The American Civil War ended in 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, but a century later the United States was not an equal country . The Emancipation Proclamation may have freed slaves from their masters, but it did not ensure freedom in society. African Americans faced abuse, segregation, and discrimination everywhere. Some African Americans moved to the North, this used to be an escape from slavery, but the North was no longer a safe haven, African Americans there faced the same treatment. They needed someone to advocate for them, they needed a voice in politics, and John F. Kennedy entered the political arena and that's exactly what he did. While Kennedy was only in office for 1,000 days, his term cut short by Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of Kennedy's assassination, his impact on the civil rights movement was just as monumental as the contribution of Abraham Lincoln a century earlier. While Lyndon B. Johnson was the politician who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most ambitious civil rights law in history, John F. Kennedy should receive credit for this colossal event. history ; Johnson, however, deserves credit for furthering the civil rights movement. Historians have described the decade of the 1960s as a second civil war. African Americans were still fighting for freedom. African Americans, along with their white supporters, protested for the freedoms promised to them in the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment classified them as citizens, but society denied them the rights they deserved. The Fifteenth Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote, but racists made sure they didn't vote by adding arbitrary and illegal regulations such as poll taxes or literacy requirements.... . middle of paper ......low example of Kennedy and support them. Although African Americans trusted Johnson, he never planned to continue supporting their cause. In reality, Johnson was only doing what he believed was his political duty as vice president. Although Johnson approved the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he would never have supported such a liberal bill if he had not been Kennedy's successor. Shortly after passing the bill, he ordered the FBI to investigate civil rights activists and organizations for their alleged ties to communism. Communism in the 1960s was akin to a witch hunt. Just as the Salem Puritans claimed people were witches for their own personal gain in 1692, during the Cold War Americans accused anyone of communism to exile the person or cause they did not support. Johnson did just that, although it proved unsuccessful. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was permanent.