Trapped at the Rivermont: Garrow, Bearing, p. 611; Frank, American Death, pp. 27–29; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 419–20; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Aug. 14, 1978, Vol. 1, p. 16.
“accidentally exposed to Mace”: News script, WMC-TV Channel Five, March 28, 1968, MVC.
stories marshaled politicians: Beifuss, River, pp. 243–50; “White Memphis Unshaken by Riot,” NYT, March 31, 1968, p. 66.
He sank beneath the bedcovers: Frank, American Death, p. 28; Garrow, FBI and King, p. 194; McKnight, Crusade, p. 64.
Young called Stanley Levison: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, 8:10 P.M., March 28, 1968, FLNY-9-1623a.
Levison groped for triage: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between MLK and Stanley Levison, 9:15 P.M., March 28, 1968, FLNY-9-1623a; New York LHM dated March 29, 1968, FK-3272.
“Maybe we just have to admit”: Garrow, FBI and King, p. 194.
“The violence in Memphis”: Fairclough, Redeem, p. 375.
churned out operations against King: Garrow, FBI and King, p. 188; McKnight, Crusade, pp. 60–61.
King did not need contributions: Moore to Sullivan, March 26, 1968, FBNH-NR; New York LHM dated March 20, 1968, FK-NR.
“Prepare the letters”: Director to SAC, Mobile, April 2, 1968, FBNH-63.
Headquarters subsidized the lecture tour: Jones to Bishop, re: Julia Brown, March 28, 1968, FSC-NR; O’Reilly, “Racial,” p. 107.
“a black folk hero”: SAC, Chicago, to Director, March 21, 1968, FBNH-39; Director to SAC, Chicago, March 25, 1968, FBNH-33.
“the result of King’s famous espousal”: Moore to Sullivan, March 28, 1968, FK-NR.
“Like Judas leading lambs”: Moore to Sullivan, March 29, 1968, FBNH-NR.
requested permission to reinstall wiretaps: Hoover to the Attorney General, April 2, 1968, FSC-2107, FK-3655.
“discredit King and his aides with poor Negroes”: SAC, Jackson, to Director, April 4, 1968, FBNH-72.
“What’s wrong with Bobby?”: Califano, Triumph, p. 268; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 930.
Such dispassion baffled wary aides: Califano, Triumph, pp. 265–66; McPherson, Political, pp. 427–28.
Defense Secretary Clifford scowled down: McPherson, Political, pp. 437–38.
Kennedy had voted with him: Bellinger to Fred Panzer, March 29, 1968, cited in Shesol, Contempt, p. 336.
foreign policy officials reviewed: Clifford, Counsel, pp. 519–21; Langguth, Our Vietnam, p. 493.
memoirs by McPherson and Clifford: Ibid.; McPherson, Political, pp. 433–35.
“Tonight I want to speak to you”: FRUS, Vol. 6, pp. 483–84; NYT, April 1, 1968, p. 26.
Johnson decried the Memphis riot: “President Offers U.S. Aid to Cities in Curbing Riots,” NYT, March 30, 1968, p. 1.
“redress by mob law”: Ibid.; CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, March 29, 1968, VTR 236-B, LBJ.
working from the peace draft: Clifford, Counsel, p. 521; McPherson, Political, p. 437.
“Don’ mak no diff’unce”: MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 25.
sharp knocks at the Rivermont suite: Frank, American Death, pp. 30–33; Garrow, Bearing, pp. 612–13; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 420–21; Garrow, FBI and King, pp. 194–95; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, pp. 516–17.
On their way out: McKnight, Crusade, pp. 65–66; Beifuss, River, pp. 253–55.
King told assembled reporters: Abernathy, Walls, pp. 421–22; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, p. 17; AC, March 30, 1968, p. 1; MCA, March 30, 1968, p. 1; NYT, March 30, 1968, p. 31; videotape outtakes, March 29, 1968, MVC.
“Nonviolence can be as contagious”: NBC, Huntley-Brinkley Report, March 29, 1968, VTR 236-A, LBJ.
“Martin Luther King is dead”: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between MLK and Stanley Levison, 3:30 P.M., March 28, 1968, FLNY-9-1624a; New York LHM dated April 1, 1968, FK-3291.
like James Lawson: James Lawson oral history, Sept. 23, 1969, MVC.
Jerry Wurf escorted him to the airport: Goulden, Wurf, pp. 154, 175–76; Beifuss, River, pp. 256–59.
“We never had any problem”: Beifuss, River, p. 227.
marchers stepped gingerly: MCA, March 30, 1968, p. 1; news script, WMC-TV Channel Five, March 29, 1968, MVC.
“The young people here”: “Dr. King and the Militants,” Southern Patriot, April 1968, p. 1.
“I think my answer”: NBC, Huntley-Brinkley Report, March 29, 1968, VTR 236-A, LBJ.
Butler Street YMCA: Garrow, Bearing, p. 615.
“If I get some fish”: Juanita Abernathy interview on Citizen King, a Roja Production for The American Experience, PBS, 2004; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 1, pp. 17–18; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 422–24; Raines, Soul, pp. 519–20.
third-floor conference room at Ebenezer: Account of the meeting on March 30, 1968, drawn from Garrow, Bearing, pp. 616–17; Young, Burden, pp. 457–59; Frady, Jesse, pp. 224–25; Kotz, Judgment, pp. 406–7; Fairclough, Redeem, p. 378; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 424–27; Raines, Soul, pp. 520–21; Beifuss, River, pp. 255–56; Reynolds, Jesse Jackson, p. 85; Frank, American Death, p. 72; Jesse Epps oral history, pp. 37–38, MVC; int. Hosea Williams, Oct. 29, 1991; int. William Rutherford, Dec. 7, 2004; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990, March 22, 2005, Aug. 10, 2005.
“He did something I’ve never”: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Adele Kanter, 1:52 P.M., April 1, 1968, FLNY-9-1627a.
Stanley Levison criticized King: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Alice Loewi, 4:03 P.M., March 31, 1968, FLNY-9-1626a.
“He said very quietly”: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Adele Kanter, 1:52 P.M., April 1, 1968, FLNY-9-1627a.
the battered reconciliation: Tom Offenburger staff memo, April 1, 1968, A/KP34f15.
“How do you keep the looters out?”: NYT, March 30, 1968, p. 30.
“emotional demonstrations in this time”: Ibid., p. 32.
“Let us have a march”: WP, April 23, 1968, p. 18.
“ran like a scared rabbit”: Beifuss, River, p. 249.
“King’s Credibility Gap”: MCA, March 30, 1968, p. 6.
“Chicken a la King”: MCA, March 31, 1968, p. 8; Beifuss, River, p. 248.
“The Real Martin Luther King”: St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 30–31, 1968, p. 2-C.
grotesque zombie labeled King: Ibid.
Congressional investigators would discover: Stokes, Report, pp. 575–80; “FBI Tried to Hide Ties with Globe-Democrat,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 1, 1977, p. 1; “Aides Deny King Moved to Motel Because of FBI,” Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 2, 1976, p. 3.
Three thousand people filled: NYT, April 1, 1968, p. 20; Blackside, Inc., Eyes on the Prize II—America at the Racial Crossroads, 1965 to 1985, Vol. IV, “The Promised Land (1967–68)”.
“Behold I make all things new”: Revelation 21:5. King mistakenly said his text came from the 16th chapter.
“I was in Marks, Mississippi”: MLK sermon listed as “Sleeping Through a Revolution,” March 31, 1968, A/KS; Washington, ed., Testament, pp. 268–78; “Martin Luther King at National Cathedral, March 31, 1968,” Section 24, FHOC; Carson and Holloran, eds. Knock, p. 205ff.
“Oh, we’re always willing”: NYT, April 1, 1968, p. 20.
“King Threatens Demonstration”: AC, April 1, 1968, p. 2.
“I’m committed to non-violence absolutely”: MLK, “Showdown for Non-Violence,” Look, April 16, 1968, pp. 23–25.
greet their daughter Lynda: PDD, March 31, 1968, LBJ; Johnson, Diary, pp. 642–43; int. Lynda Johnson Robb, June 18, 1991; Johnson, Vantage, pp. 431–37.
“Daddy, I want to ask you”: NYT, July 9, 1968, p. 25.
“No, we have heard nothing from Hanoi”: Busby, Thirty-first, pp. 8–9, 181–90.
“Don’t let a soul know”: Ibid., pp. 191–96.
thunderstruck Vice Presiden
t: Ibid., pp. 205–6; Humphrey, Education, pp. 358–59.
Johnson met the four top managers: Miller, Lyndon, p. 619.
bottom in his Gallup approval: NYT, March 31, 1968, p. 50.
“Chuck will hear this”: Johnson, Diary, p. 644; Busby, Thirty-first, pp. 209–13.
“I’m very sorry, Mr. President”: McPherson, Political, pp. 438–39.
Less than an hour before: PDD, March 31, 1968, p. 8, LBJ; FRUS, Vol. 6, pp. 494–95.
“Nothing in my career”: Clifford, Counsel, pp. 522–24.
“He said that the decision”: Busby, Thirty-first, pp. 223–25.
“Finally, my fellow Americans”: NYT, April 1, 1968, pp. 1, 26.
“Nobly done, darling”: Miller, Lyndon, p. 624; “Move Called ‘Completely Irrevocable,’” NYT, April 1, 1968, p. 28.
“Can I go to England now?”: PDD, March 31, 1968, p. 13, LBJ.
lifted the whole country into euphoria: Busby, Thirty-first, pp. 226–29; Califano, Triumph, pp. 270–72; Dallek, Flawed, p. 530.
record for most shares traded: “’29 Mark Broken/ 17.73 Million Shares Are Sold Day After Johnson Peace Bid,” NYT, April 2, 1968, p. 1.
new mark lasted only two days: “Stocks Spurred to Sales Record,” NYT, April 4, 1968, p. 1.
“This is a defeat”: FRUS, Vol. 6, pp. 510–11; NYT, April 4, 1968, p. 16.
“Your speech was magnificent”: Charles S. Murphy notes of LBJ, RFK, Sorensen meeting, 10:07–11:41 A.M., April 3, 1968, Diary Back-up, Box 94, LBJ; Walt Rostow notes in same file.
received only twelve minutes earlier: LBJ received the Reuters bulletin at 9:55 A.M. (“Hanoi is ready to talk”), and he entered the Cabinet Room to begin the Kennedy meeting at 10:07. PDD, April 3, 1968, p. 2, LBJ.
White Mountain Apaches: NYT, March 31, 1968, p. 59.
Humphrey, in fact: Humphrey, Education, pp. 360–61; Walt Rostow notes of LBJ, HHH meeting, 12:29–1:29 P.M., April 3, 1968, Diary Back-up, Box 94, LBJ; Tom Johnson notes, in FRUS, Vol. 6, pp. 523–25.
“and you wouldn’t have liked it either”: Sorensen notes, in Middleton, LBJ, pp. 224–25.
“You are a brave and dedicated man”: Ibid.; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, pp. 933–34; Dallek, Flawed, pp. 531–32; Shesol, Contempt, pp. 441–44.
single-race sports conferences: “U.S. Court Rules Out Alabama Race Curb in School Athletics,” NYT, April 2, 1968, p. 14.
Missouri Athletic Club: St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 30–31, 1968, p. 3. This edition of the Globe-Democrat featured the editorial cartoon of King as trigger man for the March 28 Memphis riot.
percentage of black recruits: “Negro Increase in Guard Sought,” NYT, March 31, 1968, p. 1.
odd mix in weekly American casualties: NYT, April 5, 1968, p. 15.
Eastern Air Lines Flight 381: Stokes, Report, p. 363; McKnight, Crusade, pp. 66–67; Garrow, Bearing, p. 619; Washington, ed., Testament, p. 286.
J. Edgar Hoover’s spiteful edict: Branch, Parting, p. 692; Branch, Pillar, pp. 195–98, 408–9.
“Your airline brought Martin Luther King”: McKnight, Crusade, pp. 68–69.
James Harrison endured: Garrow, FBI and King, p. 198; McKnight, Crusade, p. 71; U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, p. 139.
The Memphis police force: Beifuss, River, pp. 121–23; McKnight, Crusade, pp. 46–47.
“Had one in our meetin’”: Honey, Black Workers, p. 306.
William Rutherford made note: Int. William Rutherford, Dec. 7, 2004.
Lawson himself told police inspector Don Smith: Stokes, Report, pp. 546–52; U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, pp. 26–27.
Robert Lewis stepped from a hearse: Frank, American Death, pp. 43–44.
Detective Ed Redditt: Pepper, Orders, pp. 249–51.
“We are not going to be stopped”: MCA, April 4, 1968, p. 1.
Redditt by then had selected: Frank, American Death, pp. 45–47.
Marrell McCullough: Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, p. 413ff; McKnight, Crusade, p. 48; Melanson, Murkin, pp. 74–78.
“would have given their eye teeth”: McKnight, Crusade, p. 48.
“Liberation School”: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, p. 20.
King’s top aides acknowledged: Garrow, Bearing, pp. 619–20; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, p. 512; Fairclough, Redeem, p. 380; int. Bernard Lafayette, Aug. 10, 2005; Garrow, FBI and King, p. 199.
“How many people did you kill”: Young, Burden, p. 460.
“About nine male coloreds”: Frank, American Death, p. 47.
security detail left the motel: Stokes, Report, pp. 547–50.
delayed another week: NYT, April 4, 1968, p. 30.
Redditt had scarcely entered the Mason Temple: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, pp. 29–30.
orders to report elsewhere in the morning: Stokes, Report, pp. 555–57; McKnight, Crusade, p. 76; Beifuss, River, p. 288.
seven o’clock twister: “Tornado Strikes Near Millington/ At Least 30 Hurt,” MCA, April 4, 1968, p. 1; Beifuss, River, pp. 276–77.
“I want you to go speak”: Abernathy, Walls, pp. 430–32; Raines, Soul, p. 522; Stein, Journey, pp. 253–54; Garrow, Bearing, p. 620; Young, Burden, p. 461; Frank, American Death, pp. 48–49; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 1, p. 18.
He was still testy about Jackson: Frady, Jesse, pp. 225–26; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 430–32; int. William Rutherford, Dec. 7, 2004.
James Lawson emphasized: News script, WMC-TV Channel Five, April 3, 1968, MVC.
His entrance caused an eerie bedlam: Int. James Lawson, Nov. 9, 1983; Beifuss, River, p. 277.
“His daddy is a preacher”: Frank, American Death, p. 50.
“but he is the one who tells”: “Pitch for Unity Made by King,” MCA, April 4, 1968, p. 11.
“If I were standing at the beginning of time”: MLK address, “I Have Been to the Mountain Top,” April 3, 1968, A/KS; Washington, ed., Testament, pp. 279–86; Frank, American Death, pp. 50–54; Beifuss, River, pp. 276–81; Fairclough, Redeem, pp. 380–81; Abernathy, Walls, p. 433; Young, Burden, p. 463; Kotz, Judgment, pp. 412–14; Citizen King, a Roja Production for The American Experience, PBS, 2004.
biblical story of Moses: Deuteronomy 32:48–52, 34:1–6.
a long night on the town: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, pp. 21–22; Abernathy, Walls, pp. 434–36; confidential interviews.
King followed Davis to her Room 201: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, pp. 21–22; Powers, I Shared, pp. 217–28.
neither the city nor King would be safe: Beifuss, River, pp. 272, 284–85.
“The white citizens of Memphis”: Testimony of Frank C. Holloman in City of Memphis v. Martin Luther King, Jr. et al., U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Case No. C-68-80, April 4, 1968, p. 58, transcript courtesy of Charles F. Newman.
“I would rather local people”: Remarks of the court and testimony of Chief J. C. MacDonald, in ibid., pp. 81–84, 94–95.
“drop your bags right here”: Frank, American Death, p. 72.
“I don’t negotiate with brothers”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, Aug. 10, 2005.
Invaders stormed off: Ibid.; Fairclough, Redeem, p. 381; Garrow, Bearing, p. 622; Stokes, Report, p. 364; Garrow, FBI and King, p. 200; Frank, American Death, p. 56; Beifuss, River, p. 289; Hea
rings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, p. 416.
fried Mississippi River catfish: Abernathy, Walls, pp. 436–37; Frank, American Death, pp. 56–57; Walter (Bill) Bailey oral history, July 10, 1968, MVC.
“In the next campaign”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, March 22, 2005.
“Are you telling the Court”: Testimony of James Lawson in City of Memphis v. Martin Luther King, Jr. et al., U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Case No. C-68-80, April 4, 1968, pp. 146, 166, transcript courtesy of Charles F. Newman.
went downstairs to meet his brother: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, p. 22; I Shared, pp. 228–29; Garrow, Bearing, p. 622.
“She’s always happy”: Frank, American Death, p. 57.
“Call her”: Abernathy, Walls, p. 438; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 1, p. 19; Raines, My Soul, p. 522; Stein, Journey, p. 254; U.S. House of Representatives, Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations, p. 365.
spoiled her husband’s trick: Samuel B. (Billy) Kyles oral history, June 12, 1968, p. 8, MVC.
“They were really laying”: Gwen (Mrs. S. B.) Kyles oral history, May 28, 1968, pp. 12–16, MVC.
Andrew Young withstood: Testimony of Andrew Young in City of Memphis v. Martin Luther King, Jr. et al., U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Case No. C-68-80, April 4, 1968, pp. 168–207, transcript courtesy of Charles F. Newman.
“I think history shows”: Ibid., p. 205.
“I think of Mr. Wilkins”: Ibid., p. 192.
removal of Detective Redditt: U.S. Department of Justice, Report of the Department of Justice Task Force to Review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. Security and Assassination Investigations, pp. 30–32; Stokes, Report, pp. 549–55; McKnight, Crusade, pp. 77–78; Frank, American Death, pp. 64–65; Melanson, Murkin, pp. 68–71.
escaped convict bought a pair of Bushnell binoculars: Stokes, Report, pp. 378–87; Frank, American Death, pp. 58–64; Posner, Killing the Dream, pp. 22–28, 324–31; Huie, He Slew, pp. 112–13; McMillan, Making, pp. 290–93, 297–302.
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