Harris Wofford - Kennedy Administration

Kennedy Administration

Wofford's political career began in 1960 when he served as an adviser to the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy. When King was imprisoned shortly before the election, Wofford persuaded Kennedy's brother in law, Sargent Shriver, to race to O'Hare airport to persuade Kennedy to call King's wife, Correta Scott King, who faced the specter of her husband sentenced to hard labor in a gulag-like Georgia prison for a minor traffic violation while she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy. This was done with Ted Sorenson, Teddy Kennedy and Ken O'Donnell out of the room. All of them would have opposed this move because of the opposition from the southern political leaders like arch segregationist Senator James Eastland. JFK's call helped shift the African American vote decisively in Kennedy's favor and may have won him the election.

In 1961, Kennedy appointed him, in a last minute decision, as a special assistant to the President on civil rights. He also served as chairman of the Subcabinet Group on Civil Rights. He was instrumental in the formation of the Peace Corps and served as the Peace Corps' special representative to Africa and director of operations in Ethiopia. He was appointed associate director of the Peace Corps in 1962 and held that position until 1966. Wofford's book Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties details his years in the civil rights movement and the creation of the Peace Corps.