Kennedy's Speech: Birmingham And The March Of Washington 1963

Birmingham and the March Of Washington 1963
Birmingham and the March of Washington were main events of 1963 and played a significant role in the Kennedy administration’s move to end of segregation. The Birmingham demonstrations and the violent attacks pushed Kennedy into taking action. Media was a major eye-opening factor. It showed images from the brutal police attacks creating a worldwide concern . In response, Kennedy gave ‘The Civil Rights Address’ speech, which is seen as a turning point in Kennedy’s position towards the conflict. Jonathan Rieder, a journalist from The Atlantic, wrote that ‘It required the Birmingham civil rights movement -- and the tough-minded theory of social change that King spelled out in the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" -- to provoke Kennedy’s speech into being’ , supporting the concept that it was not Kennedy himself responsible for the passage or proposal of the Bill, but the pressure of activist leaders and escalating violence that pushed him to support Civil Rights. Some argue that rather than political power, ‘It was Martin Luther King and the Birmingham

Donald C. Lord author of “The Presidential Studies Quarterly” argues that “Kennedy and the Justice department under Attorney Robert and Burke Marshall accomplished more for civil rights in three years than all other previous administrations combined.” , i.e. Despite Eisenhower’s attempt to protect African American right to vote it was found that 1.5 million out of 6 million African-Americans voted in the south because of restrictions , strengthening the belief that he did provide his power as a President to pass the Bill of 1964. His last year as leader was of crucial importance for the movement as it was the year when he realized that it was becoming a bigger problem and that something needed to be