Is John F Kennedy A Chmpion of Civil Rights

            
             Kennedy A "Champion of Civil Rights?".
             Some believe Kennedy is a "champion of civil rights. Kennedy did affect the civil rights act in many positive ways, but he was no champion. I do not believe John F. Kennedy is a "champion of civil rights" because he waited so long to address the civil rights movement, after using it to help gain votes during his election. Kennedy probably would not have readdressed the issue at all if it were not for the violent acts in the south scaring him.
             Although some believe that Kennedy is a "champion of civil rights," what true champion speaks of such an extraordinary issue and does not act upon it for three years? Kennedy first spoke of the civil right issue when he used it as part of his 1960 campaign pledge. He did not readdress the issue, which gave him the name "champion of civil rights" until blacks rioted in the south. "As embers of the Birmingham ghetto were cooling, Kennedy decided at last to honor his 1960 campaign pledge of major civil rights legislation."(88) Kennedy knew he had to address the civil rights movement when conflict in the south was becoming more intense. Kennedy gave the "most moving speech of his presidency" (89) in the spring of 1963, and the bill was signed the following year. This "champion of civil rights" had prolonged his attempts to pass the civil rights bill for three years. A bill that took slightly over a year to pass. A true champion would have passed the bill within, or slightly more than, the first year of his presidency. .
             Kennedy, as well as many others who run for office, was concerned with the amount of votes he would receive. By exploiting the political issue of civil rights, Kennedy received support from the blacks in the south along with the white northerners in favor of desegregation. "In the 1960 civil rights had been just one among many tough political issues that candidate John Kennedy had to manipulate.