Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

tragedy in the Negro press: Jet, Dec. 31, 1964, pp. 56-63; Jet, Jan. 31, 1965, p. 58; PC, Dec. 19, 1964, p. 1; A. S. “Doc” Young, “The Mysterious Death of Sam Cooke,” five-part series in CDD, Jan. 1-4, 1965.

  claimed to possess: CDD, Jan. 11, 1965, p. 12.

  Maxwell Taylor dressed down: Gravel, ed., Pentagon Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 345-48.

  “Generals acting greatly offended”: Ibid., pp. 349-50; Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 398-99; NYT, Jan. 11, 1965, pp. 1, 3.

  “drop him off”: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Dec. 17, 1964, FR-NR.

  told friends of the prostitute chases: Log of Rustin phone contact with Rachelle Horowitz and Tom Kahn, Dec. 16, 1964, in ibid. Also Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 366.

  distress call on December 15: Report on Levison-Jones phone call in SAC, New York, to Director, Dec. 16, 1964, FK-633.

  suddenly realized: Int. Clarence Jones, Jan. 16, 1984, and Aug. 18, 1986.

  “I never want to see”: Ibid.; Branch, Parting, p. 860.

  “14 motion picture”: NYT, Dec. 18, 1964, p. 37.

  fn King recited the 1870: Ibid.

  claimed a crowd of ten thousand: Int. Cleveland Robinson, Oct. 28, 1983. Robinson said he raised money for the rally from singer Sammy Davis, Jr., and that his biggest disappointment was that Lionel Hampton was not able to bring his band on short notice from Puerto Rico.

  sit briefly with Malcolm X: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991; Young, Easy Burden, p. 325. (The Young memoir notes erroneously that the “well known photograph” of King and Malcolm was taken at this event.) Malcolm X referred to witnessing King’s armory speech in an interview with reporter Claude Lewis. Gallen, As They Knew Him, p. 169.

  In his speech: “Address to the Harlem Community Salute,” Dec. 17, 1964, Tape No. 27, A/KS.

  parable of the rich man Dives: Branch, Parting, pp. 12, 705.

  stopped off at the White House: NYT, Dec. 19, 1964, p. 32; King statement to Washington reporters, Dec. 18, 1964, A/KS; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 368.

  to steer King off three: Lee White to LBJ, Dec. 18, 1964, Diary Back-up, Box 12, LBJ.

  fn On the Nobel trip: NYT, Dec. 8, 1964, p. 53; King address in City Temple Hall, London, Dec. 7, 1964, A/KS; “King Advocates Congo Withdrawal,” NYT, Dec. 14, 1964, p. 3. Among King’s Nobel Prize papers is a note from Clarence Jones urging him to mention the 1960 Peace Prize won by Chief Albert Luthuli, in order to “forge a link or bond between the US Civil Rts Movement and the African (or So African) Liberation Movement.” Nobel Prize speech drafts, A/KP18f33 and A/KP12f67.

  fn introduction of television: NYT, Nov. 10, 1964, p. 1.

  send them a copy: Lee White to MLK, Jan. 6, 1965, Diary Back-up, Box 12, LBJ.

  Clark’s son Ramsey: Ramsey Clark Oral History by H. T. Baker, March 21, 1969, LBJ.

  “Now what’s Georgia doing?”: Juanita Roberts note, Diary Back-up, Box 12, LBJ.

  retrieve Ralph and Juanita: PDD, Dec. 18, 1964, LBJ.

  encountered Fannie Lou Hamer: Mills, This Little Light, pp. 140-44; Breitman, ed., Malcolm X Speaks, pp. 105-36; Malcolm X speech at the Williams Institutional Church, New York, Dec. 20, 1964, Audiotape C-185, SCRBC.

  “I go for that”: Ibid, p. 134.

  fn “Malcolm Favors a Mau Mau in U.S.”: NYT, Dec. 21, 1964, p. 20.

  “I’m not interested”: Gallen, As They Knew Him, pp. 171-73.

  retained bruised memories: Summary of Clarence Jones-King phone call of December 21, 1964, in New York LHM dated Dec. 23, 1964, FK-NR.

  paralyzed with dissension: Forman, Black Revolutionaries, pp. 411-40.

  Moses was opposing: Int. Robert P. Moses, July 31, 1984, Feb. 15, 1991; int. Lawrence Guyot, Feb. 1, 1991.

  withdrew from deliberations: Dittmer, Local People, pp. 324-37.

  Guyot announced in Jackson: Informant report on MFDP meeting, Dec. 20, 1964, MSSC.

  Ryan revealed: Kinoy, Rights on Trial, p. 271.

  “the root cause of Mississippi injustices”: MLK press release and “Dear Congressman” letter of Dec. 24, 1964, A/KS; MLK mass telegram dated Jan. 3, 1965, A/KP24f27.

  Leon 4X Ameer: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 249, 308; Perry, Malcolm, p. 341.

  “It was he”: Malcolm X speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in Perry, Last Speeches, pp. 136-37; Goldman, Death and Life, p. 414.

  Atlantans were agitating: NYT, Dec. 29, 1964, p. 1.

  fn annual goodwill dinner: Allen, Mayor, pp. 94-95.

  first acknowledgment of controversy: “City’s Leaders Express Cautious, Mixed Feelings,” AC, Dec. 29, 1964, p. 2.

  since the announcement: Benjamin Mays of Morehouse wrote Mayor Ivan Allen on the day of the Nobel announcement, suggesting that Atlanta give King some “official recognition.” Mays to Allen, Oct. 15, 1964, A/KP15f31.

  told family that he did not care: Coretta King, My Life, p. 32.

  Abernathy was refusing: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  instructing the SCLC staff: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 366.

  overhead Coretta King worrying: Garrow, FBI and Martin, p. 133.

  agent took notes: SAC, New York, to Director, Dec. 30, 1964, FMX-203. The New York FBI office also recorded Malcolm’s appearance, but the verbatim transcript was not completed until January 14. “Remarks of Malcolm X on Les Crane Show on WABC-TV, Channel 7, 12/28/64,” transcript prepared Jan. 14, 1965, FMXNY-5392.

  by train to Philadelphia: Philadelphia LHM dated Jan. 19, 1965, FMX-NR, pp. 4-6.

  Malcolm would be shot: SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Dec. 29, 1964, FMXNY-5326.

  forming an alliance: SAC, Boston, to Director, Dec. 30, 1964, FMXNY-5330.

  Malcolm called home: SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Dec. 30, 1964, FMXNY-5328.

  Malcolm X received a delegation: Breitman, ed., Malcolm X Speaks, p. 137.

  “Excuse me for raising”: Ibid., p. 144.

  “That’s what split the Muslim movement”: Breitman, Last Year, p. 17.

  39: TO THE VALLEY: THE DOWNWARD KING

  drive from Atlanta to Selma: Int. Ralph Abernathy, Nov. 19, 1984; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 372.

  joint quarters in the guest room: Int. Jean and Sullivan Jackson, May 27, 1990.

  shared many ties: Ibid. Also int. Amelia Boynton Robinson, Aug. 9, 1990; int. Marie Foster, Aug. 8, 1990; int. L. L. Anderson, May 27, 1990; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

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

  “forty colored ladies of Selma”: Amelia Boynton to MLK, Nov. 30, 1963, A/KP21f10.

  Hare’s sweeping injunction: Fitts, Selma, p. 140; Garrow, Protest at Selma, p. 34.

  King’s scouts in Selma: Harry Boyte to R. T. Blackwell, “Report on Selma Visit Last Week,” Dec. 14, 1964, A/SC146f8; int. C. T. Vivian, May 26, 1990.

  fn “Segregation was not”: Hampton and Fayer, Voices, p. 216.

  Negro Elks Hall: Fitts, Selma, p. 140.

  down to the control of Selma sidewalks: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 5-6; Chestnut, Black in Selma, pp. 195-98.

  “Dr. King Due”: NYT, Jan. 1, 1965, p. 16; WP, Jan. 2, 1965, p. 2.

  Friday night’s Orange Bowl: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 4.

  “Today marks the beginning”: NYT, Jan. 3, 1964, p. 1; Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 10-11.

  to open the 89th Congress: NYT, Jan. 5, 1965, p. 1.

  “I’se de Mississippi”: Jet, Jan. 21, 1965, pp. 14-17; NYT, Jan. 5, 1965, p. 17.

  move to seat the five: Kinoy, Rights on Trial, pp. 272-75; Mills, This Little Light, pp. 152-54.

  Bill Moyers replied carefully: White House press briefing, 6:33 P.M., Jan. 4, 1965, “Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Box 1, LBJ.

  fn “tried harder here”: Garrow, Protest at Selma, p. 34.

  Katzenbach wanted time: Int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991; Garrow, Protest at Selma, pp. 35-39.

  constitutional amendment: Draft constitutional amendment dated Jan. 8, 1965, “Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Box 1, LBJ.

  “the first continental union”:
NYT, Jan. 5, 1964, p. 16.

  75 million viewers: Dave Waters to LBJ, Jan. 13, 1965, Box 367, WHCF-PR, LBJ.

  Coretta King called: Garrow, FBI and Martin, pp. 133-34; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 372-74.

  Abernathy was rushed in: Abernathy, Walls Came Tumbling, pp. 309-11, 472-73.

  fn Andrew Young remembered: Young, Easy Burden, pp. 328-29.

  interpretation was unanimous: Stokes Committee, Staff Reports, Book 3, pp. 158-61.

  They were too rattled: Int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983, May 17, 1990; int. Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985.

  “They are out to break me”: Garrow, FBI and Martin, p. 134.

  Eskridge was toughened: Int. Chauncey Eskridge, Feb. 20, 1985, Feb. 22, 1985; int. Yvonne Eskridge, Jan. 13, 1991.

  relationship with Stanley Levison: Int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983, May 17, 1990.

  Harvard’s Memorial Church: NYT, Jan. 11, 1965, p. 27.

  settled for DeLoach: Garrow, FBI and Martin, pp. 134-35; Young, Easy Burden, pp. 329-31; Abernathy, Walls Came Tumbling, pp. 311-12; Stokes Committee, Staff Reports, Book III, pp. 169-70.

  “gloated to his superiors”: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 377.

  spoke at Johns Hopkins: Log, A/SC29; Jan. 11, 1965, address on obsolete war, “Nonviolence or Nonexistence,” A/KS7.

  second Klan confession: NYT, Jan. 11, 1965, p. 1.

  three Greenwood plumbers: NYT, Jan. 8, 1965, p. 32.

  secretaries failed to appear: Clegg, An Original Man, p. 227.

  instructions from Captain Joseph: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  shot Brown in the back: Goldman, Death and Life, p. 250; Perry, Malcolm, p. 341.

  new alias: New York report dated Jan. 20, 1965, cover page A, FMX-215.

  Bevel stunned: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 25.

  first Selma youth rally: Mobile LHM dated Jan. 15, 1965, FDCA-275.

  “If you can’t vote”: Webb and Nelson, Selma, p. 6.

  block captains were elected: Bevel report to R. T. Blackwell, Jan. 12, 1965, A/SC146f8.

  From a downtown storefront: Int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997.

  tandem approach: Remarks by Silas Norman, Session No. 6, Trinity College SNCC reunion, 1988; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

  pitched their self-selected young newcomers: Ibid. Also int. Fay Bellamy, Oct. 29, 1991; int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 13, 1990; int. Charles Fager, Sept. 27, 1983; Charles Fager 1965 Oral History, Project Sough, SUARC.

  “Things are starting to move”: Soracco to “Dad and Ann,” Jan. 9, 1965, courtesy of Frank and Sandy Soracco.

  mass meeting at First Baptist: Mobile LHM dated Jan. 15, 1965, FDCA-275.

  “I am trying to get over”: MLK address of Jan. 14, 1965, Selma surveillance tape No. 7, BIR.

  Johnson called King: PDD, Jan. 15, 1965, LBJ; “Contacts with Civil Rights Leaders, 1963-68,” Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 382.

  recruitments intensified: Staff notes, Jan. 14, 1965, A/SN7.

  “students that refuse”: Staff notes, Jan. 15, 1965, A/SN7.

  continued negotiations: Garrow, Protest at Selma, p. 42.

  “begging on my knees”: Int. Sheriff Robert “Cotton” Nichols, May 28, 1990.

  “Mrs. Anderson has so many”: Staff notes, Jan. 16, 1965, A/SN7.

  first skirmish: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 26-29; STJ, Jan. 18, 1965, p. 1; Rosen to Belmont, Jan. 18, 1965, FDCA-275x7.

  Robinson slugged him once: Paul Good, “States Rights Partisan Slugs Dr. King in Hotel,” WP, Jan. 19, 1965, p. 1.

  serious consternation in the Justice Department: Rosen to Belmont, Jan. 18, 1965, FDCA-275x10; SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 18, 1965, FDCA-275x21.

  “Commander! Commander!”: Int. Sheriff Robert “Cotton” Nichols, May 28, 1990.

  “rumblings of discontent”: STJ, Jan. 19, 1965, p. 1.

  “And charge ’em with what?”: Raines, My Soul, pp. 214-17.

  Clark ordered their arrest: NYT, Jan. 20, 1965, p. 1.

  “Don’t be scared”: Webb and Nelson, Selma, p. 27.

  “It was no surprise to me”: Bevel address of Jan. 19, 1965, Selma surveillance tape No. 8, BIR.

  “out of control”: WP, Jan. 20, 1965, p. 1.

  Wednesday in three waves: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 20, 1965, FDCA-275x26.

  1.2 million: WP, April 6, 1992, pp. 1, 20.

  frostbitten crowd: Reeves, Profile of Power, p. 35.

  “the first Inauguration”: Jet, Feb. 4, 1965, pp. 6-10.

  Turnbow, who declared: Mary King, Freedom Song, pp. 352-53.

  Johnson’s telegram: LBJ telegram to MLK, Jan. 18, 1965, A/KP26f8.

  “wrestles with all the time”: Bromley Smith minutes, LBJ meeting with congressional leaders, Jan. 22, 1965, Box 18-19, McGeorge Bundy Office Files, LBJ.

  fn “We are faced here”: Taylor to LBJ, Jan. 6, 1965, quoted in McNamara, In Retrospect, pp. 165-66.

  procession of teachers: Webb and Nelson, Selma, pp. 34-37; Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 36-40; Chestnut, Black in Selma, pp. 199-200; Young, Easy Burden, p. 349; Raines, My Soul, pp. 242-43; Hampton and Fayer, Voices, pp. 218-19; int. Amelia Boynton Robinson, Aug. 9, 1990; int. Marie Foster, Aug. 8, 1990.

  3:24 P.M. Friday: Mobile LHM dated Jan. 29, 1965, FDCA-276, p. 1.

  “three hundred Negro children”: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 22, 1965, FDCA-267.

  Reese declared: F. D. Reese Oral History of March 13, 1978, by Larry D. Vasser, Alabama Historical Commission, BIR. Twenty years later, Bernard Lee said the teachers’ march “helped a heck of a lot more than people realized, because it settled the question of the legitimacy of the movement.” Int. Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985.

  speaking trip to Canada: Breitman, ed., Malcolm X Speaks, p. 216.

  fought off a Friday night ambush: Goldman, Death and Life, p. 250.

  “I saw the man knock him”: Malcolm X, lecture of Jan. 24, 1965, in Afro-American History, p. 44.

  “A very bad situation has set in”: Ibid., p. 47; also Tape C-190, SCRBC.

  issued a court order: TRO of Jan. 23, 1965, in Amelia P. Boynton, James Gildersleeve, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, Louis Lloyd Anderson et al. v. James G. Clark, Jr., Sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama, et al., Civil Action No. 3559-65, text sent to FBI headquarters with SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 23, 1965, FDCA-263. Judge Thomas wrote that the Boynton case covered issues “substantially similar” to the Justice Department’s complaint filed the previous summer, United States v. James G. Clark, Jr., Sheriff of Dallas County, et al., Civil Action No. 3438-64, which was still pending.

  “segregationist judge”: Bevel address of Jan. 24, 1965, cited in Mobile LHM dated Jan. 29, 1965, FDCA-276, p. 4.

  authorities felt betrayed: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 41-43.

  specific tribes in Africa: Chestnut, Black in Selma, pp. 172-86.

  “Y’all don’t treat”: Ibid., p. 186.

  Baker ordered one dragged: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 25, 1965, FDCA-265.

  one of the two women fired: Amelia Boynton to MLK, Nov. 30, 1963, A/KP21f10; Fager, Selma 1965, p. 45, Branch, Parting, pp. 921-22.

  “I probably hit”: Jet, Feb. 11, 1965, pp. 6-9.

  mass meeting at Tabernacle: Mobile LHM dated Jan. 29, 1965, FDCA-276, p. 7.

  “They are not just running”: Bevel and Anderson remarks at mass meeting of Jan. 25, 1965, Selma surveillance tape No. 5, BIR.

  “I have a psychological theory”: King remarks at mass meeting of Jan. 25, 1965, Selma surveillance tapes Nos. 1-3, BIR.

  “Is there no balm”: Jeremiah 8:22.

  “I don’t believe in half”: Abernathy remarks at mass meeting of Jan. 25, 1965, Selma surveillance tapes Nos. 4-5, BIR.

  “People held their sides”: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 46.

  Baker ordered the arrest: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 26, 1965, FDCA-271; Garrow, Protest at Selma, p. 45.

  Nobel Prize dinner: NYT, Jan. 28, 1965, p. 15; Jet, Feb. 11, 1965, pp. 26-28; Rain
es, My Soul, pp. 454-62; Allen, Mayor, pp. 95-99; Int. Eugene Patterson, April 6, 1991; Pomerantz, Where Peachtree, pp. 334-40; Allen, Secret Formula, pp. 337-39; Greene, Temple Bombing, pp. 414-25.

  Sullivan made another clandestine plea: Garrow, FBI and Martin, pp. 135-36.

  dispatch to the White House: Hoover to Moyers, Jan. 22, 1965, FK-756.

  “We could get shot”: Pomerantz, Where Peachtree, p. 338.

  “You know how when”: Raines, My Soul, p. 461.

  McGill saluted King: Recorded tributes, Jan. 28 (sic), 1965, A/KS.

  “To think that this”: Greene, Temple Bombing, p. 422.

  Rabbi Rothschild presented: Remarks of Jan. 27, 1965, Box 15, Item 16; 1965 recollections, “One Man’s Meat,” Box 15, Item 28; MLK to Rothschild, March 8, 1965, Box 6, Item 13; Hallinan to Rothschild, Feb. 5, 1965, Box 6, Item 14. All in Jacob Rothschild Papers, EU.

  variations on his Nobel: MLK address of Jan. 27, 1965, A/KS. The benediction by Ralph Abernathy is preserved in A/SC59f12.

  “Dear Boss”: Pomerantz, Where Peachtree, p. 340.

  next night’s staff review: Garrow, Protest at Selma, p. 47.

  fifty-seven Negro applicants: Jet, Feb. 11, 1965, p. 8.

  to go to jail Monday: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 382.

  40: SAIGON, AUDUBON, AND SELMA

  Huynh Thi Yen Phi: NYT, Jan. 27, 1964, p. 3.

  “We are losing the war”: Ibid., p. 1.

  “sweated down two or three pair”: Johnson, White House Diary, p. 232.

  “a short but explosive”: McNamara, In Retrospect, pp. 166-68. See also the related John T. McNaughton memo, Jan. 4, 1965, Doc. No. 247, in Gravel, ed., Pentagon Papers, Vol. 3, pp. 683-84.

  Rusk narrowly disagreed: Rusk, As I Saw It, p. 447.

  Taylor explored ways to overthrow: Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 399-400.

  “still the best hope”: Ibid.

  “The current situation”: McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 170.

  make him the scapegoat: Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, pp. 332-35.

  “No good general”: Taylor to RFK, Feb. 11, 1965, Box 12, Corr: Personal 64-68, T65, RFK Senate Papers, JFK.

  Malcolm X flew to Los Angeles: Perry, Malcolm, pp. 342-43; Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 250-51.

  “If these cases aren’t hurried”: Chicago Tribune, Feb. 25, 1965, in File No. 589, RS, CHS; Los Angeles LHM dated Sept. 2, 1965, FMX-417.