Kennedy was ardently in favor of religious tolerance, respect for immigrants and labor rights (in 1962 he signed Executive Order 10988, which established the right of most federal workers to bargain collectively). Yes, in his service as a senator from Massachusetts and later as the nation's 35th president, Kennedy was a politician of his times, which meant that he could disappoint; surely, he was slower than need be when it came to challenging Cold War dogmas and in calling out southern resistance to social and economic justice. But Kennedy evolved, as did the nation he led, during the course of his short but transformational presidency.
Kennedy devoted much of the last year of his life to advocacy on behalf of voting rights. His great civil rights address -- delivered in the last year of his presidency from the Oval Office to a national television and radio audience -- argued that "it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal."
Fifty years after his assassination, Kennedy can be honored in many ways. But a renewal of his liberal commitment to voting rights would surely be a fine place of beginning. The 24th amendment to the Constitution, which eliminated the poll tax, was placed on the national agenda by Kennedy, who made it his personal mission to eliminate the wealth barrier to voting.
Politically savvy, the president knew that enacting a constitutional amendment would be difficult, but he argued for going "the hard way" because of an understanding of the need to go around southern resistance in the Senate and because of a determination on lock in voting-rights gains.
Kennedy promoted the amendment in speeches and letters to the Congress, and then in a steady stream of telegrams and phone calls that prodded governors and legislators across the country to get their states on board.
In the last months before his death, Kennedy was in the thick of the struggle for voting rights, reminding Americans that: "Finally, the 87th Congress -- after 20 years of effort -- passed and referred to the states for ratification a Constitutional Amendment to prohibit the levying of poll taxes as a condition to voting. I urge every state legislature to take prompt action on this matter and to outlaw the poll tax -- which has too long been an outmoded and arbitrary bar to voting participation by minority groups and others -- as the 24th Amendment to the Constitution."
Beyond the bully pulpit, the president exchanged notes with governors such as Wisconsin's John Reynolds regarding the details of legislative debates and votes. To a far greater extent than was known at the time, Kennedy personally managed the ratification process.
Thirty-six states ratified the amendment before Kennedy's assassination -- two short of the needed total. Kennedy and others hoped that Texas might break with other states and support the amendment. A statewide referendum on November 9, 1963, proposed to repeal that state's poll tax and the campaign was intense. Opponents of repeal argued that people of color would "flood the polls" if the economic barrier to voting was removed. Supporters distributed literature that declared: "President Kennedy Wants You to Vote Saturday, November 9, to Repeal the Poll Tax."
A special message from Kennedy read: "I share the conviction that the right to vote should not be denied or abridged because of the failure to pay a poll tax."
The literature made the connection to the civil rights movement, urging a "yes" vote: "For Better Job Opportunities, For Better Housing, For Equality and Dignity, For Freedom."
Unfortunately, a majority of Texas voters saw the change as a threat. The rejected repeal less that two weeks before Kennedy made his trip to Dallas. Yet, the president continued his advocacy, getting prominent Texans such as Vice President Lyndon Johnson and U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough to lend their names to the effort.
Kennedy died without seeing his amendment added to the Constitution.
But his labors were not in vain.
1
