The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom
President Kennedy Ponders Making a Major Civil Rights Address
On June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) delivered a major televised address to the nation announcing that he soon would ask Congress to enact civil rights legislation. Kennedy allowed documentary filmmaker Robert Drew unprecedented access to Oval Office discussions with his advisors, which were included in the film Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, first broadcast October 21, 1963, on ABC, and rebroadcast in this re-edited version, Kennedy v. Wallace: A Crisis Up Close, twenty-five years later on the PBS series The American Experience, which included new interviews with participants.
Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Excerpt from "The American Experience: Kennedy v. Wallace: A Crisis Up Close," © 1998 Drew Associates. www.drewassociates.net (external)
