The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality

The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality
ISBN-10
0465008275
ISBN-13
9780465008278
Category
Social Science
Language
English
Published
2007-09-11
Publisher
Basic Books
Author
Nick Bryant

Description

In this, the first comprehensive history of Kennedy's civil rights record over the course of his entire political career, Nick Bryant shows that Kennedy's shrewd handling of the race issue in his early congressional campaigns blinded him as President to the intractability of the simmering racial crisis in America. By focusing on mainly symbolic gestures, Kennedy missed crucial opportunities to confront the obstructionist Southern bloc and to enact genuine reform, his inertia emboldening white supremacists and forced black activists to adopt increasingly militant tactics.

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