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{
    "localId": "193891",
    "label": "Radio and television address on civil rights, 11 June 1963",
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    "title": "Radio and television address on civil rights, 11 June 1963",
    "description": "This file contains materials collected by the office of President John F. Kennedy's secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, concerning President Kennedy's radio and television address on civil rights. In his speech the President responds to the threats of violence and obstruction on the University of Alabama campus following desegregation attempts, explaining that the United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and thus, all American students are entitled to attend public educational institutions, regardless of race. He also discusses how discrimination affects education, public safety, and international relations, noting that the country cannot preach freedom internationally while ignoring it domestically. The President asks Congress to enact legislation protecting all Americans' voting rights, legal standing, educational opportunities, and access to public facilities, but recognizes that legislation alone cannot solve the country's problems concerning race relations. Materials in this folder include a memorandum, drafts by Special Counsel and speechwriter Theodore Sorensen with handwritten notations by the President, in addition to copies of newspaper clippings concerning civil rights articles and notes of suggested remarks handwritten by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/193891",
    "identifierLocal": "JFKPOF-045-005",
    "creators": [
        "Sorensen, Theodore Chaikin, 1928-2010",
        "Kennedy, Robert F. (Robert Francis), 1925-1968"
    ],
    "collections": [
        "Papers of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Papers: President's Office Files",
        "Speech Files"
    ],
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    "ocrText": "New York Daily News\nJune 14, 1963\nAPITOL\nSTUFE\nBy TED LEWIS\nWashington, June 13 - There is definitely the smell\nIf Kennedy actually is emerging as a strong leader, the mystery\nof developing battle here, along with the faint sound of\nconcerns why it took so long rather than whether it is in character.\ntrumpets suggesting that President Kennedy is about to\nFor in a real sense it is in character-at least on the basis of the\nride forth in a national leadership role and joust with\nway he thought the job should be handled before he got it.\nAs he said Jan. 23, 1960, at a Democratic campaign kickoff\nCongress.\ndinner here: \"More of Harry Truman's brand of \"table-pounding'.\"\nThis would be the most significant switch yet made in the\nshould have been used by Ike but wasn't.\nKennedy system of conduct of office, for he has operated since he\nHe also said at that time: \"Perhaps we could afford a Coolidge\nwas inaugurated as a wheeler and dealer with Congress.\nfollowing Harding. And perhaps we could afford a Pierce following\nIt is too early to tell for sure\nFillmore. But after Buchanan this nation needed a Lincoln-after\nthat such a dramatic swing is\nTaft we needed a Wilson-after Hoover we needed Franklin Roose-\noccurring, but there are fascinat-\nvelt. And after eight years of Eisenhower, this nation needs a\ning clues indicating that a \"new\nstrong, creative Democrat in the White House.\"\nKennedy\" may be emerging.\nThere was the forceful and\nPledged Firm Congress Stand, Way Back When\nunexpectedly stern manner in\nAnd in the same January of 1960, in discussing his views of the\nwhich the President spoke out\nPresidency, Kennedy told the National Press Club that the years\ntoday on key legislative items in\nahead required a \"real fighting mood in the White House-a man\ndispute with Congress. He not\nwho will not retreat in the face of pressure from his Congressional\nonly defended his long-sidetracked\nleaders.\"\nmedicare bill after a long silence,\nHe added: \"The White House is not only the center of political\nbut in the process informed Con-\nleadership, it must be the center of moral leadership-a 'bully pulpit'\nas Theodore Roosevelt described it.\"\ngress that he personally would\nWhen the history of this Administration is written, it may turn\nmake a real fight for action on\nout that Kennedy's reluctance to make the most use of his Presi-\nit this session. Similarly, he\ndential leadership advantages up until now had stemmed from the\nrapped the House in tough lan-\nlack of a big \"moral issue\" which demanded White House leadership\nguage for yesterday's defeat of\nin the nation's interest.\nhis depressed areas bill and said\nNow that the \"moral issue\" has developed in the manner it has,\nhe intended to force reconsidera-\nit does not mean that it has not been around for some time or that\ntion of the legislation. In both\nthe President had not recognized the issue as inherent in the civil\ncases, this was a Kenned dis-\nrights controversy.\nplaying a real fighting mood.\nHe had simply done his best with a temporizing policy to stall\nHe was not simply going on the\nfor time, hoping that by persuasion and education the racial prob-\nrecord in his usual temperate\nlem could be kept from exploding. That policy having failed, the\nway, but for the first time he\n\"moral issue\" had to be faced up to, without equivocation. Just\nwas coming close to informing\nas Lincoln, after many delays, finally issued the Emancipation\nPresident Kennedy\nCongress that he was fed up with\nProclamation. Kennedy has now had to take all-out leadership in\nComing out swinging?\nthe appeasement policy on legisla-\nthe present \"moral crisis.\"\ntion and was coming out swinging.\nMoral Cause Spur the Leader Effect\nWhy has Kennedy suddenly started to rattle the sword Unless\nit was just because he had a temporary flareup of ,temper from\nThose who have watched Kennedy develop politically since he\nlegislative frustration, it could have a most significant origin in the\nwas first elected to the House in 1946 have generally held the view\nstand he took on the civil rights crisis in his speech to the nation\nthat he needed a powerful moral cause to display his greatest\nTuesday night.\nleadership talents.\nHe then unequivocally took the active leadership of the effort to\nThis is probably true of all Presidents. As FDR once said,\nface up to the problem, and in the process he declared that the crisis\nthe Presidency \"is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. All\nand issue were \"moral\" ones.\nour great Presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain\nhistoric ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.\"\nWould Put His Leadership to a Full Test\nIf Kennedy adheres to that view, it could well be that he views\nNow, when any President grasps a \"moral issue\" and runs with\nthe \"moral crisis\" over racial rights as his great opportunity to\nit, he recognizes that he is commiting his prestige as leader 100%.\nleave his imprint on national destiny.\nAnd by stepping out as leader on this \"moral\" issue Kennedy\nIn the concluding chapter of his book, \"Profiles of Courage,\"\ncould perhaps have realized that he was committing himself to a\nKennedy said eight years ago:\nleadership role which could not be limited but by nature would have\n\"A man does what he must-in spite of personal consequences,\nto be all-embracing How could a President lead on one big domestic\nin spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures-and that is the\nissue and continue to wheel and deal and vacillate on all others\nbasis of all human morality.\"\nand expect the full measure of public support?\nThat was a personal credo which must figure in the leadership\nstep the President has now, with full deliberation, taken.\nDETERIORATING ORIGINAL REPLACED\nBY KENNEDY LIBRARY XEROX COPY"
}