"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South
with -- with this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain
of despair a stone of hope."
In November, Congressional debate on the Civil Rights Bill was
still continuing, but the President had now made the passage of
the Civil Rights Bill one of the most urgent goals of his
Administration. But on the 22nd of November, John F. Kennedy was
gunned down in the Presidential limousine in Dallas, Texas. The
nation and the world were struck dumb with disbelief. Even those
who had disliked his politics were horrified at the assassination
of a President in a democratic state. His supporters felt that
they had lost a friend as well as a leader. In fact many regarded
Kennedy as a savior.
The sense of shock caused despair and gloom. The fact that his
successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, was a Southerner led most civil
rights supporters to feel that there would be a reversal of
federal policies on the racial question. However, Johnson
immediately tried to reassure the nation that his intention was
to carry on with the unfinished business of the Kennedy era.
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