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WASHINGTON (AP)—President Kennedy sent Congress a five point civil rights program today which he said provides ‘the most responsible, reasonable and ur gently needed solutions to this problem.”’ Kennedy outlined in a 5,500 word special message a legislative package that amounts to one of the broadest civil rights programs proposed in nearly a century. The major aims of the program are to give Negroes equal accom modations in such public facilities as restaurants, hotels, theaters, and recreational areas; to school desegregation; to provide “fair and full employment”; to set up on the federal level through executive action a community re lations service to work with local biracial groups, and to bar federal assistance to “any program or activity in which racial discrimi nation occurs.” The program is certain to set off long weeks of heated debate in Congress, particularly about the sections on discrimination by pri vately owned public accommoda tions and a bar against federal aid for activities in which such discrimination occurs. In obvious anticipation of that battle, Kennedy asked Congress to “stay in ‘session this year until it has enacted—preferably as a sin gle omnibus bill—the most re sponsible, reasonable and urgent ly needed solutions’ to face rela tions difficulties. He asked every member of Con gress to “set aside sectional and Political ties, and to look at this issue from the viewpoint of the nation.” On the point of privately owned facilities serving the public, Ken nedy said simply that he was pro posing ‘‘a provision to guarantee all citizens equal access to the services and facilities of hotels and restaurants, places of amuse ment and retail establishments.” While the message did not go into detail, a draft bill also sent to Congress by Kennedy said that , all persons should be entitled ‘‘to the ‘full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages and ac commodations” of a number of what were termed “public estab lishments. ” The proposed measure specifi cally listed hotels and motels fur nishing lodging to transient guests including travelers from other states, motion pictures, sports ar enas, exhibition halls and other public places of amusement and entertainment which move in in terstate commerce, and certain markets, drugstores, gasoline stations, restaurants, lunch coun ters and sodal fountains. In that area of private enter prise Kennedy already had lost the backing of the Republican congressional leadership. The proposed ban on discrimi nation by shops, stores restau rants and lunch counters would apply to those establishments which provide services to inter state travelers to a substantial de gree, those offering goods which, in substantial portion, have moved in interstate commerce, and es tablishments which otherwise sub stantially affect interstate travel or the interstate movement of goods in commerce. The legislation offered by the administration says that discrim ination in access to accommoda tions provided for the public comes within the scope not only of of the Constitution but also the 14th Amendment which prohibits racial or religious discrimination Kennedy said the state and lo cal approach and voluntary ef forts, have been tried in ending discrimination of the type dealt with in this key section of his pro gram. “But these approaches,” he said, “are insufficient to prevent the free flow of commerce from being arbitrarily and inefficiently restrained and distorted by dis crimination.” Kennedy said ‘‘an explosive na tional problem cannot wait city by-city solutions” and federal ac tion is needed to “open doors in every part of the country which never should have been closed.”
Newspaper Details
Saranac Lake Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Saranac Lake, New York, US
Wed, Jun 19, 1963
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USA 26 May 2026
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