At Canaan's Edge

by Taylor Branch

  “running scared”: Diary of Francis Walter, Dec. 17, 1965, p. 77, courtesy of Francis Walter.

  birthday party for Sammy Younge: Forman, Sammy Younge, p. 181.

  Tuskegee students who had been drawn into demonstrations: Cf. SC, July 30, 1965, p. 1.

  a light-skinned Tuskegee family: Forman, Sammy Younge, pp. 31–33, 56, 70–71, 139, 154–59, 174–79.

  served as a maid in his household: Int. Cleveland Sellers and Gwendolyn Patton, April 15, 2000.

  farm-based activists for a trek to Atlanta: Atlanta WATS report, Dec. 6, 1965, Reel 16, SNCC; Jeffries, “Freedom Politics,” pp. 95–98; Hampton and Fayer, Voices, pp. 276–77.

  “The workshop spent one day”: Jack Minnis to Jack O’Dell, Dec. 18, 1965, JMP.

  reacted negatively to several proposed choices: Jeffries, “Freedom Politics,” pp. 95–98.

  the third trial of the Klansmen: Stanton, From Selma, pp. 128–30; NYT, Nov. 30, 1965, p. 33.

  Gary Thomas Rowe refused to testify: Hoover to Tolson et al., Nov. 24, 1965, FVL-635.

  “I am prepared to help you obtain”: Katzenbach to Gary Thomas Rowe, Nov. 27, 1965, attachment to Document 40, Gary Thomas Rowe, Jr., Headquarters Informant File, FBI.

  restrictions that had chafed: Int. Richmond Flowers, Aug. 9, 1990.

  “by any means necessary”: NYT, Dec. 1, 1965, p. 32.

  Hoover startled Katzenbach: Hoover to Tolson et al., 3:13 P.M., Dec. 3, 1965, FVL-611; Hoover to Tolson et al., 3:18 P.M., Dec. 3, 1965, FCT-NR; Stanton, From Selma, p. 128; Sikora, Judge, p. 262.

  a second Alabama jury: NYT, Dec. 1, 1965, p. 32; NYT, Dec. 2, 1965, p. 37; Dec. 3, 1965, p. 1; Jet, Dec. 9, 1965, p. 9; Mendelsohn, Martyrs, p. 194; SC, July 23, 1965, p. 1.

  Doar lapsed briefly: NYT, Dec. 4, 1965, p. 35; Bass, Taming, p. 256ff.

  “Really, it was quite a trial”: LBJ phone call with Nicholas Katzenbach, 4:10 P.M., Dec. 3, 1965, Cit. 9311, Audiotape WH6512.02, LBJ.

  “the whole nation can take heart”: NYT, Dec. 4, 1965, p. 1.

  Atlanta workshops sank into the mechanics: Jeffries, “Freedom Politics,” pp. 93–97.

  Presenters shared legal research: Cf. William Kunstler to Stokely Carmichael, with attachments, Dec. 10 [1965], Reel 37, SNCC.

  “During the discussions”: SNCC research, “Background on the Development of Political Strategy and Political Leadership in Lowndes County, Alabama,” July 1966, p. 7, Reel 18, SNCC.

  “who’s pulling the levers of power”: Int. Jack Minnis, April 7–8, 2001.

  “We went into the concept of”: Jack Minnis to Jack O’Dell, Dec. 18, 1965, JMP.

  “News about the new freedom organization”: Atlanta WATS report, Dec. 6, 1965, Reel 16, SNCC.

  asked Rev. Francis Walter to help investigate reprisals: Nov. 21 entry regarding call from Rev. Bruce Hanson, “Selma Inter-religious Project, Calendar of Wilcox County Events,” BIR/FW2f15.

  followed a wilderness road: Diary of Francis Walter, Dec. 9, 1965, p. 68, courtesy of Francis Walter.

  backtracking the river-looped county: Int. Francis Walter, Sept. 7, 2000.

  Freedom Quilting Bee: Callahan, Quilting Bee, passim, especially pp. 3–4, 13–18, 57–67.

  Nearly all the folk artisans: Ibid., pp. 143–241.

  acquitted the three men charged with the beating death: NYT, Dec. 11, 1965, p. 1; Stanton, From Selma, p. 48.

  Richmond Flowers denounced: NYT, Dec. 18, 1965, p. 17.

  “Reeb Verdict Outrages Justice Department”: WP, Dec. 13, 1965, p. 3. The jury foreman, William Vaughan, had resigned from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to protest its token integration the previous spring. Another juror, Harry Vardaman, was the brother of defense alibi witness Ben Vardaman, who was implicated in the Reeb attack by federal investigators.

  Gene Roberts surfaced the first hint: “Student Rights Group Lacks Money and Help but Not Projects,” NYT, Dec. 10, 1965, p. 37.

  Ruth Howard and other SNCC artists: Int. Bob Mants, Sept. 8, 2000; int. Gloria Larry House, June 29, 2000. The history of the panther logo was recalled in e-mail exchanges over the Ole Miss–based SNCC mailing list, including notes posted as follows: Bob Zellner, March 3, 2002; Margaret Herring, March 5, 2002; Charlie Cobb, March 5, 2002; Dorothy Zellner, March 5, 2002; Judy Richardson, March 5, 2002; Jack Minnis, March 5, 2002; Patrick Jones, March 5, 2002; Scott B. Smith, March 15, 2002.

  He called Stanley Levison: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and MLK, 12:40 P.M., Dec. 2, 1965, FLNY-9-776a.

  he had preached in Gittelson’s synagogue: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and MLK, 11:40 A.M., Dec. 4, 1965, FLNY-9-778.

  Levison dictated paragraphs by relay: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Dora McDonald, 1:20 P.M., Nov. 24, 1965, FLNY-9-768a.

  “The stirring lesson of this age”: MLK address, Dec. 5, 1965, A/KS.

  Micah on beating swords into plowshares: Micah 4:3.

  “Yea, when you make many prayers”: Isaiah 1:15–16.

  “Dr. King Sees Move Against Pacifists”: NYT, Dec. 6, 1965, p. 73; New York LHM dated Dec. 7, 1965, FK-2137.

  an interview arranged by Stanley Levison: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones, 9:32 P.M., Oct. 25, 1965, FLNY-9-738a; New York LHM dated Oct. 28, 1965, FK-NR.

  “And so I have been a Dodger fan”: Transcript, “Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Personal Portrait, in Conversation with Arnold Michaelis,” WOR-TV, April 3, 1973, MS 2952, b7f6, AMS, p. 3.

  a mob of nearly two hundred had blocked: SCLC Alabama press release dated Dec. 1, 1965, A/KP28f6.

  “This was a heart-melting demonstration”: Rev. Samuel B. Wells, “Report from Butler County, Alabama,” A/SC165f12; Branch, Parting, pp. 612–14, 867–68.

  arrested Young and his passengers alike: FBI, Mobile, to Director, urgent Teletype dated Dec. 7, 1965, FK-2119.

  “I never felt that war could be a positive good”: Undated transcript, [Dec. 9, 1965], Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Conversation with Arnold Michaelis,” MS 2952, b7f5, AMS, pp. 6–10. A portion of the Michaelis-King interview was broadcast by WNET Channel 13 in New York on March 8, 1966, as noted in New York LHM dated March 9, 1966, FK-NR.

  “There can be no gainsaying”: Ibid., p. 7.

  “I don’t think President Johnson is a warmonger”: Ibid., p. 19.

  “I certainly can’t claim to be a saint”: Ibid., p. 46.

  “a very practical problem that runs the gamut of history”: Ibid., p. 21.

  “I wouldn’t take my own life”: Ibid., pp. 50–53.

  25: INSIDE OUT

  “McCone Commission Urges”: NYT, Dec. 7, 1965, pp. 1, 26.

  nearly all the 114 Los Angeles elementary schools without cafeterias: Governor’s Commission, Violence in the City, pp. 53–55.

  “shockingly lower”: Ibid., p. 50.

  “Go to school for what?”: Ibid., p. 39.

  ownership of cars to reach jobs: Ibid., pp. 65–67.

  “curtain-raiser”: “McCone Commission Urges”: NYT, Dec. 7, 1965, p. 1.

  “an insensate rage of destruction”: Governor’s Commission, Violence in the City, pp. 1, 4–5.

  Rustin cited McCone’s own investigators: Bayard Rustin, “The Watts ‘Manifesto’ and the McCone Report,” Commentary, March 1966, pp. 29–35. See also “An Analysis of the McCone Commission Report” by the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, reprinted as Exhibit 89, in Hearings of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, “Federal Role in Urban Affairs, 89th Congress [1966], pp. 802–12.

  “To find out that about 85 per cent”: Ibid., p. 31.

  “Every Negro knows this”: Ibid., p. 32.

  No Negro ranked above sergeant: Broome, LAPD’s Black History, pp. 116–18.

  being cajoled by Malcolm X: Branch, Pillar, pp. 3–20, 78–81; int. Earl Broady, March 25, 1991.

  Chief Parker’s countervailing ch
arge: “Parker Hints Muslims Took Part in Rioting,” LAT, Aug. 17, 1965, p. 1; NYT, Sept. 14, 1965, p. 22.

  “One person threw a rock”: Dallek, Right Moment, p. 142.

  “on both sides of the Negro question”: Bayard Rustin, “The Watts ‘Manifesto’ and the McCone Report,” Commentary, March 1966, p. 29.

  Moynihan had become an established national oracle: Moynihan, “Behind Los Angeles: Jobless Negroes and the Boom,” Reporter, Sept. 9, 1965, p. 31.

  “Remember that American slavery”: CBS Reports, Watts: Riot or Revolt?, Dec. 7, 1965, Tape T77:0395, MOB.

  “I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen”: NYT, Dec. 12, 1965, p. 74.

  “Some people are lucky”: Transcript, guest Daniel P. Moynihan, Meet the Press, Dec. 12, 1965, Vol. 9, No. 44.

  “an alimentary canal at one end”: Dallek, Right Moment, pp. 100–103.

  Reagan continued to defend the Goldwater positions: “The Real Ronald Reagan Stands Up,” Life, Jan. 21, 1966.

  “I would have voted against it”: LAT, Jan. 22, 1965; Dallek, Right Moment, p. 188; Dugger, On Reagan, pp. 197–98.

  Stuart Spencer and William Roberts: Edwards, Reagan, pp. 83–90; Boyarsky, Rise, pp. 106–11.

  “somewhat passé”: Governor Carl Sanders of Georgia, quoted in NYT, Sept. 13, 1965, p. 23.

  “The original government”: NYT Magazine, Nov. 14, 1965, p. 175.

  “the fruit of appeasement”: Dallek, Right Moment, p. 190.

  “a political decision to achieve victory”: NYT Magazine, Nov. 14, 1965, p. 184.

  “we could pave the whole country”: LAT, Oct. 21, 1965.

  150 trial speeches: Edwards, Reagan, p. 101.

  “hemophiliac liberal”: NYT Magazine, Nov. 14, 1965, p. 46.

  citizen-politician: Boyarsky, Rise, pp. 137–38.

  “utterly reprehensible”: Dallek, Right Moment, pp. 124–27.

  “the FBI has not investigated”: Edwards, Reagan, p. 94.

  “a bunch of kooks”: Dallek, Right Moment, pp. 103–11.

  “Tom Sawyer Enters Politics”: Leo E. Litwak, “The Ronald Reagan Story; Or, Tom Sawyer Enters Politics,” NYT Magazine, Nov. 14, 1965, p. 46ff.

  first public hints of intrigue: LAT, Dec. 19, 1965, p. 1; WP, Dec. 20, 1965, p. 1.

  Henderson Novelty Company: “FBI Use of Listening Devices Prompts Charges and Inquiries,” NYT, July 3, 1966, p. 25.

  “I told Katzenbach”: DeLoach to Tolson, Dec. 20, 1965, FRK-1800.

  surreptitious eavesdropping allowed a shrewd defense attorney: “High Court Asked to Hear Tax Case,” NYT, May 28, 1966, p. 24; int. Ed Weisl, Jr., May 23, 1991.

  Hoover already disparaged Williams: Thomas, Man to See, pp. 199–203, 499–501; Branch, Pillar, p. 181.

  Washington lobbyist Fred Black: Cf. “Baker’s Partner Fought U.S. Claim,” NYT, April 22, 1964, p. 32; “Associate of Baker Guilty in Tax Trial,” NYT, May 6, 1964, p. 1; “Black Gets up to Four Years for Tax Evasion,” NYT, June 20, 1964, p. 9; “Associate of Baker Loses Tax Appeal,” NYT, Nov. 11, 1965, p. 7.

  the Johnson family’s next-door neighbor: “FBI Had Sanction in Eavesdropping,” NYT, July 14, 1966, p. 1.

  believe private statements from Kennedy himself: Nicholas Katzenbach oral history by Paige E. Mulhollan, Nov. 12, 1968, p. 33ff, LBJ; Katzenbach oral history by Larry J. Hackman, Oct. 8, 1969, p. 47ff, JFJ; int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991.

  Kennedy’s FBI liaison officer, Courtney Evans: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, pp. 293–96, 678; Powers, Secrecy, pp. 391, 397; Branch, Parting, pp. 907–11; Branch, Pillar, p. 250.

  “upon having his recollection refreshed”: DeLoach to Tolson, Dec. 24, 1965, FRK-1804.

  “He did admit that Kennedy must have known”: Ibid.; Gale to DeLoach [with handwritten notes by Hoover], Dec. 30, 1965, Section 129, FHOC. DeLoach held a similar session on December 30, 1965, with senior Justice Department prosecutor William Hundley, and reported that Hundley also considered it “obvious” that certain intelligence “was obtained as a result of microphone coverage.” Gale to DeLoach, Dec. 30, 1965, Section 129, FHOC.

  “‘leave us to the wolves’”: DeLoach to Tolson, Dec. 20, 1965, FRK-1800, p. 3; Shesol, Contempt, p. 350.

  “Three days after Christmas”: “Background Information,” Dec. 28, 1965, Reel 18, SNCC.

  SNCC faced $100,000 in debt: “Fund Lag Plagues Rights Movement,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1966, p. 1.

  “John Robert Lewis is TIRED”: Penny Patch memo to “Jim, Nancy, Jimmy,” et al., Dec. 11, 1965, Reel 1, SNCC.

  a melancholy year-end statement: “Statement on 1966 by John Lewis, Chairman,” Dec. 30, 1965, Reel 20, SNCC.

  Of twenty evicted families: Lowndes County WATS report, Jan. 4, 1965, Reel 16, SNCC; “Background Information on Lowndes County Tent City,” Feb. 28, 1966, Box 1, A/RM.

  “It has been raining”: Background Information,” Dec. 28, 1965, Reel 18, SNCC.

  “Please make sure”: Carmichael to Muriel Tillinghast, 1:00 A.M., Dec. 26, 1965, JMP. “The rest of the staff feels that we should not call the police,” Carmichael added. “I agree. His system is very simple[—]he calls up these people and tells them that there is an emergency please wire him some money.” On a separate matter, Carmichael asked Tillinghast to remove fieldworker Cleophus Hobbs from the payroll because he had been drafted into the Army: “Please STOP his check immediately.”

  Rabbi Harold Saperstein: Fraud warnings evidently reached Saperstein in time. He and his wife sent $50 to the Atlanta SNCC office instead of the suspected embezzler. “I would appreciate it if you would inform Stokely Carmichael of this donation,” Saperstein wrote Tillinghast from Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook, New York, “and give him our personal greetings.” Saperstein to Tillinghast, Jan. 3, 1966, Reel 18, SNCC.

  “I just can’t kick it, man”: Forman, Sammy Younge, pp. 183–84.

  attracted scattered notice: “Freedom City, Alabama,” SC, Jan. 8–9, 1966, p. 1; “Alabama Negroes Evicted from Homes for Political Views,” Jet, Jan. 13, 1966, p. 4.

  “‘Tent City’ Rising”: NYT, Jan. 1, 1966, p. 15.

  “Evicted Farmers Wallow”: Jet, March 10, 1966, pp. 14–19.

  soon contracted hepatitis: Friends of SNCC memo, “Tent Cities,” March 18, 1966, Box 1, A/RM.

  Carmichael said people who registered: Carmichael, Black Power, p. 104.

  “People in Lowndes County”: Edward M. Rudd, “New Political Group in Lowndes to Name Own Negro Candidates,” SC, Jan. 1–2, 1966, p. 2.

  Historic address by the sitting Attorney General: Mobile Register, Jan. 2, 1966, p. 1; Mobile Register, Jan. 3, 1966, p. 1; Jet, Jan. 13, 1966, p. 4.

  Walter took his chance: Diary of Francis Walter, Dec. 17, 1965, p. 77, courtesy of Francis Walter.

  Mobile’s white newspapers: Jet, Jan. 20, 1966, pp. 14–17.

  “spill your guts on the floor”: WATS report, Mahoney and Zellner to Elizabeth, 3:30 P.M., Jan. 4, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC; WP, Jan. 7, 1966, p. 2.

  Witnesses said Younge: NYT, Jan. 5, 1966, p. 12; Forman, Sammy Younge, pp. 185–95; Carson, Struggle, p. 188.

  “to bluff him”: NYT, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 38; NYT, Dec. 10, 1966, p. 1; “Anatomy of a Murder Trial,” SC, Dec. 24–25, 1966, p. 4.

  “I just got me three bottles of wine”: Forman, Sammy Younge, p. 184.

  two thousand students marched Tuesday: NYY, Jan. 5, 1966, p. 12; Forman, Sammy Younge, pp. 197–98.

  “more Negroes to be able to work”: WATS report, Jan. 6, 1966, Tuskegee, Reel 16, SNCC.

  a marathon debate to frame a response: Int. Gloria Larry House, June 29, 2000, and Dec. 18, 2003.

  for SNCC to take a public stand: John Lewis to SNCC staff, Dec. 7, 1965, Reel 1, SNCC.

  Gloria Larry’s volunteer effort: Int. Gloria Larry House, Dec. 18, 2003; int. Martha Norman, Dec. 20, 2003; int. Julian Bond, Jan. 10, 2004; handwritten fragments of Jan. 6, 1966, SNCC statement, courtesy of Gloria Larry House.

  “We believe the United States government”: Forman, Making, pp. 445–46; NYT, Jan. 7, 196
6, p. 2.

  “a crowded news conference”: NYT, Jan. 8, 1966, p. 22.

  a thirteen-page launch blueprint: “A Proposal by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the Development of a Nonviolent Action Movement for the Greater Chicago Area,” A/KP5f27; Garrow, Bearing, pp. 457–58; Anderson and Pickering, Confronting, p. 188; Cohen and Taylor, Pharaoh, p. 356.

  Negroes had come to outnumber: Margaret Long, “The Movement,” New South, Vol. 21, No. 1, Winter 1966, p. 98; WP, Jan. 8, 1966, p. 6.

  “This economic exploitation”: “Statement by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” for release at 11:00 A.M., Jan. 7, 1966, File 940, RS, CHS. The statement includes nearly all the written proposal cited above.

  Five unions shut down: Graham, Civil Rights Era, pp. 285–86.

  “Dr. King Will Occupy”: CD, Jan. 8–14, 1966, p. 1.

  four memos about Tuskegee: Clifford L. Alexander, Jr., to LBJ, 4:10 P.M., Jan. 6, 1966; Alexander to LBJ, 10:45 A.M., Jan. 7, 1966; Alexander to LBJ, 1:00 P.M., Jan. 7, 1966; Alexander to LBJ, 4:22 P.M., Jan. 7, 1966—all in EX HU2/ST1, Box 25, LBJ.

  “get by Saturday without bloodshed”: NYT, Jan. 8, 1965, p. 22.

  “support any action we need to take here”: LBJ handwritten note, “Cliff—4:55 P.M.—Ask Doar to follow this & support any action we need to take here—L,” on Alexander to LBJ, 4:22 P.M., Jan. 7, 1966, EX HU2/ST1, Box 25, LBJ.

  “negate the impact of this story”: Clifford L. Alexander, Jr., to LBJ, 4:56 P.M., Jan. 7, 1966, EX ND9-4, MLK Name File, Box 144, LBJ.

  “Yes, I do”: Neary, Julian Bond, p. 93.

  sudden glare of headlines: Ibid., p. 108; Williams, Bonds, p. 223; “Defiance of Draft Call Urged by SNCC Leader,” AC, Jan. 7, 1966, p. 1; “Rep.-Elect Bond Facing an Ouster Fight After Urging Draft Dodging,” AC, Jan. 8, 1966, p. 1.

  “Georgians Score a Vietnam Critic”: NYT, Jan. 8, 1966, p. 3.

  “We are in a dangerous period”: Garrow, Bearing, p. 458; NYT, Jan. 9, 1966, p. 4.

  “It is ironic that some”: Transcript of press conference, Jan. 8, 1966, “Julius Griffin reads Dr. King’s Statement, John Lewis reads ‘Statement on Georgia Attack on SNCC,’ and ‘Statement of SNCC supporting Julian Bond,’” Reel 20, SNCC, pp. 0959–0963.

  withdrew into disbelieving seclusion: Int. Julian Bond, Jan. 10, 2004.