On the matter of John F Kennedy?

Kennedy realized the inevitable necessity of equal rights for everyone. As president he stood in a unique position to address that very real wrong and give some voice to those whose voices had long been ignored. I wish I could say what his rationale for voting against the 1957 Civil Rights Bill had been. One thing is clear, voting for it would have hampered his seeking of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in 1960. When he gained the nomination he came out in support of Civil Rights.

He didn't. He made a procedural vote to invoke cloture, which means he tried to end a Southern filibuster. By the way, this question was asked and answered a month ago, and has been asked several times before.

From the link below: ' After almost a month of southern filibustering against a civil rights bill, Senators Douglas (D., Ill.) and Javits (R., N.Y.) filed a cloture petition. A vote was taken on March 10, 1960. If the Senate had acted favorably, the filibuster would have been broken and the Senate could have worked to enact a strong civil rights bill. The cloture motion lost by a vote of 42 to 53.

FOR the Cloture Motion: Kennedy '