Authors: Taylor Branch
Adam Clayton Powell marched outside:
New York Daily News,
March 25, 1968, p. 3.
Powell's fugitive return: NYT, March 25, 1968, p. 1; Hamilton,
Adam Clayton Powell,
pp. 465â66; New York LHM dated March 25, 1968, FACP-361; wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and William Rutherford, March 23, 1968, FLNY-9-1618a.
“Nonviolence Tactic Defended by King”: NYT, March 25, 1968, p. 46.
King's advisers gathered Monday: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 608; Frances Allison to “Action Committee Members,” March 20, 1968, A/SC48f7.
King's commitment to detour again into Memphis: “Dr. King Reschedules March for Strikers in Memphis,” NYT, March 25, 1968, p. 46.
support in Washington from religious groups: WP, March 16, 1968, p. B-2; New York LHM dated March 26, 1968, “Washington Spring Project/Racial Matters,” FK-NR.
Harry Wachtel broke away: Oates,
Trumpet,
p. 475.
“Where in America today”: Transcript, “Conversation with Martin Luther King,” March 25, 1968, in
Conservative Judaism,
Vol. 22, No. 3, Spring 1968, p. 1.
King returned Heschel's salute: Ibid.; Cf. Branch,
Pillar,
pp. 21â32.
jail witness long ago in Albany: Cf. Gentry,
Hoover,
pp. 630â31.
“if they couldn't protect Kennedy”: Int. Harry Wachtel, Nov. 29, 1983.
quarrel lay with Logan's wife: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 609; Frank,
American Death,
pp. 39â42; int. Marian Logan, April 24, 1984; int. Clifford Alexander, Dec. 17, 2004.
memo arguing that King should abort: Marian Logan to MLK, March 8, 1968, A/SC40f3.
“I am still so excited”: NYT, March 27, 1968, p. 24.
“We do not fear”: “Notes of Meeting,” 1:15â3:05
P.M.
, March 26, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 466ff.
President Johnson invited the generals: Ibid.; PDD, March 26, 1968, pp. 4â8, LBJ.
McGeorge Bundy chilled the Cabinet Room: “Summary of Notes,” Cabinet Room meeting, 3:15â4:32
P.M.
, March 26, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 471ff; McGeorge Bundy handwritten notes, March 26, 1968, Meeting Notes File, Box 2, LBJ.
repeat performances would demonstrate: LBJ briefings by General William DePuy and CIA official George Carver, March 27, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 481ff.
“Who the hell is there left”: Isaacson,
Wise Men,
pp. 698â706; Langguth,
Our Vietnam,
pp. 488â90.
war loyalists stifled alarm: Clifford,
Counsel,
pp. 512â13.
“impregnated them with their doubts”: Taylor,
Swords,
p. 391.
“deny military victory”: Rusk,
As I Saw It,
p. 478.
“Then what in the name of God”: Clifford,
Counsel,
p. 517; Langguth,
Our Vietnam,
pp. 491â92.
“What we want to do”: FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 474.
“I know there is a lot of dying men”: Ibid., p. 476.
“We have set our face”: Clifford,
Counsel,
p. 510.
polls had shifted nearly 20 percent: DeBenedetti,
Ordeal,
pp. 211â13; Karnow,
Vietnam,
pp. 558â60.
“deepening disenchantment”: O'Brien to LBJ, March 27, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 479.
lose to Eugene McCarthy: Powers,
War,
p. 302; Viorst,
Fire,
p. 419.
“I don't give a damn”: Notes of LBJ meeting with Earle Wheeler and Creighton Abrams, 10:30
A.M
.â12:15
P.M.
, March 26, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 46.
Tuesday's stops in Harlem: NYT, March 27, 1968, p. 24.
Hoover rushed: Hoover to Mildred Stegall, April 1, 1968, Box 32, OFMS, LBJ; NYT, March 24, 1968, p. 40.
“We'll make him Secretary of State”: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between MLK and Stanley Levison, 12:37
A.M.
, March 27, 1968, FLNY-9-1621a.
side trip to Boston: Wiretap transcript of telephone calls between Stanley Levison and William Rutherford (9:45
P.M
.), Levison and unnamed women (11:00
P.M
.), March 26, 1968, and Levison and Dora McDonald (12:20
A.M
.), March 27, 1968, in FLNY-9-1621a.
“Memphis Protest Avoids Violence”: NYT, March 24, 1968, p. 66.
Wednesday night fund-raiser: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Adele Kanter, 12:10
P.M.
, March 15, 1968, FLNY-9-1610a; Frank,
American Death,
p. 25.
breakneck antipoverty rallies: NYT, March 28, 1968, p. 40.
nothing unconstitutional about starving: Fager,
Uncertain,
p. 18.
loggerheads with Young: Gardner,
Young,
pp. 139â40; Young,
Burden,
p. 451.
frustrated King until he slammed: Int. Harry Belafonte, March 6â7, 1985.
King back to Memphis: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 211â42; Garrow,
Bearing,
pp. 609â11; Garrow,
FBI and King,
pp. 191â93; Frank,
American Death,
pp. 22â27; McKnight,
Crusade,
pp. 53â55; Fairclough,
Redeem,
pp. 372â75; MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 1; AC, March 29, 1968, p. 1; NYT, March 29, 1968, p. 1;
Memphis Tri-State Defender,
April 6, 1968, pp. 1, 12.
I AM A MAN: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 217â18; Honey,
Black Workers,
pp. 307â8; Goulden,
Wurf,
p. 174; Bailey,
Mine Eyes,
pp. 80â81.
Lawson ran about fifty feet: David Caywood oral history, May 20, 1968, MVC.
Pandemonium greeted King: “Day's Log of Police Calls,” MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 25.
“It's my fault”: Abernathy,
Walls,
pp. 417â18; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Aug. 14, 1978, Vol. 1, pp. 15â16.
park named for W. C. Handy: MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 25; NYT, March 29, 1968, p. 29; Bailey,
Mine Eyes,
p. 66.
storefront windows being smashed: Blackside, Inc.,
Eyes on the Prize IIâAmerica at the Racial Crossroads, 1965 to 1985,
Vol. IV, “The Promised Land (1967â68)”;
Citizen King,
a Roja Production for
The American Experience,
PBS, 2004.
Shainberg's: Oral history by Councilman Fred Davis, May 22, 1968, MVC.
“It had come seven blocks”: Beifuss,
River,
p. 225.
within twenty feet of King: Lux testimony in
City of Memphis v. Martin Luther King, Jr. et al.,
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Case. No. C-68-80, April 4, 1968, p. 106, transcript courtesy of Charles F. Newman.
lent his bullhorn in the emergency: James Lawson oral history, July 8, 1970, MVC.
Bernard Lee pulled King and Abernathy: Stokes,
Report,
pp. 361â62; Bailey,
Mine Eyes,
pp. 60â61; McKnight,
Crusade,
p. 61; SAC, Memphis, to Director, 12:56
A.M.
, March 29, 1968, FBI File 157-1094, Serial 1405.
Trouble radiated from wild looting: Bailey,
Mine Eyes,
pp. 64â67, 78â79.
Nine officers would be injured: Ibid., pp. 68â69; Beifuss,
River,
pp. 243â45; McKnight,
Crusade,
p. 55.
One patrolman cornered:
Memphis Tri-State Defender,
April 6, 1968, pp. 1, 12; Beifuss,
River,
pp. 241â42, 263; McKnight,
Crusade,
p. 56.
Fleet young rioters: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 233â37.
Tennessee legislature swiftly proposed and enacted: MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 1; AC, March 29, 1968, p. 1.
1866 Reconstruction riot: James Gilbert Ryan, “The Memphis Riots of 1866; Terror in a Black Community During Reconstruction,”
Journal of Negro History,
July 1977, p. 243ff.
Trapped at the Rivermont: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 611; Frank,
American Death,
pp. 27â29; Abernathy,
Walls,
pp. 419â20; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Aug. 14, 1978, Vol. 1, p. 16.
“accidentally exposed to Mace”: News script, WMC-TV Channel Five, March 28, 1968, MVC.
stories marshaled politicians: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 243â50; “White Memphis Unshaken by Riot,” NYT, March 31, 1968, p. 66.
He sank beneath the bedcovers: Frank,
American Death,
p. 28; Garrow,
FBI and King,
p. 194; McKnight,
Crusade,
p. 64.
Young called Stanley Levison: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Andrew Young, 8:10
P.M.
, March 28, 1968, FLNY-9-1623a.
Levison groped for triage: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between MLK and Stanley Levison, 9:15
P.M.
, March 28, 1968, FLNY-9-1623a; New York LHM dated March 29, 1968, FK-3272.
“Maybe we just have to admit”: Garrow,
FBI and King,
p. 194.
“The violence in Memphis”: Fairclough,
Redeem,
p. 375.
churned out operations against King: Garrow,
FBI and King,
p. 188; McKnight,
Crusade,
pp. 60â61.
King did not need contributions: Moore to Sullivan, March 26, 1968, FBNH-NR; New York LHM dated March 20, 1968, FK-NR.
“Prepare the letters”: Director to SAC, Mobile, April 2, 1968, FBNH-63.
Headquarters subsidized the lecture tour: Jones to Bishop, re: Julia Brown, March 28, 1968, FSC-NR; O'Reilly,
“Racial,”
p. 107.
“a black folk hero”: SAC, Chicago, to Director, March 21, 1968, FBNH-39; Director to SAC, Chicago, March 25, 1968, FBNH-33.
“the result of King's famous espousal”: Moore to Sullivan, March 28, 1968, FK-NR.
“Like Judas leading lambs”: Moore to Sullivan, March 29, 1968, FBNH-NR.
requested permission to reinstall wiretaps: Hoover to the Attorney General, April 2, 1968, FSC-2107, FK-3655.
“discredit King and his aides with poor Negroes”: SAC, Jackson, to Director, April 4, 1968, FBNH-72.
“What's wrong with Bobby?”: Califano,
Triumph,
p. 268; Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy,
p. 930.
Such dispassion baffled wary aides: Califano,
Triumph,
pp. 265â66; McPherson,
Political,
pp. 427â28.
Defense Secretary Clifford scowled down: McPherson,
Political,
pp. 437â38.
Kennedy had voted with him: Bellinger to Fred Panzer, March 29, 1968, cited in Shesol,
Contempt,
p. 336.
foreign policy officials reviewed: Clifford,
Counsel,
pp. 519â21; Langguth,
Our Vietnam,
p. 493.
memoirs by McPherson and Clifford: Ibid.; McPherson,
Political,
pp. 433â35.
“Tonight I want to speak to you”: FRUS, Vol. 6, pp. 483â84; NYT, April 1, 1968, p. 26.
Johnson decried the Memphis riot: “President Offers U.S. Aid to Cities in Curbing Riots,” NYT, March 30, 1968, p. 1.
“redress by mob law”: Ibid.;
CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite,
March 29, 1968, VTR 236-B, LBJ.
working from the peace draft: Clifford,
Counsel,
p. 521; McPherson,
Political,
p. 437.
“Don' mak no diff'unce”: MCA, March 29, 1968, p. 25.
sharp knocks at the Rivermont suite: Frank,
American Death,
pp. 30â33; Garrow,
Bearing,
pp. 612â13; Abernathy,
Walls,
pp. 420â21; Garrow,
FBI and King,
pp. 194â95; Hearings, House Select Committee on Assassinations, Vol. 6, pp. 516â17.