The 1960 Race

[zorkpolitics]

The 1960 race was pivotal for race relations.  Up until then the Republicans had been the party of civil rights and Democrats the party of obstruction.  In 1957, and then again in 1960, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower made bold civil rights proposals to increase black voting rights and protections. Since Congress was solidly in the hands of the Democrats, they cut the heart out of his bills before passing weak, watered-down versions of his proposals.  To further focus national attention upon the plight of blacks, Eisenhower started a civil rights commission and was the first President to appoint a black to an executive position in the White House.
So one would have expected Nixon  to benefit from the Republican efforts with blacks. Kennedy deftly kept most of the South in the Democratic coalition, by his selection of a Southern, LBJ, which was a message to Southerners that he wasn’t really serious about Civil Rights.  At the same time he called to offer support when MLK was arrested, but Nixon didn't.   As a result Kennedy was seen as a supporter of civil rights to northern blacks and in the end received the bulk of the black vote.