceful, dignified and poised on the sword of morality for all individuals. Atrocious crimes were committed against blacks during the Civil Rights Movement, but through the powerful, peaceful, spiritual leadership of King, the Movement never reverted to brutality to achieve its aims. While King did find a willing ally eventually in the presence of John F. Kennedy, he still carried most of the burden for the freedom of his people on his own shoulders. He was a great, noble man who led a great, noble cause. The success of the Civil Rights Movement is a historical incident of which all Americans may be proud. Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One the day Kennedy was assassinated. This was largely in part because of Johnson's uncanny political shrewdness, and his ability to fully understand the importance of bi-partisan politics if a president hopes to have any significant proposals passed into legislation. Johnson could and did. His term saw the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the tax reductions fought for by Kennedy.

What were the results of Kennedy's foreign policy?

He established the Peace Corps and he and his eloquent First Lady became international favorites, save for perhaps Russia. His legal and moral battles for civil rights cost him effectiveness domestically, as he found it difficult to pass many of his proposals into law because of Southern opposition. Internationally, Kennedy's handling of the delicate potentially cataclysmic Bay of Pigs affair and the Cuban Missile Crisis was perceived as weakness by some, notably Khrushchev, but scholars and historians argue that his cautious handling of the situations may have prevented World War III, unlike the reactive nature to military crises of his predecessors that launched the US into WWI and WWII, "The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps