JFK: The Greatest 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, and the civil rights leaders that he was affiliated with.
Throughout JFK's presidency, civil rights advocates struggled to effect change in the racially segregated South, where whites controlled state governments and denied African-Americans basic rights. 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. In Kennedy’s speech he says “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” (Kennedy). According to History Learning Site “he put pressure on federal government organizations to employ more African Americans in America’s equivalent of Britain’s Civil Service. Any who were employed were usually in the lowest paid posts and in jobs that had little prospect of professional progress. The FBI only employed 48 African Americans out of a total of 13,649 and these 48 were nearly all chauffeurs” (John Kennedy and Civil Rights). “Kennedy created the CEEO (Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity). Its job was to ensure that all people employed with the federal government had equal employment opportunities; it also required all those firms that had contracts with the federal government to...