At Canaan's Edge (142 page)

King began weekly slum residence: NYT, Jan. 21, 1966, p. 27; CD, Jan. 22–28, 1966, p. 1;
Chicago Tribune,
Jan. 27, 1966; “Showdown Looms: Moral Power Against Poverty Profiteers,”
Jet,
Feb. 10, 1966, pp. 14–20.

reported the
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Tribune,
Jan. 23, 1966, p. 3.

“I can learn more about the situation”: Ralph,
Northern,
p. 55.

A crowd of several hundred waited: NYT, Jan. 27, 1966, p. 37; Ralph,
Northern,
p. 55; Cohen and Taylor,
Pharaoh,
pp. 360–61.

“The smell of urine was overpowering”: King,
My Life,
pp. 278–79.

Speech at Chicago Theological Seminary: MLK log, January 1966, A/SC131f9.

Vice Lords gang stayed: CD, Jan. 29–Feb. 3, 1966, p. 1.

“Great God a'mighty”: Ibid.

on Daddy King's side: Ibid.; Reddick,
Crusader,
p. 42.

“Family life not only educates”: Address, University of Chicago, Jan. 27, 1966, A/SC28f22.

he scrawled an instruction to himself: Ibid.

His advisers expressed mild optimism: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 460.

“All of us, like Dr. King”: Cohen and Taylor,
Pharaoh,
pp. 362–63.

lacking from his duplicate apartment: Abernathy,
Walls,
p. 371; CD, Feb. 12–18, 1966, p. 1.

a call in Chicago on the priest Richard Morrisroe: Junius Griffin to MLK, Jan. 28, 1966, A/KP34f18.

hospitalized and said to be neglected:
Jet,
Jan. 27, 1966, pp. 50–52.

Stokely Carmichael had been among his few movement visitors: Int. Richard Morrisroe, May 22, 2003, Feb. 7, 2004. Carmichael had visited Morrisroe in Montgomery the previous September, before his condition was stable enough for transfer to Oak Park Hospital just outside Chicago.

“A Lonely Johnson Weighs Bombing”: NYT, Jan. 28, 1966, p. 1.

fifteen senators had released a joint letter: “15 in Senate Urge President Extend Pause in Bombing,” ibid.; PDD, Jan. 27, 1966, p. 3, LBJ.

“This was a fire fight”: Halberstam,
Powers,
pp. 503–4.

“with two hundred or four hundred thousand”: Fulbright,
Vietnam Hearings,
p. 13.

George Aiken of Vermont demanded: Ibid., pp. 29–30.

Walter Cronkite would use a full three minutes: Friendly,
Circumstances,
pp. 219–20.

Operation Masher: NYT, Jan. 28, 1966, p. 12;
Life,
Feb. 11, 1966, p. 21; FRUS, Vol. 4, p. 187, footnote 3. The maneuver was retitled “Operation White Wing,” evidently to make it sound more attractive.

“the same age as my daughter Cecile”: Moore,
Soldiers,
p. 342.

Julian Bond sat quietly that afternoon: LAT, Jan. 29, 1966, p. 1.

“had he recanted, begged, or crawled”: Neary,
Julian Bond,
pp. 127–29.

“a call to action based on race”: Ibid.; Morgan,
One Man,
pp. 159–60.

“THE WISE MEN”: PDD, Jan. 28, 1966, p. 3, LBJ.

“If you just sit tight there”: “Text of Message from Ambassador McConaughy—Karachi 1510, Washington, Jan. 27, 1966,” in FRUS, Vol. 4, pp. 160–63.

no air campaign could interdict more than half: Cf. comments during the 556th meeting of the National Security Council, Jan. 29, 1966, in FRUS, Vol. 4, p. 186.

“probably use human backs”: Jack Valenti notes, “Meeting in Cabinet Room,” Jan. 28, 1966, Office of the President, Valenti Papers, Box 13, LBJ.

run against Lummie Jenkins: NYT, Feb. 20, 1966, p. 68.

This caused confusion: WATS report, Feb. 13, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC; “2 Rights Groups Promote All-Negro Slates for Local Elections in the South,” NYT, Jan. 23, 1966, p. 73.

a February 6 caucus to begin: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 21, 1966, FBPA-2.

scraped together a tent city: “Background Information on Lowndes County Tent City,” Feb. 28, 1966, Box 1, A/RM.

Conference at Mount Beulah: Dittmer,
Local People,
pp. 366–67.

doubled to 80 percent: Hilton,
Delta,
p. 78.

delegates sifted ideas: Ibid., pp. 82–88.

Art Thomas: Findlay,
Church People,
pp. 116–17.

President Johnson called: PDD, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 1, LBJ.

medic Thomas Cole: NYT, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 1;
Life,
Feb. 11, 1966, cover, p. 24D.

“Did we get much results”: LBJ phone call with Robert McNamara, 9:20
A.M
., Jan. 31, 1966, Cit. 9543, Audiotape WH6601.11, LBJ.

announced the renewed bombing: “Johnson Asks U.N. to Summon Vietnam Peace Conference/ Bombing in North Resumes,” NYT, Feb. 1, 1966, p. 1.

“a rat's nest of trenches”: NYT, Jan. 31, 1966, p. 8.

“I was a passenger”: R. W. Apple, “.50-Caliber Ordeal on a Vietnam Field,” NYT, Feb. 1, 1966, p. 1.

“have you seen on the ticker”: LBJ phone call with Nicholas Katzenbach, 4:26
P.M
., Jan. 31, 1966, Cit. 9544, Audiotape WH6601.11, LBJ.

“If that's all you got to say”: Hilton,
Delta,
p. 101.434 dragged beyond the gates of federal property: Ibid., pp. 102–3; MA, Feb. 2, 1966, p. 5. 434 “If we do not do this”: Katzenbach to LBJ, “Subject: Civil Rights—Mississippi,” Feb. 14, 1966, EX HU, Box 27, LBJ. Those evicted from the Greenville airbase would live for the remainder of 1966 at a church-aided tent city in Washington County, Mississippi. Cf. MLK to LBJ (sixteen-page telegram), Aug. 16, 1966, with attached McPherson to LBJ, Aug. 16, 1966, Harry McPherson Papers, Box 14, LBJ.

Bombing runs over North Vietnam: McNamara,
In Retrospect,
p. 244.

some four million tons: Appy,
Patriots,
pp. 200–201.

Joe Califano noticed: Califano,
Triumph,
p. 121.

27: BREAK POINTS

“The white race is supreme”: NYT, Jan. 23, 1966, p. 1.

run his wife, Lurleen: Lesher,
George Wallace,
pp. 356–58; Carter,
Politics,
pp. 278–81.

rumors flew of a tacit understanding: Morgan,
One Man,
pp. 93–95.

ruled unanimously for Gardenia White: “U.S. Judges Overturn State Law, Women Eligible for Jury Service,” MA, Feb. 8, 1966, p. 1; “Woman Juror Ban Upset in Alabama,” NYT, Feb. 8, 1966, p. 25.

“a responsibility and a right”: Ibid.;
White v. Crook,
251 F. Supp. 401, 408–09.

Charles Morgan and Pauli Murray anticipated: Morgan,
One Man,
pp. 46–47.

“The principle announced seems so obvious today”: Murray,
Song,
pp. 363–64.

“another windfall from the civil rights movement”: Fred Graham, “The Law: Rights Case Yields Dividend for Women,” NYT, Feb. 13, 1966, p. IV-8.

“My first reaction to the ruling”: MA, Feb. 12, 1966, p. 1.

white men acquitted Marvin: NYT, Dec. 9, 1966, p. 38; NYT, Dec. 10, 1966, p. 1; “Anatomy of a Murder Trial,” SC, Dec. 24–25, 1966, p. 4.

“Lowndes Schools Ordered”: MA, Feb. 12, 1966, p. 1; SC, Feb. 19–20, 1966, p. 1.

dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuit: Eagles,
Outside Agitator,
p. 255; SC, June 18–19, 1966, p. 1.

$50 to $500 to run for sheriff: Ibid.; WP, March 3, 1966.

“fraud and deceit”:
Life with Lyndon in the Great Society,
Vol. 1, No. 44, Dec. 2, 1965, JMP; Jack O'Dell to Jack Minnis, Dec. 8, 1965, JMP.

Bob Moses, back in Birmingham: Int. Bob Moses, July 30, 1984; int. Bob Moses, Feb. 15, 1991; Carson,
Struggle,
p. 201.

“So whether you believe”: Tina [Harris] to Janet [Jemott], Bob [Moses], Dona [Richards], “The First Two Sessions of the Discussion Groups,” Spring 1966, Reel 18, SNCC.

ill-fated Field Order No. 15: Litwack,
Storm,
p. 400ff; Foner,
Reconstruction,
pp. 70–71, 158–60; Davis,
Sherman's March,
pp. 90–94, 130–40; Branch,
Parting,
p. 689.

“The way we can best take care”: “Colloquy with Colored Ministers,” Jan. 12, 1865, transcript in
Journal of Negro History,
Jan. 1931, pp. 88–94.

“far-reaching step”: Stokely Carmichael, Bob Mants, Tina Harris, “Proposal for a ‘Poor Peoples Land Corporation,'” ca. Feb. 1966, A/RM1.

“triple-A priority”: Transcript, “Riding in the car from Atlanta,” Feb. 19, 1966, A/SN94, p. 5.

no one yet agreed to stand for office: Alabama, “News of the Week #4,” March 16, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC.

lucky to attract twenty people: “Stu House reports from Selma,” WATS report, Feb. 13, 1966, Reel 16, SNCC; Tina Harris to Bill Mahoney, Cleve Seller[s], Jim Forman, “Freedom Organizations in Alabama,” Reel 18, SNCC.

“Whenever we went canvassing”: Transcript, “Riding in the car from Atlanta,” Feb. 19, 1966, A/SN94.

“I'm voting for you”: Int. Julian Bond, Jan. 10, 2004.

“If they bar me again”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.

The House Rules Committee promptly did so: NYT, May 24, 1966, p. 27.

“The moral question is far more important”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.

rally at Jenner School: Anderson and Pickering,
Confronting,
p. 190.

King and Muhammad found chatting ground:
Jet,
March 10, 1966, pp. 6–9; CD, Feb. 26–March 4, 1966, p. 1; int. Bennett Johnson. Johnson, a publicist and founder of a Negro Voters League in Chicago, had made several trips to Atlanta for Muhammad to arrange an audience with King.

“All we have to do is drink”: Int. Bennett Johnson, April 26, 1990.

house organs trumpeted the King summit: “Muhammad, King Meet on Eve of Savior's Day,” MS, March 4, 1966, pp. 1, 3.

“Dr. King Seizes”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1966, p. 75.

“Dr. King Assailed”: NYT, Feb. 25, 1966, p. 18.

he had seen a shivering baby: Young,
Burden,
p. 388.

“We
wanted
to do it illegally”: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, March 1, 1966, FLNY-9-865a, p. 5.

judge denounced the takeover: Cohen and Taylor,
Pharaoh,
pp. 363–64.

Mayor Daley: Anderson and Pickering,
Confronting,
p. 191; NYT, March 10, 1966, p. 36.

“I think King is right”: Ralph,
Northern,
pp. 56–57, 78.

remarkable mass meeting: Ibid., p. 63.

“Don't be afraid”: “What's Next for the Civil Rights Movement: Requiem or Revival?”
Look,
June 14, 1966, pp. 70–80.

“We are going to change the whole Jericho road”: Ibid.

Al Raby might be able to topple: Wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, March 1, 1966, FLNY-9-865a, p. 5.

archbishop John Cody: Garrow,
Bearing,
pp. 460–61; Garrow,
FBI and King,
p. 176; Ralph,
Northern,
p. 75.

fanned out to shop for homes: AFSC, “A Prospectus for a non-violent project to achieve open occupancy through the Chicago area,” ca. March 1966, LCMOC folder, West Side Christian Parish papers, CHS, p. 2.

Adlai Stevenson III: Jonathan Alter to the author, Feb. 20, 2002, with attached diary entry for March 2, 1966.

Rev. Clay Evans convened: Frady,
Jesse,
pp. 196–98; Ralph,
Northern,
pp. 68–70, 85; Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 462; int. Clay Evans, Feb. 21, 1985; Clay Evans remarks at Chicago Divinity School, April 24, 1995.

founder of the Kenwood-Oakland organization: “Dr. King Launches Attack on Chicago School Setup,” CD, Feb. 5–11, 1966, p. 2.

fresh “luminary”:
Jet,
Feb. 10, 1966, p. 18.

Stanley Levison urgently recommended: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 462; wiretap transcript of telephone conversation between Stanley Levison and MLK, Feb. 8, 1966, FLNY-9-844a.