[Hoot Gibson]

Question: was the sending of troops into the South to enforce equality in education via integration a violation of State's rights? NOTE: I am not setting a trap to call you a racist. I am wondering how far you take the state's rights thing. If a State lacks the will to recognize and accept essential liberties, has the Federal Government no recourse? Aren't we United States citizens above and beyond all?

I am no expert on the Civil Rights but Kennedy had an obligation to enforce federal law. I am generally opposed to deploying federal troops within this country but I am not sure what alternatives Kennedy had available. The biggest problem with civil rights in the south was that states passed laws mandating discrimination. Those laws clearly violated the federal 1957 Civil Rights Act and the US Constitution, IMO.

Basic civil rights are guaranteed by the US Constitution and supersede state laws. The people (mostly Dixiecrats) who used the states' rights argument to oppose civil rights for African-Americans were wrong.