Pillar of Fire (114 page)

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Authors: Taylor Branch

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worth about $12 million: Int. Everett C. Parker, May 23, 1991.

Henry signed anyway: Ibid.

twenty-year legal odyssey: The pivotal 1969 decision revoking the WLBT broadcast license is
Office of Communication of United Church of Christ v. F.C.C
., 425 F2d 543 (1969).

Tougaloo College dropped out: Affidavit of Edwin King, June 7, 1964, Vol. 1, Docket No. 16663, records of the Federal Communications Commission, NA.

Johnson gathered 150 leading ministers: NYT, March 26, 1964, p. 1.

“I wish you could have seen”: LBJ, “Remarks to Members of the Southern Baptist Christian Leadership Seminar,” March 25, 1964, PPP, pp. 418-21.

King issued a statement: NYT, March 26, 1964, p. 13.

Senator Wayne Morse: Whalen and Whalen,
The Longest Debate
, pp. 147-48.

121 civil rights measures: NYT, March 20, 1964, p. 19.

vote of 50-34: NYT, March 26, 1964, pp. 1, 10.

“We shall now begin”: Whalen and Whalen,
The Longest Debate
, p. 147.

Malcolm X took a seat:
New York Journal-American
, March 27, 1964, p. 4.

gnawing at King of late: MLK interview by Robert Penn Warren, March 18, 1964, A/KS; slightly edited in Warren,
Who Speaks for the Negro?
, p. 219.

fn March 18 interview: Ibid.

“If there is a prolonged”:
Washington Daily News
, March 27, 1964, p. 3.

left by a separate door: Ibid.

Benjamin 2X excitedly snapped: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

hinting that he might join:
New York Journal-American
, March 27, 1964, p. 4.

“Now you're going”:
Washington Daily News
, March 27, 1964, p. 3.

“I would go so far”: MLK to Abram Eisenman, April 3, 1964, A/KP9f21.

“con game”: Perry,
Malcolm
, p. 255.

Billy Graham's independent crusades: NYT, April 3, 1964, p. 23;
Jet
, April 16, 1964, p. 54; Goldman,
Death and Life
, p. 138.

Philbert X of Lansing:
Chicago Sun-Times
, March 27, 1964, p. 4; Perry,
Malcolm
, pp. 256-57; “Malcolm X: Make It Plain,” PBS documentary
The American Experience
, 1994.

Philbert wept: Report, SAC, Chicago, to Director, April 7, 1964, FMX-NR, p. 4.

“with no congregation”: FBI transcript of
Kup's Show
episode aired March 28, 1964, FMXNY-4348, p. 11.

Minister Wilfred X:
Chicago Sun-Times
, March 27, 1964, p. 4; “Malcolm X: Make It Plain,” PBS documentary
The American Experience
(1994).

“what happened in 1935”: Wiretap transcript of March 24, 1964, conversation, in SAC, Chicago, report to Director dated March 26, 1964, p. 4.

served court papers: Eviction papers filed in Queens Civil Court, March 31, 1964, SAC, New York to Director, April 20, 1964, FMX-96.

“If he did, he would be”: Minister James Shabazz in MS, April 10, 1964, pp. 1, 3, 9.

“Malcolm's Treachery, Defection”: MS, May 8, 1964, p. 13

suggestion of Captain Joseph: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

Malcolm's severed head: MS, April 10, 1964, p. 3.

money borrowed hastily: Malcolm X,
The Autobiography
, p. 317; Perry,
Malcolm
, p. 262.

one-way ticket to Cairo: Urgent Coded Teletype, New York to Director, April 14, 1964, FMX-101.

“get spiritual strength”: NYAN, April 18, 1964, p. 1; New York LHM, April 20, 1964, FMX-NR.

lawyer, Percy Sutton: Sutton answered the suit on April 13, the day of Malcolm's departure, and asked for the first of several postponements that stretched into June. SAC, New York to Director, April 20, 1964, FMX-96; New York FBI report dated June 18, 1964, FMX-125, pp. 60-62; int. Percy Sutton, Nov. 28, 1989.

Robert Beech rode: Robert Beech to the author, March 3, 1991; int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991.

extension of the Hattiesburg Freedom day: Unsigned proposal for “Freedom day—Leflore County, Mississippi—March 25, 1964,” A/SN111f16.

Freedom Day alarms: ADW, March 22, 1964, p. 3; AC, April 1, 1964, p. 1; affidavits of John Mathews, Willis Wright, George R. Davis, Alice Hemingway, and Charlie Hills in “Case Studies of Intimidation,” A/SN54f9; Dittmer,
Local People
, p. 224.

“long-term commitment to this stuff”: Int. Robert Beech, Dec. 8, 1991.

“That's far enough”: Statement of Van Board Dunn et al., April 2, 1964, b9f439, Edwin King Papers, TOU.

a $500 fine: Ibid., p. 4.

held fast against the bishops: NYT, March 30, 1964, p. 14; Cunningham,
Agony at Galloway
, pp. 55-56.

“They were wrong to come here”: Cunningham,
Agony at Galloway
, p. 57.

World Service budget: Ibid., pp. 61-67.

“WLBT made no mention”: Affidavit of Edwin King, June 4, 1964, Vol. 1, docket No. 16663, records of the Federal Communications Commission, NA.

Lowenstein spent much of Easter: Int. Allard Lowenstein by Anne Romaine, March 1967, pp. 127-29, A/AR; Lowenstein to Mendy Samstein, April 3, 1964, Box 16, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

Forman nursed: Forman,
Black Revolutionaries
, pp. 88-90; 379-81; Chafe,
Never Stop Running
, pp. 188, 206.

parked Lowenstein at the airport: Int. Robert P. Moses, Feb. 15, 1991.

“more than a thousand”:
Harvard Crimson
, Feb. 23, 1964.

“I apologize in advance”: Frank to Lowenstein, Feb. 24, 1964, b9f306, Lowenstein Papers, UNC. In later years, Frank would be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

“on Monday we will break”: Ilene Strelitz to Lowenstein, Feb. 11, 1964, b9f306, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

tour by Martin Luther King: Ibid. Also Wedin, Schoolnick, and Strelitz circular letter to Western colleges, Feb. 15, 1964, b32f368, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

“It is our conviction”: Moses letter to Wilkins, Farmer, King, Forman et al. as “Friends of Freedom in Mississippi,” nd, (early April 1964), A/SN100f14.

vacillated over how to obtain: Discussion of “Zinn Proposal” in Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, March 29, 1964, A/SN6, pp. 4-5.

proved ineffective and awkward: Ibid. Also, Minutes of May 15, 1964, “Meeting Following Atlanta CUCRL Meeting,” A/SN7, p. 3.

asked King as a favor: Comments of Julian Bond in Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, May 10, 1964 (mistakenly labeled April 10), A/SN6, pp. 5-6.

CORE had issued: Moses to Farmer, March 2, 1964, A/SN111f16.

NAACP registration drive: ADW, March 16, 1964, p. 1.

“to project SNCC's image”: Comments of Courtland Cox in Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, May 10, 1964 (mistakenly labeled April 10), A/SN6, p. 4.

resolved to fight back: Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, March 29, 1964, A/SN6.

“don't think the same way”: Comments of Betty Garman in ibid., p. 3.

welcomed the National Lawyers Guild: Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, March 29, 1964, A/SN6, pp. 1-2.

Andrew Young promptly advised: Minutes of May 15, 1964, “Meeting Following Atlanta CUCRL Meeting,” A/SN7, p. 1.

Gloster Current: Ibid.

took his worries to the FBI: O'Reilly,
Racial Matters
, pp. 181-82.

threatened to pull his lawyers: Ibid. Also Dittmer,
Local People
, p. 230.

Pratt seconded Greenberg: Int. Jack Pratt, March 25, 1991; Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, pp. 104, n. 40, 105, n. 42.

“deliberate link”: Ibid. Also Dittmer,
Local People
, p. 230.

church objection weighed heavily: Int. Robert P. Moses, Feb. 15, 1991; int. Jack Pratt, March 25, 1991.

Spike had followed up: 1991; Findlay,
Church People in the Struggle
, pp. 84-85; int. Bruce Hanson, Feb. 22, 1991; Arthur Thomas to CORR staff, Feb. 7 and Feb. 19, 1964, A/ATb3; Bruce Hanson to “Presidents, Deans, and Religious Advisers…,” April 16, 1964, RG6, b47f32, NCC, POH.

Lowenstein campaigned against the guild: Dittmer,
Local People
, pp. 233-34; Chafe,
Never Stop Running
, pp. 190-92.

how they were made: Int. Allard Lowenstein by Anne Romaine, March 1967, pp. 127-29, A/AR.

Moses finally asked: Int. Robert P. Moses, Feb. 15, 1991.

infuriated him to hear: Dittmer,
Local People
, p. 192.

Lowenstein hurried to New York: Harris,
Dreams Die Hard
, pp. 53-54.

“My roommates were positively awed”: Ron Bass to Lowenstein, May 12, 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

Lowenstein inspired New York students: Cagin and Dray,
We Are Not Afraid
, p. 47.

fn “While it is somewhat”: Ibid., p. 241.

“militancy should not be confused”: Bruce Campbell to Lowenstein, May 4, 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

“It is fundamental to our role”: Mike Lawler (of UNC, Chapel Hill) to Lowenstein, April 19, 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC. Also Lawler to Lowenstein, May 15, 1964, ibid.

bait for federal intervention: Richard Woodley, “It Will Be a Hot Summer in Mississippi,”
The Reporter
, May 21, 1964, p. 23.

“as communicative as a colony”: Ilene Strelitz to Lowenstein, May 11, 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

SNCC could not feed: Marian E. Wright to Lowenstein, May 9, 1964, b9f312, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

Only $10,000: Comments of Betty Garman in Minutes of the SNCC Executive Committee meeting, May 10, 1964, (mistakenly labeled April 10), A/SN6, p. 2.

$5 cash to pay a plumber: Holt,
The Summer That Didn't End
, pp. 39-42.

Moses sometimes despaired: Ibid., pp. 157-59.

Lowenstein discontinued: Marian E. Wright to Lowenstein, May 9, 1964, b9f312, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

mistrusted him as a manipulator: Int. Betty Garman Robinson, Jan. 29, 1991; int. Dorothy Miller (Zellner), Dec. 12, 1991; int. Michael Miller, June 24, 1994.

“human syllogism”: Ilene Strelitz to Lowenstein, April 20, 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

“I admit it took me”: Ibid.

“Where will you be”: “Bob” to Lowenstein, undated ca. May 1964, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

Sweeney was destined to become: Harris,
Dreams Die Hard
, pp. 292-326; Chafe,
Never Stop Running
, pp. 450-58.

“Please let me know”: Sweeney handwritten note to Lowenstein on Sweeney to Harold Taylor, May 31, 1964, b32f368, Lowenstein Papers, UNC.

20. M
ARY
P
EABODY
M
EETS THE
K
LAN

greeted at the Jacksonville airport: “Witness at St. Augustine, Florida,” by Esther J. Burgess, courtesy of Esther J. Burgess; int. Esther J. Burgess, Nov. 7, 1994;
The Witness
, April 9, 1964.

nearly seventy people had been jailed: Colburn,
Racial Change
, p. 65;
Boston Globe
, March 29, 1964, p. 8.

“I do not believe”: Int. Hosea Williams, Oct. 29, 1991.

mass meeting at Zion: “Witness at St. Augustine, Florida,” by Esther J. Burgess, courtesy of Esther J. Burgess;
Boston Globe
, March 30, 1964, p. 3.

far north as Gorham: PC, April 4, 1964, p. 2.

Burgess made sure that the fruit cup: “Witness at St. Augustine, Florida,” by Esther J. Burgess, courtesy of Esther J. Burgess.

“How nice it is”:
Boston Globe
, March 31, 1964, pp. 1-2.

five stayed on to face arrest: NYT, March 31, 1964, pp. 1-2.

“I have a higher loyalty to God”: “Witness at St. Augustine, Florida,” by Esther J. Burgess, courtesy of Esther J. Burgess.

leadership crisis was flashing: Int. Paul Chapman, Nov. 4, 1994; int. William Sloane Coffin, July 16, 1991.

beaten their colleague Paul Chapman:
Boston Globe
, March 30, 1964, p. 5; int. Paul Chapman, Nov. 4, 1994; Burke Marshall to MLK, April 13, 1964, responding to King's telegram of March 31 “with reference to the assault upon Reverend Paul Chapman,” A/KP24f22.

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