what role did robert kennedy have with the civil rights movement as the attorney general?

What did Robert F Kennedy do in the civil rights case?

These images were broadcast across the country. President Kennedy was shocked by what he saw and began to rethink the federal government’s role in the Civil Rights Movement. Robert Kennedy sent his Assistant Attorney General, Burke Marshall, to Birmingham to mediate negotiations between the campaign and white southern business leaders.

What did Robert Kennedy do as Attorney General?

Nov 08, 2009 · Robert Kennedy was the U.S. attorney general from 1961 to 1964 and a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 to 1968. A graduate of Harvard University and the

Was JFK quick to take action on civil rights issues?

The report reflects the true purpose of the Civil Rights Movement: to fight racism and apathy in order to enact positive change and ultimately gain equal rights. Kennedy was correct in believing that the Civil Rights Movement would continue to advance. The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed racial discrimination and removed many voting …

What did Robert Kennedy do in the 1960s?

Sep 04, 1964 · Civil rights engaged Mr. Kennedy as did no other problem. When he took office, many doubted that he had any personal commitment to racial equality. As he leaves, the major civil rights leaders ...

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As U.S. Attorney General from 1961 to 1964, Robert F. Kennedy served as one of the most trusted advisors to his brother, President John F. Kennedy, on matters of civil rights. Although Martin Luther King boldly criticized the attorney general and the Department of Justice for its failure to investigate civil rights violations, he wrote Kennedy in 1964 praising him for his efforts to pass …

What did Robert F Kennedy do as attorney general?

As attorney general, he authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on a limited basis. After his brother's assassination, he remained in office during the Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson for several months.

Was Robert Kennedy a civil rights leader?

Robert Kennedy saw voting as the key to racial justice and collaborated with President Kennedy when he proposed the most far-reaching civil rights statute since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed after President Kennedy was slain on November 22, 1963.

What did Robert Kennedy do that was important?

Kennedy has done much to elevate the standard. He was the author of The Enemy Within (1960), Just Friends and Brave Enemies (1962), and Pursuit of Justice (1964). In November 1964 he was elected U.S. senator from New York. Within two years Kennedy had established himself as a major political figure in his own right.

How did President Kennedy and attorney general Robert Kennedy get involved?

For the next several years, Kennedy assisted with his brother's campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1952 and his presidential campaign in 1960. ... After his brother was elected president by a narrow margin over Richard Nixon, Kennedy was appointed Attorney General of the United States.

Who did Kennedy appoint as the nation's attorney general?

Robert Francis KennedyPresident Kennedy's appointment of his 35-year-old brother Robert Francis Kennedy as the attorney general of the United States was controversial.

How did Robert F Kennedy help Martin Luther King?

On April 4, 1968, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York delivered an improvised speech several hours after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. ... That evening he addressed the crowd, many of whom had not heard about King's assassination.

Who was with Robert Kennedy when he was shot?

Kennedy's only security personnel was former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent William Barry and two unofficial bodyguards: Olympic decathlon gold medalist Rafer Johnson and former football player Rosey Grier.

Are Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy related?

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer, author, conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine propagandist. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy.

How did Robert Kennedy help the Freedom Riders?

Attorney General Robert Kennedy sent 400 federal marshals to protect the Freedom Riders and urged the Interstate Commerce Commission to order the desegregation of interstate travel.

What happened to Robert F Kennedy?

Kennedy is fatally shot. Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary.

When was Robert Kennedy shot?

June 6, 1968, PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, CARobert F. Kennedy / Assassinated

What did Robert Kennedy do?

senator from New York from 1965 to 1968. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Kennedy was appointed attorney general after his brother John Kennedy was elected president in 1960. In this role, Robert Kennedy fought organized crime and worked for civil rights for African Americans. In the Senate, he was a committed advocate of the poor and racial minorities , and opposed escalation of the Vietnam War. On June 5, 1968, while in Los Angeles campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy was shot. He died early the next day at age 42.

Where was Robert Kennedy born?

Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a wealthy financier, and Rose Kennedy, the daughter of a Boston politician. Kennedy spent his childhood between his family’s homes in New York; Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; Palm Beach, Florida; and London, ...

Who was the 64th attorney general?

After John F. Kennedy was elected president in November 1960, he named his brother Robert Kennedy as America’s 64th attorney general. In this role, Kennedy continued to battle corruption in labor unions, as well as mobsters and organized crime. In 1964, Jimmy Hoffa was convicted of jury tampering and fraud.

What was Jimmy Hoffa convicted of?

In 1964, Jimmy Hoffa was convicted of jury tampering and fraud. As attorney general, Kennedy also supported the civil rights movement for African Americans.

What college did Martin Luther King Jr. attend?

Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Several public institutions jointly honor Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. In 1969, the former Woodrow Wilson Junior College, a two-year institution and a constituent campus of the City Colleges of Chicago, was renamed Kennedy–King College.

Where was Robert Kennedy born?

Robert Francis Kennedy was born outside Boston in Brookline, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1925. He was the seventh of nine children to businessman/politician Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and philanthropist/socialite Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. His parents were members of two prominent Irish American families in Boston.

Who was Robert Kennedy?

Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also referred to by his initials RFK or by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. Senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June ...

When was Robert Kennedy assassinated?

Kennedy, November 25, 1963. At the time that President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, RFK was at home with aides from the Justice Department. J.

Who was Joseph Sr.?

Joseph Sr. had the money and connections to play a central role in the family's political ambitions. The Kennedy family in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with Robert on the bottom left in a jacket, 1931. Kennedy's older brother John was often bedridden by illness and, as a result, became a voracious reader.

Who was the author of The Enemy Within?

In 1960 Kennedy published The Enemy Within, a book which described the corrupt practices within the Teamsters and other unions that he had helped investigate. John Seigenthaler assisted Kennedy. Kennedy went to work on the presidential campaign of his brother, John. In contrast to his role in his brother's previous campaign eight years prior, Kennedy gave stump speeches throughout the primary season, gaining confidence as time went on. His strategy "to win at any cost" led him to call on Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. to attack Hubert Humphrey as a draft dodger; Roosevelt eventually did make the statement that Humphrey avoided service.

Who was the attorney general of the federal government in the Furman case?

During the Kennedy administration, the federal government carried out its last pre- Furman federal execution (of Victor Feguer in Iowa, 1963), and Kennedy, as attorney general, represented the government in this case.

Excerpt

In summary, 1962 was a year of progress for the United States in the field of civil rights. This is not to say the problems are disappearing.

Questions for Discussion

Read the document introduction and transcript and apply your knowledge of American history in order to answer these questions.

What was the significance of the Boynton v. Virginia case?

Virginia ruling expanded on the Morgan case, outlawing segregated waiting rooms, lunch counters, and restroom facilities for interstate passengers. However, both rulings were largely ignored in the Deep South; the status quo prevailed and black patrons had to use separate facilities. As Diane Nash, a young student activist and one of the Freedom Rider organizers would explain in a later interview: “Traveling the segregated South, for black people, was humiliating. The very fact that there were separate facilities was to say to black people and white people that blacks were so subhuman and so inferior that we could not even use public facilities that white people used…”

How long did it take to get from Montgomery to Jackson?

The buses were escorted by 16 highway patrol cars, each carrying three National Guardsmen and two highway patrolmen. A few national guardsmen were also on the buses. The ride from Montgomery to Jackson, a distance of about 140 miles, would take about six hours.

Where did Eric Etheridge live?

In 2003, Eric Etheridge, a native of Carthage, Mississippi, had lived and worked in New York City. He had done some work for Rolling Stone and Harper’s, but was then looking for a new photography project.

Who was beaten by the Freedom Riders?

Still, upon exiting the smoke-filled bus, some of the choking Freedom Riders were set upon and beaten by members of the mob. Rider Hank Thomas was one of those beaten with a baseball bat. Some of the mob remained, but a later-arriving state patrolman fired two warning shots into the air, and the mob gradually dispersed.

What was the impact of the Freedom Rides and Freedom Riders of 1961?

The Freedom Rides and Freedom Riders of 1961 provided an important boost to the civil rights movement. The Rides brought new momentum, new energy, and a broadening constituency to the movement. The grass roots nature of its participants also empowered the cause in a new way, directly influencing, and helping inspire, other activities that followed – from the March on Washington in August 1963 and the Freedom Summer movement in Mississippi in 1964, to landmark federal legislation culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the voting Rights Act of 1965.

Who speaks for Birmingham?

That evening on television, a documentary about Birmingham that CBS reporter Howard K. Smith had been working on, was aired as a CBS Reports special. Titled, “Who Speaks for Birmingham?,” the hour-long show featured a series of interviews with several black and white citizens, including one with Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a civil rights leader from Birmingham, and another with Temple Graves, a columnist for the Birmingham News. The documentary ran accounts of cultural and educational progress in Birmingham, alternating with stories of Klan violence and local segregationist resistance. On the whole, the show was not a flattering portrayal of Birmingham or Alabama. In the segment with Shuttlesworth, he recounted several beatings, two attempted bombings of his church, and a constant fear for his family’s safety and need to hire someone to guard his home at night. During the show, Howard K. Smith also re-aired his radio account of the May 14th bus terminal melee. Near the end of the broadcast, Smith, standing in front of an enlarged photo of Bull Connor, said that “fear and hatred” had stalked the streets of Birmingham in the preceding days.

Overview

Attorney General of the United States (1961–1964)

Early life and education

Naval service (1944–1946)

Further study, journalism, and marriage (1946–1951)

Senate committee counsel and political campaigns (1951–1960)

Vice presidential candidate

U.S. Senate (1965–1968)