SMSgt Patrick S. Simmons
Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy
February 8, 2015
Instructor: HptFw Rainer Lichtsinn
John F. Kennedy President John F. Kennedy stated “However dark it looks now, I think that ‘westward, look, the land is bright,’ and I think that next summer it may be.” President Kennedy was speaking about his Civil Rights Bill. President Kennedy was a visionary and ethnical leader during his presidency, fighting for equal rights for all Americans and creating programs to better the quality of life for people around the world. In this paper I will review how and what President Kennedy did as a visionary and ethnical leader. Then I will reflect on President Kennedy’s leadership …show more content…
He was always a strong supporter of civil rights to include the Montgomery bus boycott, Greensboro sit-ins, and the emergence of Martin Luther King Jr. When running for president in 1960, Kennedy helped free King from jail. Author Alan Brinkley (2012) believes that this is what helped Kennedy gain support of Africa-Americans and powered his presidential election. Once elected to the White House, President Kennedy was very careful how he proceeded with civil rights due to a fear of backlash from white southerners. He concentrated on tackling discrimination in employment and voting, signing executive orders and enforcing civil right laws that President Eisenhower administration failed to enforce. President Kennedy was fearful of the consequences if he tried to implement his vision without the support of the House of Representatives and Senate. He was afraid school desegregation would doom aid-to-education (Brinkley, 2012). King and Kennedy shared the same vision for equal civil rights but with Kennedy tip-toeing around the issue, King grew frustrated, feeling that the president wasn’t fully supporting the civil rights movement (Brinkley, 2012). Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education [BCEE] (2014c) explains that one of the factors that inhibit the “Transformational Process” is lack of support and involvement from leadership and that top leadership is essential for successful diversity issues. With King’s growing frustration, he set out to challenge segregation in one of the largest cities in the south, Birmingham, Alabama. National televised violence erupted that gained the attention of the nation. After nearly two years of tip-toeing around the issue and not fully implementing his vision, Kennedy fully dedicated himself to making the change (Matthews, 2011). Kennedy introduced legislation to end racial segregation in all areas of America. An argument could be made that Kennedy