268 a short history of the united states
Another clash between state and federal authorities occurred on
October 1 , 1962 , when James Meredith, a twenty-nine-year-old African-
American, sought admission to the University of Mississippi. Governor
Ross Barnett tried to prevent the enrollment and when rioting resulted
President Kennedy dispatched federal troops to restore order and block
any effort to prevent Meredith from enrolling.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his Southern Chris-
tian Leadership Conference initiated nonviolent demonstrations on
April 3 , 1963 , in Birmingham, Alabama, a city that was determined to
maintain its long tradition of segregation. “If we can crack Birming-
ham,” declared King, “I am convinced we can crack the South. Bir-
mingham is a symbol of segregation for the entire South.” The police
commissioner, T. Eugene “Bull” Connor, was prepared to meet these
nonviolent demonstrations with force, using clubs and attack dogs. Ap-
proximately 2 , 000 African-Americans were arrested and jailed.
These continuing disorders in Birmingham prompted Kennedy to
demand a strong civil rights bill from Congress. Otherwise, he said,
leadership on both sides would pass “to the purveyors of hate and vio-
lence.” Emanuel Celler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,
exploded over what was happening in the South. “Police clubs and
bludgeons, fire hoses and dogs have been used on defenseless school
children who were marching and singing hymns,” he raged. The motel
where Dr. King was staying and the home of King’s brother were
bombed, causing the black population of the city to rise up in fury.
Rocks were thrown and fire hoses were turned on the rioters. Disorder
reigned. But Congress finally responded, and 127 civil rights bills were
introduced in the House of Representatives. “The cause of desegrega-
tion,” wrote Walter Lippmann in the Washington Post on May 28 , “must
cease to be a Negro movement, blessed by white politicians from
Northern states. It must become a national movement to enforce na-
tional laws, led and directed by the National Government.”
Rioting in many northern cities turned streets into bloody encoun-
ters between protesters and police. The nation seemed to be descend-
ing into turmoil and lawlessness. When Governor George Wallace of
Alabama stood at the door of a building to block black students from
registering at the University of Alabama on June 11 , 1963, Kennedy
federalized the Alabama National Guard and forced Wallace to step