At Canaan's Edge

by Taylor Branch

  Harrison Salisbury: Salisbury, Behind; FRUS, Vol. 4, pp. 973–74.

  “The cathedral tower looks out”: Harrison E. Salisbury, “U.S. Raids Batter 2 Towns; Supply Route Is Little Hurt,” NYT, Dec. 27, 1966, pp. 1, 3.

  denounced the reports and then conceded: Neil Sheehan, “Washington Concedes Bombs Hit Civilian Areas in North Vietnam,” NYT, Dec. 27, 1966, p. 1; Powers, War, pp. 171–72.

  Washington Post impugned: “Hanoi Dispatches to Times Criticized,” NYT, Jan. 1, 1967, p. 3; “Harrison Salisbury’s Dastardly War Crime,” I. F. Stone’s Weekly, Jan. 6, 1967, pp. 1, 4; Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 503–4.

  Jack Ruby: Manchester, Glory, p. 1272; Manchester, Death, p. 634.

  first conspiracy indictment: Max Holland, “The Demon in Jim Garrison,” Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2001, pp. 10–17.

  Operation Cedar Falls: “Allies Press Attack,” NYT, Jan. 13, 1967, p. 6; Schell, Village, passim; Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 454, 477–78; Appy, Patriots, pp. 202–9.

  weekly record at 1,194: NYT, Jan. 20, 1967, p. 1.

  “North Vietnam Spirit Found High”: NYT, Jan. 15, 1967, pp. 1, 42.

  drive to bar Adam Clayton Powell: “Democrats Vote to Oust Powell As House Committee’s Chairman/ He May Be Kept from Seat Today,” NYT, Jan. 10, 1967, p. 1; “Powell Denied House Seat Pending Five-Week Inquiry/ Vote Is 364–64,” NYT, Jan. 11, 1967, p. 1; Jacobs, Powell, pp. 6–7.

  “documents proving Bobby was lying”: Jones to Wick, Jan. 10, 1967, FACP-NR.

  “None of this misinformation”: Hoover statement, “FBI Use of Electronic Listening Devices,” Jan. 10, 1967, before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, Committee of the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Section 129, FHOC (emphasis in original).

  Robert Kennedy had signed: Ibid., p. 27.

  He conflated wiretaps with bugs: Ibid., pp. 9, 30.

  He argued at length that Kennedy: Ibid., pp. 15–35.

  small portion of his private lodestar: Ibid., p. 10.

  “It is quite clear that in the Irvine case: Brownell to Hoover, May 20, 1954, reprinted in Macy and Kaplan, Documents, pp. 41–43. See also Belmont to Boardman, May 21, 1954 (Section 114, FHOC), which announces the FBI’s practical interpretation of the memo: “the Attorney General is giving us the go ahead on microphones whether or not there is trespass at the same time suggesting that discretion be used in certain areas.”

  William Manchester scarcely mentioned: Manchester, Death, p. 631.

  “The Director told Manchester”: DeLoach to Mohr, June 4, 1964, FRFK-1536.

  straw polls from a 53–47 percent Kennedy lead: Shesol, Contempt, pp. 363–64.

  Walter Lippmann asked whether Kennedy: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 354–55.

  “a man of compassion”: “Kennedy Defends Johnson on Poor,” NYT, Dec. 13, 1966, p. 1.

  “grave reservations”: Shesol, Contempt, p. 363; “Kennedy Charms Oxford Students,” NYT, Jan. 29, 1967, p. 6; “Aide Terms White House Puzzled by Kennedy Remark on the War,” NYT, Jan. 31, 1967, p. 3.

  he coldly advised Kennedy not to ruin: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 824; int. William vanden Heuvel, Dec. 15, 2004.

  “affectionate, admiring”: Alsop to “Bobby,” Feb. 1, 1967, RFK/Senate Correspondence, Personal File, Box 1, JFK. Alsop’s letter summarized: “All this is merely intended to lead up to the observation that, for practical reasons, you really must give more weight to the support of what people call the ‘establishment’ than I think you do.”

  turn military victory: Joe Alsop, “The Biggest News,” WP, Feb. 1, 1967, and “An End in Sight,” WP, Feb. 3, 1967, columns attached to ibid.

  Kennedy confronted a tempest: “Kennedy Sees President; Denies Bringing ‘Feelers,’” NYT, Feb. 7, 1967, p. 1; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, pp. 825–28; Shesol, Contempt, pp. 363–66; Dallek, Flawed, pp. 447–48; Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 332–33.

  “a perfectly ridiculous episode”: Nicholas Katzenbach oral history by Paige E. Mulhollan, Nov. 23, 1968, pp. 27–29, LBJ.

  Kennedy saw an unstable warmonger: Allard Lowenstein oral history by Larry J. Hackman, April 23, 1969, pp. 55–56, JFK.

  battered second for each contender: Nicholas Katzenbach oral history by Paige E. Mulhollan, Nov. 12, 1968, pp. 34–37, LBJ; Katzenbach oral history by Larry J. Hackman, Oct. 8, 1969, p. 48ff, JFK; int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991.

  The play MacBird!: Mel Gussow, “Much Ado About Mac,” Newsweek, Feb. 27, 1967, p. 99.

  “At each male birth”: Ibid.

  “Two opposing Americas”: Robert Brustein, “MacBird on Stage,” New Republic, March 11, 1967, pp. 30–32; Nicholas Tomalin, “MacBird!—A British View,” National Review, June 27, 1967, pp. 702–3.

  “total catharsis of satire”: Newsweek, March 6, 1967, p. 79.

  “a crackpot consensus”: NYT, Feb. 23, 1967, p. 38.

  “The cruelty and vulgarity”: “Off Broadway,” New Yorker, March 11, 1967, p. 127.

  refused a theater advertisement: NYT, April 5, 1967, p. 72.

  conference in upstate New York: Forman, Making, pp. 475–79; Carson, Struggle, pp. 236–38; Sellers, River, pp. 178–82; Lyon, Memories, pp. 174–76; Fleming, Soon, pp. 178–81.

  unwise to contest black solidarity: Int. Dorothy Zellner, Dec. 12, 1991; int. James Forman, Feb. 13, 2001; int. Jack Minnis, April 8, 2001; int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, June 30, 2000; int. Jennifer Lawson, Nov. 13, 2004; int. Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Jan. 31, 1984; Carmichael, Ready, pp. 566–71; Greenberg, ed., Circle, pp. 168–69.

  Peg Leg Bates Country Club: Cf. NYT, Dec. 8, 1998, p. 28.

  herded suddenly to a concrete bunker: “Hanoi During an Air Alert; Waitresses Take up Rifles,” NYT, Dec. 28, 1966, p. 1.

  delegation sponsored by peace groups: NYT, Dec. 17, 1966, p. 5; NYT, Dec. 24, 1966, p. 8; NYT, Dec. 26, 1966, p. 3; DeBenedetti, Ordeal, pp. 169–70.

  “There are no innocent civilians”: Chicago Tribune, Jan. 9, 1967, p. 3.

  companion Barbara Deming: NYT, Jan. 10, 1967, p. 5; NYT, Jan. 11, 1967, p. 1; McWhorter, Carry, p. 386.

  “President Ho did not ask us”: Robinson, Abraham, pp. 218–19.

  Nash delayed her return: NYT, Jan. 18, 1967, p. 9; NYT, Jan. 21, 1967, p. 3; Jet, Jan. 12, 1967, p. 51.

  antiwar mobilization planned for spring: Cf. minutes of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Jan. 3, 1967, Jan. 9, 1967, and Jan. 13, 1967, all in Mobe Papers, Series 1, Box 1, SCPC; Dellinger, From Yale, pp. 275–77.

  watching a load of diapers: Int. James Bevel, Aug. 13, 1992.

  peculiar sign favoring the protest job: Wells, War Within, p. 116.

  deadline to produce a book manuscript: “Dr. King Will Write Book During Leave,” NYT, Dec. 14, 1966, p. 42; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Tom Offenburger, Dec. 20, 1966, FLNY-9-1159a.

  three thousand words a day: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 1:05 P.M., Jan. 5, 1967, FLNY-9-1175a.

  showdown over Adam Clayton Powell: Cf. wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones, 8:04 P.M., Jan. 6, 1967, FLNY-9-1176a.

  “From my personal relationships”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 12:38 A.M., Jan. 9, 1967, FLNY-9; SAC, New York, to Director, Jan. 9, 1967, FK-2814.

  “unpalatable as it is”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Bernard Lee, 11:28 P.M., Jan. 8, 1967, FLNY-9-1178a.

  telegram of personal sympathy: New York Post, Jan. 13, 1967, p. 3; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Adele Kanter, 1:05 P.M., Jan. 13, 1967, FLNY-9-1183a.

  King agreed with Levison: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 8:40 P.M., Jan. 5, 1967, FLNY-9-1175a.

  Lowenstein already had told him: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 1:05 P.M., Jan. 5, 1967, FLNY-9-1175a.

  dropped
the word segregation: “Maddox Sounds Moderate Note,” NYT, Jan. 12, 1967, pp. 1, 22.

  “I see you finally got your seat”: NYT, Jan. 14, 1967, p. 29.

  “‘Weak-kneed’ Wilkins”: WP, Jan. 11, 1967, p. 1; NYT, Jan. 14, 1967, p. 29.

  “Because Adam will turn right around”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conference call among MLK, A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, Andrew Young, Stanley Levison, and Ralph Abernathy, 8:28 A.M., Jan. 14, 1967, FLNY-9-1184.

  Ocho Rios on the coast of Jamaica: Garrow, Bearing, pp. 542–43; NYT, Jan. 16, 1967, p. 22; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and [rewrite assistant for MLK’s book] Hermine Popper, 9:40 A.M., Jan. 14, 1967, FLNY-9-1184.

  “I don’t like Chicago”: “Dr. King Plagued by Resistance and Apathy in Chicago Slums,” Jan. 16, 1967, p. 22.

  “I mean the movement is entitled”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 1:05 P.M., Jan. 5, 1967, FLNY-9-1175a; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Andrew Young and Stanley Levison, 12:27 P.M., Jan. 17, 1967, FLNY-9-1187a.

  “I got so upset about it”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conference call among MLK (from Jamaica), Stanley Levison (from New York), and Andrew Young and Ralph Abernathy (from Chicago), 3:05 P.M., Jan. 19, 1967, FLNY-9-1189a.

  “Bevel is here”: Int. Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985.

  “Why are you teaching nonviolence”: Int. James Bevel, Aug. 13, 1992.

  on January 19: Ibid.; Garrow, Bearing, p. 543; Young, Burden, pp. 425–26.

  “Bevel sounds like he’s off his rocker”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conference call among MLK (from Jamaica), Stanley Levison (from New York), and Andrew Young and Ralph Abernathy (from Chicago), 3:05 P.M., Jan. 19, 1967, FLNY-9-1189a.

  “A million children”: William F. Pepper, “The Children of Vietnam,” with preface by Dr. Benjamin Spock, Ramparts, Jan. 1967, pp. 44–67; Zaroulis and Sullivan, Who Spoke Up?, pp. 104–5. Pepper cites the work of veteran war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, whose article, “Suffer the Little Children,” appeared the same month in Ladies’ Home Journal, reprinted in Library of America Anthology, Reporting Vietnam, pp. 287–97.

  No food would taste good: Garrow, Bearing, p. 543; int. Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985.

  “Thich Nhat Hanh offers”: MLK to Nobel Institute, Jan. 25, 1967, www.iamhome.org/mlkletter.htm.

  Al Lowenstein pursued many avenues: Chafe, Never, pp. 251–52; Powers, War, p. 178; Coffin, Once, pp. 209–23.

  open letter from fifty Rhodes Scholars: “War Aim Questioned by Rhodes Scholars,” NYT, Jan. 27, 1967, p. 1; Bob (Spearman) to Lowenstein, with London press release of Jan. 27, 1967, Folder 106, Box 54, AL, UNC.

  “Student Leaders Warn President”: NYT, Dec. 30, 1966, p. 1.

  “Well, somebody’s going to get hurt”: Wells, War Within, pp. 118–19; Kabaservice, Guardians, pp. 298–99.

  “462 on Yale Faculty”: NYT, Jan. 16, 1967, p. 8.

  Reinhold Niebuhr to make a declaration: “Niebuhr Calls for an End to the War in Vietnam,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1967, p. 4; Niebuhr letter to the NYT, March 14, 1967, p. 46.

  Robert McAfee Brown: Int. Robert McAfee Brown, July 1, 1991.

  two thousand religious leaders gathering: Friedland, Lift Up, pp. 177–81; int. Richard Fernandez, Jan. 10, 1991; draft address by Eugene J. McCarthy, Feb. 1, 1967, Series 3, Box 8, CALCAV, SCPC. Background documents on the CALCAV mobilization include minutes of the Sept. 27, 1966, executive committee meeting, Series 1, Box 1, CALCAV, SCPC; Richard Fernandez memo of Oct. 4, 1966, Series 3, Box 8, CAL-CAV, SCPC; Richard Fernandez memo of Dec. 21, 1966, Series 2, Box 2, CALCAV, SCPC.

  250 Catholic bishops: Robert McAfee Brown, “An Open Letter to the U.S. Bishops,” Commonweal, Feb. 17, 1967.

  McNamara parried them: Hall, Because, pp. 33–38; Coffin, Once, pp. 224–29; int. John Bennett, Sept. 15, 1990; int. William S. Coffin, July 16, 1991; int. Robert McAfee Brown, July 17, 1991. Along with Heschel, Coffin, and Brown, the CALCAV delegation to McNamara consisted of Union Theological Seminary president John Bennett, Rabbi Jacob Weinstein of Chicago’s Temple KAM, Catholic layman Michael Novak, and Lutheran priest Richard John Neuhaus.

  Andrew Young relieved Bernard Lee: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Dora McDonald, Feb. 3, 1967, FLNY-9-1204a.

  Levison warned King: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, Feb. 4, 1967, FLNY-9-1205a.

  “unable to comprehend their opportunity”: Daniel P. Moynihan, “The President and the Negro: The Moment Lost,” Commentary, Feb. 1967, p. 32.

  “An era of bad manners”: Ibid., p. 45.

  King transferred his book operation: Garrow, Bearing, p. 544.

  abruptly felled A. J. Muste: Robinson, Abraham, pp. 218–23.

  “the American Negro might never”: Ibid., p. 5.

  “Though he slay me”: Ibid., p. 192 (Job 13:15).

  “If it does not have the spiritual connection”: Ibid., p. 113.

  King initiated a conference call: Wiretap transcript of telephone conference call among MLK and Andrew Young (from Miami), Stanley Levison (from New York City), and Cleveland Robinson (from New Rochelle, NY), 12:13 P.M., Feb. 18, 1967, FLNY-9-1219a; New York LHM dated Feb. 21, 1967, FK-2836.

  Levison persuaded him to nestle: Ibid. Levison had recommended earlier that King accept the February 25 speaking invitation from Carey McWilliams of the Nation Institute. Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between MLK and Stanley Levison, 1:05 P.M., Jan. 5, 1967, FLNY-9.

  conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel: Garrow, Bearing, pp. 545–46; Los Angeles LHM dated March 1, 1967, FK-NR.

  “We should hesitate to waste”: NYT, Feb. 26, 1967, p. 10.

  “For nine years we vigorously supported”: MLK address to the Nation Institute, “The Casualties of the War in Vietnam,” Feb. 25, 1967, A/SC28f33.

  “Dr. King Advocates”: NYT, Feb. 26, 1967, p. 1.

  34: RIVERSIDE

  PAGE

  Wharlest Jackson punched off duty: “Negro Leader Killed by Blast in Natchez,” NYT, Feb. 28, 1967, p. 1; Jet, March 16, 1967, pp. 16–24; SC, March 4–5, 1967, p. 1; Dittmer, Local People, p. 417.

  Perry Wallace of Vanderbilt: Fitzpatrick, Walls, pp. 232–39.

  bomb ruined the new Head Start: NYT, March 14, 1967, p. 35.

  Wharlest Jackson’s murder would remain unsolved: Bullard, Free, pp. 94–95.

  confessed the random murder of Ben Chester White: Ibid., pp. 92–93; NYT, April 7, 1967, p. 22; NYT, April 12, 1967, p. 51.

  “Jury Told of Plot”: NYT, April 8, 1967, p. 7.

  reindictment that same February 27: NYT, Feb. 28, 1967, p. 40; McIlhany, Klandestine, p. 71; Mars, Witness, p. 225.

  “has done more toward destruction”: Transcript, WLBT, Ten O’Clock News, March 29, 1967, exhibit in Case 16663, Vol. 9, FCC.

  political drama climaxed on March 1: “House Excludes Powell, 307–116; Rejects Inquiry’s Censure Move, Overriding Two Parties’ Leaders,” NYT, March 2, 1967, p. 1; Jacobs, Powell, pp. 209–31; Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, pp. 461–63; Coleman, Adam Clayton Powell, p. 125; Haygood, King, pp. 357–59.

  A few defenders objected: Remarks of Rep. John Conyers, Congressional Record, March 1, 1967, pp. 5004–5008; remarks of Rep. Elmer J. Holland, ibid., pp. 5028–29; Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, p. 462.

  Gerald Ford coyly observed: Congressional Record, March 1, 1967, pp. 5018–19; Jacobs, Powell, pp. 210, 228–29.

  threatened to impeach: Jacobs, Powell, p. 66.

  “Mr. Speaker, I have a reasonably strong stomach”: Congressional Record, March 1, 1967, p. 5012; Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, p. 462.

  Only Drew Pearson: Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, “Powell Accuser Had Long Police Record,” WP, Feb. 14, 1967, p. B11. Washington physician Montague Cobb, uncle of SNCC’s Charlie Cobb, scolded Pearson in a letter of February 17: “It seems to me that this comes a little late. Since you
must have known these things all along it was hardly fair to keep bludgeoning Adam while you withheld the other side.”

  Powell refused to pay the libel judgment: Branch, Parting, pp. 314–16; Haygood, King, pp. 252–55.

  Esther James had a record: Ibid.; Haygood, King, pp. 252–55, 319–22.

  nor the select committee: Int. Ronald Goldfarb (counsel, select committee on Powell), May 16, 1991.

  ten extraordinary House speeches: Branch, Parting, pp. 314–16; Branch, Pillar, pp. 41–46. Powell reviewed and extended his description of underworld corruption in a speech during King’s Selma campaign, Congressional Record, Feb. 18, 1965, pp. 3006–38.

  beneficiary rather than the victim: Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, p. 457.

  “a 66-year-old domestic”: Branch, Pillar, p. 44.

  Powell shrugged: Jet, March 9, 1967, pp. 6–12.

  Robert Kennedy proposed to suspend the bombing: “Kennedy Asks Suspension of U.S. Air Raids on North; Administration Unmoved,” NYT, March 3, 1967, p. 1; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, pp. 828–33; Shesol, Contempt, pp. 370–75; Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 333–37.

  the President tried vainly to overshadow: Ibid.; Roy Reed, “Johnson Affirms His Commitment to Helping Negro,” NYT, March 3, 1967, p. 1.

  Richard Russell promised: LBJ phone call with Richard Russell, 3:15 P.M., March 2, 1967, PNO 5, Audiotape WHF67.08, LBJ, in FRUS, Vol. 5, pp. 221–25.

  ordered a compilation of FBI secrets: Shesol, Contempt, p. 132; Russo, Sword, pp. 400–402.

  “backfired against his late brother”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 334–35; Russo, Sword, p. 403.

  “prolonging the war”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 833.

  consultation at Harry Wachtel’s law office: Garrow, Bearing, pp. 546–47; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and an unidentified party, March 6, 1967, FLNY-9-1235a; int. Harry Wachtel, Nov. 29, 1983, May 17, 1990; int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  Andrew Young joked: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  allowed him to tell King alone: Cf. Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Martin Luther King, Feb. 27, 1967, FLNY-9-1228a.

  “squabbling pacifist, socialist”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Rachel [?], March 1, 1967, FLNY-9-1230a.