John F. Kennedy: An American Icon
Uploaded by spootyhead on Mar 05, 2007
John F. Kennedy: An American Icon
Some men go through life and live it quietly and don’t change the world, however they make a difference. However then there are other men who change the way of life for an entire nation. John Kennedy was the second type of man. John Kennedy was an icon to the American culture and this is shown through the momentous changes in civil rights he made, the stands for equal rights that he made, the civil rights leaders that he was affiliated with, and the reasons behind his support.
John F. Kennedy was the first president to make major adjustments in civil rights which would affect the way that some Americans lived their daily lives and would correct history by allowing all Americans to share in the ideals of equality of all in the American culture. While he didn’t make very many changes he opened the eyes of the American public to the injustices being done to some African Americans and other minorities. While Kennedy was campaigning he promised to address some civil rights issues. His speech is given in a book edited by Doris Saunders. Saunders recalls Kennedy’s speech, “I assure you in a new Democratic administration there will be far better representation, on the basis of merit, of persons of all our racial groups, including particularly those who in the past have been excluded on the basis of prejudice. For no American should be disqualified for any office because of his race, color, religion, or family origin. It is time for us to practice what our constitution preaches (22). With these simple words President Kennedy started the ball of civil rights moving. He pushed it at the top of the mountain and not even he could keep up with the pace that it would start to roll down the mountain. He also showed the American culture that all men were not given a chance to share in the life that they were freely given. He showed that although the constitution stated that all men were created equally, they were not considered equal in the eyes of the men that one should be free of oppression, their equals, not their superiors. Kennedy did make changes to the civil rights, and his most aggressive changes were in the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.
Kennedy made changes to the way that Americans were living their...