Nine Days

by Paul Kendrick

  We treasure our afternoons with Lonnie King in his Atlanta home as he, with smiling gusto, shared memories of activist days, along with ruminations on America, past and present. Lonnie would dial up Atlanta Student Movement compatriots and enthusiastically ask that they talk with us. It was like watching him organize in 1960 as he searched for telephone numbers of those whom he thought we needed to interview. We are grateful to Charles Black, the Reverend Otis Moss, and Charles Person for their insightful memories, which we felt fortunate to record. We thank Theresa Ann Walker, who made an effort beyond that which we could ask for, to try to arrange for us to talk to her husband, the Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, in his last days. We were lucky in so many ways, but we regret just missing the chance to interview the towering figures of Walker and Julian Bond.

  And to the one whose help and openness gave impetus to this project: Harris Wofford. Harris came into our lives because our friend and neighbor Dr. Carl Marci thought we would enjoy meeting his longtime mentor, given our interest in civil rights. Carl was right, and his introduction gave us not only entrée to many long and searching sessions with Harris but access to a man who taught us a great deal about the human heart. There is a reason people have loved (and sometimes been perplexed by) this gentleman, the central link between Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. The earnest humility of Harris’s kindness was so striking that one sometimes forgot how crucial he was to the American history of the past seventy years. His gentle directness and humor, his truly generous spirit, snuck up on you, until you remembered that you were sitting with a former senator, a renowned lawyer and writer, and one of the most important voices for national health care and citizen volunteerism in America.

  Jacob Finkel, director of the documentary that we highly recommend watching about Harris’s life, Slightly Mad, and Harris’s loving partner, Matthew Charlton, were always helpful in scheduling time for us to sit with Harris. Jacob also assisted us in finding amazing images of Wofford and Shriver during their Peace Corps years. Harris enjoyed telling stories and could keep us laughing but was dutiful in answering the detailed questions we had. Eventually, we reached a point in our interviews where we would ask something so specific that he could not recall it; then he told us in a proud tone that we now knew more about these days that he lived through than he did. He loved hearing all we were learning from Louis Martin’s notes from an unpublished memoir in his Library of Congress papers, and we came to see his friends Sarge and Louis as he fondly still did.

  We asked Wofford if he felt lucky to have worked with King, JFK, and Bobby—or somehow cursed, having befriended figures slain each in turn. He considered, looking out over Rock Creek Park, winding for miles from his living room vista. In his earnest way, he answered by gesturing. “Well, I’m looking at these red leaves in the wind outside the window, and that’s where I walk, to the river down there, most mornings, when I can. So I feel very lucky.” He could walk each day, remembering; they were not so spared.

  Harris told us once about how he would take the towpath along the Potomac River to a spot on the Georgetown waterfront facing the Kennedy Center. He would stop to contemplate what appeared to be three striking, lovely trees, which were actually one, sharing a twisting root system. Wofford would ponder this tree, where students, professionals, and families strolled and children played in a fountain nearby. Once a boy came to him, curious as to what he was looking at. Wofford said to the child, “These are the trinity trees.”

  Pointing to each one, Wofford added, “Faith, Hope, and Charity.” When Wofford was arrested outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a reporter asked him to explain why he was going to jail in three words. He replied, “Bob Kennedy, John Kennedy, and Martin Luther King.”

  The boy walked back toward his father, leaving Wofford bemused that he, a man with a limited instinct for religion compared with King, or, for that matter, Shriver and Martin, had summoned such a spiritual allusion. He overheard the child speak with great seriousness, “Daddy, I saw the trinity tree.”

  * * *

  With infinite gratitude, we acknowledge the unwavering support of our family that made this book possible: Anna, Elizabeth, and Liz Kendrick; Elana, Haley, Marc, Maureen, and Kori Schulman. Their belief in us got us through, and their own dedication to the sustaining idea that politics can actually lift us up, make our society more just and forgiving, inspired us at every point.

  Lonnie King at home in Atlanta in 2017 (photograph by Paul Kendrick)

  Harris Wofford at home in Washington, D.C., in 2017 (photograph by Kelly Jo Smart)

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Abernathy, Ralph

  Abram, Morris; Wofford and

  ACLU

  Adams, Sherman

  AFL-CIO

  Allen, Ivan, Jr.

  American Jewish Congress

  American Legion

  AmeriCorps

  Anderson, Trezzvant

  Angola (Louisiana State Penitentiary)

  anti-Semitism

  AP (Associated Press)

  “Appeal for Human Rights, An”

  Ashmore, Ann

  Atlanta, Ga.; King’s return to; Nixon’s appearance in; Republicans in; voters in

  Atlanta Constitution, The

  Atlanta Daily World

  Atlanta Inquirer, The

  Atlanta Journal, The

  Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The

  Atlanta Life Insurance Company

  Atlanta Prison Farm

  Atlanta Student Movement

  Atlanta University

  Baker, Ella

  Baldwin, James; “My Dungeon Shook”

  Balkcom, R. P.

  Barnett, Claude

  Barry, Marion

  Bass, Jack

  Bassett, Jim

  Belafonte, Harry

  Bell, Griffin

  Bevel, James

  Big Rock Jail at Fulton Tower

  Biko, Steve

  Birmingham campaign

  Black, Charles

  Black Man in the White House (Morrow)

  Black media and journalists

  Black Republicans and the Transformation of the GOP (Farrington)

  Blackshear, Otis

  Black soldiers

  Black voters; Blue Bomb pamphlets and; Democratic Party and; Eisenhower and; election turnout of; in Georgia; JFK’s campaign and; Nixon’s campaign and; Republican Party and

  Blair, Ed

  Blue Bomb pamphlets

  Bond, Julian; Hollowell and; Lonnie King and

  Bondurant, Joan

  Booker, Simeon

  Bowles, Chester

  Brando, Marlon

  Brazier, James

  Brinkley, David

  Broome, C. J.

  Brown, Benjamin

  Brown v. Board of Education

  buffalo soldiers

  Calhoun, John; Hartsfield and

  Califano, Joseph

  Carter, Jimmy

  Case of Martin Luther King, The (Blue Bomb pamphlets)

  Castro, Fidel

  Cavanaugh, John

  Celler, Emanuel

  Chamberlain, Wilt

  Chapin, Dwight

  Charlton, Matthew

  Chicago, Ill.

  Chicago Daily Tribune

  Chicago Defender, The

  China

  Christian Science Monitor, The

  Church, Roberta

  Civil Rights Act of 1957

  Civil Rights Act of 1964

  Civil Rights Commission

  civil rights movement; Birmingham campaign; Democratic Party and; Eisenhower and; Freedom Rides; jail and; JFK’s campaign and; JFK’s presidency and; King’s Birmingham jail letter and; March on Washington; Montgomery bus boycott; Nationa
l Conference on Constitutional Rights; Nixon’s 1960 campaign and; Nixon’s true feelings about; Selma to Montgomery march; SNCC and; “We Shall Overcome” in; women’s centrality to; women’s suffering of sexual violence during; see also segregation and integration; sit-ins

  Civil Rights Section (CRS); Blue Bomb pamphlets of; conservative elements and; Dawson in; King’s imprisonment and; Nixon telegram proposal and; Reeves-Lawson rivalry in; see also Martin, Louis E.; Shriver, Sargent; Wofford, Harris

  Clark, Kenneth

  Clayton, Charles

  Clayton, Xernona

  Clement, Rufus

  Committee on Appeal for Human Rights

  Congressional Record

  Congress of Racial Equality

  Connor, Bull

  Conquest of Violence (Bondurant)

  Corporation for National and Community Service

  Craig, Calvin

  Cross, Lonnie

  CRS, see Civil Rights Section

  Crusade for Citizenship

  Cuba

  Curry, Constance “Connie”

  Daley, Richard

  Dawson, William

  Decatur, Ga.

  DeKalb County, Ga.; King released from; King’s court hearings in; King’s sentence appealed in; King’s sentencing in; King’s traffic citation in; Republicans in; white voters in

  DeKalb County Jail

  Democratic National Committee (DNC)

  Democratic National Convention

  Democratic Party, Democrats; Black voters and; civil rights and; King’s imprisonment and; segregationist; southern

  Depression, Great

  desegregation, see segregation and integration

  DeWolf, L. Harold

  Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

  Dobbs, John Wesley

  Dorsey, Thomas

  Douglass, Frederick

  DREAM Act

  Du Bois, W. E. B.

  Duke University

  Ebenezer Baptist Church; King’s “Eight Days Behind Bars” sermon at; King’s funeral at

  Ebony

  Edelman, Marian Wright

  Edelman, Peter

  Ehrlichman, John

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.; Black voters and; civil rights and; JFK and; King’s imprisonment and; Morrow and; Nixon and; Nixon’s campaign and

  Eisenhower, Mamie

  Evers, Medgar

  Farrell, John

  Farrington, Joshua

  Farris, Christine King

  Farris, Isaac

  Fauntroy, Walter

  FBI

  Finch, Robert

  First Amendment

  Flanigan, Peter

  Forty Years a Guinea Pig (Morrow)

  Fourteenth Amendment

  Frank, Leo

  Franklin, Aretha

  Freedom Crusade Committee

  Freedom Rides

  Fulton County, Ga.: Big Rock Jail at Fulton Tower; Fulton County Jail; voters in

  Galbraith, John Kenneth

  Gallup

  Gandhi, Mahatma

  Georgia; Atlanta, see Atlanta, Ga.; Black voters in; criminal justice system in; Decatur; DeKalb County, see DeKalb County, Ga.; Fulton County, see Fulton County, Ga.; State Prison in Reidsville, see Reidsville, Georgia State Prison in

  Georgia Council on Human Relations

  Georgia State Board of Corrections

  Ghana

  Goldwater, Barry

  Goodwin, Richard

  Gordy, Barry

  Granger, Lester

  Graves, John Temple, II

  Gray, James

  Gray, William

  Haldeman, H. R.

  Harris, Louis

  Hartsfield, William; Calhoun and; desegregation negotiations of; King’s imprisonment and; King Sr. and

  Harvey’s Restaurant

  Hatcher, Andrew

  health care

  Hermann, A. B.

  Herter, Christian

  Hesburgh, Ted

  Heston, Charlton

  Hill, Jesse

  Hoffa, Jimmy

  Hollings, Fritz

  Hollowell, Donald; Bond and; Brazier and; Johnson and; King and students represented by; in King’s court hearings; and King’s imprisonment at Reidsville; King’s release and; King’s traffic citation and; Mitchell called by; Nash and; in World War II

  Hollowell, Louise

  Holmes, Hamilton

  Holt Street Baptist Church

  Hoover, J. Edgar

  Hopkins, Gerard Manley

  Hotel Theresa

  Howard University; JFK’s appearance at

  Hoytt, Marilyn Pryce

  Humphrey, Hubert

  Hunter, Charlayne

  India

  India Afire (Wofford and Wofford)

  integration, see segregation and integration

  Jackson, Jesse

  Jackson, J. H.

  Jackson, Mahalia

  Javits, Jacob

  Jefferson Memorial

  Jenkins, Herbert

  Jet

  Jewish Labor Committee

  Jews

  Jim Crow; see also segregation and integration

  Johnson, Ernest

  Johnson, Lyndon B.; and Civil Rights Act of 1964; King’s assassination and; Martin and; Shriver in administration of; War on Poverty

  Johnson, Nathaniel

  Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

  Jones, Clarence

  Jones, Raymond “Silver Fox”

  Jordan, Vernon

  Justice Department, U.S.

  Kansas City Times, The

  Kelley, John

  Kennedy, Caroline

  Kennedy, Ethel

  Kennedy, Jacqueline

  Kennedy, John F.; assassination of; back surgery of; Catholicism of; civil rights and presidency of; Coretta King called by; Eisenhower and; elected president; funeral for; illnesses of; inauguration of; Irish heritage of; King on; King’s Birmingham campaign and; King’s meetings with; March on Washington and; Nixon’s relationship with; presidency of; racism as viewed by; RFK’s character contrasted with; The Strategy of Peace; Vandiver called by; Wofford’s meeting of; in World War II

  Kennedy, John F., presidential campaign of; Black voters and; Blue Bomb pamphlets in; and Bowles’s call to Coretta King; civil rights and; debates with Nixon; Election Day; hectic schedule in; Howard University appearance; JFK’s call to Coretta King; JFK’s final televised statement in; King and; King’s father and; King’s imprisonment and; King’s lack of endorsement for; National Conference on Constitutional Rights and; Nixon telegram proposal and; Robinson and; Troutman and; Wofford recruited for; see also Civil Rights Section

  Kennedy, Joseph, Jr.

  Kennedy, Joseph; Shriver and

  Kennedy, Robert F.; assassination of; Blue Bomb pamphlets and; Coretta King visited by; JFK’s assassination and; and JFK’s call to Coretta King; JFK’s character contrasted with; King’s assassination and; at King’s funeral; King’s traffic citation sentence and; Martin and; Mitchell called by; presidential campaign of; Rachel Robinson and; on racial inequality; Stewart and; Vandiver and; Wofford and

  Kennedy, Rose

  Kennedy, Ted

  Kennedy Library

  Kenya

  Khrushchev, Nikita

  Killers of the Dream (Smith)

  King, A. D.

  King, Alberta Williams

  King, Alice

  King, Bernice

  King, Christine

  King, Coretta Scott; Blue Bomb pamphlets and; Bowles’s call to; early life of; JFK’s call to; Martin’s assassination and; Martin’s court hearing and; and Martin’s imprisonment in Birmingham jail; and Martin’s imprisonment following Rich’s sit-in arrest; Martin’s letter to; Martin’s marriage to; Martin’s release and; Martin’s sentencing and; Nixon’s visit to; and release of Rich’s sit-in protestors; RFK’s visit to

  King, Lonnie; Bond and; death of; early life of; imprisonment of; Jordan and; and King’s assassination and funeral; King
’s release and; in Navy; off-duty police incident and; post office job of; in Rich’s sit-in

  King, Martin Luther, III (“Marty”)

  King, Martin Luther, Jr.; arrest and incarceration in Montgomery; assassination of; Atlanta return of; Birmingham campaign of; in Birmingham jail; and Civil Rights Act of 1964; Coretta’s marriage to; funerals for; grandmother of; humility and guilt of; “I Have a Dream” speech of; Jackson and; on jail; on JFK; JFK’s campaign and; JFK’s meetings with; leadership, fame, and prestige of; Lee as body man for; in Montgomery bus boycott; name change of; on Nixon; Nixon’s campaign and; Nixon’s relationship with; Nobel Peace Prize awarded to; political neutrality of; radio interview of; in Rich’s sit-in; as SCLC head; sit-in movement and; SNCC and; stabbing attack on; Stride Toward Freedom; tax indictment of; voting problem of; wiretapping of; Wofford’s relationship with

  King, Martin Luther, Jr., imprisonment of: arrest; bail refusal and; bond payment and; The Case of Martin Luther King (Blue Bomb pamphlets); Coretta and; court hearings and; in DeKalb County Jail; and dropping of charges; Eisenhower and; in Fulton County Jail; Hartsfield and; homecoming from; JFK’s call to Coretta on; JFK’s call to Vandiver on; JFK’s campaign and; King’s fasting during; King’s letter to Coretta during; King’s sermon on; King’s television interview during; King’s written statements during; “leave the premises” trespassing charge in; media condemnation of; Mitchell’s decision reversal and; Nixon’s campaign and; plot against King’s life in; prisoners’ notes to King in; Reeves and; in Reidsville; release from prison; and release of fellow protestors; RFK’s call to Mitchell on; sentencing in; in solitary confinement; telegrams sent to JFK and Nixon about; traffic citation and; traffic sentence appealed; Vandiver and; visits during; Wofford and

  King, Martin Luther, Sr. (“Daddy King”); Blue Bomb pamphlets and; Coretta and; early life of; Hartsfield and; and JFK’s call to Coretta; and JFK’s Catholicism; Martin’s assassination and; Martin’s court hearings and; Martin’s imprisonment and; Martin’s imprisonment at Reidsville and; Martin’s sentencing and; Martin’s traffic citation and; name change of; Nixon’s visit to; Rich’s sit-in and