Pillar of Fire

by Taylor Branch

  meet him at the Statler Hilton: Los Angeles LHM dated Feb. 4, 1965, FMXNY-5526.

  secretaries slipped out: LAT, Feb. 23, 1965, p. 1.

  Malcolm X called his ally Wallace Muhammad: LAPD Intelligence Division to Chicago PD Intelligence Unit, Feb. 4, 1965, File No. 589, RS, CHS.

  Wallace opposed the idea: Int. Ronald Shaheed, Sept. 24, 1997; int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 18, 1994.

  “They had gotten so insane”: Malcolm X speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in Clark, ed., Final Speeches, p. 113.

  through the basement baggage room: Los Angeles LHM dated Feb. 4, 1965, FMXNY-5526, p. 2.

  Malcolm declared that the teaching: Ibid., pp. 3-4.

  At Chicago’s O’Hare Airport: Int. Thomas Decker, Nov. 27, 1991; SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, Feb. 4, 1965, FMXNY-5527.

  Malcolm arranged a clandestine meeting: Perry, Malcolm, pp. 343-44; Chicago’s American, Feb. 1965, in File No. 589, RS, CHS.

  ten hours over three days: SAC, Chicago, to Director, Feb. 15, 1965, FMX-239; Director to SAC, New York, Feb. 17, 1965, FMX-228, p. 2.

  Wallace said Malcolm’s purpose: Int. Ronald Shaheed, Sept. 24, 1997; int. Agieb Bilal, Nov. 18, 1994.

  forbidding him to receive Islamic material: WP, Nov. 8, 1963, p. 3.

  proved that the Nation: Int. Thomas Decker, Nov. 27, 1991.

  Kup’s Show: Goldman, Death and Life, p. 251.

  “I’ve gotten older”: SAC, Chicago, to Director, Feb. 4, 1965, FMX-230.

  departed the studios of WBKB-TV: SAC, Chicago, to Director, Jan. 31, 1965, FMX-216; Chicago Sun-Times, April 5, 1965.

  astonished that the attackers: Int. Thomas Decker, Nov. 27, 1991.

  fn Cooper v. Pate: Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1965; int. Thomas Decker, Nov. 26, 1991.

  “nine or ten members”: New York LHM dated Feb. 4, 1965, FMXNY-5528.

  Newspapers reported his destination: The Alabama Journal of Jan. 28, 1965, said Malcolm was to visit Montgomery or Selma, and the Tuskegee Grams reported on Jan. 22, 1965, that he would visit Tuskegee on Feb. 3. SAC, Mobile, to Director, Jan. 29, 1965, FMX-NR.

  He sent Eskridge secretly: Wiretap intercepts of Feb. 1, 6, and 8, 1965, in SAC, Phoenix, to Director, Feb. 11, 1965, FEM-NR.

  King rallied volunteers: Mobile LHM dated Feb. 5, 1965, FDCA-324, pp. 1-3.

  “I think this is most”: King ABC news statement of Feb. 1, 1965 (misdated as Feb. 2), A/KS.

  “At approximately 10:42”: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 1, 1965, FDCA-288.

  tactic designed to ensure: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 49.

  “And he said”: STJ, Feb. 1, 1965, p. 1.

  Cheers erupted: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 52-53.

  Baker appealed to King: Int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 12-14, 1990, Oct. 21, 1997; int. Sheriff Robert “Cotton” Nichols, May 28, 1990.

  “Dr. King and 770”: NYT, Feb. 2, 1965, p. 1.

  “520 More Seized”: NYT, Feb. 3, 1965, p. 1.

  “Sing one more freedom song”: NYT, Feb. 4, 1965, p. 1.

  “three hundred more in Selma”: Ibid. Also, SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 3, 1965, FDCA-290; SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 3, 1965, FDCA-295.

  King was settled with Abernathy: STJ, Feb. 3, 1965, p. 2.

  Waldorf-Astoria stationery: MLK notes, “Do following…,” A/KP22f6; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 383-85.

  Young called Clarence Jones: SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 3, 1965, FK-790.

  White advised President Johnson: White to LBJ, “Message from Dr. Martin Luther King,” Feb. 3, 1965, EX HU2/ST1, LBJ.

  “An alternative which King”: Ibid.

  Prathia Hall arrived: Notes of Feb. 4, 1965, headed “Miss Prathia Hall made this report last night,” A/SN94.

  “number 3 tubs”: Ibid.

  Disputes broke out: Fay Bellamy’s minutes of the Thursday staff meeting, which she took just after escorting Malcolm X to Selma, reflect that some staff members blamed lazy or ideologically conservative NAACP staff lawyers from New York for job firings and jail conditions in Perry County. “I, Fay Bellamy, personally think the above idea is sort of ridiculous,” she added to her minutes. “I must say that NAACP lawyers have been working their butts off with no play time in between.” Staff meeting notes, Feb. 4, 1965, A/SN7.

  three thousand students squeezed: Mobile LHM dated Feb. 8, 1965, FMX-237.

  “some of its time getting peace”: The Campus Digest (Tuskegee student newspaper), Feb. 13, 1965, p. 1; Clark, ed., Final Speeches, pp. 20-22.

  “How is Viola?”: Int. Fay Bellamy, Oct. 29, 1991.

  arrive in Selma at 9:47: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 4, 1965, FDCA-306.

  “Why are you here today?”: Malcolm X press conference of Feb. 4, 1965, Selma surveillance tape No. 10, BIR.

  a spokesman followed: STJ, Feb. 4, 1965, p. 1.

  protracted staff debate: Int. Fay Bellamy, Oct. 29, 1991; int. Charles Fager, Sept. 27, 1983; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990; int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 12-14, 1990; int. C. T. Vivian, May 26, 1990; Jet, March 11, 1965, pp. 28-30.

  “I’m a field Negro”: Clark, ed., Final Speeches, p. 27.

  “I’m not intending”: Ibid., p. 28.

  Diane Nash Bevel came to sit with him: Int. Diane Nash, April 26, 1990, Oct. 26, 1997.

  Malcolm told Coretta King: Hampton and Fayer, Voices of Freedom, pp. 221-22.

  drove away at 12:40 P.M.: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 4, 1965, FDCA-306, p. 2.

  “Segregation is the invention”: “Notes—Feb. 1-5, 1965, MLK in jail,” A/KP22f6.

  refusing visits that day: Washington Evening Star, Feb. 5, 1965, p. 3.

  “I should like to say”: NYT, Feb. 5, 1965, pp. 1, 14; PPP, LBJ’s thirty-seventh news conference, Feb. 4, 1965, pp. 131-39; Garrow, Protest at Selma, pp. 51-52.

  Judge Thomas’s latest federal: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 58; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 385.

  “call Jack tonight”: “Notes—Feb. 1-5, 1965, MLK in jail,” A/KP22f6.

  audit that week: Francis A. Covington to Abernathy, Feb. 6, 1965, A/SC55f13.

  fn FBI informant, James Harrison: Garrow, FBI and Martin, pp. 175-79, 201; Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 468, 715.

  Rustin had signed: Int. Bayard Rustin, Sept. 24, 1984; “Teachers’ Groups Battle Over Dr. King’s Support,” Philadelphia Bulletin, Jan. 25, 1965; Patrick H. Hughes, Jr., to MLK, Jan. 24, 1965, A/KP19f28; MLK statement on “the collective bargaining election of Philadelphia teachers,” Jan. 28, 1965, A/KS.

  King hated jail: Int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  Vivian led a march: STJ, Feb. 5, 1965, p. 1.

  second march of 450: Ibid. Also SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 5, 1965, FDCA-314.

  firing his revolver: NYT, Feb. 6, 1965, p. 10.

  At 1:12 P.M.: Mobile LHM dated Feb. 12, 1965, FDCA-341, p. 2.

  smudge of lipstick: NYT, Feb. 6, 1965, p. 10.

  six members: Identified tentatively as Harry Wachtel, Bayard Rustin, Clarence Jones, Cleveland Robinson, Walter Fauntroy, and Michael Harrington. New York LHM dated Feb. 8, 1965, FK-NR. FBI surveillance agents confirmed seeing Rustin enter 575 Madison Avenue at 12:55 P.M. and “take the elevator to the fifth floor,” where Wachtel’s office was located. SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 8, 1965, FR-NR, p. 3.

  expressed dismay by telephone: Int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983, Nov. 29, 1983; int. Bayard Rustin, Sept. 24, 1984.

  “THIS IS SELMA”: NYT, Feb. 6, 1965, p. 15.

  fifteen members of Congress: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 384.

  King was depressed: Int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983, Nov. 29, 1983; int. Bayard Rustin, Sept. 24, 1984; int. Clarence Jones, Nov. 25, 1983; int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991.

  press conference for three o’clock: Mobile LHM dated Feb. 12, 1965, FDCA-341, pp. 2-3.

  “Dr. King to Seek”: NYT, Feb. 6, 1965, p. 1.

  “Where the hell does he”: Int. Lee White, Dec. 13, 1983, Dec. 3, 1991; int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983.

  “grandstanding”: Ibid.

  Jones over an FBI wiretap: N
ew York LHM dated Feb. 8, 1965, FK-NR, p. 5.

  “strong recommendation”: NYT, Feb. 7, 1965, p. 1.

  a disaster near the mountain village of Pleiku: NYT, Feb. 7, 1965, p. 1; Karnow, Vietnam, pp. 427-428; McNamara, In Retrospect, pp. 170-71.

  “is not behind us”: Bromley Smith, “Summary Notes of 545th NSC Meeting,” Feb. 6, 1965, Meeting Notes File, Box 1, LBJ.

  overrode Mansfield: Ibid. Also William P. Bundy Oral History by Paige E. Mulhollan, May 26, 1969, pp. 7-12, LBJ.

  “chronology of the crisis”: NYT, Feb. 8, 1965, p. 14.

  “hatless, tense and pale”: Ibid.

  Aboard Air Force One: Johnson, Vantage Point, p. 126; Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 3, pp. 308-15.

  “sustained reprisal against the North”: McGeorge Bundy, “A Policy of Sustained Reprisal,” Feb. 7, 1965, Gravel, Pentagon Papers, Vol. 3, pp. 687-91.

  rushed to catch up: SAC, Mobile, to Director, 12:43 A.M., Feb. 6, 1965, FDCA-320; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 2:01 P.M., Feb. 6, 1965, FDCA-311; NYT, Feb. 7, 1965, p. 44.

  “hornet’s nest”: SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 7, 1965, FK-852.

  most Wachtel could wheedle: Int. Lee White, Dec. 13, 1983, Dec. 3, 1991; int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983.

  Jones negotiated a press release: SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 7, 1965, FK-857; Hoover to the Attorney General, Feb. 8, 1965, FDCA-389.

  King released late Sunday: NYT, Feb. 7, 1976, p. 17.

  White was recommending: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 386-87.

  Bevel led fifty volunteers: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 8, 1965, FDCA-391.

  sham reform: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 59, 64.

  three visiting whites: Ibid., p. 65.

  “shaking with anger”: NYT, Feb. 9, 1965, p. 17.

  “Bevel was roughed up somewhat”: STJ, Feb. 9, 1965, p. 2.

  King urged citizens: Ibid., p. 1; NYT, Feb 9, 1965, p. 17.

  Williams tried to convince: NYT, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 18.

  gathered late Tuesday afternoon with Harry Wachtel: WS, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 1; CDD, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 1; SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 8, 1965, FDCA-392.

  Rauh submitted a rough draft: “Proposal submitted by Joseph Rauh,” Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ.

  King had kept silent as promised: Lee White to LBJ, Feb. 8, 1965, Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ.

  anxious looks from Wachtel: Int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983.

  “We can’t forget”: Transcript of Feb. 9, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, LBJ.

  “the situation is by no means”: Ibid.

  “Bundy Gives an Optimistic”: NYT, Feb. 9, 1965, p. 12.

  Bundy emphasized: Karnow, Vietnam, p. 428; William P. Bundy Oral History by Paige E. Mulhollan, May 26, 1969, pp. 10-11, LBJ. Those privy to Bundy’s occasional comments about the savagery of Vietcong terrorism faulted or admired his rare slips of patriotic emotion. “For example, John Macy was amazed at lunch yesterday to hear from McGeorge Bundy the nature of Viet Nam terrorism,” Bill Moyers wrote Johnson that same day, recommending a candid speech on the war. “Two or three paragraphs by you on this subject, in some detail, would have considerable impact.” Moyers to LBJ, Feb. 9, 1965, Box 10, Moyers Papers, LBJ.

  White chased after Humphrey: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, p. 388; int. Harry Wachtel, Oct. 27, 1983.

  statement drafted: “Suggested King Statement,” Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ.

  shaped front-page news: “President Promises Dr. King Vote Move,” NYT, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 1; “Johnson Plans to Speed Rights Pace, King Says,” WS, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 1; “President Given King Views on Vote Situation,” STJ, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 2.

  detained Malcolm X: Legat, Paris, to Director, Feb. 11, 1965, FMX-233.

  “trouble the public order”: New York Herald Tribune, European Edition, Feb. 10, 1965, FMX-235.

  expressed shock: New York LHM dated Feb. 11, 1965, FMX234.

  “absolutely unnoticed”: Lecture at the London School of Economics, Feb. 10, 1965, in Clark, ed., Final Speeches, pp. 46-64; Tape C-190, side 2, SRBC.

  “got it going”: Ibid. Some portions of the tape are difficult to understand. Clark renders this phrase, “got it and gone.”

  By FBI count: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 10, 1965, FDCA-330.

  “Let Our Parish Vote”: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 65-66.

  “a ludicrous game”: STJ, Feb. 10, 1965, p. 1.

  Clark posted a rear guard: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 10, 1965, FDCA-330.

  Some stopped to vomit.: Webb and Nelson, Selma, Lord Selma, pp. 66-67; Time, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 23.

  Letha Mae Stover: NYT, April 28, 1965, p. 22.

  meetings Wednesday night: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 19, 1965, FDCA-346.

  “aware of our groans”: MLK mass meeting remarks, Feb. 10, 1965, Selma surveillance tape No. 10, BIR.

  midnight strategy session: King left Brown Chapel for the Torch Motel meeting at 10:54 P.M. SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 19, 1965, FDCA-346.

  King’s pained recommendation: Fairclough, To Redeem, p. 238.

  “Negroes Don’t Know”: MA, Feb. 9, 1965, p. 1.

  “in order to get”: Minutes, Feb. 10, 1965, “Wednesday night at the Torch Motel,” A/SN7.

  “no sense of political timing”: Wiretap summary of MLK-Clarence Jones conversation, New York LHM dated Feb. 16, 1965, FMXNY-5586, pp. 2-4. Belafonte did arrange a truce meeting toward the end of April. CD, May 5, 1965, p. 4.

  fn “tries to solve racial”: WP, Feb. 7, 1965, p. E1.

  fell hardest upon Diane Nash Bevel: Int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997; int. James Bevel, May 17, 1985; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990; int. Andrew Young, Oct. 26, 1991; int. Bernard Lee, June 19, 1985; int. Charles Fager, Sept. 27, 1983; int. John Lewis, June 8, 1983; int. Hosea Williams, Oct. 29, 1991; int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 13, 1990.

  “playing to a worldwide audience”: STJ, Feb 11, 1965, p. 1.

  “I’m human, too”: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 67.

  threatened to arrest Clark: Remarks of Charles Quinn at the University of Mississippi symposium, “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

  kill any students: Int. Sheriff Robert “Cotton” Nichols, May 28, 1990.

  march four times larger: NYT, Feb. 12, 1965, p. 58.

  shackled to a hospital bed: WP, Feb. 12, 1965, p. 2; Chicago Tribune, Feb. 12, 1965; NYT, Feb. 12, 1965, p. 58; int. Bernard Lafayette, May 28, 1990.

  hounded the Justice Department: Mobile LHM dated Feb. 13, 1965, FDCA-335; int. Diane Nash, Oct. 26, 1997.

  collapsed early that morning: NYT, Feb. 13, 1965, p. 1.

  “Thus ended”: Ibid., p. 17.

  chapel pews of Gammon Theological Seminary to “Did he mean it”: Int. Robert P. Moses, July 31, 1984; Forman, The Making, pp. 348-39; Sellers, The River, pp. 137-41; int. John Lewis by Archie Allen, pp. 184-85, AAP; int. Cleveland Sellers, Dec. 14, 1983; int. Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael), Jan. 31, 1984; int. Charles Cobb, Aug. 20, 1991; int. Fay Bellamy, Oct. 29, 1991; int. Michael Sayer, June 25, 1992; unsigned informant report headed, “Atlanta, Georgia/February 11-16, 1965,” MSSC; Branch, Parting, pp. 325-28.

  Malcolm X returned home: Malcolm X, The Autobiography, pp. 427-28.

  fire alarm at 2:46 A.M.: New York LHM dated Feb. 16, 1965, FMX-246; NYT, Feb. 15, 1965, p. 1.

  having hustled barefoot in underwear: Goldman, Death and Life, pp. 262-63; SAC, Detroit, to Director, Feb. 17, 1965, FMX-NR; Malcolm X speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in Clark, ed., Final Speeches, p. 135.

  Qubilah complained: WP, June 3, 1997, p. 3.

  “collection of $200”: SAC, Detroit, to Director, Feb. 17, 1965, FMX-NR.

  conspiracy theories: Nation of Islam officials charged that Malcolm firebombed the home to spite them, because they were on the verge of having him evicted from property owned by the Nation. (Under court order, Malcolm did vacate the badly damaged house four days later.) This allegation received sca
ttered support ranging from FBI reports and Malcolm’s critics to a biographer. SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 14, 1965, FMX-241; NYT, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 31; Clark, ed., Final Speeches, pp. 120, 195-99; Perry, Malcolm, pp. 351-56.

  fn “I know he didn’t”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

  “Elijah Muhammad could stop”: Malcolm X New York speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in Clark, ed., Final Speeches, p. 124.

  “I have to straighten out”: Malcolm X Detroit speech of Feb. 14, 1965, in ibid., p. 83.

  “dropping bombs on dark-skinned people”: Malcolm X Rochester speech of Feb. 16, 1965, in ibid., p. 150.

  “Think of this”: Malcolm X New York speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in ibid., p. 136.

  “so complex that it was impossible”: Malcolm X Rochester speech of Feb. 16, 1965, in ibid., p. 170.

  talks at the Hotel Albert: Fager, Selma 1965, p. 69.

  More than four hundred of these: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 15, 1965, FDCA-339.

  “I filled out the form”: NYT, Feb. 16, 1965, p. 18.

  “about 150 Negroes were so inspired”: Ibid.

  Vivian tried to lead: Garrow, Bearing the Cross, pp. 390-91.

  Nuns crowded around King: NYT, Feb. 17, 1965, p. 35.

  addressed a voting rally: Ibid.

  church in Lowndes County: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 15, 1965, FDCA-345; SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 16, 1965, FDCA-351.

  “The similarity will certainly shock you.”: STJ, Feb. 16, 1965.

  “the ultimate expression”: “Sanity and Realism Must Come to Selma,” STJ, Feb. 18, 1965, p. 1.

  “Virus Fells King”: CDD, Feb. 18, 1965, p. 1.

  FBI wiretap picked up Ralph Abernathy: New York LHM dated Feb. 18, 1965, FK-NR. Abernathy appealed to Bayard Rustin, who obtained the money from Wachtel.

  “Selma still isn’t right!”: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 70-71. King stayed afterward for a strategy session, missing his flight to Atlanta. He stayed overnight at the Sullivan Jackson home in Selma, and left for home Thursday morning. SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 18, 1965, FDCA-358.

  fn “The naked boldness”: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 18, 1965, FK-917.

  irate sentiment prevailed: Fager, Selma 1965, pp. 72-73.

  overflowed Mount Zion Baptist: Int. C. T. Vivian, May 26, 1990; int. Willie Bolden, May 14, 1992; Hampton and Fayer, Voices, pp. 222-23.