a business owner replied, “Indefinitely”: “Mayor Seeks Sit-In Truce but Picketing Continues.”
Students also kept up a twenty-four-hour: John Britton and Paul Delaney, “Given Ten Days Each in ‘Demonstrations,’” ADW, Oct. 21, 1960.
“Flying squads of Negroes”: “Negroes Sit In for Second Day in Atlanta,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 21, 1960.
Both SNCC and SCLC sent: Otis Moss, interview by the authors, May 27, 2017.
“I know I speak for”: “23 More Are Seized in Sit-Ins in Atlanta,” New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 21, 1960.
“You can’t get anywhere”: “Negro Pastor Hits Sit-Ins, Kneel-Ins,” AC, Oct. 24, 1960.
“run smack dab over you”: Fairclough, To Redeem the Soul of America, 67.
He demanded, on day three: Galphin and McCartney, “Negro Picketing Continues but Sit-Ins Decline Sharply.”
Mayor Hartsfield had seen enough: William B. Hartsfield, interview by Charles T. Morrissey, Jan. 6, 1966, JFKL.
“provide now the moral leadership”: Britton, “Mayor Suggests ‘Truce’ in Demonstrations Here.”
Dick Rich was having a small: Abram, Day Is Short, 127.
“an unofficial mediator”: “Mayor Seeks Sit-In Truce but Picketing Continues.”
What the mayor overlooked: Ibid.
“One day your parents”: Otis Moss, interview by City of Atlanta, Atlanta Student Movement collection.
Moss sent telegrams to both: Moss, interview by the authors.
“The actions of these unlawful”: Associated Press, “Nixon Backer Blames Sit-Ins on Kennedy,” AC, Oct. 22, 1960.
Moss felt the weight of responsibility: Moss, interview by the authors.
Before joining the Courier: Griffin, Courier of Crisis, Messenger of Hope.
“ten years if necessary”: This and the following exchange between Anderson and King come from Trezzvant W. Anderson, “In Jail with 40 Students ‘I Had to Practice What I Preached’—Dr. Martin L. King Jr.,” PC, Oct. 29, 1960.
“at the last minute to go”: King’s description of their call as “last minute” is interesting. He is certainly talking about Herschelle Sullivan’s and then Lonnie King’s calls, but making them sound more like invitations rather than a follow-up to a long effort at convincing King. King’s conversations with Wofford, hoping to evade the sit-in, certainly back up Lonnie’s recounting that he had been pressing King to participate with them for some time (as other people’s recollections also attest: John Lewis and in Branch’s Parting the Waters, Glenn Smiley and Bernard Lee’s memories of conversations with King during the SNCC conference). So while King was truthful that these calls came at the last minute before the sit-in, stating it as he did allowed him to conceal his own doubts about participating. It was only years later that Lonnie learned of King’s conversations with the Kennedy campaign seeking to justify missing the sit-in, but his admiration for his friend was undiminished.
“Oh, God, don’t let him die”: Matthews, Kennedy & Nixon, 18.
“I didn’t care for either man”: Lewis, Walking with the Wind, 118.
DAY 4: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
Harris Wofford watched his children: Wofford, interview; Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 13–14.
“What the hell?”: Wofford, interview.
“If old Joe has his way”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 29.
“Right now, I’ve got my eyes”: Zengerle, “Man Who Was Everywhere.”
“I understand my boy”: This and the exchange that follows come from an interview with Wofford.
“You know I’m way behind”: Wofford, interview by Blackside Inc. for “Eyes on the Prize,” Oct. 31, 1985, Henry Hampton Collection, Washington University Libraries.
“Morris, Martin Luther King, Jr., is”: Abram, Day Is Short, 126.
“I’m supposed to be a civil-rights”: Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 90.
“Can’t you do anything?”: Wofford, interview.
“Atlanta’s supposed to be the enlightened”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14.
“This is a scandal”: Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 90.
“How in the hell do you”: Abram, Day Is Short, 126.
He stressed to Abram that Kennedy: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14. Wofford’s and Abram’s memories diverge on a key point, which is that Abram later remembered Wofford urging him to help get King out and then give the credit to Kennedy. The problem with this memory is that it is in conflict with Wofford’s initial worry that making any linkage of the campaign to King’s case without authorization would cause him great problems. This concern would not stop the CRS from later acting without concern for the consequences, but Wofford has been consistent through the years that he was hardly thinking so boldly on Saturday, that early in the crisis. Wofford’s JFKL oral history interview predates Abram’s book by a decade and a half. But the possibility cannot be dismissed that Wofford’s motives from the start were more political than he ever felt comfortable acknowledging. Wofford maintained to us that this call was solely about helping his friend, that Abram misremembered his words in his later account. Wofford and Abram also disagree on whether Abram was already heading to this meeting, which Wofford remembered, or if Wofford’s encouragement spurred him to it.
Hartsfield’s JFKL oral history account, however, contradicts both Wofford and Abram, saying that he and Abram cooked up the whole plan in advance, in person, and then sought to convince a reluctant Wofford. Hartsfield also said Bobby and Seigenthaler were in the room with Wofford during his call, which was certainly not true, further diminishing the credibility of Hartsfield’s account. Given the incompatibility of Hartsfield’s story with four men’s memories, and his implausible timeline (he presents Kennedy’s call to Coretta, which happened four days later, as occurring right after his announcement), such assertions strike us as a legacy play at the end of a long career.
“Yeah, come down at once”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14.
Raised in Fitzgerald, Georgia: Abram, Day Is Short, 18–38.
“We will not accept race mixing”: “Hartsfield, Negro Leaders Huddle on Sit-in Truce,” AJ, Oct. 22, 1960.
“to say what they really think”: Ibid.
“If you will give me a thirty day”: Hartsfield, interview by Morrissey, JFKL.
“distinct and marvelous southern prototype”: Abram, Day Is Short, 94.
When an Atlanta synagogue: Martin, William Berry Hartsfield, 132–33.
At seventy, Mayor Hartsfield: Ibid., 130–31, 144–45.
“an unusually effective leader”: King Sr., Daddy King, 164. The Kings might not have viewed Hartsfield so positively if they had known how deeply the mayor feared an Atlanta run by a majority-Black population; Black voter registration in Atlanta was moving past whites for the first time heading into this election. Hartsfield often pondered how they could annex more of DeKalb County to head off such a future.
“I believe William Hartsfield”: Ibid., 116.
When Daddy King called Hartsfield: Ibid., 119.
Flipping through them, he saw: Hartsfield, interview by Morrissey, JFKL.
hoopin and a hollerin”: Ibid.
“I will turn Martin Luther King”: Ibid.
John Calhoun heard the mayor’s announcement: Raines, My Soul Is Rested, 94–95; John Calhoun, interview by John Britton, May 23, 1968, Ralph Bunch Oral History Collection, Howard University.
Vernon Jordan never forgot: Jordan, Vernon Can Read, 49.
Lonnie regularly had breakfast: Lonnie King, interview.
“A report!”: This and the exchange that follows come from Abram, Day Is Short, 127.
“the race was very close”: Hartsfield, interview by Morrissey, JFKL.
Calhoun had tried to reach: Calhoun, interview by Britton, Howard University.
Washington was a determined: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 33, 295–96.
“Val, this is going to have”: Raines, My Soul Is Rested, 95.
C
alhoun had previously offered: Farrington, Black Republicans and the Transformation of the GOP, 105–7. A year before, the Republican Claude Barnett, head of the Associated Negro Press, offered to Nixon’s press secretary, Herb Klein, that he could get Nixon stories targeted to Black newspaper readers all over the country, but was never taken up on the offer. The Nixon campaign was not printing Black-community-targeted pamphlets and did not bother to take money that a donor offered for a telecast aimed at Black voters.
“John, I don’t know whether”: Raines, My Soul Is Rested, 94–95.
“peace and quiet” offer: “Negroes Agree to Halt Sit-ins for 30 Days Here.”
“At the end of that time”: Ibid.
Troutman had been spending a pleasant: Wofford, interview; Abram, Day Is Short, 52–53, 58, 124, 128.
“suspected the dark hand”: Wofford, interview by Bernhard, #1, JFKL.
“Who is this representative”: This and the exchange that follows come from Abram, Day Is Short, 128.
“I know this might lose”: Wofford, interview.
“Sit down and hold on”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14.
“He said what, Morris?”: Wofford, interview by Bernhard, #1, JFKL.
“But Kennedy knows nothing”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14.
“I hadn’t checked with the campaign”: Wofford, interview.
“The Mayor knows that”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 14.
“Well, you know, the Senator”: Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 91.
“Hartsfield said what?”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 15.
“If Senator Kennedy is asked”: Abram, Day Is Short, 129.
“As a result of having many calls”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 15. Even Hartsfield was now on message—with a lifetime of sensitivities to the southern handling of race to draw upon—backing up Kennedy’s careful explanation. The mayor said to reporters, this time closer to reality, “It was thoroughly impressed upon me that the senator had no desire to interfere in what is a local matter, but that he merely wanted to express an interest, hoping the matter would be settled and realizing that Atlanta has a fine reputation for settling such matters.” Characteristically, he was able to shoehorn praise for his city in at the close. “Did Kennedy Man Ask King Release?,” AJC, Oct. 23, 1960.
worked toward this outcome until eight: Abram, Day Is Short, 127.
unless all charges were dropped: Ibid.
Abram’s daughter had gone without lunch: Ibid.
“Atlanta is getting a horrible image”: This and the exchange that follows also come from ibid.
“in terror that his company”: Ibid.
“he just wanted to sell shoes”: Ibid., 128.
“make martyrs out of them”: “Rich’s Declines to Prosecute Pastor King on Sit-In Count.”
DAY 5: SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23
“a pleasant, rotund little man”: Abram, Day Is Short, 129–30.
“Did Kennedy Man Ask King Release?”: AJC, Oct. 23, 1960.
“A lot of people I know”: Layhmond Robinson, “Baltimore Study Uncovers Apathy,” NYT, Oct. 23, 1960.
“When the great spiritual leader”: Martin G. Berck, “Rockefeller Opens 2-Week Drive in City,” New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 24, 1960.
“Harris, you’re just fucking everything up”: Wofford, interview.
Sunday’s Journal-Constitution reported: “Did Kennedy Man Ask King Release?” Vandiver assured reporters on Monday that Kennedy had “no authority to interfere, not any desire or intention.” It had been only an inquiry that was made, and not a Kennedy staffer attempting to interfere in a Georgia situation. Vandiver did not record having a conversation with Kennedy at this point in the week in his oral histories, but The Atlanta Constitution on October 25, 1960 (as well as AP coverage in other papers), quotes him as saying that he spoke to Kennedy on Saturday night and was reassured that their campaign would not mediate the King matter (“Vandiver Talked to JFK About King,” The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Oct. 25, 1960).
Vandiver later said that no such call: Ernest Vandiver, interview by Clifford Kuhn, Jan. 25, 1994, P1994–02, series A, Georgia Governors, Georgia Government Documentation Project, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library (GSU), Atlanta.
Almost no one seemed to notice: Abram, Day Is Short, 130.
Daddy King understood the depravity: King Sr., Daddy King, 10, 20–28, 37–40, 67–69.
“We must awaken the conscience”: Charles Price, “Citizens Contribute $2000 to Sit-Ins,” Cleveland Call and Post, Oct. 29, 1960.
“DeKalb Seeks to Jail Rev. King”: AC, Oct. 21, 1960.
“King Faces Year in Jail on Old Count”: AJ, Oct. 21, 1960. DeKalb even provided to The Atlanta Journal the original terms of King’s probation.
“Stop spending your money”: “Rich’s Not to Press Sit-In Prosecution,” Women’s Wear Daily, Oct. 25, 1960.
“he grew in stature”: King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., 52–53.
“Why did Daddy go to jail?”: This and the conversation that follows come from ibid., 175.
“He is one of my friends”: Gladney, How Am I to Be Heard?, 300–301. Smith wrote, “He was really arrested because the cop saw my white face, followed the car out to Emory where I was staying (taking my usual X-ray treatments) and arrested him for that, using the license as an excuse … but the real reason was me.”
“I’ve worked everything out”: King, interview by Bernhard, JFKL.
“But I would have to fine you”: DHP.
“I don’t have time, I’m going”: King Sr., Daddy King, 157.
“be put to work and labor”: “Rich’s Declines to Prosecute Pastor King on Sit-In Count.”
The look of surprise: Lonnie King, interview. As King said in his JFKL oral history interview, “It was such a minor case I didn’t pay much attention to it, and never knew that the lawyer had really pleaded guilty.” King, interview by Bernhard, JFKL. King said in sworn testimony in his subsequent DeKalb hearing that he never understood that he was on probation (DHP). Morris Abram speculated in The Day Is Short that believing DeKalb would seize him was why King did not want to leave Fulton County Jail, but King’s testimony contradicts that (130).
His visitors were cut off: Trezzvant W. Anderson, “Martin Luther King Reveals: Prisoners Wanted to Strike over Him,” PC, Nov. 5, 1960.
“worried about what they might do”: Ibid.
DAY 6: MONDAY, OCTOBER 24
The deputy sheriff of DeKalb County: “Rich’s Declines to Prosecute Pastor King on Sit-In Count.”
Hollowell, along with the attorney Horace: Hollowell and Lehfeldt, Sacred Call, 133.
“a community trying honestly”: “Rich’s Declines to Prosecute Pastor King on Sit-In Count.”
Mayor Hartsfield appeared on WSB: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Mayor William B. Hartsfield, Oct. 24, 1960, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, UGA Libraries, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.
All day Monday, an increasingly frustrated: Morrow to Finch, Oct. 24, 1960, E. Frederic Morrow Papers, 1925–1996, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University. This letter has long been missing from accounts of these crucial days, residing in a small portion of Morrow’s papers that are at Tulane University, but the letter is the strongest evidence of how the costs to the Republicans related to the King situation were clearly explained to the top of the campaign. Finch also received memos from the RNC official A. B. Hermann pleading for them to run more Black newspaper ads, the same suggestion Martin persuaded Shriver to follow despite its considerable price tag. After being turned down, and then ignored after asking for just one Black-voter-focused pamphlet, Hermann eerily wrote, “This has been a very badly neglected area. I do not know why. I am fearful of it coming home to haunt us.” Farrington, Black Republicans and the Transformation of the GOP, 106.
Morrow’s involvement with national Republican: Morrow, Forty Years a Guinea Pig, 73–85.
Eisenh
ower’s team told Morrow: Ibid., 86–93; Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 11–13.
Once Morrow moved: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 17–18; Morrow, Forty Years a Guinea Pig, 98–100. Eventually, a religious young woman, in tears, took the assignment of being Morrow’s secretary.
“The White House is a little”: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 275.
“We are proud of you”: Eisenhower to Morrow, Jan. 10, 1955, E. Frederic Morrow Papers, 1861–1996, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, Chicago Public Library. Context of the meeting where Morrow used the phrase is in his Forty Years a Guinea Pig, 91, though Morrow slightly misquotes the Eisenhower letter.
Outside work, he was apprehensive: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 43.
“heartsick … the greatest cross”: Ibid., 299.
Nine Days Page 32