What Is Kennedy's Legacy

592 Words3 Pages

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963 exposed just how deeply Americans had invested emotionally and ideologically in his presidency. For three whole days, the nation mourned mutually; not since Abraham Lincoln’s murder a century previously had Americans experienced such an unexpected shattering of hope. In my opinion, Kennedy’s legacy was overstated by the tragedy of his death. To clarify, Kennedy’s presidency launched amongst extraordinary hope, and ended just as it was gaining traction. Thus, his presidency was characterized as one of historic vision. Furthermore, he was to be the president that eliminated poverty and advanced civil rights, and his achievements were celebrated as portents of even greater things to come. For instance, in the bundle of proposals labeled “The New Frontier,” Kennedy had called for the …show more content…

Nonetheless, these laws did not solve the problems facing African Americans; they did not eliminate racism or poverty and they did not improve the conditions in many black urban neighborhoods. In addition to the subject, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a miraculous social activist, led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s up until 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the south and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. In spite of his sorrowful assassination in April 1968, at the time I felt as if Martin Luther King Jr. had done his duty in life. For instance, he had reformed the world forever with his remarkable “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prodigious man; he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other