Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63

by Taylor Branch

Kennedy proposed instant solutions to all Patterson’s political objections: if the governor could not afford to announce that Alabama would protect the Freedom Riders, said Kennedy, he could say he was protecting “the highways.” These facile suggestions only enraged Patterson, who, convinced that the Attorney General was paying only superficial respect to the realities of the governor’s political career in Alabama, launched into a tirade. He had sworn an oath to preserve racial segregation, he said. “You’re making political speeches at me, John,” Kennedy interjected. “You don’t have to make political speeches at me over the telephone.” Patterson feared that he was being pushed into a deal whose meaning would be twisted into an abandonment of segregation. He declared that he would discuss the matter only face to face, with a personal representative of the President.