At Canaan's Edge

by Taylor Branch

  “Immediately contact airlines”: Director to “All SACs, Continental Offices,” March 19, 1965, FSMM-45.

  “a total of 1,856 persons are already in Selma”: Rosen to Belmont, March 20, 1965, FSMM-179.

  priests from Connecticut: SAC, Mobile, to Director, March 20, 1965, FSMM-105.

  Greyhound bus from Dallas: SAC, Jackson, to Director, March 19, 1965, FSMM-91.

  Assistant Director DeLoach summarized: DeLoach to Hoover, March 20, 1965, FRW-NR; M. A. Jones to DeLoach, March 16, 1965, FRW-NR.

  “the best truck farmers in America”: M. A. Jones to Nichols, Aug. 30, 1956, FRW-NR.

  They joined Vice President Humphrey: WS, March 21, 1965, p. 1.

  had contrived his Texas retreat: NYT, March 20, 1965, p. 13.

  “We’re havin’ a small war”: WS, March 21, 1965, p. 15.

  Atlanta Journal and Constitution resolved to boycott: Comments of Bill Shipp, “Covering the South: A National Symposium on the Media and the Civil Rights Movement,” Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi, 1987.

  “Gene, let’s go over and catch the bus”: Int. Eugene Patterson, April 6, 1991. 139 had wrestled with the race issue in prize-winning columns: Egerton, Speak, pp. 256–58, 331–34.

  “the most melancholy aspect”: Shattuck, Episcopalians, p. 118. 139 “Damn, it would be fun”: Int. Eugene Patterson, April 6, 1991.

  13: TO MONTGOMERY

  Our Lady of the Universe: Moyers to LBJ, March 21, 1965, Box 56, WH Confidential, LBJ.

  demolition team arrived from the Third Army’s 142nd Ordnance Detachment: Mayor Albert Boutwell to LBJ, March 23, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  “dashed up the hill to Mr. Shores’s house”: NYT, March 22, 1965, pp. 1, 27.

  over special hotlines: “Field Commanders in Alabama Linked by ‘Hot Line’ to Pentagon,” NYT, March 22, 1965, p. 1.

  turning out specialized breakfasts: Int. Jean Jackson, May 29, 1990.

  FBI agents recorded: FBI Selma to Director, March 21, 1965, FSMM-83.

  doctors completed medical exams: McGowan to Rosen, March 21, 1965, FSMM-154, p. 2.

  Heschel from the Hebrew scriptures: Benjamin R. Epstein, “Notes on a Visit to Selma,” RSP1, p. 3.

  A high delegation of Episcopalians returned from St. Paul’s: Transcript, “The Saga of Selma: A Tape Recording by ESCRU,” JDC, p. 10.

  “Hawaii Knows Integration Works”: WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  King wore one around his neck: Ibid. Also Webb and Nelson, Selma, Lord, Selma, p. 124.

  Attorney General Katzenbach funneled to the White House: Katzenbach memo unheaded, closed “3-21-65, 12:15 P.M.,” HU/ST1, FG/35, Box 28, LBJ.

  would take longer: McGowan to Rosen, March 21, 1965, FSMM-154, p. 3.

  “C. P. T., Colored People Time”: Renata Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 121.

  lurched forward at 12:46 P.M.: FBI Selma to Director, March 21, 1965, FSMM-48. The New York Times put the start time a minute later at 12:47, NYT, March 21, 1965, p. 26.

  the networks would fire anyone who missed impact footage: Int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 12–14, 1990; Young, Burden, p. 364.

  a moving shield of volunteer marshals: Int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, Nov. 30, 2000; Fager, Selma, 1965, pp. 150–51.

  with nineteen jeeps and four military trucks: FBI Selma to Director, March 21, 1965, FSMM-48.

  a red roadster played “Dixie”: WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  Demonstrative females seemed comparatively undaunted: “Great Day at Trickem Fork,” Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 89.

  A well-dressed woman got out of her Chrysler: Renata Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 124.

  Silas Norman shellacked the floor: Int. Silas Norman, June 28, 2000; int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, Nov. 30, 2000.

  “The federal government has given them everything”: NYT, March 22, 1965, p. 26; WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  Brigadier General Henry Graham: Ibid. Also Branch, Parting, pp. 463–65, 471.

  Jonathan Daniels and Judith Upham approached Selma: Judy Upham oral history dated June 6, 1966, p. 19, JDC.

  “another mood—jubilation”: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 124.

  Harris Wofford trotted among latecomers: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, p. 187.

  “felt my legs were praying”: Int. Sylvia Heschel, Feb. 4, 1991; Neusner, Grow, p. 206.

  the youngest participant in a stroller: Lisa Maria Stone of Pasadena, California, age fifteen months, as identified in WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  FBI agents photographed seventeen cars: FBI Selma to Director, March 21, 1965, FSMM-48.

  “Coonsville, USA”: Jet, April 8, 1965, p. 8.

  galloped wildly toward the march: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, p. 189.

  “I’m going out of service!”: NYT, March 22, 1965, p. 26.

  multitude ate bologna sandwiches: WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  John Doar argued: Int. John Doar, May 12, 1986.

  halted the run fifteen miles outside Montgomery: McGowan to Rosen, March 21, 1965, FSMM-154; Hoover to Katzenbach, March 22, 1965, FSMM-3.

  David Hall’s field at 5:07 P.M.: FBI Selma to Director, March 21, 1965, FSMM-48, p. 5.

  donated by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union: McGowan to Rosen, March 21, 1965, FSMM-154, p. 6.

  three tons of supper: Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 151; WP, March 22, 1965, p. 10.

  nine-car train special loaded a thousand people: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 14; NYT, March 22, 1965, p. 26.

  Bill Moyers notified President Johnson: Moyers to LBJ, “Bombing Devices Found in Birmingham,” 10:45 P.M., March 21, 1965, WH Confidential, Box 56, LBJ.

  a penniless rebellion trip at the age of seventeen: Caro, Path, pp. 123–29.

  “we ate pork and beans three times a day”: PDD, March 22, 1965, p. 2, LBJ.

  his foreman about a newborn goat kid: PDD, March 21, 1965, p. 2, LBJ.

  cans of oatmeal before six o’clock: FBI Selma to Director, March 22, 1965, FSMM-157; Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 153.

  some walked barefoot: Associated Press, Year in 1965, pp. 52–53, WP, March 22, 1965, p. 1.

  “There are about 392 people”: Joseph A. Califano, Jr., the Special Assistant, to McNamara et al., “Report as of 1200,” March 22, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  a lone Piper Cub: Rosen to Belmont, March 22, 1965, FSMM-226. “This is the same leaflet that was dropped on demonstrators in Selma on March 13, 1965,” Rosen noted.

  “noticeably increased”: WP, March 22, 1965, p. 1.

  A demolition team took lead position: FBI Selma to Director, March 22, 1965, FSMM-200.

  Major General Carl Turner: Ibid. 146 Andrew Young’s announcement: Ibid., p. 3; Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, p. 189.

  from Dallas: FBI Selma to Director, March 22, 1965, FSMM-135, p. 2.

  “Dr. King’s Special Guests”: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, p. 189; Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 18. The FBI compiled a partial list of the “notables”: George Fowler, chairman, New York State Commission on Human Rights; Theodore Gill, San Francisco Theological Seminary; Dr. J. Alfred Cannon, professor of psychology, UCLA Medical School; Robert Gist, Screen Directors Guild; Jeremiah Gutman, Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee; Reverend Rodney Shaw, Christian Social Conference, Methodist Church; Henry D. Ginigini, assistant to Senator Dan Inonyi [sic]. FBI documents from the previous day’s march called Rabbi Heschel “Abraham Hersch.”

  “Pick it up, now!”: WP, March 22, 1965, p. 1.

  FBI agents counted 308 marchers: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 19.

  “Report No. 2 as of 1400”: Califano to McNamara et al., “Report No. 2 as of 1400,” March 22, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ. Califano’s military sources put the number of whites on the march at thirty-seven. There is a discrepancy of fifteen from the preceding FBI count at approximately the same time, due to error, the contin
uous flux of arrivals, and perhaps confusion over marchers versus staff.

  “opaque waters dotted with lily pads”: Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 154.

  of the marchers needed medical treatment: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965,

  FSMM-374, p. 18. 146 King removed his green marching hat: Int. John Lewis by Archie E. Allen, Jan. 20, 1979, AAP.

  Negro teenagers wrote “VOTE”: Kasher, Movement, p. 187; Moore, Powerful, p. 188.

  Sister Mary Leoline of Kansas City: Jet, April 8, 1965, pp. 11–12; WP, March 22, 1965, p. 1.

  hopped on one leg with crutches: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 131; Moore, Powerful, pp. 192–93; Associated Press, Year in 1965, p. 51.

  causing Worth Long of SNCC to howl: Int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, Nov. 30, 2000; int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 12–14, 1990.

  Bevel and others coerced: Ibid.

  Soracco chased weary dawdlers: Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 92.

  “I’m used to walking”: Jet, April 8, 1965, p. 11.

  he had stood numb near the courthouse lawn: Int. Mary Lee (Jackson) King, June 28, 2000.

  “Lordy!”: “Great Day at Trickem Fork,” Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 90.

  Mattie Lee Moorer threw her arms: Eagles, Outside Agitator, p. 126.

  “the ladies took Dr. King away from me”: Int. Mattie Lee Moorer, March 10, 2000. 148 “I done kissed him!”: Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 90.

  “Lord, I Cannot Stay”: Int. Mattie Lee Moorer, March 10, 2000.

  Rolen Elementary: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 132;

  Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 155.

  Coretta King joined the march: King, My Life, p. 268; Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, pp. 190–91.

  joined the ranks with a small flock of nieces: Int. Timothy Mays, March 9, 2000.

  “Well, you’re shaking hands with him now”: Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 92.

  “I’ll walk one step, anyway”: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 135.

  an imperfectly healed broken leg: Int. Rocena Haralson, Feb. 16, 2001.

  camp in a cow pasture infested with red ants: FBI Selma to Director, March 22, 1965, FSMM-200, p. 4.

  “when prices was up”: BAA, April 3, 1965, p. 13.

  a teenager sneaked under a tent flap: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 138.

  “Well, actually, ma’am”: Ibid. 149 soaked blistered feet in a tub: Int. Jean Jackson, May 27, 1990.

  returning to overnight at Steele’s campsite: Rosen to Belmont, March 23, 1965, FSMM-239, p. 2.

  “Mr. Young is in charge”: Califano to McNamara et al., “Report No. 6 as of 1000,” March 23, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  space launch of Gemini 3: PDD, March 23, 1965, LBJ; Associated Press, Year in 1965, pp. 60–62.

  Team Alpha to Team Bravo: Califano to McNamara et al., “Report No. 3 as of 1600,” March 22, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  “It hit with drops as big as quarters”: Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 92.

  “a nigger won’t stay out in the rain”: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 144.

  “A few youngsters put on cornflakes boxes for hats”: “Alabama March Passes Midpoint,” NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 1.

  “Reverend Abernickel”: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, pp. 192–93.

  obediently turned outward: Ibid.; Fager, Selma, 1965, pp. 156–57.

  “Just tell him no”: LBJ phone call with Drew Pearson, 11:35 A.M., March 23, 1965, Cit. 7139–40, Audiotape WH6503.11, LBJ.

  Johnson continued seamlessly: PDD, March 23, 1965, LBJ, p. 2.

  “Sometimes I just get all hunkered up”: Diary of Ambassador David K. E. Bruce, in FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 471–72.

  “It is still raining”: Califano to McNamara et al., “Report No. 7 as of 1300,” March 23, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  congratulate Gemini 3 astronauts: PDD, March 23, 1965, p. 4, LBJ.

  “I think we’ve got you something”: LBJ phone call with John McCormack, Wilbur Mills, Wilbur Cohen, and Carl Albert, 4:54 P.M., March 23, 1965, Cit. 7141–42, Audiotape WH6503.11, LBJ.

  “a sea of mud”: FBI Selma to Director, March 23, 1965, FSMM-201.

  bales of hay and straw: Ibid., p. 3; NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 1.

  “community sing”: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 20.

  Odetta found Pete Seeger: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, pp. 146–48.

  recruited seminarian Jonathan Daniels: Eagles, Outside Agitator, p. 41.

  broke down into shouts and seizures: FBI Selma to Director, March 23, 1965, FSMM-215; Rosen to Belmont, March 23, 1965, FSMM-239.

  extra creosote cleaner in a rented water truck: FBI LHM dated March 24, 1965, FSMM-258, p. 2; FBI Selma to Director, March 24, 1965, FSMM-188; McGowan to Rosen, March 24, 1965, FSMM-218.

  Wet Guardsmen on perimeter duty broke discipline: NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 33.

  “You goddam kids”: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, pp. 193–94.

  Two photographers scuffled: Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 157.

  arrested one of twenty-eight pickets at the Hotel Sheraton: NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 32.

  William Walker, whose family in Selma: Cleveland LHM dated March 24, 1965, FK-1097.

  made room for two Ohio priests: Rev. Edward J. Griffin and Rev. Thomas J. Gallagher, per SAC, Cleveland to Director, March 24, 1965, FSMM-317.

  before seven o’clock Wednesday morning: Hoover to Katzenbach, March 25, 1965, FSMM-214.

  Jonathan Daniels hitched a ride back: Judy Upham tape 2, oral history dated June 6, 1966, p. 20, JDC.

  “All those who wish to take hot baths”: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 144.

  The march doubled to 675 people: Hoover to Katzenbach, March 25, 1965, FSMM-214.

  crash impact on the moon crater Alphonsus: Associated Press, Year in 1965, p. 65.

  WHHY broadcast news: Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, p. 148; NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 33; Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, pp. 194–95.

  King rejoined the columns: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, pp. 24–25.

  delegation from the Anti-Defamation League: Epstein, “Notes on a Visit to Selma,” p. 4, RSP1.

  thunderstorms at 1:30: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 23; Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1965, p. 93.

  officials processed a rash of unseen threats: FBI HQ LHM dated March 24, 1965, FSMM-258; Hoover to Katzenbach, March 25, 1965, FSMM-214.

  “The latest estimates ran”: Califano to McNamara et al., “Report No. 11 as of 1630,” March 24, 1965, Ex HU2/ST1, Box 24, LBJ.

  twenty prominent historians: NYT, March 23, 1965, p. 28.

  stranded all night by balky crews: FBI HQ LHM dated March 24, 1965, FSMM-258, p. 2; BAA, April 3, 1965, p. 12.

  Two hundred students came straight from Kilbey State Prison: NYT, March 24, 1965, p. 33; int. Charles Strain, DePaul University, Feb. 21, 2002.

  “a grandeur that was almost biblical”: NYT, March 25, 1965, p. 1, cited in Garrow, Protest, p. 116.

  Hands passed food: Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, p. 196; Fager, Selma, 1965, p. 158.

  Poles snapped on two of the field tents: FBI Mobile to Director, March 24, 1965, FSMM-320.

  14: THE STAKES OF HISTORY

  “sit on your tail up there in Boston”: LBJ conversation with Henry Cabot Lodge, 3:35 P.M., March 24, 1965, Cit. 7145-46, Audiotape WH6503.12, LBJ.

  flayed Lodge to confidants: Cf. Dictabelt of LBJ conversation with McGeorge Bundy, 5:55 P.M., Dec. 9, 1963, LBJ.

  “ain’t worth a damn”: Branch, Pillar, pp. 308–9.

  “things screwed up good”: Dictabelt of LBJ conversation with William Fulbright, 7:01 P.M., December 2, 1963, LBJ.

  Johnson blamed Lodge for conniving: Branch, Pillar, pp. 176–77.

  McNamara considered him: Mc
Namara, In Retrospect, p. 106.

  “thinks he’s emperor out there”: LBJ conversation with Richard Russell, 10:55 A.M., May 27, 1964, Cit. 3519a, Audiotape WH6405.10, LBJ.

  “crossed the Rubicon”: Taylor, Swords, p. 341.

  “The Vietnamese have no tradition”: McGeorge Bundy to LBJ, March 8, 1965, with attached “Memorandum by the Presidential Consultant on Vietnam (Lodge),” March 8, 1965, in FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 414–20. Johnson referred to the March 8 memo in his March 25 conversation with Lodge, Cit. 7147-49. The White House diary states that he and Lodge took an eleven-minute walk on March 9, shortly before the second attempted march from Selma to Montgomery. “No other record of their conversation has been found,” noted the official FRUS historians who published the declassified papers in 1996.

  Ambassador Taylor consistently opposed: Cf. McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 174; Logevall, Choosing, pp. 295, 362, 369; FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 12–19, 347–49, 408–11, 554–55.

  “sap the already flaccid purpose”: FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 486–90.

  “white-faced soldier, armed, equipped”: Taylor, top secret telegram to Rusk, Feb. 22, 1965, in FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 347–49, cited in Langguth, Vietnam, p. 348.

  “Don’t you mention this other thing”: LBJ conversation with Henry Cabot Lodge, 3:35 P.M., March 24, 1965, Cit. 7145–46, Audiotape WH6503.12, LBJ.

  “work moratorium”: Menashe and Radosh, Teach-Ins, pp. 4–16.

  “we have not yet learned”: Ibid., pp. 59–64.

  confusion on the verge of panic: Fager, Selma, 1965, pp. 158–59; Wofford, Kennedys and Kings, pp. 195–96; Adler, “Letter from Selma,” New Yorker, April 10, 1965, pp. 150–51.

  Equipment failure left the St. Jude campsite: FBI Selma to Director, March 25, 1965, FSMM-314.

  ten thousand close to thirty thousand: Mobile LHM dated March 26, 1965, FSMM-374, p. 31; Hoover to Katzenbach, March 26, 1965, FSMM-214, p. 3.