Does Kennedy Really Care?

It seems like Kennedy’s public perception forced him to make many decisions that ran counter to his personal beliefs. Although we know that he eventually helped make changes for the African American community, Kennedy only started to implement change after the 1962 midterm elections. As Patterson said, “[Robert and John Kennedy’s] caution rested first on political considerations.” Many members of the American public were not in favor of civil rights, and Kennedy knew this, so he went back on many of his campaign promises. What I think is really interesting is that “Kennedy worried especially that racial unrest in the United States would soil the nation’s image abroad and sabotage foreign policy goals that he really cared about.” It makes me wonder if when Kennedy did start to act it, like his previous inaction, was fueled by political considerations. Did Kennedy actually care about civil rights? Or was he just a pragmatic politician? Is he any better than Esinhower? Although I don’t agree with him at least he was true to his conservative ideology.