In the end , the most vocal support for the civil rights bill came from the participants of the August 28 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . The demonstration made Kennedy anxious , but its organizers ensured that it would be used to support his legislation . The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing ( in which four black choir girls were killed ) in September increased public support for the bill , but legislative progress stagnated in Congress due to the efforts of southern Democrats and conservative Republicans . In an interview that month , the President acknowledged the political cost of his new stance on civil rights : " It has caused a good deal of feeling against the Administration in the South — also , I suppose , in other parts of the country . ... I lost some southern states in 1960 so I suppose I will lose some , maybe more , in 1964 . I am not sure that I am the most popular figure in the country today in the South , but that is all right . " Still , he remained optimistic about his legislation , commenting in his last-ever press conference on November 14 , " However dark the land looks now , I think that ' westward look , the land is bright , ' and I think that next summer it may be . " On November 22 , 1963 Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas , Texas . Johnson was immediately sworn in as President and addressed a joint session of Congress , saying , " No memorial oration or eulogy could more eloquently honor President Kennedy 's memory than the earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill for which he fought so long . " After an intense legislative effort , the bill was approved by Congress and was signed into law by Johnson as the Civil Rights Act on July 2 , 1964
Kennedy was assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Report to the American People on Civil Rights