During the early years of the civil rights movement, African-Americans lacked a champion and advocate in the federal government. Some progress was made under Harry S. Truman’s administration, yet conditions for African-Americans were still brutal in America, and especially in the South. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed during Eisenhower’s administration with a goal of protecting the right to vote of African-Americans, but the protections were limited and ultimately not effective. One of the reasons for the limited progress of civil rights reform prior to the 1960s was that even liberal politicians did not see racial discrimination as the central problem in America, but was rather on a long list of injustices in the country. When John F. Kennedy was elected president, he and his brother Robert held a similar worldview about civil rights, but did not run on the issue and were not initially vocal about the need for sweeping changes across the country. However, Robert F. Kennedy would soon develop a passion for enacting civil rights change, and it became a large part of his entire political identity. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Robert F. Kennedy was an impactful figure that used his power and influence to spur lasting change and progress for African-Americans throughout the country.
When Kennedy began his tenure as attorney general in his brother’s administration, he had little understanding of the intricacies of civil rights legislation or the extent of discrimination against African-Americans in the South. What Robert Kennedy did have, however, was a strong moral compass that believed the poor in America was being exploited: “What made Kennedy seek out the problems of the poor was their need for a champion and his personal need for their kind of cause. Their plight became the major new outlet for his sense of right and wrong and his strong feelings about injustice” (Heuvel and Gritzman 73). His political opponents immediately became suspicious of his motives. Some thought that Kennedy was only advocating on behalf of the poor and African-Americans because he was trying to build a constituency to pave the way for a future presidential bid. However, the clear flaw in this logic is that advocating on behalf of the poor in America had never been a savvy political tactic: “If politics were his purpose, there was no more disastrous tactic than to alienate the middle-class majority in order to court a minority that would support him anyway” (73). Kennedy’s first actions as Attorney General were to enforce court orders that mandated the integration of Universities in Alabama and Mississippi. He also protected the “freedom riders” who protested the segregation of public transit facilities from any criminal charges that were brought on them by local counties in the South. His early civil rights actions in John Kennedy’s administration “were in the traditional pattern: legal, integrationist, and directed at the South” (75). Kennedy is remembered as a civil rights champion because in addition to enforcing federal court orders in the South, he also brought cases against any entity that would try to obstruct or take away the African-American vote, which was a very common practice to keep conservative republicans in power in the South. However, voting rights were not fully realized in America under the Kennedy administration, but Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department did lay the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson. Robert Kennedy was also instrumental in reshaping the diversity of Washington D.C., and changed how federal government institutions treated and employed African-Americans.
When Kennedy first arrived at the Department of Justice, he and an administrative assistant named John Seigenthaler took a tour of the building. When the tour concluded, Kennedy asked Seigenthaler if he noticed anything strange about the visit around the offices. When Seigenthaler stated that he was impressed that everyone was working so hard, Kennedy responded: “Yes, but did you see any Negroes?… Get me a study of how many Negroes are working here”(Schlesinger 290). The study found that out of 955 lawyers working for the federal government in Washington D.C., only ten were black. In a meeting with his staff, Kennedy immediately called for the integration of all Justice offices across the country. He also took the initiative of personally seeking out talented African-American lawyers by writing to law schools across the country and asking for their most talented black graduates. Another example of Kennedy changing the landscape of Washington D.C. was his protest of the Metropolitan Club, which was an elite club attended by many high rankings members of government, because it refused to allow blacks to attend any club luncheons. He wrote to the club in September of 1961 to submit his resignation: “It is inconceivable to me, in this day and age, that the privileges of this Club which holds such a unique and peculiar position in the Nation’s Capital would be denied to anyone merely because of his race… I cannot in good conscience remain a member and herewith submit my resignation” (290). Perhaps the most significant contribution Kennedy made to changing federal government workplaces was his reform of J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, despite fervent resistance from Hoover himself.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under Director J. Edgar Hoover was often problematic in both its diversity and how it handled civil rights matters throughout the country. Much of the racism in the FBI can be directly traced back to J. Edgar Hoover, who, according to Schlesinger, “had the racist instincts of a white man who had grown up in Washington when it was still a southern city” (291). Hoover and the FBI had a reputation of refusing to investigate civil rights matters, and not using any resources to investigate of prosecute lynchings in the South. When former Attorney General Tom Clark was asked by another director about investigating an attempted murder of Walter Reuther, he responded: “Fellows, Edgar says no. He says he’s not going to send the FBI in every time some ni**er woman gets raped” (291). Robert Kennedy as Attorney General would choose to set a different tone with Hoover, despite it resulting in a somewhat contentious relationship with him. When Kennedy learned that the FBI did not employ a lone African-American agent, he demanded Hoover change the hiring practices. Hoover was extremely angry and threatened to resign, but eventually conceded and hired ten black agents. Even though Kennedy would have preferred more diversity, it was important to build the foundation in federal government institutions for more African-Americans to be hired, even if immediate results were not realistic. Kennedy also asked the FBI to conduct a study about black voting patterns in the South. Many of the white agents from the South were forced to complete work that they were not comfortable with, as it sometimes involved questioning people they knew. John Doar, who was a Republican in charge of voting litigation, realized these obstacles and tried to overcome them by supplying them with “elaborate questionnaires so that they would have no excuse for not coming back with the needed data” (293). During the rest of Kennedy’s tenure as Attorney General, he continued to use the FBI as a tool to investigate civil rights matters in the South. Even though Hoover did not like the FBI becoming involved with civil rights, he realized that racial justice was going to be inevitable. When talking about Hoover and the FBI’s handling of civil rights cases, Kennedy said: “I think he reached the decision that we were going to do things in civil rights and that’s the way it was going to be… So that either you’d have to do it or you’d have to get out” (293). Kennedy’s strong stance against someone as powerful as J. Edgar Hoover exemplifies the kind of person he was. Most politicians were afraid of Hoover, as he was known to blackmail and used the FBI to damage the reputations of his enemies, but that never happened with Kennedy. This unlikely transformation of the FBI under a very conservative and racist Director is a testament to how impactful Robert Kennedy was at facilitating change.
Kennedy was also one of the first figures since the end of Jim Crow laws to push for criminal justice reform, which disproportionately affected African Americans. He ordered U.S. Attorneys to not require bail for poor defendants, as many indigent defendants would be forced to sit in jail awaiting trial when wealthy individuals could walk free. Kennedy also established playground and recreation programs in the Washington D.C. area in order to keep young children off of the streets. He also tried to stress the importance of education to African American youth, as he believed that it was the “single most important program to end racial inequality” (Heuvel and Gritzman 77). Many of these programs which are common today were revolutionary at the time. It was very rare for the federal government to invest in black communities, as they saw it as a lost cause and a waste of funds. Robert Kennedy’s push for social change at the federal and local levels, combined with his focus on criminal justice reform has had a lasting influence on American politics, and many of the causes he fought for in the 1960s are still being addressed in present day America.
When Kennedy’s tenure as Attorney General was completed, he decided to run for Senate in New York. This presented a new set of challenges for him, as civil rights were also controversial in Northern cities. Kennedy also could not rely on the black vote as heavily in New York, as African Americans made up a much smaller portion of the population than they did in southern states. During his campaign in 1964, the New York City Board of Education was considering a proposal to bus African-American students into white neighborhoods. This was very unpopular and controversial among white residents, and the typically strong and tough Kennedy backed down and opposed the proposal. Later in the campaign, he tried to redeem himself in a speech to the NAACP by calling for investment in education, housing, and job opportunities for African Americans in the North. Referring to his time as Attorney General, he stated: “You and I did not labor to destroy segregation of one kind without attacking the more tenacious and difficult discrimination that lies beyond it” (79). In addition to resistance from his white constituents, Kennedy also began to be the subject of criticism from the black community and civil rights advocates for the slow progress of civil rights reforms.
In a meeting with black intellectuals and entertainers in New York to discuss new programs and reforms in the North, Kennedy was faced intense criticism. In particular, a freedom rider who had been beaten in the South “brought forth a torrent of insults directed at him personally and as a representative of the white power structure” (77). When Kennedy tried to explain why passing civil rights legislation was difficult at the federal level, his words were met with anger and scrutiny. The slow-moving progress was frustrating to the black community. This sentiment is most famously expressed by Martin Luther King in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” where he states: “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity… We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied’ (King 2). While Kennedy was obviously committed to the movement, he was irritated by this criticism because he had thought of himself as risking his political career to advocate for the civil rights platform, and now his most loyal supporters were turning against him. He resented the fact that the Civil Rights movement had taken a bitter and separatist tone. This hostility would not last much longer, however, as his work in the Senate during the passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped regain trust within the black community.
Although Kennedy faced difficulties at points in his career by trying balancing pragmatism with activism and appease both white and black constituents, his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement has never been disputed. Few individuals in government, if any at all, have had as large of an impact as Robert F. Kennedy did on civil rights. Under his tenure as Attorney General, he was responsible for enforcing federal court orders to integrate the South. His work to protect the right to vote of blacks in the South would be crucial to the passing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Kennedy also sought change at the local level, and especially in Washington D.C. He reformed federal government institutions by making them more diverse, and used his power to pressure them to end any systemic racist practices. Kennedy accomplished all of this without concern about the political consequences of his actions. His impact on the Civil Rights Movement and his lasting influence on the progress that African Americans have made since the 1950s and 60s cannot be understated.