“This was a fire fight”: Halberstam, Powers, pp. 503–4.
“with two hundred or four hundred thousand”: Fulbright, Vietnam Hearings, p. 13.
George Aiken of Vermont demanded: Ibid., pp. 29–30.
Walter Cronkite would use a full three minutes: Friendly, Circumstances, pp. 219–20.
Operation Masher: NYT, Jan. 28, 1966, p. 12; Life, Feb. 11, 1966, p. 21; FRUS, Vol. 4, p. 187, footnote 3. The maneuver was retitled “Operation White Wing,” evidently to make it sound more attractive.
“the same age as my daughter Cecile”: Moore, Soldiers, p. 342.
Julian Bond sat quietly that afternoon: LAT, Jan. 29, 1966, p. 1.
“had he recanted, begged, or crawled”: Neary, Julian Bond, pp. 127–29.
“a call to action based on race”: Ibid.; Morgan, One Man, pp. 159–60.
“THE WISE MEN”: PDD, Jan. 28, 1966, p. 3, LBJ.
“If you just sit tight there”: “Text of Message from Ambassador McConaughy—Karachi 1510, Washington, Jan. 27, 1966,” in FRUS, Vol. 4, pp. 160–63.
no air campaign could interdict more than half: Cf. comments during the 556th meeting of the National Security Council, Jan. 29, 1966, in FRUS, Vol. 4, p. 186.
“probably use human backs”: Jack Valenti notes, “Meeting in Cabinet Room,” Jan. 28, 1966, Office of the President, Valenti Papers, Box 13, LBJ.
run against Lummie Jenkins: NYT, Feb. 20, 1966, p. 68.
This caused confusion: WATS report, Feb. 13, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC; “2 Rights Groups Promote All-Negro Slates for Local Elections in the South,” NYT, Jan. 23, 1966, p. 73.
a February 6 caucus to begin: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 21, 1966, FBPA-2.
scraped together a tent city: “Background Information on Lowndes County Tent City,” Feb. 28, 1966, Box 1, A/RM.
Conference at Mount Beulah: Dittmer, Local People, pp. 366–67.
doubled to 80 percent: Hilton, Delta, p. 78.
delegates sifted ideas: Ibid., pp. 82–88.
Art Thomas: Findlay, Church People, pp. 116–17.
President Johnson called: PDD, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 1, LBJ.
medic Thomas Cole: NYT, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 1; Life, Feb. 11, 1966, cover, p. 24D.
“Did we get much results”: LBJ phone call with Robert McNamara, 9:20 A.M., Jan. 31, 1966, Cit. 9543, Audiotape WH6601.11, LBJ.
announced the renewed bombing: “Johnson Asks U.N. to Summon Vietnam Peace Conference/ Bombing in North Resumes,” NYT, Feb. 1, 1966, p. 1.
“a rat’s nest of trenches”: NYT, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 8.
“I was a passenger”: R. W. Apple, “.50-Caliber Ordeal on a Vietnam Field,” NYT, Feb. 1, 1966, p. 1.
“have you seen on the ticker”: LBJ phone call with Nicholas Katzenbach, 4:26 P.M., Jan. 31, 1966, Cit. 9544, Audiotape WH6601.11, LBJ.
“If that’s all you got to say”: Hilton, Delta, p. 101.434 dragged beyond the gates of federal property: Ibid., pp. 102–3; MA, Feb. 2, 1966, p. 5. 434 “If we do not do this”: Katzenbach to LBJ, “Subject: Civil Rights—Mississippi,” Feb. 14, 1966, EX HU, Box 27, LBJ. Those evicted from the Greenville airbase would live for the remainder of 1966 at a church-aided tent city in Washington County, Mississippi. Cf. MLK to LBJ (sixteen-page telegram), Aug. 16, 1966, with attached McPherson to LBJ, Aug. 16, 1966, Harry McPherson Papers, Box 14, LBJ.
Bombing runs over North Vietnam: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 244.
some four million tons: Appy, Patriots, pp. 200–201.
Joe Califano noticed: Califano, Triumph, p. 121.
27: BREAK POINTS
“The white race is supreme”: NYT, Jan. 23, 1966, p. 1.
run his wife, Lurleen: Lesher, George Wallace, pp. 356–58; Carter, Politics, pp. 278–81.
rumors flew of a tacit understanding: Morgan, One Man, pp. 93–95.
ruled unanimously for Gardenia White: “U.S. Judges Overturn State Law, Women Eligible for Jury Service,” MA, Feb. 8, 1966, p. 1; “Woman Juror Ban Upset in Alabama,” NYT, Feb. 8, 1966, p. 25.
“a responsibility and a right”: Ibid.; White v. Crook, 251 F. Supp. 401, 408–09.
Charles Morgan and Pauli Murray anticipated: Morgan, One Man, pp. 46–47.
“The principle announced seems so obvious today”: Murray, Song, pp. 363–64.
“another windfall from the civil rights movement”: Fred Graham, “The Law: Rights Case Yields Dividend for Women,” NYT, Feb. 13, 1966, p. IV-8.
“My first reaction to the ruling”: MA, Feb. 12, 1966, p. 1.
white men acquitted Marvin: NYT, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 38; NYT, Dec. 10, 1966, p. 1; “Anatomy of a Murder Trial,” SC, Dec. 24–25, 1966, p. 4.
“Lowndes Schools Ordered”: MA, Feb. 12, 1966, p. 1; SC, Feb. 19–20, 1966, p. 1.
dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit: Eagles, Outside Agitator, p. 255; SC, June 18–19, 1966, p. 1.
$50 to $500 to run for sheriff: Ibid.; WP, March 3, 1966.
“fraud and deceit”: Life with Lyndon in the Great Society, Vol. 1, No. 44, Dec. 2, 1965, JMP; Jack O’Dell to Jack Minnis, Dec. 8, 1965, JMP.
Bob Moses, back in Birmingham: Int. Bob Moses, July 30, 1984; int. Bob Moses, Feb. 15, 1991; Carson, Struggle, p. 201.
“So whether you believe”: Tina [Harris] to Janet [Jemott], Bob [Moses], Dona [Richards], “The First Two Sessions of the Discussion Groups,” Spring 1966, Reel 18, SNCC.
ill-fated Field Order No. 15: Litwack, Storm, p. 400ff; Foner, Reconstruction, pp. 70–71, 158–60; Davis, Sherman’s March, pp. 90–94, 130–40; Branch, Parting, p. 689.
“The way we can best take care”: “Colloquy with Colored Ministers,” Jan. 12, 1865, transcript in Journal of Negro History, Jan. 1931, pp. 88–94.
“far-reaching step”: Stokely Carmichael, Bob Mants, Tina Harris, “Proposal for a ‘Poor Peoples Land Corporation,’” ca. Feb. 1966, A/RM1.
“triple-A priority”: Transcript, “Riding in the car from Atlanta,” Feb. 19, 1966, A/SN94, p. 5.
no one yet agreed to stand for office: Alabama, “News of the Week #4,” March 16, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC.
lucky to attract twenty people: “Stu House reports from Selma,” WATS report, Feb. 13, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC; Tina Harris to Bill Mahoney, Cleve Seller[s], Jim Forman, “Freedom Organizations in Alabama,” Reel 18, SNCC.
“Whenever we went canvassing”: Transcript, “Riding in the car from Atlanta,” Feb. 19, 1966, A/SN94.
“I’m voting for you”: Int. Julian Bond, Jan. 10, 2004.
“If they bar me again”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.
The House Rules Committee promptly did so: NYT, May 24, 1966, p. 27.
“The moral question is far more important”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.
rally at Jenner School: Anderson and Pickering, Confronting, p. 190.
King and Muhammad found chatting ground: Jet, March 10, 1966, pp. 6–9; CD, Feb. 26–March 4, 1966, p. 1; int. Bennett Johnson. Johnson, a publicist and founder of a Negro Voters League in Chicago, had made several trips to Atlanta for Muhammad to arrange an audience with King.
“All we have to do is drink”: Int. Bennett Johnson, April 26, 1990.
house organs trumpeted the King summit: “Muhammad, King Meet on Eve of Savior’s Day,” MS, March 4, 1966, pp. 1, 3.
“Dr. King Seizes”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.
“Dr. King Assailed”: NYT, Feb. 25, 1966, p. 18.
he had seen a shivering baby: Young, Burden, p. 388.
“We wanted to do it illegally”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, March 1, 1966, FLNY-9-865a, p. 5.
judge denounced the takeover: Cohen and Taylor, Pharaoh, pp. 363–64.
Mayor Daley: Anderson and Pickering, Confronting, p. 191; NYT, March 10, 1966, p. 36.
“I think King is right”: Ralph, Northern, pp. 56–57, 78.
remarkable mass meeting: Ibid., p. 63.
“Don’t be afraid”: “What’s Next for the Civil Rights Movement: Requiem or Revival?” Look,
June 14, 1966, pp. 70–80.
“We are going to change the whole Jericho road”: Ibid.
Al Raby might be able to topple: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, March 1, 1966, FLNY-9-865a, p. 5.
archbishop John Cody: Garrow, Bearing, pp. 460–61; Garrow, FBI and King, p. 176; Ralph, Northern, p. 75.
fanned out to shop for homes: AFSC, “A Prospectus for a non-violent project to achieve open occupancy through the Chicago area,” ca. March 1966, LCMOC folder, West Side Christian Parish papers, CHS, p. 2.
Adlai Stevenson III: Jonathan Alter to the author, Feb. 20, 2002, with attached diary entry for March 2, 1966.
Rev. Clay Evans convened: Frady, Jesse, pp. 196–98; Ralph, Northern, pp. 68–70, 85; Garrow, Bearing, p. 462; int. Clay Evans, Feb. 21, 1985; Clay Evans remarks at Chicago Divinity School, April 24, 1995.
founder of the Kenwood-Oakland organization: “Dr. King Launches Attack on Chicago School Setup,” CD, Feb. 5–11, 1966, p. 2.
fresh “luminary”: Jet, Feb. 10, 1966, p. 18.
Stanley Levison urgently recommended: Garrow, Bearing, p. 462; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and MLK, Feb. 8, 1966, FLNY-9-844a.
“mopped the floor”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Adele Cantor, Feb. 14, 1966, FLNY-9-850a.
slate-making summit: Cohen and Taylor, Pharaoh, p. 367.
“minimum take”: Wachtel to MLK, Feb. 18, 1966; MLK to Wachtel, March 21, 1966, thanking Wachtel and his wife, Lucy, for an evening that “will live in my memory eternally;” Wachtel to MLK, May 11, 1966, reporting on contributions received from March 11 pledges, A/KP25f35.
conductor Leonard Bernstein: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Harry Wachtel, April 6, 1966, FLNY-9-901.
Harry Belafonte welcomed a sellout crowd: Ralph, Northern, p. 75.
“even unto the third and fourth generation”: Chicago Sun-Times, March 13, 1966, pp. 2–3.
“Never before in the history”: Ibid.
Stanley Levison called home: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and [name deleted], 12:43 P.M., March 14, 1966, FLNY-9-NS.
Mayor Daley trumped King: Cohen and Taylor, Pharaoh, pp. 368–69.
King declined: NYT, March 17, 1966, p. 31.
strict pledge of secrecy: Califano to LBJ, March 16, 1966, MLK Name File, Box 144, LBJ.
“glaring humbuggery”: AC, March 18, 1966, p. 1.
FBI wiretaps intercepted: Baumgardner to Sullivan, March 18, 1966, FSC-1266.
arriving twenty minutes late: PDD, March 18, 1966, LBJ. LBJ entered the scheduled 1:00 meeting at 1:14. King arrived at 1:24 and left at 2:35, saying “had to leave town on a plane,” according to LBJ’s office diarist. The meeting continued until 3:11 P.M.
“particularly difficult”: Garrow, Bearing, p. 467. One of LBJ’s legislative aides used the word “impossible” three times on the first page of a memo about prospects for the 1966 civil rights package: Henry Wilson to LBJ, March 11, 1966, Henry Wilson Papers, Box 11, LBJ.
“we felt to be reputable”: Junius Griffin telegram to MLK at the Washington Hilton Hotel, March 18, 1966, A/KP22f16. The statement hedged for King on what Williams might have known: “The whole matter of purchasing cars was turned over to one of my assistants, Hosea Williams, in whom I have the highest confidence and respect.”
skeletal news release: NYT, March 19, 1966, p. 17.
“irregular routes”: Jet, April 7, 1966, p. 42.
“I don’t want any other human”: LBJ phone call with Dean Rusk, 4:25 P.M., Feb. 3, 1966, in FRUS, Vol. 4, p. 203.
upstaged public examination of the war: Wallace, “Hear,” p. 352; Langguth, Our Vietnam, p. 420.
“pour the stuff out of the filth on television”: LBJ phone call with Lawrence O’Brien, 8:27 A.M., Feb. 5, 1966, Cit. 9623, Audiotape WH6602.02, LBJ.
“Americans who dissent can’t do”: Meeting in the Cabinet Room, Feb. 24, 1966, Office of the President, Valenti Notes, Box 13, LBJ.
NBC broadcast the complete Fulbright hearings: Friendly, Circumstances, pp. 221–33; Halberstam, Powers, pp. 504–5.
“would be exploited mercilessly”: Fulbright, Vietnam Hearings, p. 107ff.
communication with the White House: Cf. Bill Moyers to Frank Stanton, Feb. 14, 1966, WHCF, Name File, LBJ; Halberstam, Powers, pp. 438–42.
held firm for the daytime comedies: Friendly, Circumstances, pp. 235–54; Halberstam, Powers, pp. 505–7.
The departure itself: NYT, Feb. 16, 1966, p. 1.
he had produced a watershed CBS broadcast: Friendly, Circumstances, pp. 23–67.
“I got no bellyache”: LBJ phone call with Henry R. Luce, 9:35 A.M., Feb. 21, 1966, Cit. 9650-51, Audiotape WH6602.06, LBJ.
a special section in the forthcoming Life: “Special Section on Vietnam, A Searching Assessment,” Life, Feb. 25, 1966.
“It is deplorable”: Ibid., p. 29.
“What does a man do”: LBJ phone call with Henry R. Luce, 11:56 A.M., Feb. 21, 1966, Cit. 9653, Audiotape WH6602.06, LBJ.
“If we don’t make clear”: NYT, Feb. 19, 1966, p. 1.
Kennedy called a press conference: Shesol, Contempt, pp. 288–90.
“a share of power and responsibility”: “Kennedy Bids U.S. Offer Vietcong a Role In Saigon/ Suggests Sharing of Power in South Vietnam Presents Best Hope for an Accord/ Breaks with Johnson/ Senator Says Neither Side ‘Can Have Complete Surrender,’” NYT, Feb. 20, 1966, p. 1.
lightning struck: Shesol, Contempt, p. 290; Stein, Journey, p. 212; NYT, Feb. 21, 1966, p. 20.
“The uproar was general”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 794.
They flew together in the presidential cabin: PDD, Feb. 23, 1966, pp. 6–8, LBJ.
five thousand antiwar pickets: Robinson, Abraham, p. 205; DeBenedetti, Ordeal, pp. 148–49.
A. J. Muste presented: Zaroulis and Sullivan, Who Spoke Up?, p. 78.
twice before a hand clapped: PDD, Feb. 23, 1966, p. 9, LBJ.
to serve sixty days: NYT, May 10, 1966, p. 32.
“The reason it is going to cause”: Burke Marshall to RFK, Feb. 21, 1966, RFK Papers, Senate Correspondence, personal file M, 1966, Box 7, JFK.
“on a high, solid level”: Fred Dutton to RFK, “Steps in Support of Your Vietnam Statements,” Feb. 23, 1966, RFK Papers, Senate Correspondence, personal file Dutton, F., ’65–’66, Box 3, JFK.
“emotional and psychological box”: Frederick G. Dutton to RFK, Feb. 8, 1966, RFK Papers, Senate Correspondence, personal file Dutton, F., ’65–66, Box 3, JFK.
avoided provocative Vietnam statements: Guthman, Band, p. 320; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 797; Collier, Kennedys, p. 335.
series of speeches on poverty: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 317–19.
having consulted Robert Spike: Robert W. Spike to RFK, Nov. 9, 1965, and Dec. 22, 1965 [with handwritten notes about a meeting on Jan. 13, 1966], RFK Papers, Trips, Africa Correspondence, Box 13, JFK.
“hate my guts”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 839.
flurry of secret memos: Cf. Katzenbach to Hoover, March 3, 1966, FRK-1822; SAC, Jackson, to Director, March 9, 1966, FRK-1830; Hoover to Katzenbach, March 11, 1966, FRK-1818; DeLoach to Tolson, March 15, 1966, FRK-1834; Hoover to Katzenbach, March 15, 1966, FRK-1825; Hoover to SACs, Birmingham and Jackson, March 17, 1966, FRK-833.
“Somebody down here”: WLBT news film 0173/D39, March 18, 1966, MDAH.
“We must create a society”: RFK address, University of Mississippi Law School forum, 2:30 P.M., March 18, 1966, and RFK address, University of Alabama, 8:30 P.M., March 18, 1966, RFK Papers, Senate Speeches and Press Releases, March 11–20, 1966, Box 2, JFK.
three standing ovations: Jack Nelson, “Ole Miss Students Laugh at Kennedy’s Quips on Barnett,” LAT, March 19, 1966, p. 1.
Coach Don Haskins received: Fitzpatrick, Walls, p. 228.
Frank Fitzpatrick reviewed films
: Ibid., p. 24.
“That son of a bitch”: Sports Illustrated, April 4, 1991, p. 70ff.
flown the capitol flag at half mast: Fitzpatrick, Walls, p. 57.
Vanderbilt offered Perry Wallace: Charles H. Martin, “Jim Crow in the Gymnasium: The Integration of College Basketball in the American South,” International Journal of the History of Sport, 1993, pp. 80–81.
eleven of 2,236 SEC scholarships: Sports Illustrated, Feb. 19, 1968, p. 10.
Harris jumped to his death: Fitzpatrick, Walls, p. 238.
when Kentucky would win: Tubby Smith, who grew up in segregated Maryland, coached Kentucky to its seventh NCCA basketball championship in 1998. Cf. “History in Black, White—And Gray,” Baltimore Sun, Dec. 10, 1969, p. D-1.
abolished its track team for the 1970s: Joan Paul, Richard V. McGhee, and Helen Fant, “The Arrival and Ascendence of Black Athletes in the Southeastern Conference, 1966–1980,” Phylon, Vol. 45, No. 4, 1984, p. 286.
intimidating “dunk” shot: Fitzpatrick, Walls, pp. 239–41.
“He admitted to no solutions”: Moyers to LBJ, Feb. 21, 1966, Office of the President, Box 4, LBJ.
he ordered a compilation of every personal contact: “Mr. President, Official Times you saw Sen. Fulbright—39, Unofficial times—17, TOTAL—46 [sic],” Juanita Roberts to LBJ, Jan. 7, 1966, with attached note from LBJ instructing her to “get me that list separated.” Office of the President, Box 4, LBJ.
“because of your goddam trip”: LBJ phone call with Lawrence O’Brien, 8:27 A.M., Feb. 5, 1966, Cit. 9623, Audiotape WH6602.02, LBJ.
voted with only four senators: Evans, Lyndon B. Johnson, p. 597.
“going through a menopause”: LBJ phone call with Hubert Humphrey, 6:05 P.M., March 2, 1966, Cit. 9812-13, Audiotape WH6603.01, LBJ.
“I just looked at him”: Ibid.
Fulbright began to warn: “Fulbright Warns of Peril in Power,” NYT, April 22, 1966, p. 16; “Fulbright Warns of ‘Fatal’ Course by U.S. in Vietnam,” NYT, April 29, 1966, p. 1; “Hyperbole on Vietnam,” editorial, NYT, May 1, 1966, p. IV-10.
“not arrogance but agony”: WS, May 18, 1966; NYT, May 18, 1966, pp. 1, 8; Zaroulis and Sullivan, Who Spoke Up?, pp. 82–83.
“nervous Nellies”: NYT, May 18, 1966, p. 1.
mocked Fulbright in person: Evans, Lyndon B. Johnson, p. 599; Dallek, Flawed, p. 367.
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