Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  the Memorial Day address: Vice President’s Daily Diary for Thursday, May 30, 1963, LBJ. Also programs, invitations, and memos in Statements, Box 80, LBJ.

  berated his staff: Int. Horace Busby, Feb. 12, 1992.

  “One hundred years ago”: Statements, Box 80, LBJ.

  To the end of his life: Int. Horace Busby, Feb. 12, 1992. Cf. “The President wanted you to have a copy of his 1963 Memorial Day speech….” Harry McPherson to Adam Clayton Powell, Dec. 26, 1968, White House Central File, Name File, LBJ.

  Not once had he been consulted: Burke Marshall Oral History, LBJ.

  briefing notes over the shoulder: Lee White Oral History, fifth interview, March 17, 1970, JFK. Also Lee White Oral History, Sept. 28, 1970, LBJ; int. Lee White, Dec. 13, 1983.

  the Vice President wilted: White House meeting of June 1, 1963, Audiotape 90.3, JFK.

  personal nemesis, Robert Kennedy: Johnson refers to his conversation with Kennedy in Edison Dictaphone recording of LBJ-Sorensen conversation, June 3, 1963, pp. 6-7, LBJ.

  “absolutely poured out his heart”: The assistant was Norbert Schlei, assistant attorney general, Office of Legal Counsel. Graham, Civil Rights Era, pp. 77-78. Also LBJ to Sorensen, June 10, 1963, with “personal and confidential” attachment, Box 30, Sorensen Papers, JFK.

  “We got a little popgun”: Edison Dictaphone recording of LBJ-Sorensen conversation, June 3, 1963, p. 14, LBJ.

  “I know the risks”: Ibid., p. 4.

  “Every cruel and evil influence”: Ibid., p. 9.

  “They’ll probably boo me off the platform”: Ibid., p. 18.

  “I’m not gonna watch the parade”: Branch, Parting, p. 808.

  “Re-Cap”: Hamilton, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., pp. 361-62.

  appearing together more frequently: For instance, Malcolm and Powell shared the platform with Dick Gregory at a rally for the Mississippi Relief Committee in Harlem, March 23, 1963, FMX-53; Malcolm preached at Powell’s church on June 23, 1963, FMX-74, New York report dated Nov. 15, 1963, pp. 20-21.

  Malcolm X, who did nurse ambitions: Perry, Malcolm: A Life, p. 297; Lomax, When the Word Is Given, p. 97.

  “It’s hard to tell”: Perry, Malcolm: A Life, p. 304.

  leadership vacuum among Washington’s Negroes: WP, May 6, 1963, p. 1.

  regularly lionized Powell: First noticed in print by reporter M. S. Handler in NYT, April 23, 1963, p. 20.

  Malcolm X slowly disappear: In his autobiography, Malcolm recalled that he noticed his presence fading in Muhammad Speaks as early as 1962. Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 292.

  “new assertive mood”: NYT, April 23, 1963, p. 20.

  Handler managed to squeeze: Int. J. Anthony Lukas, June 10, 1990.

  Malcolm X called Phoenix: Wiretap conversation of April 27, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-C.

  Parks attended a karate class: “A Negro Photographer Shoots from Inside the Black Muslims,” Life, May 31, 1963.

  “shows how to deal”: Ibid., p. 25.

  doing his best to delay: Wiretap conversation of May 13, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-C.

  “being built around Malcolm”: Wiretap conversation of May 14, 1963, FMX-74, p. cover-D.

  staring into the drawn revolvers: LAT, May 23, 1963; MS, June 7, 1963, p. 1.

  “Code 6-M”: Int. Jesse Brewer, June 13, 1991; int. Samuel Hunter, Feb. 6, 1992; int. Frank Tomlinson, Oct. 15, 1991.

  Laughter exploded: BTT, pp. 2659-60.

  “And I think you have never”: BTT, p. 2910.

  “they ought to take”: Ibid., pp. 2928-29.

  “Now, without going into”: Ibid., p. 2946.

  “I can’t see an officer”: Ibid., p. 2986.

  “thrown their guns down”: Ibid., p. 2962.

  “admitted certain things”: Wiretap conversation of May 28, 1963, FMXNY-3634. The interpretation presented here draws upon interviews with Benjamin Karim and Yusuf Shah about the state of relations between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad in mid-1963 and about Malcolm X’s complex documentary aims in writing his letters.

  long Stokes deliberation: LAT, June 5, 15, 17, 1963; California Eagle, June 20, 1963.

  collapsed of a heart attack: LAT, June 6, 1963.

  campaign against their own verdict: Int. Earl Broady, Nov. 4, 1990, and March 25, 1991; int. Jacquelyn Ames (juror), March 26, 1991; int. Josephine Byrne (juror), March 26, 1991; int. Maureen Dobratz (juror), March 26, 1991; California Eagle, Aug. 22, 1963, p. 1; MS, Sept. 13, 1963.

  remained the leading story: Among many screaming, page-one headlines in MS were “Rips ‘KKK in Cop Clothes!’” June 7, 1963, and “Prison for the Innocent! Muslims Framed to Whitewash the Guilty?” Aug. 30, 1963.

  “It will take fire”: MS, July 19, 1963.

  discarded as a lecture prop: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

  later from his autobiography: Malcolm X, Autobiography, p. 394.

  $150,000 in a week: Branch, Parting, p. 806.

  a friend said movie stars: Wiretap conversation of 5:19 P.M., June 1, 1963, between Levison and “Antoinette,” FLNY-9-185a.

  “a feeling of nationalism”: Wiretap conversation of 11:31 P.M., June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

  On May 30, he sent a telegram: King to JFK, HU2, 5/9/63-7/19/63, Box 363, WHCF, JFK.

  “We need the President”: Wiretap conversation of 11:31 P.M., June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

  National NAACP officers: Branch, Parting, pp. 813-14.

  suddenly by way of Jackson: Evers, For Us, the Living, pp. 270-82; Moody, Coming of Age, pp. 234-51; Salter, Jackson, Mississippi, pp. 132-53; Branch, Parting, pp. 814-16.

  “This is the biggest thing”: Salter, Jackson, Mississippi, p. 145.

  “Jackson Police Jail 600”: NYT, June 1, 1963, p. 1.

  Evers collaborated by phone: King comment in wiretap conversation of 11:31 P.M., June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a. Also int. Myrlie Evers, March 13, 1989.

  officers arrested Henderson: Int. Thelton Henderson, Jr., Feb. 25, 1994.

  first arrest in nearly thirty years: Wilkins, Standing Fast, pp. 288-89; Salter, Jackson, Mississippi, pp. 154-58.

  the Times noted: NYT, June 2, 1963, p. 70.

  “We’ve baptized brother Wilkins!”: Wiretap conversation of June 2, 1963, FLNY-9-186a, p. 3.

  What seized King: Like King, some observers in the black press perceived the Wilkins arrest as an omen of change, e.g. “Is NAACP Leaving Courts for Front-Line Protest?,” CD, June 8-14, 1963. Soon after, other journals declared that the Wilkins arrest was merely a feinted concession to the Jackson upheaval: “When NAACP leaders were asked why their demonstrations were called off, [Director of Branches Gloster] Current replied, ‘Would you want to be a murderer?’” “NAACP Switches Tactics in Massive Miss. Rights Fight,” Jet, June 20, 1963, pp. 8-9.

  “We are on a breakthrough”: Wiretap conversation of June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

  “Roy will only act”: Wiretap conversation of June 1, 1963, FLNY-9-185a.

  called each other like teenagers: Wiretap conversations of June 2, 1963, FLNY-9-186a, and June 3, 1963, FLNY-7-441.

  8. SUMMER FREEZE

  King received: Lee White to MLK, June 1, 1963, stamped receipt dated June 3, A/KP14f4.

  On June 7, the General Board: Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, pp. 3-4; NCC press release dated June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

  Continuing Committee: Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, p. 32; int. Mathew Ahmann and Jerome Ernst, Feb. 12, 1991.

  subterranean groundswell: Int. Robert Stone, June 3, 1993; int. Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991.

  committing $500,000: Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, p. 33.

  “The world watches to see”: “A Report of the President’s Temporary Committee of Six on Race,” approved by the General Board on June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

  bypass the leadership: Int. Robert Stone, June 3, 1993; int. Metz Rollins, Dec. 13, 1991; int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991. Nearly thirty years later, Lee remained wounded that the National Council brought in a fresh team led by whites with li
ttle experience in race relations. “It was a rough kind of a deal,” he recalled.

  only Negro on the six-hundred-member: Int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  fn Yale Divinity School: Lee background from int. Oscar Lee, Sept. 26, 1991; Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, pp. 17-18.

  “the real depth”: Rev. Edler Hawkins, quoted in “Minutes, National Council of Churches, Commission on Religion and Race,” June 28, 1963.

  “Twenty Days Later”: Ibid.

  “to commit ourselves”: “A Report of the President’s Temporary Committee of Six on Race,” approved by the General Board on June 7, 1963, A/SN115f3.

  “What Have I Personally Done”: STJ, June 9, 1963, cited in Chestnut, Black in Selma, p. 167.

  Ponder did not arrive in Greenwood: COFO, Mississippi Black Paper, pp. 17-24; Mills, Fannie Lou Hamer, pp. 56-77; Branch, Parting, pp. 819-21.

  Andrew Young interjected: Wiretap conversation of 12:01 A.M., June 10, 1963, FLNY-9-194.

  Guyot volunteered: Int. Lawrence Guyot, Feb. 1, 1991.

  from far away in Danville, Virginia: Forman, Black Revolutionaries, pp. 326-31; Lyon, Memories, pp. 62-69.

  “beastly conduct”: MLK to RFK, 12:35 P.M. EST, June 11, 1963, A/KP31f18.

  was pressing the FBI to find out: Memo, C. A. Evans to Hoover, June 11, 1963, cited in Mills, Fannie Lou Hamer, p. 36.

  “There was no violence”: NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 1.

  “Dr. King Denounces President”: NYT, June 10, 1963, p. 1.

  Kennedy decided spontaneously: Branch, Parting, p. 823; NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 1.

  two-toned 1957 Chevrolet: Forman, Black Revolutionaries, pp. 321-22.

  “No, Red, don’t shoot!”: Remarks of Bernard Lafayette at Session No. 3, Part 1, of the Trinity College SNCC Reunion, April 14-16, 1988, transcript courtesy of Jack Chatfield.

  “Milk is for calves”: Int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

  “We are confronted primarily”: NYT, June 12, 1963, p. 20.

  a law student newly arrived: Mills, Fannie Lou Hamer, pp. 63-64. After finishing Yale Law School and working as an equal rights lawyer for nearly three decades, including service as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under President Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Holmes Norton was elected in 1990 to the U.S. House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.

  An argument broke out: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991; int. James Bevel, May 17, 1985; int. Dorothy Cotton, Nov. 19, 1992.

  “I hold you responsible!”: Int. June Johnson, April 9, 1992.

  telegram from the White House: JFK to MLK, June 12, 1963, A/KP14f4.

  “Deeply regret that I had overlooked”: MLK to JFK, June 13, 1963, A/KP14f4.

  trustees of Lovett School: The conflict over Coretta King’s attempt to enroll Martin III at Lovett is reviewed in “Statement of the Executive Committee of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity on the Lovett School Situation” (drafted by Rev. John B. Morris), Sept. 1963, A/KP9f26.

  sniped at King during the funeral: Branch, Parting, pp. 825-31.

  “may intimidate a few”: NYT, June 13, 1963, pp. 1, 13.

  off-base segregation: Graham, Civil Rights Era, p. 86.

  annex to Harlem Hospital: NYT, June 13, 1963, p. 1; NYT, June 14, 1963, p. 1.

  In Philadelphia: Graham, Civil Rights Era, pp. 278, 528-29.

  In St. Augustine, Florida: Colburn, Racial Change, pp. 33-35.

  “I and others have armed”: Jacksonville LHM entitled “Racial Situation, St. Augustine, Florida,” June 19, 1963, FSA-NR.

  “racial feelings amongst the Negroes”: Ibid.

  received orders to shoot: Jacksonville LHM entitled “Racial Situation, St. Augustine, Florida,” June 20, 1963, FSA-NR.

  fired a shotgun into Hayling’s garage: Jacksonville teletypes to FBI headquarters, July 2, 1963, FSA-476 and FSA-477.

  tiny Itta Bena: June 18 Itta Bena arrests from undated SNCC report entitled Mississippi, A/KP16f15, p. 15; also int. William McGee, June 25, 1992; “Report on the Release of 57 Prisoners in Mississippi,” by John M. Pratt of the National Council of Churches, Aug. 23, 1963, NCC RG6, b47f31, POH.

  “Californian Is Charged”: Jackson Clarion-Ledger, June 24, 1963, reprinted in Silver, Closed Society, p. 30.

  fn “I have sworn”: Byron de la Beckwith, “Open Letter to All Episcopalians,” Jackson Daily News, March 16, 1956, located and preserved in the papers of Rev. Edwin King, b8f387, Tougaloo.

  Newspapers described Beckwith: Jackson Clarion-Ledger, June 24, 1963, p. 1.

  courthouse on June 25: Undated SNCC report entitled Mississippi, A/KP16f15, p. 15; undated affidavit of Douglas MacArthur Cotton, A/MFDP10f1; int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  grumbling against William McGee: Int. William McGee, June 25, 1992.

  truck hauled them away: Undated affidavit of Douglas MacArthur Cotton, A/MFDP10f1; int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  Rusk sent a cable: Rusk to “All American Diplomatic and Consular Posts,” June 19, 1963, NSF b295, JFK. See also the critical reply of John Kenneth Galbraith, U.S. ambassador to India, in Galbraith to Rusk, June 20, 1963, NSF b295, JFK.

  “We assume”: O’Donnell to King, June 19, 1963, A/KP14f4.

  King went to the summit: Branch, Parting, pp. 835-41.

  weakened or reversed: Graham, Civil Rights Era, p. 85.

  fn “Of course, the less”: Ibid.

  Robert Kennedy offered: NYT, June 27, 1963, p. 1.

  nobody in Congress had been interested: Robert Kennedy Oral History by John Bartlow Martin, JFK.

  “sort of death wish”: Ibid., cited in Graham, Civil Rights Era, p. 127.

  “overwhelming the whole program”: Branch, Parting, pp. 827-28.

  soar briefly again in Detroit: Ibid., pp. 842-43.

  “The incident was attributed”: CD, July 6, 1963, p. 10.

  “did this unbecomming [sic] thing”: Rev. James Early, Sr., to MLK, July 1, 1963, A/KP1f7.

  fn “I think any effort”: New York Journal American, July 1, 1963, p. 6, FMXNY-3713.

  fn “growing bitterness”: CD, July 10, 1963, p. 10.

  King debated: Branch, Parting, pp. 844-45.

  wound up in notorious Parchman: “Report on the Release of 57 Prisoners in Mississippi,” by John M. Pratt of the National Council of Churches, Aug. 23, 1963, NCC RG6, b47f31, POH; report marked “From: Hollis Watkins in Parchman State Penitentiary,” A/SN23f12; undated affidavit of Douglas MacArthur Cotton, A/MFDP10f1; int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  fn James K. Vardaman: Oshinsky, Worse Than Slavery, pp. 85-106.

  Guyot and Watkins found themselves: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  filed three novel actions: Branch, Parting, p. 826.

  nameless for six weeks: Ibid., p. 827.

  movement itself did not care: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992; int. William McGee, June 25, 1992.

  hanging in handcuffs: “Report on the Release of 57 Prisoners in Mississippi,” by John M. Pratt of the National Council of Churches, Aug. 23, 1963, NCC RG6, b47f31, POH; undated affidavit of Douglas MacArthur Cotton, A/MFDP10f1.

  fn Gates v. Collier: Oshinsky, Worse Than Slavery, pp. 241-48.

  let their wastes fall down: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  9. CAVALRY: LOWENSTEIN AND THE CHURCH

  Allard Lowenstein had trekked: Lowenstein, Brutal Mandate, passim; Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 131-65.

  “We will not soon forget”: Lowenstein address to the United Nations Fourth Committee, Oct. 17, 1959, reprinted in Stone and Lowenstein, Acts of Courage, pp. 7-14.

  fact-finding tour of Southern campuses: Jones to Bishop, April 4, 1974, FAL-77, p. 10. This FBI summary of intelligence on Lowenstein noted his activity in “the so-called civil rights movement,” citing an account in the New York Times of March 20, 1960.

  “teachings and philosophies”: Ibid., p. 18.

  plotted the heartache of Spanish: Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 14-
15.

  Adlai Stevenson twice visited: Stone and Lowenstein, Acts of Courage, pp. 234-35.

  “an energetic young American”: Department of State airgram from Madrid, Aug. 17, 1962, cited in New York FBI report on internal security, dated Sept. 27, 1962, FAL-23, pp. 2-6.

  “made it clear”: Ibid.

  agents mostly chased: See generally the Lowenstein FBI file, FAL, Serials 7 through 50. The FBI investigation of Lowenstein under the Foreign Agents Registration Act remained open from the fall of 1961 through the summer of 1963, as summarized in Jones to Bishop, April 4, 1974, FAL-77, p. 4.

  perturbed administrators of Stanford: San Francisco FBI office investigative report dated April 30, 1962, FAL-18.

  single-handedly bowled over campus culture: Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 166-77.

  “Last week was perhaps”: Armin Rosencranz to Lowenstein, May 13, 1963, b8f289, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  fn “Awe is more than an emotion”: Stanford lectures published as Heschel, Who Is Man?, pp. 88, 115-17.

  Lowenstein was across the country: Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 178-79.

  “this extra one”: Robert Spearman to Lowenstein, b32f347, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “the hostile peak”: “N.” to Lowenstein, June 14, 1963, on the stationery of the UNC Dean of Women, b32f292, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Dear Chief”: Lowenstein to Chief Albert J. Lituli [sic], March 22, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Dear Sir”: Lowenstein to the President, Eastern Air Lines, June 28, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Dear Miss Hepburn”: Lowenstein to Hepburn, Aug. 27, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  three meals with James Meredith: Lowenstein speech of Oct. 2, 1963, at Stanford, Tape No. 631002-S1-2, SUARC.

  on July 4 introduced himself: Carson, In Struggle, pp. 96-97; Harris, Dreams Die Hard, pp. 30-31; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 210-11; Chafe, Never Stop Running, pp. 180-82.

  Rev. Edwin King had hurtled: Int. Edwin King, June 26, 1992. Also Salter, Jackson, Mississippi, pp. 132-39; Edwin King, “Growing Up in Mississippi in a Time of Change”; Silver, Closed Society, pp. 58-60; Findlay, Church People in the Struggle, p. 141; int. Edwin King, June 26, 1992.