kennedy the previous summer, all president kennedy talked about was how the civil rights bill needed to do what j. edgar hoover said and not be tainted with being subversive. kennedy was afraid of this, afraid of losing the south. no democratic president had ever been elected without the support of the solid south that was democrat in those days and all segregationists. so president kennedy was not making up these political handicaps, they were real. >> mr. califano, i want to go to this -- go ahead. and then i've got a question for you. >> i think it's interesting to note you think about selma and king's march in selma, which was critical to the voting rights act. that came out of conversations between president johnson and martin luther king when he said to king, you know, you find the worst place in the south, you find where people can't vote without reciting the constitution and you get down there.