Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
               American Presidents
        Making an Impact on the Civil Rights movement
                        1945-1969
 
 
Harry Truman 
(1945-1953) 

"I am not asking for social equality, because no such things exist, but I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings...." 
1948  Banned discrimination of federal 
           employees 
1950  Ordered an end to segregation  
           and discrimination in armed  
           forces.
 
Dwight Eisenhower 
(1953-1961) 
       
"conservative when it comes to money, liberal when it comes to human beings..."  
1955  Minimum wage raised 
1957  Sent National Guard to Arkansas 
           to desegregate (although privately 
              disagreed with Brown vs. Board of  
              Education ruling in 1954) 
 		  
John F. Kennedy     
(1961-1963) 

"We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it,  and we cherish our freedom, here at home, but are we to say.....that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes?" 
1961   Pardoned Dr. Martin Luther King's 
            arrest for protesting with a  
            personal phone call to wife. 
1961   Proposed modest civil rights bill. 
1962   Enforced law of integration in  
            public transportation of Freedom 
            Rides. 
1962   Offered federal protection on  
            integration at Ole Miss.
Lyndon B. Johnson 
(1963- 1969)

"Let us continue..." 
1964  Civil Rights Act 
1965  Voting Rights Act
Return to Main Menu Visit US President in the White House