 A significant factor in the success of the Birmingham campaign was the structure of the city government and the personality of its contentious Commissioner of Public Safety , Eugene " Bull " Connor . Described as an " arch @-@ segregationist " by Time magazine , Connor asserted that the city " ain 't gonna segregate no niggers and whites together in this town [ sic ] " . He also apparently believed that the Civil Rights Movement was a Communist plot , and after the churches were bombed , Connor blamed the violence on local blacks . Birmingham 's government was set up in such a way that it gave Connor powerful influence . In 1958 , police arrested ministers organizing a bus boycott . When the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) initiated a probe amid allegations of police misconduct for the arrests , Connor responded that he " [ hadn 't ] got any damn apology to the FBI or anybody else " , and predicted , " If the North keeps trying to cram this thing [ desegregation ] down our throats , there 's going to be bloodshed . " In 1961 , Connor delayed sending police to intervene when Freedom Riders were beaten by local mobs . The police harassed religious leaders and protest organizers by ticketing cars parked at mass meetings and entering the meetings in plainclothes to take notes . The Birmingham Fire Department interrupted such meetings to search for " phantom fire hazards " . Connor was so antagonistic towards the Civil Rights Movement that his actions galvanized support for black Americans . President John F. Kennedy later said of him , " The Civil Rights movement should thank God for Bull Connor . He 's helped it as much as Abraham Lincoln . " 
