Address to the American People on Civil Rights by President John F. Kennedy

06/11/1963

In 1963, civil rights protests became increasingly violent with two events in Alabama that drew national attention. During seven climatic days in May, Birmingham's police commissioner, Eugene "Bull" Connor, crushed a nonviolent protest with extreme force. In June, Governor George Wallace refused to allow two black students to enter the University of Alabama. President Kennedy made the following speech on national television a week before he proposed a Civil Rights Bill to Congress.