Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  “engaged in a form of social revolution”: Sullivan to Belmont, Sept. 25, 1963, quoted in Garrow, The FBI and Martin, p. 71.

  “If this treaty fails”: WP, Oct. 8, 1963, p. 2.

  “we cannot remove the Nhus”: Lodge to State, Oct. 7, 1963, quoted in Reeves, President Kennedy, pp. 618-19.

  reports mentioned assassination: Lodge to State, Oct. 5, 1963, CAS 1445, and Lodge to Rusk, Oct. 5, 1963, CAS 34026, in Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 767-68; CIA station Saigon to CIA, Oct. 5, 1963, and CIA to Saigon station, Oct. 5, 1963, cited in Reeves, President Kennedy, p. 617.

  “totally secure and fully deniable”: Bundy to Lodge, Oct. 5, 1963, CAP 63560, in Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 766-67.

  authorization to wiretap King: Hoover to RFK, Oct. 7, 1963, FK-250.

  “If the conditions”: WP, Oct. 8, 1963, p. 9.

  October 7 was Freedom Day: Zinn, New Abolitionists, pp. 150-66; Forman, Black Revolutionaries, pp. 345-54; Chestnut, Black in Selma, pp. 168-70; Lyon, Memories, pp. 98-103; King, Freedom Song, pp. 216-22.

  “You can’t talk to us”: Statement of Carver Neblett, A/SN94. Neblett and Avery Williams were the two SNCC volunteers arrested for trying to give sandwiches to the voter applicants.

  Baldwin publicly called: NYT, Oct. 8, 1963, p. 37.

  “I’ve become jaded”: Zinn, New Abolitionists, p. 160; int. Thelton Henderson, Feb. 25, 1994.

  “Nothing like this”: Zinn, New Abolitionists, p. 165.

  Amelia Boynton reached: Boynton to King, Oct. 8, 1963, A/KP21f10.

  “I never thought it would happen”: NYT, Oct. 13, 1963, p. 77.

  Rivonia Treason Trial: NYT, Oct. 11, 1963, p. 1.

  “For Diem and Nhu”: Lodge to Rusk and Harriman, Oct. 10, 1963, and CIA assassination cables dated Oct. 9 and Oct. 14, all cited in Reeves, President Kennedy, pp. 620, 750.

  arrival that afternoon: NYT, Oct. 11, 1963, p. 1.

  next scheduled visitors: The Blaik and Royall visit was scheduled for 6:15 to 6:35 P.M., October 10, 1963, following the appointment of Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin, Secretary of State Rusk, and U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Thompson: Appointments schedule, JFK. Newspaper reports said the visit actually lasted more than an hour: NYT, Oct. 11, 1963, p. 25; BN, Oct. 16, 1963, p. 1.

  two young children bounded: Earl Blaik Oral History, JFK.

  “bland, p.r. approach”: Blaik to Marshall, Nov. 1, 1963, Box 18, Marshall Papers, JFK.

  “Kennedy for King”: Earl Blaik Oral History, JFK.

  fell to talking football: Ibid. Also Blaik to RFK, Nov. 18, 1963, Box 18, Marshall Papers, JFK.

  Kennedy signed the wiretap: Garrow, The FBI and Martin, pp. 72-73; Branch, Parting, pp. 906-9; RFK to Evans, Oct. 10, 1963, FK171; Evans to Belmont, Oct. 10, 1963, FK254.

  “an unprincipled man”: Charles D. Brennan, “Communism and the Negro Movement—A Current Analysis,” Oct. 16, 1963, FBI File 100-3-116, Serial 416.

  Kennedy personally demanded: Garrow, The FBI and Martin, pp. 74-76; Branch, Parting, p. 911.

  all four telephone lines: Hoover to RFK, Oct. 18, 1963, cited in Garrow, The FBI and Martin, p. 74.

  “still vacillating”: Evans to Belmont, Oct. 21, 1963, FK259.

  glumly recommended: Young wrote King that “…the Kennedys are trying to asssure the nation that they are still ‘white,’” in Young to MLK, Oct. 21, 1963, A/KP3515.

  wiretaps on Bayard Rustin: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Oct. 25, 1963, FR-NR; Garrow, The FBI and Martin, p. 77.

  12. FRONTIERS ON EDGE: THE LAST MONTH

  trouble over an automobile ride: Branch, Parting, p. 909. Also int. Burke Marshall, Sept. 26, 1984; Marshall to Rep. George Huddleston, Oct. 28 and Nov. 6, 1963, Box 18, Marshall Papers, JFK; NYT, Nov. 7, 1963, p. 30; WS, Nov. 7, 1963, p. 1; NY Herald Tribune, Nov. 8, 1963, p. 8.

  King explained: Int. Thelton Henderson, Feb. 25, 1994.

  fn Alabama officials effectively sabotaged: Marshall to RFK, Oct. 4, 1963, Box 3, Marshall Papers, JFK; Hoover to Tolson et al., Nov. 7, 1963, FK-NR; Hoover to Tolson et al., Nov. 7, 1963, FER-99; Saturday Evening Post, June 6, 1964, p. 18.

  Two state grand juries: NYT, Nov. 14, 1963, p. 14.

  “men high in the circles”: WP, Nov. 14, 1963, p. 8.

  “so much fuss”: King statement of Nov. 6, 1963, A/KS5.

  Moses convinced a reluctant: Joseph Sinsheimer, “The Freedom Vote of 1963: New Strategies of Racial Protest in Mississippi,” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 55, No. 2, May 1989, pp. 217-44.

  “getting 200,000 Negroes”: “Dear Friends” letter from SNCC office in Greenwood, Sept. 15, 1963, A/SC41f3.

  Moses wrote out: Moses to Lowenstein, Oct. 18, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC. Lowenstein, who prized the commission in part because SNCC workers had been hesitant to accept white student volunteers, attached a typed copy to a handwritten note to friends: “Have you seen this document?” See also Carson, In Struggle, pp. 96-98; Harris, Dreams Die Hard, pp. 38-40; Sinsheimer, “The Freedom Vote,” pp. 228-30.

  obtained large contributions: Jay Goodlatte-Bass to Lowenstein, Oct. 29, 1963, enclosing a $5,000 contribution from the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, which was led by philanthropist Stephen Currier, A/KP7f29.

  Walter Reuther: Reuther to Lowenstein, Oct. 26, 1963, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Dear Al”: Graham to Lowenstein, Oct. 30, 1963, b9f299, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  Lowenstein was arrested twice: “Summary of Events, October 22 Through October 28,” b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC; also Lowenstein speech, “Race Relations in Focus,” circa Aug. 1964, b32f246, Lowenstein Papers.

  “We all go through”: Lowenstein to “Dear Ones,” Oct. 29, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Any white Northerner”: Remarks of Dennis Sweeney at Stanford, Oct. 2, 1963, Tape No. 631002-S1-2, SUARC.

  first volunteer to reach Yazoo City: Statement by Yale junior Nelson A. Soltman, Oct. 24, 1963, b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  dragged from bed to jail: “Summary of Events, October 22 Through October 28,” b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “My experiences here”: Kenneth Klotz to Senator Birch Bayh, Oct. 28 [misdated], 1963, b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  beaten by an irate white taxi driver: Events of Oct. 30, 1963, as recorded in SNCC pamphlet, Mississippi, A/KP16f15, p. 17.

  “a whirlwind”: Remarks of editor Eileen Strelitz at a Stanford press conference, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape No. 631002-S1, SUARC.

  Hattiesburg police chief: “Summary of Events, October 22 Through October 28,” b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  hefty collection left: Remarks of editor Eileen Strelitz at a Stanford press conference, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape No. 631002-S1, SUARC.

  “Norman Thomas, bless his heart”: Lowenstein to “Dear Ones,” Oct. 29, 1963, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “decided to confine my activities”: Remarks of Hugh Smith at a Stanford press conference, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape No. 631002-S1, SUARC.

  “cut the palaver”: Thomas Powers, “A Chance Encounter,” Commonweal, April 11, 1980, cited in Stone and Lowenstein, Acts of Courage, pp. 342-47.

  two hundred recorded cases: Joseph Sinsheimer, “The Freedom Vote of 1963: New Strategies of Racial Protest in Mississippi,” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 55, No. 2, May 1989, p. 232; Bruce Payne items of Nov. 1 and 2, in SNCC pamphlet, Mississippi, A/KP16f15, p. 17; “Statement of Events in Natchez, Miss.—November 1 and 2, 1963,” b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC; “Violence and Intimidation Intensity,” a Collegiate Press Service release dated Nov. 4, 1963, b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  detained Bob Moses: “Statement on Events in Jackson, Miss.—November 1 and 2, 1963,” b32f354, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “We’re SNCC”: Int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 20, 1991.

  two weeks earlier in Selma: Ivanhoe Donaldson field report, Oct. 13-31, 1963, b14f747, Edwin King Papers, TOU.

  “Morse was on the phone”: Stan Newman (aide
to Rep. William F. Ryan) to Lowenstein, Oct. 28, 1963, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  Thomas did keep: Norman Thomas to Lowenstein, Oct. 29, 1963, b9f299, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  novelty of Thomas: NYT, Nov. 1, 1963.

  “A drive to get votes”: WP, Nov. 3, 1963, p. 4.

  Moses quietly praised: Joseph Sinsheimer, “The Freedom Vote of 1963: New Strategies of Racial Protest in Mississippi,” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 55, No. 2, May 1989, p. 241.

  “This is the first time”: Ibid.

  more valuable as antennae: Lowenstein interview by Anne Romaine, March 1967, A/AR, pp. 119-20.

  network reporters jostled: Stanford Daily clipping, Nov. 8, 1963, b32f365, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Well, besides being shot”: Transcript of press conference, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape No. 631002-S1, SUARC.

  “a bond stronger than the Whiffenpoofs”: Yale Daily News clipping circa Nov. 10, 1963, b32f365, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  Vietnamese generals were launching: Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 264-70; Reeves, President Kennedy, pp. 635-52.

  “will not call on you”: Reeves, President Kennedy, p. 647.

  “No Nhus is good news.”: Ibid., p. 615.

  “the ground in which”: Ibid., p. 652.

  hailed the coup: David Halberstam dispatch, “Saigon Coup Gives Americans Hope,” NYT, Nov. 4, 1963, p. 1, cited in ibid., p. 651.

  murders shook President Kennedy: Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, p. 270; Reeves, President Kennedy, p. 643.

  troublesome letter from Senator Richard Russell: Garrow, The FBI and Martin, pp. 75-76; Belmont to Tolson, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-517, FK-NR; Evans to Belmont, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-518, FK-NR.

  Hoover to force reconsideration: Cf. Evans to Belmont, Sept. 20, 1963, and Baumgardner to Sullivan, Sept. 26, 1963, FL-NR. Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall had submitted for FBI clearance a draft memo setting forth the Justice Department’s warnings to Martin Luther King about alleged Communist advisers. FBI officials assumed that its purpose was to establish a protective record of vigilance, and while grousing that it made the Attorney General look too good, decided to inform Marshall “that he should feel free, of course, to submit the memorandum as he drafted it.”

  Three more times: Evans to Belmont, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-518, FK-NR.

  fn “We didn’t need to be told”: Belmont to Tolson, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-517, FK-NR.

  Kennedy finally scrapped the revisions: Evans to Belmont, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-518, FK-NR.

  Katzenbach was beaming: Ibid. Also int. Nicholas Katzenbach, Oct. 22, 1986, and June 14, 1991; Robert Kennedy Oral History, p. 684ff, JFK.

  “You and I are a mile apart”: Katzenbach Oral History, Oct. 8, 1969, JFK.

  “magnified into proportions”: Evans to Belmont, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-518, FK-NR.

  “This shows wisdom”: Hoover handwritten note on ibid.

  six o’clock on Friday evening: The brief Russell meeting took place at 5:00 P.M., and the first cable on Diem’s surrender reached the White House at 6:05 P.M. President Kennedy sent further instructions to Lodge at 8:47 P.M. that night. Evans to Belmont, Nov. 1, 1963, 100-3-116-518, FK-NR; Reeves, President Kennedy, pp. 647-48.

  “In summary”: Marshall to RFK with attached memo from John L. Murphy to Marshall, both Nov. 5, 1963, Box 3, Burke Marshall Papers, JFK.

  careened through Lincolnville: Colburn, Racial Change, pp. 55-57.

  fn “was the prime mover”: Gloster B. Current to Robert W. Saunders, Dec. 6, 1963, among other correspondence on the removal of Hayling in III-C-305, NAACP. Current was responding specifically to a letter from the Florida field secretary, detailing efforts to remove Hayling: “It has been his influence that has promoted much of the resistance from other sources. However, I must admit, that he has also been the moving force that sparked St. Augustine into motion. We have already spoken with some of the key young people in the youth movement and they are now working with us. Earlier, they were committed to Dr. Hayling.” Saunders to Current, Nov. 15, 1963, III-C-305, NAACP.

  Republicans were said to be scarcer: Paul B. Johnson for Governor flyer entitled “There are ONLY 44 Real Republicans in Mississippi,” b32f362, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  “Kill the threat”: Paul B. Johnson for Governor flyer entitled “Vote the Mississippi Democratic Victory Ballot,” Lowenstein Papers, ibid. This flyer managed to invoke the language of Abraham Lincoln to support one-party white supremacy: “A house divided cannot stand. Your liberty, your traditional values and your way of life are at stake.”

  “a vicious two-party political system”: Paul B. Johnson for Governor flyer entitled “Two-Party System…would be the end of our way of life!” Lowenstein Papers, ibid.

  “They are treating my workers like niggers”: Joseph Sinsheimer, “The Freedom Vote of 1963: New Strategies of Racial Protest in Mississippi,” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 55, No. 2, May 1989, p. 242.

  No Republican had bothered to run: Time, Nov. 15, 1963, p. 18; WP, Nov. 7, 1963, p. 9.

  “Your democracy is nothing”: Malcolm X speech at CCNY, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape C173-74, SCRBC.

  Muhammad had removed Malcolm: WP, Oct. 21, 1963, p. B1, FMX-73.

  surprisingly barbed comments: Int. Abdulalim Shabazz (Lonnie Cross), March 14, 1991.

  “Could be”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  Malcolm confided nothing: Int. Benjamin Karim, Aug. 31, 1991.

  “You may take offense”: Malcolm X speech at CCNY, Nov. 7, 1963, Tape C173-74, SCRBC.

  Myles Horton: Sketch of Horton from Branch, Parting, pp. 121-22, 289-90.

  Horton presided over: Memo and agenda for Greenville workshop of Nov. 11-17, 1963, A/SN111f16; “Names and Addresses” for COFO workshop dated Nov. 19, 1963, A/SN111f16.

  up to two thousand of them: A Yale Law graduate who participated in the Greenville conference soon warned of “huge legal problems expected to arise during the coming summer. It is probable that a large group of students—perhaps as many as 2,000—many of whom would be white, will be coming into the state….” Oscar Chase to Jack Greenberg, Nov. 20, 1963, A/SN111f16.

  considered the white volunteers more trouble: Int. Lawrence Guyot, Feb. 1, 1991; int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 29, 1991; int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  as recorded by SNCC adviser: Zinn, New Abolitionists, pp. 186-89.

  A straw vote late Friday: Int. Lawrence Guyot, Feb. 1, 1991; int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 29, 1991; remarks of Lawrence Guyot, Session No. 4 of the Trinity College SNCC Reunion, April 14-16, 1988, transcript courtesy of Jack Chatfield.

  Moses received summary notice: Branton to Moses and Aaron Henry, Nov. 12, 1963, cited in Watters, Jacob’s Ladder, pp. 213-14; Annell Ponder to Martin Luther King, Nov. 18, 1963, A/SN111f16.

  Kennedy had an unseen hand: Courtney Evans reported that Theodore White met with the Attorney General and his press secretary, Ed Guthman, in New York on November 4 regarding White’s Life article on Negroes, Martin Luther King, and Communism. Evans to Belmont, Nov. 5, 1963, FRFK-429.

  assigned a Harvard honors: Int. Michael Sayer, June 25, 1992.

  “Negroes, bursting out”: Theodore H. White, “Rushing to a Showdown That No Law Can Chart,” Life, Nov. 22, 1963, p. 102ff.

  his second installment: Theodore H. White, “Power Structure, Integration, Militancy, Freedom Now!: The Angry U.S. Negro’s Rallying Cries Are Confusing His Just and Urgent Cause,” Life, Nov. 29, 1963, p. 78ff.

  students in Ohio: Jet, Oct. 3, 1963, p. 48.

  massive reeducation: NYT, Nov. 10, 1963, p. 80.

  “not leading too rapidly”: WP, Nov. 13, 1963, p. B5.

  special section on intermarriage: WP, Nov. 12, 1963, p. 11.

  Robert Kennedy’s confidant: E. L. “Red” Holland to Edwin Guthman, Nov. 13, 1963, Ed Guthman private papers.

  flew south to Florida: NYT, Nov. 19, 1963, p. 1.

  national debt ceiling: Chicago Tribune, Nov. 8, 1963, p. 4; on budget, cf.
Newsweek, Jan. 28, 1963, p. 19ff.

  “While the Federal”: NYT, Nov. 19, 1963, p. 29.

  interval with Father Michael Gannon: Int. Michael Gannon, April 3, 1991, Dec. 10, 1992.

  convention of the United Synagogue: The Proceedings of the Golden Jubilee Convention, the United Synagogue of America, Nov. 17-21 1963, Concord Hotel, Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., courtesy of the United Synagogue of America, New York.

  Heschel introduced King: Ibid.

  “Freedom is not some lavish dish”: Ibid.

  King added a passage: King address to Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 47th Biennial Banquet, Nov. 20, 1963, b14f27, Jacob Rothschild Papers, EU.

  stopped over at Idlewild: Hoover to RFK, Nov. 26, 1963, FL-NR; Hoover to RFK, Nov. 26, 1963, FK-NR; NY LHM “Re: Communist Party, United States of America, Negro Question, Communist Influence in Racial Matters, Internal Security,” Nov. 21, 1963, FJ-NR; SA [name deleted] to SAC, NY, Nov. 18, 1963, FJNY-246.

  “I’m not going to let Martin”: Branch, Parting, pp. 858-60.

  had made awkward excuses: Wiretap transcripts of Sept. 16, Sept. 23, and Oct. 28, 1963, FLNY-9-292a, FLNY-7-553A, FLNY-7-588a.

  “You know, I’m”: Wiretap transcript of Oct. 8, 1963, FLNY-7-610a.

  “Notwithstanding trying circumstances”: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Nov. 25, 1963, FL-NR.

  Word had leaked: NYT, Oct. 17, 1963, p. 1; A. M. Sonnabend to Members of Key Leadership Groups, Oct. 17, 1963, “Ecumenical Council IAD, July-Oct. 1963,” AJC; Bracker to Marc Tanenbaum, Oct. 28, 1963, AJC.

  three Patriarchs denounced: NYT, Nov. 19, 1963, p. 1; Yzermans, American Participation, pp. 572-77; Vorgimler, Documents of Vatican II, pp. 48-49.

  “giving honorable mention”: “AJC White Paper 1964-65,” AJC, p. 64.

  Bea rose to address: Bea, The Church, pp. 154-59.

  seethed with conspiracy: Michael Novak, “Intrigue in the Council,” New Republic, Jan. 11, 1964, pp. 10-11; “AJC White Paper 1964-65,” AJC, p. 65-67.

  “As your Eminence knows”: Heschel to Bea, Nov. 22, 1963, AJC.

  urged Heschel not to panic: Int. Thomas Stransky, Feb. 27, 1992.

  “What is put off”: Irving M. Engel confidential memorandum, Feb. 10, 1964, “AJC White Paper—IAD,” AJC, p. 7.