John Seigenthaler

 Seigenthaler

Seigenthaler was an official of John F. Kennedy who helped the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Kennedy sent Seigenthaler to help the Freedom Riders in a specific city that was opposing interstate commerce and desegregation. Seigenthaler worked for Kennedy being a governtment official who was helping the Civil Rights Movement.

Seigenhaler went in one of the buses with the Freedom Riders to make sure that there was no violence and intimidation happening. While traveling to a specific city, it was noted that racist socialists were intimidating and harassing civil rights activists. The racist socialists did not want to allow interstate transport buses to be desegregated in the 1960s. The Freedom Riders were accomplishing this purpose yet obtained resistance in some cities including Montgomery. Governor Patterson of Alabama had said he would help protect the Freedom Riders but did not provide security when a mob of a thousand racist socialists harassed individuals at a bus stop.

Seigenthaler went with one of the transports and was hit in the back of the head while helping a woman out of a bus. Seigenthaler called JFK to inform him of the racism and harassment they were going through. Even Seigenthaler, who was a government official, was harassed and physically assaulted by the racist socialists describing that they were not a grassroots movement. This would describe that it is possible that either the FBI was involved or racist socialist government officials of the south like Barnett, Wallace, and maybe even Patterson were involved. This describes that most likely Hoover and Sullivan were organizing the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. RFK sent four hundred U.S. marshalls to Montgomery to provide safety to the Freedom Riders.

JFK did not back down despite opposition at multiple levels in his presidency. JFK kept fighting back against the racist socialists and described that Kennedy was impressive for persevering with courage despite also possibly being intimidated by Hoover and Sullivan. JFK and RFK would lead an injuction to the Interstate Commerce Committee that resulted in interstate commerce being desegregated in 1963. Trains, buses, and airplanes were desegregated in 1963.