What did John F. Kennedy do to help the cause of civil rights?

I would argue that John F. Kennedy did relatively little
that was tangible to help the Civil Rights Movement
succeed.

JFK came into office promising to eliminate racial
discrimination in housing by executive order.  He did not do this for two years.  He was
generally timid when it came to civil rights because he relied heavily on Southern
Democrats for political support.

As his term went along,
JFK did become more involved with civil rights.  As the link below
says,

Only
late in his brief term did Kennedy take up the issue of civil
rights...

Perhaps his most
important contribution to the success of the movement was a speech he gave in June of
1963.  In that speech, he said that civil rights was a moral issue and he committed
himself to try to solve the problem.  Of course, he had very little time left to live
and never did get to follow through on his promise.  When he died, no major civil rights
legislation had been passed while he was
president.

Overall, then, JFK did little to help the Civil
Rights Movement succeed while he lived.  However, his death did help because it
encouraged people to support civil rights legislation on the idea that it was what JFK
would have liked.