Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  “Thank you very kindly”: WKCT-TV, Miami, St. Augustine: fountain of Dissent, 1964, Part 3, PEA.

  “How is St. Augustine?”: LBJ phone call with Lee White, June 16, 1964, Cit. 3751, Audiotape WH6406.09, LBJ.

  Ohio auditorium that night: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, pp. 5-6; Carson, In Struggle, p. 113; Rothschild, Black and White, p. 54; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 29-33; Dittmer, Local People, pp. 242-44; int. Cleveland Sellers by William Link, May 10, 1989.

  CBS television documentary: CBS Reports, Mississippi and the Fifteenth Amendment, aired Sept. 26, 1962.

  SNCC members eyed them warily: Int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 29, 1991.

  Drills in nonviolence: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 33; Blackstone, PBS documentary Eyes on the Prize, I, 5, This is America? Mississippi: 1962-64, aired Feb. 18, 1987.

  “I met those SNCC”: Evans, Personal Politics, p. 70.

  Hollis Watkins could not bear it.”: Int. Hollis Watkins, June 22, 1992.

  ten stewards of Mount Zion and Cole beating: NYT, June 28, 1964, p. 47; Huie, Three Lives, pp. 84-89; Holt, The Summer, pp. 266-67; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 47-51; Mars, Witness, pp. 168-75; Dittmer, Local People, p. 247.

  “Father, I stretch my hands to Thee”: A Methodist martyrdom hymn attributed to Charles Wesley, 1707-88, revised in the 1930s by J. Jefferson Cleveland and Verolga Nix.

  fn “We are asking”: Moses to LBJ, June 14, 1964, A/SN100f14.

  another COFO press release: COFO press release of June 17, 1964, A/SN100f14.

  orchestrated letters to Washington: Form letter to LBJ dated June 17, 1964, A/SN10014; reply to Clarence J. Harris from Lee White, June 29, 1964, A/SN100f12.

  “Although on the surface”: Lee White to LBJ, June 17, 1964, Ex HU 2/ST 24, LBJ.

  James Lawson addressed: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, pp. 29-30.

  John Doar warned: McAdam, Freedom Summer, p. 67; Dittmer, Local People, p. 245.

  Forman denounced: Int. John Doar, May 12, 1986; int. Robert P. Moses by Joseph Sinsheimer, Dec. 5, 1984; int. Robert P. Moses, Feb. 15, 1991; Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, p. 12; Huie, Three Lives, p. 94.

  as after the Freedom Rides in 1961: Branch, Parting, pp. 485-88.

  “He is more or less the Jesus”: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, p. 15.

  “record our profound”: Ibid., p. 36.

  “for the ideal naive”: Ibid., p. 18.

  “keep your eyes open”: William Hodes letter to “Family,” June 22, 1964, William Hodes Files, SHSW.

  Wednesday night, June 17: Jacksonville LHM dated June 18, 1964, FSA-NR.

  retained his customary long-windedness: Int. Israel Dresner, July 31, 1991.

  Williams suffered a ribbing: Int. Hosea Williams, Oct. 29, 1991.

  Vivian led the rabbis: Jacksonville teletype to Director, June 18, 1964, FSA-1427; Jacksonville LHM dated June 19, 1964, FSA-NR; NYT, June 19, 1964, p. 1; Colburn, Racial Change, pp. 98-100.

  “Hold me, baby, I’m scared”: Good, Trouble I’ve Seen, p. 103.

  “a study of the legitimate”: Florida Times-Union, June 18, 1964, p. 22.

  King had responded positively: MLK statement of June 17, 1964, A/KS; Newsweek, June 29, 1964, p. 26.

  hoisted a Confederate flag: Florida Times-Union, June 21, 1964, p. 22.

  “Racial harmony has existed”: Presentment of St. Johns County Grand Jury, June 18, 1964, served upon MLK at 5:12 P.M., A/KP20f41.

  “not only an impractical request”: Handwritten statement on the back of ibid. Also Jacksonville teletype to Director, June 20, 1964, FSA-1429.

  “our prayers and best wishes”: Proceedings of the 75th Annual Convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, June 17-19, 1964, p. 230, AJA.

  prisoners refused an order: Int. Balfour Brickner, Feb. 4, 1991; int. Israel Dresner, July 31, 1991; int. Murray Saltzman, Jan. 8, 1991.

  “We shall not forget”: “Why We Went: A Joint Letter from the Rabbis Arrested in St. Augustine,” by Eugene Borowitz, Balfour Brickner, Israel Dresner, Daniel Fogel, Jerrold Goldstein, Joel Goor, Joseph Herzog, Norman Hirsh, Leon Jick, Richard Levy, Eugene Lipman, Michael Robinson, B. T. Rubenstein, Murray Saltzman, Allen Secher, Clyde T. Sills, and Albert Vorspan, AJA.

  Nelson Mandela and six other: NYT, June 12, 1964, p. 12, June 25, 1964, p. 12; WP, Feb. 12, 1994, p. 13. The Nation of Islam’s newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, published excerpts of Mandela’s speeches to the court at his 1962 and 1964 trials. MS, July 17, 1964, pp. 12, 14.

  Governor William Scranton: NYT, June 12, 1964, p. 1, June 13, 1964, p. 1.

  Supreme Court required: NYT, June 16, 1964, p. 1; Newsweek, June 29, 1964, p. 22.

  thirty-four roll call votes: Whalen and Whalen, The Longest Debate, p. 209.

  “death scene arias”: Ibid., p. 212.

  Goldwater flew to a farm: NYT, June 19, 1964, p. 1.

  fuming that Eisenhower: John Grenier int. by Jack Bass and Walter De Vries, A-9, No. 4007, UNC.

  counsel of his legal advisers: Edwards, Goldwater, p. 239.

  decisive majority of seventy-three: Whalen and Whalen, The Longest Debate, pp. 215-17.

  retrieved copies of FBI surveillance photographs: Cf. SAC, New York, to Director, June 29, 1964, FK-NR, responding to Hoover’s order of June 19, 1964.

  “because of the occupations”: Garrow, FBI and Martin, pp. 116-17.

  followed Clarence Jones: Cf. handwritten surveillance logs for the last week of June 1964, FJNY-NR.

  “the most pertinent”: Director to SAC, New York, June 25, 1964, FR-NR.

  “goes further to invest”: PPP, LBJ statement of June 19, 1964, p. 787.

  San Francisco crowd of thirty thousand: NYT, June 21, 1964, p. 1; Newsweek, June 29, 1964, p. 21.

  fn “Well, he’s got a lot”: LBJ phone call with Robert Kennedy, June 20, 1964, Cit. 3800, Audiotape WH6406.12, LBJ.

  “I have come to California”: PPP, LBJ at Irvine, California, June 20, 1964, pp. 793-95.

  “wealthy industrialists”: Tom Wicker, in NYT, June 22, 1964, p. 18.

  bar mitzvah party of young Lyle Peskin: PDD, “12:30 A.M. entry,” June 21, 1964.

  bowling over Howard Smith: O’Brien to LBJ, June 18, 1964, Box 3, Henry Wilson Papers, LBJ; Whalen and Whalen, The Longest Debate, pp. 218-20.

  “Y’all want civil rights”: LBJ phone call with House Minority Leader Charles Halleck, June 22, 1964, Cit. 3810, Audiotape WH6406.12, LBJ.

  urged Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young: PDD, June 19, 1964.

  “I’m just afraid”: LBJ phone call with Roy Wilkins, June 19, 1964, Cit. 3791, Audiotape WH6406.11, LBJ.

  “dawning of new hope”: NYT, June 20, 1964, p. 12.

  “niggers want to integrate”: Colburn, Racial Change, p. 103.

  waded into the Atlantic Ocean: Jacksonville LHM dated June 22, 1964, FSA-1452.

  slugged to their knees: NYT, June 21, 1964, p. 69; int. Dorothy Cotton, July 6, 1983.

  “I can’t understand why any white”: NYT, June 21, 1964, p. 68.

  executive order: “State of Florida, Executive Department, Tallahassee, Executive Order Number Two,” signed by Governor Farris Bryant, June 20, 1964, Bryan Simpson Papers, UF.

  edict further ensnarled: Colburn, Racial Change, p. 105.

  Florida motorist came upon: St. Petersburg Times, June 28, 1964, p. 4.

  Lines of black and white marchers: NYT, June 22, 1964, p. 16; Jacksonville LHM dated June 22, 1964, FSA-1452, pp. 3-4.

  Chicago’s Soldier Field: NYT, June 22, 1964, p. 16; Jet, July 9, 1964, pp. 22-25; ANP press release for June 22, 1964, b107f4, Claude Barnett Papers, CHS.

  pitched the eighth perfect game: NYT, June 22, 1964, p. 1. Of the seven previous perfect games, two had occurred in 1880, before the pitching distance was lengthened from 45 feet to 60.5 feet, and a third from 1917 carried an asterisk because the original starting pitcher, Babe Ruth, gave up a walk before being ejected. Ruth’s substitute, Ernie Shore, came on to record the required twenty
-seven consecutive outs, beginning when the walked leadoff runner was caught stealing second.

  President for Life: NYT, June 22, 1964, p. 12.

  fn “The Catholic church”: Very Reverend Monsignor John P. Burns to MLK, June 18, 1964, with (attached) Chancellor Irvine Nugent to Burns, quoting Archbishop Hurley, June 18, 1964, A/KP20f41.

  King awakened his former professor: Int. Harold DeWolf, May 9, 1983.

  26: BOGUE CHITTO SWAMP

  Louise Hermey of Drew: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 34, 41-43; Dittmer, Local People, p. 248.

  “we’re all sitting here”: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, pp. 25-26.

  nestled within a cluster: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 248, 255.

  “felt a prickly sensation”: Mary King, Freedom Song, p. 378.

  spread through emergency networks: Ibid., pp. 378-82; Holt, The Summer, pp. 189-90; Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart, pp. 271-73; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 318-19.

  “We’ve had discussions all winter”: Belfrage, Freedom Summer, p. 17.

  Rita Schwerner appeared: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 320-21.

  “It suddenly became clear”: Belfrage, Freedom Summer, p. 18.

  Moses drifted into solitary: Ibid. Hampton, Voices of Freedom, p. 190; int. Dorothy Zellner, Dec. 12, 1991.

  “You are not responsible”: Int. Victoria Gray Adams, May 14, 1991.

  Edwin King passed along: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 347; Mary King, Freedom Song, p. 382; Holt, The Summer, p. 190.

  James Farmer got through: Lee White, memorandum to the files, June 23, 1964, Ex HU2/ST24, LBJ.

  “Developments COFO”: Thomas to Lowenstein, June 22, 1964, b9f315, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  civic-minded local woman: Mars, Witness, pp. 84-86.

  just after the local FBI agent: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 322-23.

  “If they’re missing”: NYT, June 23, 1964, p. 13.

  led by an insurance executive: Mars, Witness, p. 92.

  into the Turner Furniture Store: Reflections of Claude Sitton and Karl Fleming at the University of Mississippi symposium “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

  “I’ll tell you what”: Ibid.

  “basic contribution to our”: PPP, June 22, 1964, pp. 799-800.

  At 5:20, he informed: Mary King, Freedom Song, pp. 383-84; Holt, The Summer, p. 192.

  Marshall reached Robert Kennedy: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 324-25.

  Paul Good to “Just Sleaping”: Good, Trouble I’ve Seen, pp. 107-13.

  “3 in Rights Drive”: NYT, June 23, 1964, p. 1.

  escorted the Goodman parents: Mary King, Freedom Song, pp. 385-86.

  Joachim Prinz: Prinz to Meyer Feldman, June 24, 1964, and Lee White to Juanita Roberts (for LBJ), June 26, 1964, Ex HU2/ST24, LBJ.

  spotter planes: Holt, The Summer, pp. 192-93.

  Johnson stuck to his breakneck schedule: PDD, June 23, 1964.

  “Tell [McGeorge] Bundy to come on in.”: PDD, 5:51 P.M., June 22, 1964.

  Johnson told an impromptu: NYT, June 24, 1964, p. 1; PPP, June 23, 1964, pp. 802-8.

  “I think it’s the human”: RFK phone call with Jack Valenti, 3:11 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3831, Audiotape WH6406.13, LBJ.

  announcement that he would not run: NYT, June 24, 1964, p. 1.

  “How old are these kids?”: LBJ phone call with Nicholas Katzenbach, 3:35 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3832, Audiotape WH6406.13, LBJ.

  Marshall suggested: LBJ phone call with Burke Marshall, 3:51 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3834, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  “Jim, we got three kids”: LBJ phone call with James Eastland, 3:59 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3836, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  Proctor had roared: Whitehead, Attack on Terror, pp. 63-68; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, pp. 338-40.

  Sullivan had reviewed: Int. Joseph Sullivan, Feb. 3, 1991.

  “I wanted you to know”: LBJ phone call with J. Edgar Hoover, 4:05 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3837, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  five more phone calls: PDD, June 23, 1964. Hoover implied that the agents could not see through the car windows or open its doors to inspect for bodies. When Johnson impatiently asked “why in the hell they can’t take a crowbar,” Hoover improvised nervously. “Well, we’ve broken into the car,” he said. “We got the crowbars there within I guess about a half hour ago. And uh, broke open the doors, which couldn’t be opened any other way. And now they’re…getting the particles on the inside of the car out, and preserving such that can be preserved.” LBJ phone call with J. Edgar Hoover, 6:15 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3857, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  “offhand presumption”: LBJ phone call with J. Edgar Hoover, 7:15 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3869, Audiotape WH6406.15, LBJ.

  “expects ’em to turn up”: LBJ phone call with James Eastland, 4:25 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3845, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  fn “You better comb”: LBJ phone call with J. Edgar Hoover, 5:35 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3853, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ.

  “every facility of the department”: LBJ phone call with Robert McNamara, 5:44 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3855, Audiotape WH6406.14, LBJ; PDD, June 23, 1964.

  COFO headquarters within thirty minutes: Holt, The Summer, p. 193; Mary King, Freedom Song, p. 387.

  “The car has been found”: Belfrage, Freedom Summer, p. 21.

  Johnson conferred: PDD, 6:33 P.M. until 9:21 P.M., June 23, 1964; Burke Marshall Oral History, Oct. 28, 1968, LBJ; int. Burke Marshall, Sept. 26, 1984; int. John Doar, May 12, 1986; int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991; Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 327.

  “We got the ox in a ditch”: LBJ phone call with Allen Dulles, 7:05 P.M., June 23, 1964, Cit. 3868, Audiotape WH6406.15, LBJ.

  Robert Kennedy postponed: NYT, June 25, 1964, p. 1.

  eliciting cries of amazement: Aaron Henry Oral History, Sept. 12, 1970, LBJ.

  other federal buildings: Mary King, Freedom Song, p. 388.

  “I have arrived safely”: Prosecutive summary of Dec. 19, 1964, FMB-1613, p. 7.

  Spike successfully implored: Ibid., p. 389; int. Robert P. Moses by Joseph Sinsheimer, Dec. 5, 1984.

  Moses took a delegation: Stephan Bingham, “Mississippi Letter” of Feb. 15, 1965, p. 5, b32f367, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

  parried criticism: Int. Robert P. Moses, July 30, 1984.

  “It is a dreadful thing to say”: WP, June 29, 1964, cited in Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 350.

  caravan of movement cars: NYT, June 25, 1964, p. 1.

  unproductive interview: Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart, pp. 272-76.

  dramatic arrival of Allen Dulles: NYT, June 25, 1964, p. 1.

  “Why can’t the FBI”: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 352.

  At the Meridian airport: O’Reilly, Racial Matters, p. 165.

  “Send him down there, too!”: Int. Joseph Sullivan, Feb. 3, 1991; Whitehead, Attack on Terror, p. 75.

  “take over the investigation”: LBJ phone call with J. Edgar Hoover, 5:30 P.M., June 24, 1964, Cit. 3891, Audiotape WH6406.16, LBJ.

  “in the very able hands”: NYT, June 25, 1964, p. 18.

  He received the private entreaties: NYT, June 26, 1964, pp. 1, 15.

  briefings on Communist infiltration: Erle Johnson, Jr., to Gov. Paul Johnson, June 26, 1964, MSSC.

  most reliably in Alabama: Memo on information “Received at 4:05 P.M., June 25, 1964,” from Colonel Lingo, Alabama State Police, MSSC.

  reverse conspiracy: Reports by Sovereignty Commission investigator A. L. Hopkins dated June 29 and July 3, 1964, MSSC.

  “the manipulations of a soulless state”: Meridian Star, June 26, 1964, p. 1, cited in Huie, Three Lives, pp. 128-29.

  Rustin met with: Belfrage, Freedom Summer, p. 26.

  “Then it happened”: McAdam, Freedom Summer, p. 71.

  baths in backyard tubs: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, p. 42.

  “you feel the heat”: Ibid., p. 39.
r />   Ron Ridenhour turned up: NYT, June 25, 1964, p. 19, June 26, 1964, p. 14.

  armed posse hijacked two volunteers: NYT, June 27, 1964, p. 10.

  movement supporters flocked to Itta Bena: William Hodes letter to “folks,” “evening” of June 25, 1964, William Hodes Files, SHSW.

  far north as St. Louis: Int. William McGee, June 25, 1992.

  mayor of Hollandale: Affidavit of Stokely Carmichael regarding events after 5:30 P.M., June 25, 1964, A/MFDP2f4.

  Carmichael and Cobb continued: Affidavit of Stokely Carmichael regarding events after 10:30 P.M., June 25, 1964, A/MFDP2f4; affidavit of Charles Cobb regarding events after 10:30 P.M., June 25, 1964, A/MFDP2f4.

  Cobb found himself pleading: Int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 20, 1991.

  carefully prepared script: Int. Burke Marshall, Sept. 26, 1984; int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991.

  sympathized with Hoover’s complaint: Hoover memorandum of 1:15 P.M., June 26, 1964, regarding telephone call from Dulles and LBJ, FNCC-NR; Brennan to Sullivan re “Allen W. Dulles,” June 29, 1964, FNCC-NR; “Briefing by Mr. Allen W. Dulles re His Trip to Mississippi for the President,” June 26, 1964, Ex HU 2/ST 24, LBJ.

  “ought to review the number of agents”: LBJ phone call with Allen Dulles and J. Edgar Hoover, 1:17 P.M., June 26, 1964, Cit. 3921, Audiotape WH6406.17, LBJ.

  FBI agents had arrested: NYT, June 27, 1964, p. 10.

  “You dig it”: William Hodes letter to “folks,” June 26, 1964, William Hodes Files, SHSW.

  “that horror-ridden state”: NYT, June 27, 1964, p. 24.

  So did John Doar: Int. John Doar, May 12, 1986.

  Doar was hearing: Ibid.

  “The kids are dead.”: Belfrage, Freedom Summer, pp. 32-33.

  He nearly begged: Sutherland, Letters from Mississippi, p. 31.

  fn “We are fully committed”: Moses statement, June 27, 1964, A/SN54f8.

  untrained sympathizers stay out: Mary King, Freedom Song, p. 395.

  rolled south from Ohio: Cagin and Dray, We Are Not Afraid, p. 353.

  drag a fifty-mile stretch: NYT, June 28, 1964, p. 1.

  27: BEACHHEADS

  “Tell him I’ve sent eight helicopters”: PDD, 12:24 P.M., June 25, 1964.

  chronic Turkish-Greek violence: Ibid. NYT, June 26, 1964, p. 1; Newsweek, June 29, 1964, p. 28.