John F Kennedy

• Modernised the government , but was slow to make civil rights the key element in his administrations
• Speech at Congress - echoed Truman’s speech in 1948, as a declaration of support for civil rights
• Kennedy submitted a general civil rights bill to Congress 1963
• 1963 , civil rights had been forced to the forefront of national principal by 2 : ongoing violence + increasingly effective campaign by various civil rights organisations