08-11-2018, 08:17 PM
It's a privilege to even be in a discussion with an expert on JFK and Civil Rights such as Mr. DiEugenio.
Nobody can question the fact the the Civil Rights movement gathered considerable steam during the brief JFK tenure as President. But I'm not sure that the analysis of just listing things relating to JFK and Civil Rights compared to other things listed for Ike Truman and FDR is really an incisive comparison of the personal committment and the internal feelings and motivations of the various Presidents listed.
Given that Mr. DiEugenio is one of the few top "conspiracy authors" along with Peter Dale Scott and others, I often question whether one can list statements made in speeches by Presidents alongside of (1) laws passed and (2) actions such as ordering troops into battle.
For any reader who wants a unique and valuable analysis on these same issues which are wonderfully accented by Mr. DiEugenio, I would suggest "The Austin-Boston Connection" by authors Garrison Nelson, Anthony Champagne and others.
Those authors are professional political science professors. They successfully argue that the reason that Massachusetts and Texas dominated the leadership of the House of Representatives from 1938 to 1988 was that Texas and Massachusetts had the least number of black voters of any major States. They argue that this fact enabled Massachusetts and Texas politicians to chart a course on Civil Rights that was not dominated by either black voters OR Southern KKK types.
This theory matches with the idea that JFK was not particularly interested in black civil rights until it cascaded onto his desk as President. But I think we all realize that JFK was probably the most idealistic President at least since Abraham Lincoln or James Garfield.
As for the Ole' Miss riots, below is a quote from Wikipedia which demonstrates the hesitation in handling the Ole Miss riots which contributed to injuries and loss of life:
"President Kennedy reluctantly decided to call in reinforcements in the middle of the night under the command of Brigadier General Charles Billingslea. He ordered in U.S. Army military police from the 503rd and 716th Military Police Battalions, which had previously been readied for deployment under cover of the nuclear war Exercise Spade Fork, plus the U.S. Border Patrol and the federalized Mississippi National Guard. U.S. Navy medical personnel (physicians and hospital corpsmen) attached to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Millington, Tennessee, were also sent to the university."
He and RFK had tried to rely on US Marshalls who were not up to the task of riot control.
James Lateer
Nobody can question the fact the the Civil Rights movement gathered considerable steam during the brief JFK tenure as President. But I'm not sure that the analysis of just listing things relating to JFK and Civil Rights compared to other things listed for Ike Truman and FDR is really an incisive comparison of the personal committment and the internal feelings and motivations of the various Presidents listed.
Given that Mr. DiEugenio is one of the few top "conspiracy authors" along with Peter Dale Scott and others, I often question whether one can list statements made in speeches by Presidents alongside of (1) laws passed and (2) actions such as ordering troops into battle.
For any reader who wants a unique and valuable analysis on these same issues which are wonderfully accented by Mr. DiEugenio, I would suggest "The Austin-Boston Connection" by authors Garrison Nelson, Anthony Champagne and others.
Those authors are professional political science professors. They successfully argue that the reason that Massachusetts and Texas dominated the leadership of the House of Representatives from 1938 to 1988 was that Texas and Massachusetts had the least number of black voters of any major States. They argue that this fact enabled Massachusetts and Texas politicians to chart a course on Civil Rights that was not dominated by either black voters OR Southern KKK types.
This theory matches with the idea that JFK was not particularly interested in black civil rights until it cascaded onto his desk as President. But I think we all realize that JFK was probably the most idealistic President at least since Abraham Lincoln or James Garfield.
As for the Ole' Miss riots, below is a quote from Wikipedia which demonstrates the hesitation in handling the Ole Miss riots which contributed to injuries and loss of life:
"President Kennedy reluctantly decided to call in reinforcements in the middle of the night under the command of Brigadier General Charles Billingslea. He ordered in U.S. Army military police from the 503rd and 716th Military Police Battalions, which had previously been readied for deployment under cover of the nuclear war Exercise Spade Fork, plus the U.S. Border Patrol and the federalized Mississippi National Guard. U.S. Navy medical personnel (physicians and hospital corpsmen) attached to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Millington, Tennessee, were also sent to the university."
He and RFK had tried to rely on US Marshalls who were not up to the task of riot control.
James Lateer