00:00 – Discussion about the tactics employed by SCLC continues. Nonviolent rhetoric was effective. Whites reacted violently because their minds were being attacked. Racial etiquette. 02:15 – Dent thinks Young is being harsh saying that [SNCC’s views?] were wrong. Young considers himself tolerant of others’ views but hopes to create discussion. 04:00 – Dent talks about how Young’s views will come across in the book and how he came across in the press. 06:56 – Vietnam. The board of SCLC first took a position on the Vietnam War in Miami in 1965 or early 1966. Before that, King had encouraged his wife Coretta to be the spokesperson for the Peace Movement. He wanted to keep the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam Peace Movement separate. 09:25 – James Bevel was the strongest advocate for the Peace Movement. SNCC was very involved in the Peace Movement. SCLC had an official position, but did not actively engage in anti-war demonstrations. They were trying to keep the Civil Rights Coalition together, with the NAACP, the Urban League, the AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, and the churches. King tended to talk about Vietnam to black groups, but they were only involved in the Peace Movement as individuals. 11:45 – King was on a plane with Dr. Spock, who tried to get him more involved in the Peace Movement. He brought books on Vietnam with him to Jamaica, including Bernard Fall’s book. Dent knew Fall, and they briefly discuss his death. 13:30 – When King returned from Jamaica in January of 1967, he talked about not “segregating his conscience,” and became more active in the Peace Movement. He spoke at an event with Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening, the only senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 15:00 – Bevel had talked to King about the Peace Movement while he was in Jamaica. Bayard Rustin, Harry Wachtel, Stan Levison, Cleve Robinson gathered to talk about a mobilization meeting. Young was against involvement because they were not in control of the demonstrations and it would have been an embarrassment to King. Bevel was the only one who argued for King’s involvement in the march. 17:35 – King decided to do the march in New York. Young suggested that they talk to Dr. John Bennett at Union Seminary and Rabbi [Abraham] Heschel and arrange to make a speech in a controlled forum. They planned the address at Riverside Church on April 4th. Bennett, Heschel, and Henry Steele Commager would also be present and comment on the war. 19:10 – The press response was negative, but built up the march. The speech took place one year to the day before his assassination. 20:15 – Once King came out against the war, Lyndon Johnson’s White House tried to organize the black establishment to oppose him. Dent says he heard that Ralph Bunche tried to talk King out of coming out against the war. They had met with [Arthur?] Goldberg in early 1966. King was viciously attacked by the press for comments on China. Press reaction to King later gave Young comfort for how the press dealt with him at the United Nations. 23:10 – Whitney Young, Roy [Wilkins?], and Bayard Rustin condemned King for his stance on the war in Vietnam. Young thinks the book The King God Could Not Save by John Williams was generated by J. Edgar Hoover and F.B.I. gossip. 24:30 – King was taken aback by the criticism. He confronted Young about it. Young was concerned that they would lose the support of Johnson for the Civil Rights Movement. 26:40 – SCLC organized in return to change people’s minds. Young had a Ford Foundation grant to train ministers. King addressed ministers from across the country on the subject. King spoke to black publishers in Chicago. In Cleveland, picketers stopped picketing and put their signs down when King spoke to them. 28:55 – They discuss the argument that the war in Vietnam was related to the Civil Rights work at home, which King discussed in his speech at Riverside Church. 30:20 – Young was focused on looking out for the integrity of the organization and the leadership. He was supportive once they worked out the speech at Riverside. He attended on conference in Geneva with King that summer. It was sponsored by Cyrus Eaton. Senator J. William Fulbright spoke. [Recording ends 31:56.]
