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>> It's the fall of one thousand sixty two. John Kennedy has a lot on his mind. Before him are problems of enormous importance and complexity the Cuban Missile Crisis resistance to James Meredith meant in the University of Mississippi imminent congressional elections aid to education medical aid to the aged.

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Somewhere in the stack of pressing problems is another matter an executive order to prevent discrimination in federally assisted housing. We're going to ask you to consider this one issue to weigh the factors and ask you what you would do if you were president. Many things can be done I spoke at the presidential panel such as an executive for equal opportunity in housing.

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I. Am today on the edge of a new front. The front care of the nineteen sixty. I'm asking each of you give a final that. The Constitution is a wonderful doctor and it is to the president and. It is Franklin Roosevelt said. And question. The president that the sense of responsibility will bear many things can be done I spoke of the presidential panel such as an executive.

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In housing. It was hard to argue injustices of the black experience in America but you could easily get an argument on what should be done about it by the beginning of the nineteenth sixty's many people felt that the federal government should act more vigorously to ensure the civil rights of all citizens.

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But not everyone agreed. Desegregation was an explosive issue particularly in housing and the timing of controversial first steps was important. How fast is it possible to move on really sensitive issues especially when they affect people in their own homes and neighborhoods. Issuing the housing order would fulfill J.F.K.'s campaign promise and moral commitment but it would offend those who felt strongly opposed to this kind of federal intervention in their communities.

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If you were the president would you issue the order now. J M K A strong commitment to civil rights had won him many black votes in one nine hundred sixty. He acted vigorously in several civil rights areas other than housing and he issued an order to prevent discrimination in federal employment.

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In one nine hundred sixty one The Civil Rights Commission brought increased pressure to bear when it published a new report it asked the president to expand his oath already to cover housing finance by proud. Bickley all lending institutions not just government financed housing or building loans ensured through the government.

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This use of presidential authority was much more than J.F.K. had promised in his campaign. Kennedy was also weighing the order against another important action and attempt to create a Cabinet level department on Housing and Urban Affairs the first department that would be directly concerned with the special problems of millions of people many of them black living in urban centers J.F.K. wanted to appoint a black man Dr Robert C. Weaver then chief of the housing and Home Finance Agency as the head of the new department at a long and difficult meeting in Hyannis Port on Thanksgiving nine hundred sixty one J.F.K. and his advisors decided to delay the housing order until the legislation to create the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs had passed safely through Congress.

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They took a gamble and lost. The department was shot down in Congress in early one nine hundred sixty two delaying the housing order for several months provoke civil rights groups to intensify their pressure J.F.K.'s inaction made him a target for intense criticism from liberals religious groups academics and civil rights leaders about his retrieves from what had seemed a firm campaign promise and moral commitment.

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Ten not so subtle reminders of the president's stroke of the pen pledge they looted the White House. It's Oct nineteenth sixty two if you were the president would this increased pressure cause you to issue the order now. You're. Elected by a slim. Margin in one nine hundred sixty Kennedy carried only a few congressional supporters into office with him but he needed all the support he could get to implement his innovative legislative package.

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His track record for passing controversial bills in Congress was certainly no cause for optimism in one thousand nine hundred sixty one out of a total of three hundred fifty five presidential legislative requests only one hundred seventy two were granted. Several crucial proposals were defeated by just a handful of votes.

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So when influential politicians from both houses pressured him to delay the housing order for it to abandon the order completely J.F.K. had to seriously consider their request. Samara been Democratic senator from North Carolina wrote an order of this nature would constitute an invasion of the legislative field the Constitution pressed the legislative powers of the federal government in the Congress and not even the president.

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John Sparkman Democrat from Alabama and chairman of the Senate housing subcommittee telegram to urge you again not to sign such an order. Albert Raines the Alabama Democrat who chairs the housing subcommittee of the House of Representatives wired an executive order such as proposed by the Civil Rights Commission will be disastrous to our housing programs and will mean finished a housing legislation which can be enacted by the Congress.

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The opposition of southern and conservative politicians was long standing in the fall of one nine hundred sixty two even traditionally liberal northerners were putting pressure on J.F.K. to delay on the grounds of white backlash that could cost them precious votes even in the suburbs Martha W. Griffith's Democratic congresswoman from Michigan wrote to Lawrence O'Brien's special assistant to the president no Democratic congressman from suburbia to.

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Believes he's in any danger of losing colored votes but he does feel such an order could cost white votes if I lose this election would you mind asking the president if I can have the next Supreme Court vacancy where I can legislate in safety from the prejudices of the precincts.

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J.F.K. needed the support of people to pass his legislative package including such economy stimulating legislation as the trade expansion and important social measures like medical aid to the aged and aid to education proposals to which he was committed as firmly as he was to the housing order. It's Oct nineteenth sixty two if you were the president would you risk alienating key supporters in Congress and conservative and liberal Democratic seats by issuing the housing order now.

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We've been talking about the housing order but there was another campaign pledge a promise to get the economy moving again. And while awaiting the return to the recession. President Kennedy took office while the country was in a recession the economy sluggish was making a gradual recovery during nine hundred sixty one.

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J.F.K. wondered whether the order whenever he issued it would hurt the economy by bringing the housing industry to a standstill or cutting it back significantly. Yest Weaver at the housing and Home Finance Agency to prepare a memo summarizing the impact of the housing order on the economy we've all reported that it would do the least harm if issued immediately do.

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In the period of a gradual recovery rather than during a recession or a period of rapid expansion. The building industry lobbying forces countered with dismal figures about the consequences of the order. In the summer of one thousand nine hundred eighty two the National Association of Home Builders released a survey of its members claiming that forty two percent of the nation's builders feared a drastic drop in housing starts the accuracy of this report however was challenge could J.F.K. risk another economic downturn knowing that the very people who would suffer most were those who would be helped by the housing order black.

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You're. If you were the president would you jeopardize the gradual economic recovery by issuing the order now. If J.F.K. decided to issue the housing order how would it work you consider the advice of legal counselors at the Department of Justice one option was a narrow order covering only government owned or subsidized housing and twenty three percent of single family dwellings financed through loans directly insured by the government a second option was a broad order one that included practically all housing finance through every kind of lending institutions.

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Did the president have the authority to enforce such an order his legal advisers counseled that enormous complications would result. They worried that the Supreme Court might rule that the president did not have the authority to enforce a broad order and that there might be a showdown with the directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

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A natural order covering only government owned subsidized and insured housing would have little impact a broader. Including practically all housing would be effective but only if it could survive strenuous legal examination. If you were the president in the fall of one thousand nine hundred sixty two faced with these two options would you issue a broad order and risk the legal and political complications or if you're the saver now toward the.

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Now you know some of the factors that J.F.K. had to consider in October nineteenth sixty two. Pressure from civil rights groups and their supporters has mounted steadily legislation to create a Department of Housing and Urban Affairs has failed you've been criticized for retreating from your pledge to take aggressive action.

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The economy the recovering is still precarious in Congress where every vote is precious to you for the passage of your own legislative package mid-term elections are imminent issuing the housing order now before the elections would jeopardize Democratic seats your legal advisers are painting a gloomy picture of the chances for establishing the presidential authority necessary to enforce a broad order.

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It's October one thousand nine hundred sixty two what would you do if you were the president. Stop to make your decision before screening the rest of the film. The president delayed for a month then after the congressional elections and enjoying immense popularity because of his handling of the Cuban missile crisis he issued a narrow executive order on housing.

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I have today signed an executive order directing federal departments and agencies to take every and legal action to prevent the. In the family of housing facility owner operated by the so crucial was the timing of the announcement that Kennedy signed the order before Thanksgiving one nine hundred sixty two when the media and the public were likely to give it the least attention it is not a proper no record of an American should be denied the benefits of housing owned by the federal government.

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For the federal assistance on the basis of their race. On national policy from opportunity for all and the federal government will continue to take to actually going to office staff. To keep the realization of this goal.