Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - His Strategic Vision, Leadership, and Conflict/Alliance With the Kennedy Administration

Abstract

Abstract : History has vividly recorded three revolutions in the United States of America. These tumultuous events--The American Revolution (1776-1783), the Civil War (1861-1865), and the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)-occurred approximately one century apart. This paper addresses the Civil Rights Movement, a mostly nonviolent period of transformation centered on issues of racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. More specifically, it focuses on the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., arguably the most influential and effective of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a leader and personified the essential qualities that define strategic leadership. The purpose of this project is to examine his performance as a historic strategic within the context of the strategic competencies, and to analyze this leadership in light of his relationship, challenges, and efforts in working with the Kennedy Administration. This examination has relevance to today's senior because the impact of Dr. King's vision and the Civil Rights agenda of the Kennedy Administration helped shape our current national values and interests. Dr. King, President Kennedy, and Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, were often at odds on how to best end segregation and racial discrimination in America. These conflicts were significant, but through Dr. King's extraordinary strategic leadership, they were overcome. The alliance between King and the Kennedy Administration ultimately established the framework and impetus that eventually led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the premiere civil rights and human rights legislation of this nation.