Written August 13, 2013
Two years ago the BBC News reported that JFK had attempted to block the 1963 March on Washington for fear of violence and painted a picture of a president apathetic to the plight of blacks in America, however the article ignored to mention the Justice Department descending on Birmingham after the police chief sicced dogs on peaceful Civil Rights demonstrators and focused on Martin Luther King’s Statement that ‘the events of the early summer had transformed the struggle for black equality from what he called a “Negro protest” into a “Negro revolution”. America, he feared, had reached “explosion point”.
For the most part the violence was one-sided with white supremacists bombing churches and firing at SNCC volunteers, however the specter of a slave uprising scared whites and JFK was concerned about losing the South to the GOP on the issue of equal rights.
Upon hearing on the March on Washington JFK called out the National Guard and the FBI spied on march organizers and radicals opposed to non-violence.
Snipers were placed along the parade route.
But on August 28 there was no violence.
JFK listened to King’s I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH.
“He’s good – he’s damned good.”
I thought the same thing in Boston.
I hoped for a better day.
And so did JFK.
After the speech the black leaders came to the White House.
It was hard to stop being a white man and see all men as men, but this country was founded on the tenet that all men are created equal.
JFK understood that and his brother even more.
We are all family.