He was okay. Did have his brother stand up to Wallace. But his compromises lent him the lowest portion of the black vote of any Dem candidate since before FDR, netting only about 65% as I remember. Considering that Johnson took something like 98% and Democrats now routinely take about 90%, civil rights obviously wasn't JFK's strong point.

his heart seemed to be in the right place, but his lack of experience in the senate and politics in general stalled his civil rights legislation in congress. president johnson used the memory of president kennedy to get the slain president's civil rights legislation passed through a democratic, but very conservative congress.

This is the theory I have too. I am doing research in this area and wondered if you have any suggestions as to books i might look at. Everything seems more of the opposite than what you are saying.

Kennedy's actions on Civil Rights were largely similar to those of his predacessor. Kennedy was understandably reluctant to put the issue of racial tensions on the front burner of American politics, and this largely led to his repeated reluctance to fully back the Civil Rights movement. Like Eisenhower, he was forceful in enforcing the Supreme Court's 1954 decision on racial integration, but he really failed to live up to his promises during the 1960 campaign to do more for the cause of Civil Rights. In June of 1963, over two years after assuming office, Kennedy finally publically announced his Civil Rights proposal that was not passed until after his death. In the final analysis, Kennedy was largely standoffish (for lack of a better word) on Civil Rights and only addressed the issue when he had no other alternative.