“treat the disease of racism”: Liston, Sargent Shriver, 85–88.
“the house Communist”: Stossel, Sarge, 141.
both sides of the Civil War: Ibid., 3–10.
“You said you’re supporting”: Wofford, interview.
“I’m coming up for the football game”: Ibid.
racing toward O’Hare, Shriver made: Various previous versions of this incident, and a recent CNN reenactment in a documentary about the 1960 election (featuring only white campaign aides, with Louis Martin once again omitted), fictitiously depicts Shriver frantically driving through a rainy evening to get to Kennedy.
On Mannheim and Higgins Roads: Shriver places his conversation with JFK as happening at the inn in his authorized biography and oral history in Strober and Strober’s “Let Us Begin Anew.” However, Branch, in Parting the Waters, has the conversation happening at the airport. The oral history done by Anthony Shriver with his father, held at the JFKL, has Shriver uncertain as to the location, but we believe it was at the O’Hare Inn—also based on Wofford’s certainty on this point from conversations with Shriver afterward.
rallies in 237 cities: O’Donnell and Powers, “Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,” 203.
Des Plaines, Libertyville, Barrington: “Here’s Route Kennedy Will Follow Today,” Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 25, 1960.
“intense physical pain”: Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 95.
“and that word was very often”: Salinger, With Kennedy, 64.
“The plane leaves at about ten”: Strober and Strober, “Let Us Begin Anew,” 35.
“Jack, I have an idea”: Ibid.
“I know you can’t issue”: Wofford, interview by Bernhard, #1, JFKL.
“Jack, you just need”: Stossel, Sarge, 164. The recent book Kennedy and King by Steven Levingston does not make clear that Wofford’s call to Shriver about the possibility of the candidate’s phoning Coretta took place the following morning—after Wofford and Martin forged the idea the night before. Kennedy and King also relies on a dubious account from Kenny O’Donnell (via his daughter Helen O’Donnell’s Irish Brotherhood, published thirty-eight years after Kenny O’Donnell’s death and appearing to lack a level of sourcing needed to back up its details in describing incidents) of O’Donnell’s being part of Shriver’s conversation with JFK in the hotel. That O’Donnell was present, much less approving, is simply not credible. Shriver was consistent throughout his life that he waited until O’Donnell walked out of the room before daring to present the idea. Shriver’s caution is the more logical account, because O’Donnell, hardly an ally of the CRS staffers, would have very likely vetoed the idea.
“Negroes don’t expect everything”: Stossel, Sarge, 164.
“That’s a good idea”: Strober and Strober, “Let Us Begin Anew,” 36.
“Dial it for me”: Stossel, Sarge, 165.
King needed a white lawyer: King Sr., Daddy King, 157–58.
“May I speak”: King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., 180.
“Mrs. King, this is Sargent”: Strober and Strober, “Let Us Begin Anew,” 36.
“Just a minute, Mrs. King”: King, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., 180.
“Thanks, Jack,” said Shriver: Strober and Strober, “Let Us Begin Anew,” 36.
get Bobby on the line: Ibid.
“going to blow up the courthouse”: Shannon and Roberts, “King at Reidsville as Hearing Held.”
“We all like our Master”: DHP.
Lonnie King had not been present: Lonnie King, interview.
“We’re waiting on a fellow”: “Student Leader’s Wife Terrorized,” AI, Aug. 29, 1960.
“this was an idea”: Lonnie King, interview by Bob Short, University of Georgia Libraries.
Dr. Mays, King’s brother, A.D., and Wyatt: DHP.
“I don’t think the Solicitor”: This and all other quotations from the Wednesday court hearing before Judge Mitchell can be found in DHP.
“This is a dark day”: Britton, “Motion to Revoke Conviction of King Rejected Following Early Morning Transfer to Reidsville.”
“It’s happened, man”: Wofford, JFKL.
“Kennedy’s done it, he’s touched”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 19.
“I’ll vote for him”: Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 93.
“That’s great, a Martin Luther King”: Abram, Day Is Short, 131.
The next call to reach Wofford: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 19.
“Kennedy made a series”: “Rev. Martin Luther King Sent to a Georgia Chain Gang!” Martin could not have known how he might be blowing up the sensitive Kennedy/Vandiver covert maneuvers to free King. However, he always believed white people did not know what was going on in Black media, making any move on his part effectively hidden.
“I can’t get to him”: Calhoun, interview by Britton, Howard University.
traveling across the Midwest: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 296. Morrow said this conversation happened in Illinois, but also maintained it happened twenty-four hours before King was released, which would put Nixon in Ohio. Nixon was in Illinois the day after King was released, at which time the conversation would have made no sense to happen. We think it more likely he remembered the timing correctly, but not the exact midwestern state. Nixon got to the Midwest on the twenty-fifth, the day Mitchell revoked King’s probation.
“IT CALLS FOR THE STRONGEST”: Mitchell to Nixon, Oct. 26, 1960, King, Martin Luther, Telegrams, 1960, Pre-presidential Papers Collection 320, box 22, RNL.
“AN EXPRESSION FROM YOUR OFFICE”: Leonard H. Carter to Nixon, Oct. 26, 1960, King, Martin Luther, Telegrams, 1960, Pre-presidential Papers Collection 320, box 22, RNL.
“You must laugh heartily”: Morrow Papers, Chicago Public Library.
Nixon would be avoiding Harlem: Farrington, Black Republicans and the Transformation of the GOP, 104.
During Eisenhower’s presidential campaign: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 296.
“bad strategy”: Ibid.
Still, with one forceful remark: E. Frederic Morrow, interview by Ed Erwin, April 15, 1968, Columbia Center for Oral History Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Simeon Booker of Jet asked to be moved: Farrington, Black Republicans and the Transformation of the GOP, 106–7.
“think about it”: Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 296.
“look like he was pandering”: Matthews, Kennedy & Nixon, 172.
Morrow thought back to Nixon’s: Morrow wrote, “One of the unsolved mysteries of the 1960 campaign is what happened to that Nixon.” Morrow, Black Man in the White House, 293.
Morrow headed back to the White House: Morrow, interview by Erwin.
“Kennedy goes the way”: Stanley S. Scott, “Robinson in Memphis Indicates Negro Will Get Cabinet Post If Nixon Wins,” ADW, Nov. 1, 1960; Allan Heim, “Robinson Goes to Bat for New Coffee Brand,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, Oct. 28, 1960.
“Did you know about that call?”: Seigenthaler, interview by Tye.
Bobby had been campaigning in Pittsburgh: “Nixon ‘Panic’ Seen by Robert Kennedy,” NYT, Oct. 26, 1960.
he thought Martin would have informed Bobby: Seigenthaler, interview by Tye.
“landed on me like a ton”: Shriver, interview by Anthony K. Shriver, JFKL.
“You’ve gotten Senator Kennedy”: Poinsett, Walking with Presidents, 82.
“was going to get defeated”: Shriver, interview by Anthony K. Shriver, JFKL.
“Bob wants to see you bomb throwers”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 19.
Wofford suggested that Martin go over: Martin notebook, LMP; Martin, interview by Grele, #2, JFKL.
Bobby simply liked him better: Wofford, interview.
how to handle the conversation: Martin notebook and memoir draft, LMP; Louis Martin, “Up Front: New Senator, a Friend of King,” Chicago Defender, May 18, 1991, clipping in LMP.
“You know, Jackie Robinson is trying”: Thompson, Kennedy Presidency, 87.
going to blast the Democrats: Draft in Speeches and Writings File, LMP.
“they’re going to blame the jailing”: Thompson, Kennedy Presidency, 87.
“What the hell do you mean”: Louis Martin, interview by Robert Wright, March 25, 1970, Civil Rights Documentation Project, Bunch Collection, Howard University.
“Wait a minute, don’t talk about that”: Thompson, Kennedy Presidency, 87.
a moral framework Bobby would understand: Louis Martin, interview by Ed Edwin, #3, May 2, 1985, Columbia University Oral History Collection.
“Do you know that three Southern”: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 19.
“We said we wouldn’t support King”: Wofford, interview.
“You bomb throwers probably lost”: Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 93. Seigenthaler wondered years later if Bobby and Jack discussed reaching out to the Kings the night before JFK’s call to Coretta. Yet Shriver felt he saw in his brother-in-law’s face the processing of a quite new idea, arguing against the Kennedys’ having already considered an outreach to her.
With their morale at its lowest point: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 20.
“You can’t do this”: Vandiver, interview by Kuhn, GSU.
Once the two were together: Charles Pou, “King Call Arranger Was George Stewart,” AJ, Dec. 23, 1960. Stewart remembered saying on a call to Bobby, “If he is released, it might cost Georgia,” with Bobby replying, “If he isn’t released, it might cost us Massachusetts.”
Stewart told Mitchell a federal judgeship: Bass, Taming the Storm, 169–71.
Vandiver’s fingerprints had to be effaced: Jack Bass, interview, Feb. 2, 2018.
“would affect my political future”: Vandiver, interview by Kuhn, GSU. This was likely the second time they spoke that day, given that Jack asked the governor to report to Bobby if he could get King out.
personally been to the governor’s mansion: Ibid.
There were no special privileges: Anderson, “Martin Luther King Reveals.”
“Hello darling”: This and the other quotations from the letter can be found in Carson et al., Papers of Martin Luther King Jr., 5:531–32.
One reporter asked Warden Balkcom: “Rev. Martin Luther King Sent to a Georgia Chain Gang!”
Hollowell received a call: Hollowell and Lehfeldt, Sacred Call, 135.
“I can’t understand why”: John Seigenthaler, interview by Jean Stein, American Journey interview transcript, Jean Stein Personal Papers, JFKL.
“Just think about it a minute”: Seigenthaler, interview by Tye.
“I think you’re right”: Ibid. Either Bobby’s thinking shifted on the plane, or at every stage he believed that the less people knew, the better; the call had to be made for his brother’s benefit.
“Bobby would be speaking in Philadelphia”: Republican and Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania), Oct. 27, 1960. The Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 27, 1960. Kennedy’s Philadelphia office was located at 1431 Chestnut Street. Seigenthalar’s recollection was of putting Bobby on a plane to New York (John Seigenthaler, interview by Ronald J. Grele, #2, Feb. 21, 1966, JFKL), but Philadelphia was where Bobby spoke that evening. He was in Long Island, New York, the next day, which is where Bobby remembered calling Judge Mitchell from in his JFKL oral history.
“I think Dr. King is getting”: Nixon, Six Crises, 362.
“If my child can sit”: This and other quotations from the Mount Zion event come from Paul Delaney, “Mass Meet Supports Dr. King,” ADW, Oct. 27, 1960.
“traitor” in their campaign: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 20.
“I had nothing to do”: Charles Moore and Gene Britton, “King Freed on $2,000 Bond, Flies Home from Reidsville,” AC, Oct. 28, 1960.
DAY 9: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27
“Well, I talked to that judge”: Martin, interview by Grele, #2, JFKL. There is a problem with what Bobby said to Martin that night, and with the timeline all historians have previously used. The investigative journalist Jack Bass was one of the few to ever get Judge Mitchell’s side of the story, talking to him in the late 1980s about the King case back channels, information he included in Taming the Storm. The reporter became interested in the incident while working on an unrelated book and looked up the retired judge. Because his friend Vandiver had endorsed the writer’s credentials, Mitchell opened up and explained that, actually, it was Stewart that Bobby got on the phone that evening. Then Bobby was to speak with him the next morning, fulfilling the judge’s stipulation that a call from the Kennedy campaign was essential for Vandiver’s political cover—and his own satisfaction. If we combine Mitchell’s account to Bass with what Louis Martin consistently repeated throughout his life, of Bobby waking him up in the middle of that night (after the day’s earlier tongue-lashing), this is something all previous histories have missed: Bobby had not actually spoken to the judge when he called Martin that night, only Stewart. The second, and most important, call was scheduled for 8:00 a.m. The tone and words of that actual conversation would be far from belligerent.
“I told him to get”: Draft in Speech file, LMP.
“We now make you an honorary”: Martin, interview by Grele, #2, JFKL; Martin memoir draft, LMP. Martin would call Bobby “honorary brother” for the rest of Kennedy’s life, whether in memos, greetings in hallways, or a private code that let Martin always get into Bobby’s office no matter what the attorney general was dealing with (“Tell him his honorary Brother needs his help”); this nod between them cemented a tie. Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 22.
King’s health, after all he: “Rev. King to Debate Sit-Ins with Ga. Newsman,” Jet, Nov. 10, 1960.
To his surprise, prisoners frequently: Anderson, “Martin Luther King Reveals.”
King was deeply affected by his time: John Pennington, “Prison Conditions ‘Move’ Dr. King,” AJ, Oct. 28, 1960; Edward Peeks, “A Great Experience Says Dr. King of Sojourn in Prison,” Baltimore Afro-American, Nov. 5, 1960.
“Kennedy Phoned to Express Concern”: Anthony Lewis, “Kennedy Phoned to Express Concern, King’s Wife Says,” AC, Oct. 27, 1960.
“some kind of statement”: “Kennedy Calls Mrs. King,” NYT, Oct. 27, 1960.
“Chain-Gang Justice”: “Chain-Gang Justice,” Washington Post, Oct. 27, 1960.
“given an invaluable boost”: “The Jailing of Dr. King,” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 27, 1960.
“for the strongest condemnation”: King files, PPS, RNL.
The American Jewish Congress wired: Douglas Kiker, “Jewish Body Asks Pardon for Dr. King,” AJ, Oct. 27, 1960.
Vandiver, for one, was experiencing: “4 ‘Colonels’ in Vandiver Staff Quit,” AC, Oct. 28, 1960.
Griffin Bell assured the press: Ibid.
At 8:00 a.m., the phone rang: Bass, Taming the Storm, 169–71. Bobby said in his JFKL oral history only that he called the judge; it is likely he actually did not reach the judge the night before, and so then used another number from the governor to get the next best thing: Judge Mitchell’s friend Stewart. According to Mitchell in Bass’s interview, Bobby did not reach him at the courthouse, so he phoned Stewart. We find Mitchell’s account credible given how specific it was. Bobby hinted at a vagueness behind the myth when he acknowledged, “Whatever I said, he got him out.” It was one day in Bobby’s busy and consequential life, whereas these days were the most nationally relevant of Mitchell’s life, so the details of the 8:00 a.m. call the next day with a prominent Kennedy would likely be something he would have clarity on.
In Bobby’s JFKL oral history interview, he said he called the judge from the pay phone, remembering not a lot of small talk, asking mostly, “Will he get out on bail?” Soon after they rang off, the political transaction complete. Bobby would present a more aggressive picture of the call to others, but there was, as he admitted in his later oral history, little bluster and more politeness in the actual call.
“We would lose the state”: Pou, “King Call Arranger Was George Stewart”; “Governor Due Here This Noon,
” Suffolk County News, Oct. 27, 1960, marks Bobby’s speech at the Huntington Town Hall as being that Thursday, and Bobby’s oral history recollection was that he placed the call from Long Island.
“Bob, it’s nice to talk”: Guthman and Shulman, Robert Kennedy in His Own Words, 70. Mitchell told Bass he never used this favor with the attorney general in terms of getting a federal judgeship for himself, but he was successful in getting the DOJ not to deploy federal voting registrars into Georgia during the 1962 governor’s race. Another likely apocryphal quotation from the call passed on to Wofford was Bobby saying, “If you’re a good Democrat, you’ll get him out of jail before sunset!” (from the Slightly Mad documentary). Seigenthaler reported Bobby telling him that he told the judge, “Are you an American? Do you know what it means to be an American? You get King out of jail!” Seigenthaler, in thinking why Bobby called the judge despite his counsel, believes it was a question of fairness that tilted Bobby toward phoning Mitchell. A great Bobby admirer, Seigenthaler concluded, “Bob Kennedy’s the most moral man I ever met. This was an action that really upset him.” Even if “it might cost him some votes … he thought the position of the judge was disgraceful” (Seigenthaler, interview by Grele, #2, JFKL).
“He has to do this”: William Safire, “View from the Grandstand,” NYT, April 13, 1987.
He brought him to see the campaign manager: Safire, Before the Fall, 59–60. Harry Belafonte called Wofford, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis on what he thought to be the Kennedy side urging action for King. Belafonte called Jackie Robinson to ask for Nixon’s help but heard nothing back from the Nixon campaign. Belafonte, My Song, 218.
Robinson’s wife, Rachel, had never thought: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 351.
“counseling him not to rock”: Robinson, I Never Had It Made, 139.
Safire thought he saw tears: Safire, Before the Fall, 59.
“He thinks calling Martin”: Safire, “View from the Grandstand.”
Nixon would later claim: Farrell, Richard Nixon, 288.
But Rogers, for his part, maintained: William P. Rogers, interview by John T. Mason Jr., June 28, 1968, Eisenhower Administration Project, Butler Library Oral History Collection, Columbia University; Branch, Parting the Waters, 375.
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