invited members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to Birmingham to help change its leadership's policies, as non-violent action had produced good results in some other cities. The Reverends Martin Luther King Jr. and Wyatt Tee Walker, SCLC's president and executive director, respectively, joined other civil rights movement leaders who travelled to Birmingham to help. In the spring and summer of 1963, national attention became riveted on Birmingham. The media covered the series of peaceful marches that the Birmingham police, headed by Police Commissioner Bull Connor, attempted to divert and control. He invited high school students to join the marches, as King intended to fill the jails with nonviolent protesters to make a moral argument to the United States. Dramatic images of Birmingham police using police dogs and powerful streams of water against children protesters filled newspapers and television coverage, arousing national outrage. The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing during a Sunday service, which killed four African-American girls, caused a national outcry and gained support for the civil rights cause in the state. 16th Street Baptist Church had been a rallying point and staging area for civil rights activities in Birmingham prior to the bombing. Finally, Birmingham leaders King and Shuttlesworth agreed to end the marches when the businessmen's group committed to end segregation in stores and public facilities. Before his November 1963 assassination, President John F. Kennedy had supported civil rights legislation. In 1964 President Lyndon Johnson helped secure its passage and signed the Civil Rights Act. The Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 attracted national and international press and TV coverage. The nation was horrified to see peaceful protesters beaten as they entered the county. That year, Johnson helped achieve passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to gain federal oversight and enforcement to ensure the ability of all citizens to vote. Court challenges related to "one man, one vote" and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally provided the groundwork for federal court rulings. In 1972, the federal court required the legislature to create a statewide redistricting plan to correct the imbalances in representation in the legislature related to population patterns. Redistricting, together with federal oversight of voter registration and election practices, enabled hundreds of thousands of Alabama citizens, both white and black, to vote and participate for the first time in the political system. Late 20th century (1975–2000) 21st century (2001–present) In 2015, state budget