Authors: Taylor Branch
“Wheeler Doubts Khesanh”: NYT, Feb. 15, 1968, p. 1.
“Westmoreland doesn't know”: Notes of LBJ Meeting with Foreign Policy Advisors,” 1:05â2:50
P.M.
, Feb. 20, 1968, Tom Johnson Papers, Box 2, LBJ.
The President also toured military installations: NYT, Feb. 18, 1968, p. 1; Schandler,
Unmaking,
p. 103; McPherson,
Political,
pp. 425â27; notes of LBJ breakfast on the carrier USS
Constellation,
Feb. 18, 1968, Tom Johnson Papers, Box 2, LBJ.
543 killed and 2,547 wounded: NYT, Feb. 23, 1968, p. 1; Langguth,
Our Vietnam,
p. 480.
twin-engine Cessna 406: Jackson LHM dated Feb. 16, 1968, FK-3215.
“I'm here to solicit”: SC, Feb. 24â25, 1968, pp. 1, 3.
packed house at Selma's Tabernacle Baptist: Int. L. L. Anderson, May 27, 1990; int. Marie Foster, Aug. 8, 1990; int. Jean Jackson, May 27, 1990.
“Believe in your heart”: MLK speech at Tabernacle Baptist Church, Feb. 16, 1968, A/KS.
Rev. M. C. Cleveland discreetly presented: Cleveland to MLK, Feb. 16, 1968, A/KP21f15.
Holt Street Baptist: Branch,
Parting,
pp. 138â42.
“and I see Brother Marlow”: MLK speech to mass meeting in Montgomery, Feb. 17, 1968, Tape 25, A/KS; NYT, Feb. 18, 1968, p. 61.
favorite ecumenical parable: Luke 16:19â31.
deacon R. D. Nesbitt: SC, Feb. 24â25, 1968, pp. 1, 3; Branch,
Parting,
pp. 5â6, 103â4.
King described his two scariest memories:
Citizen King,
a Roja Production for
The American Experience,
PBS, 2004; “Assassination Attempt, in Plane,” 1968, A/KS.
“Well, it came time to pray”: Jose Iglesias, “Dr. King's March on Washington, Part II,” NYT Magazine, March 31, 1968, p. 30ff.
parable of the Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25â37.
“And until mankind rises above race”: MLK sermon, “Who Is My Neighbor?,” Feb. 18, 1968, A/KS.
air of frantic melancholy: Barrett,
News,
p. 598.
“plush new SheratonâFour Ambassadors Hotel”: Hoover to Mildred Stegall, Feb. 21, 1968, with attached FBI HQ LHM and handwritten instructions for Rostow, Box 32, OFMS, LBJ.
major shift by the Ford Foundation: NYT, Feb. 18, 1968, p. 1.
“The first conclusion I offer”: “The Ford Foundation Annual Report 1967,” p. 2, AFF.
“The problem is that the rising”: MLK remarks to the Ministers Leadership Training Program, Feb. 19, 1968, A/SC28f51.
convinced King to miss two days: Miami LHM dated Feb. 23, 1968, “RE: Washington Spring Project,” FSC-NR; McKnight,
Crusade,
p. 69; Samuel B. (Billy) Kyles oral history, June 12, 1968, MVC; Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 598; Fairclough,
Redeem,
pp. 366â67.
James Lawson declined the trip: Int. James Lawson, Nov. 9, 1983, and Nov. 14, 1983.
Local editorials rallied behind city government: Beifuss,
River,
p. 45.
“The city hired 47 new sanitation workers”: Lead story, WMC-TV Memphis,
Six O'Clock News,
Feb. 15, 1968, MVC.
“CIAMPA GO HOME”: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 40â41.
Jerry Wurf, AFSCME's international president, assumed command: Goulden,
Wurf,
pp. 148â57.
Loeb stood a head taller: Frank,
American Death,
pp. 10â11.
public forum on Thursday, February 22: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 75â83; McKnight,
Crusade,
pp. 36â37.
total mechanization of cotton farms: Honey,
Black Workers,
pp. 286â87.
“The men were on their feet cheering”: Beifuss,
River,
p. 82.
sanitation workers arrived: Bailey,
Mine Eyes,
p. 37.
“as if it were a raid by barbaric Visigoths”: Goulden,
Wurf,
pp. 160â61.
Council members entered long enough: Beifuss,
River,
p. 83ff; MCA, Feb. 24, 1968, pp. 1, 3.
“could you give us a microphone?”: James Lawson oral history, Sept. 24, 1969, p. 1, MVC.
Blanchard retained a stab of conscience: Jerred Blanchard oral history, pp. 5â8, 16â20.
“Well, the police have their gas masks on”: Beifuss,
River,
p. 87.
order to disperse the procession: Frank Holloman oral history, Aug. 14, 1973, pp. 14â15, MVC.
Seventy-two-year-old O. B. Hicks:
Memphis Tri-State Defender,
March 2, 1968, p. 12; McKnight,
Crusade,
40.
dragged toward jail on their bellies:
Citizen King,
a Roja Production for
The American Experience,
PBS, 2004.
P. J. Ciampa came there late: Goulden,
Wurf,
pp. 163â64.
strange sight of polished spats: P. J. Ciampa oral history, Feb. 3, 1972, pp. 12â15, MVC.
“This happened to me”: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 92â93; H. Ralph Jackson oral history, pp. 1â10, MVC; McKnight,
Crusade,
pp. 40â41.
Rev. Bill Aldridge: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 180â81.
“who breathes fire and smoke”: Bryant George, “Report to the Ford Foundation,” Feb. 25, 1968, p. 3, Grant 67-580, FFA. The FBI sent the White House and major government agencies sketchy intelligence on Bevel's controversial rhetoric in Miami: “Concerning religion, Reverend Bevel advised he did not believe in the virgin birth of Christ. He advised he was firmly convinced that âMary' was raped by a Roman soldier.” G. C. Moore to W. C. Sullivan, Feb. 26, 1968, FK-3227.
Daniel Moynihan had the misfortune: Ibid., p. 4; Moynihan to Bundy, Feb. 27, 1968, Grant 67-580, FFA; int. Marion Bascom, Jan. 19, 1995.
“I have shouted until my garter-holders”: Address by C. T. Vivian, “Creative New Ministries,” Feb. 22, 1968, transcript in Grant 67-580, FFA.
“And the valley calls us”: MLK speech, “Pre-Washington Campaign,” Feb. 23, 1968, A/KS.
“Oh Lord, all hell's broke”: Beifuss,
River,
p. 96.
the Sheraton's piano: Samuel B. (Billy) Kyles oral history, June 12, 1968, MVC; Gwen Kyles oral history, May 28, 1968, MVC.
hundredth-birthday celebration: Lewis,
King,
p. 396; Garrow,
FBI and King,
p. 185; New York LHM dated Feb. 27, 1968, FK-NR.
“civilization virtually collapsed”: MLK speech, “Honoring Dr. Du Bois,” Feb. 23, 1968,
Freedomways,
Spring 1968, p. 104ff.
“I've never heard Martin”: Wiretap transcript of telephone call between Stanley Levison and Clarence Jones, 2:28
P.M.
, Feb. 24, 1968, FLNY-9-1590a.
“Prime Minister of the Black Nation”: Carson,
Struggle,
pp. 278â82; Carmichael,
Ready,
p. 641; jail interview with Huey P. Newton, March 8, 1968, in Bracey et al.,
Black Nationalism,
p. 534ff.
“The vote in this country is”: Carmichael,
Stokely Speaks,
pp. 111â30.
he turned also against any “white” Marxist anchor: Carmichael,
Ready,
p. 600; Carson,
Struggle,
p. 282; Gitlin,
Sixties,
p. 349.
“The sky is the limit”: Forman,
Making,
pp. 526.
menaced himself by Black Panthers: Ibid.; int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, Nov. 30, 2000; int. James Forman, Feb. 13, 2001.
Newton wanted Carmichael: Hilliard and Cole,
This Side,
pp. 170â77.
“suitcase full of African souvenirs”: Eldridge Cleaver, “Open Letter to Stokely,”
Black Panther
newspaper of Aug. 16, 1969, in FBI report dated Oct. 31, 1969, p. 54, FBI HQ File 100-446080-2370.
“SNCC people were the bad niggers”: Carson,
Struggle,
p. 283.
requesting 205,179 more U.S. soldiers: Wheeler to LBJ, Feb. 27, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 263ff.
“This is unbelievable and futile”: Meeting notes, Feb. 27, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 260ff; Califano,
Triumph,
pp. 262â64.
Cronkite asked his viewers:
CBS Evening News,
“Walter Cronkite Report from Vietnam: Who? What? When? Where? Why?,” Feb. 27, 1968, T79:0331, MOB; NYT, Feb. 28, 1968, p. 95; Dallek,
Flawed,
pp. 503â6; Appy,
Patriots,
p. 293; Karnow,
Vietnam,
p. 561.
Wheeler's manner was graver: Karnow,
Vietnam,
pp. 564â65; Clifford,
Counsel,
pp. 485â86.
“Buzz, we are very thankful”: White House meeting notes, 8:35â11:15
A.M.
, Feb. 28, 1968, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 267ff.
Mendel Rivers irascibly said: NYT, March 1, 1968, p. 15.
Henry “Scoop” Jackson warned that he would balk: Clifford,
Counsel,
pp. 497â99.
“Well, did he call my name?”: LBJ phone call with Richard Russell, 4:10
P.M.
, March 7, 1968, Audiotape F6802.04, in FRUS, Vol. 6, p. 345.
“Panel on Civil Disorders”: NYT, March 1, 1968, p. 1.
The President steadfastly ignored: Califano,
Triumph,
pp. 260â62; Dallek,
Flawed,
pp. 515â16.
“What white Americans”: Kerner,
Report,
pp. 2, 203.
Aides bravely warned: McPherson to Califano, March 1, 1968, McPherson Papers, Box 32, LBJ; Louis Martin to Califano, March 5, 1968, Califano Papers, Box 9, LBJ.
stealthy new travel regimen: “Johnson Berates Vietnam Critics,” NYT, March 2, 1968, p. 21; “On the Trail: Johnson Has Answers,” NYT, March 3, 1968, p. 1.
740,000 paperback copies sold: NYT, March 14, 1968, p. 49.
Potentates in Congress: NYT, March 2, 1968, p. 1.
What Happened to the Riot Report?:
NYT, April 24, 1968, p. 95.
“Our nation is moving”: Kerner,
Report,
p. 1.
“I'd be a hypocrite”: Lemann;
Promised,
pp. 190â91.
Lawson made King laugh: Int. James Lawson, Nov. 9, 1983; Beifuss,
River,
p. 137.
turned out in Atlanta on Monday: NYT, March 5, 1968, p. 28.
backup force of ten thousand MPs: NYT, March 4, 1968, p. 22.
he escaped to Mexico: Garrow,
Bearing,
p. 600.
“We want arrest”: Beifuss,
River,
pp. 156â59.
NAACP leader Maxine Smith: Ibid.; Maxine Smith oral history, June 13, 1968, pp. 1â16, MVC.
he had invited King to Memphis: News script, Memphis WMC-TV Channel Five, March 5, 1968, MVC. The newscast reported that King's Atlanta office said he was leaving the country until Saturday.
“Unfulfilled Dreams”: MLK sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, March 3, 1968, A/KS; Carson and Holloran, eds.,
Knock,
p. 191ff.
“You did well that it was in your heart”: I Kings 8:18.
Ralph Abernathy soon wangled rooms: Int. Ralph Abernathy, Nov. 19, 1984.
He stared alone from a high balcony: Ibid.; Frank,
American Death,
pp. 90â93.
Hoover circulated another secret report: Garrow,
FBI and King,
pp. 185â86.
Richard Harwood disclosed: “J. Edgar Hoover: A Librarian with a Lifetime Lease,” WP, Feb. 25, 1968, p. D-1.
a few journalists would regret: Haynes Johnson, “A Generation-Old Crusade to Destroy King's Name at Any Cost,” WP, Oct. 16, 1983; AJC, Nov. 21, 2004, p. D-1.
“I didn't do my job”: Paul Clancy, “The Bureau and the Bureaus,”
Quill,
Feb. 1976, p. 15.
“Not a complete file”: T. E. Bishop to DeLoach, Feb. 29, 1968, FK-NR.
“no possibility of embarrassment”: Hoover to SAC, Albany, and forty SACs, March 3, 1968, FBNH-17, p. 6.
“a grave threat to peace”: “Outlook for Racial Violence in Washington, D.C.,” FBI study attached to R. W. Smith to W. C. Sullivan, March 6, 1968, FBI File 157-6-53, Serial 1284, p. 17.