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 at every turn. Some African Americans moved to the North, it had previously been an escape from slavery, but the North was no longer a safe haven and 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 did just that. While Kennedy only remained in office for a mere 1,000 days, his term cut short by Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of assassinating Kennedy, his impact on the civil rights movement was as monumental as Abraham Lincoln's contribution a century Before. While Lyndon B. Johnson was the politician who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most far-reaching civil rights law in history, John F. Kennedy should be given credit for that monumental event in history; Johnson, however, deserves credit for promoting 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 by the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment classified them as citizens, but society denied them the rights citizens deserve. The Fifteenth Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote, but racists ensured they wouldn't vote by adding arbitrary and illegal regulations like poll taxes or literacy requirements... middle of the paper... low Kennedy example and support them. Even though 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 passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he would never have supported such a liberal bill had he not been Kennedy's successor. Soon after enacting the bill, he ordered the FBI to investigate activists and civil rights organizations for alleged ties to communism. Communism in the 1960s was akin to a witch hunt. Just as the Puritans of Salem 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.