LBJ gets credit, but you can see the elements of many of the landmark Civil Rights legislation in this speech such as voting rights, equal access to public accommodations, and treating every 'American' equally. You know the rest of the story, gun down like President Lincoln with a gun shot to the back of the head.
President Kennedy is looking at Civil Rights from an international, Peak Oil perspective. Let say I put up a sign saying whites not allowed, yet I need to do deals with European country, how can you treat them equally if they travel to your country yet fall under criteria to discriminate?