At Canaan's Edge (118 page)

“a great gentleman, as always”: NYT, March 14, 1965, pp. 1, 62.

“when the President works on you”: Carter,
Politics,
p. 110.

“the meeting has gone badly”: Lee White to LBJ, “Points to Consider in Connection with the Wallace Meeting,” March 13, 1965, Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act 1965, Box 2, LBJ.

“sort of cowed and pliable”: Int. Jack Valenti, Feb. 25, 1991; Burke Marshall oral history by T. H. Baker, Oct. 28, 1968, p. 32, LBJ. Marshall, John Doar's predecessor as assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, was present as a special consultant for most of President Johnson's meeting with Governor Wallace.

gobbled a bowl of soup: PDD, March 13, 1965, p. 3, LBJ.

“First, I urged”: “The President's News Conference of March 13, 1965,” PPP 1965, pp. 274–81.

“an unemployed agitator ceases to agitate”: Mobile LHM dated March 19, 1965, FDCA-693, p. 5.

a few commanders reportedly asked: Fager,
Selma, 1965,
pp. 126–29.

meet at the doorstep of First Presbyterian: Mobile LHM dated March 19, 1965, FDCA-693, pp. 9–10.

At St. Paul's Episcopal: Ibid. Also Malcolm E. Peabody, Jr., to Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter, March 18, 1965, BIR/C15f28; John B. Morris “To All Bishops,” March 27, 1965, BIR/C11f5; Shattuck,
Episcopalians,
p. 155; Judy Upham oral history dated January 6, 1966, pp. 10–12, JDC.

raised Anglican in Jamaica: Int. Ivanhoe Donaldson, Nov. 30, 2000.

observances spilled widely to mark the week: NYT, March 16, 1965, pp. 1, 22, 23.

From All Souls Unitarian Church: Howlett,
Greater,
p. 228.

“Her plump face shining in the sun”: NYT, March 16, 1965, p. 22.

President Johnson convened seven congressional leaders: Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, Senator Thomas Kuchel, House Speaker John McCormack, House Majority Leader Carl Albert, Representative Hale Boggs, and Representative William McCulloch, 5:00–6:30
P.M.
, March 14, 1965, PDD, LBJ.

“You made the White House fireproof”: “Mr. Valenti's Notes, March 14, 1965,” Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ.

more would die like Reeb: Richard B. Stolley, “The Nation Surges to Join the Negro on His March,”
Life,
March 26, 1965, p. 35.

“This is a deliberate government”: “Mr. Valenti's Notes, March 14, 1965,” Legislative Background, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Box 1, LBJ.

Attorney General Katzenbach allowed: Garrow,
Protest,
p. 104.

advance the date to Monday: NYT, March 15, 1965, p. 1.

Bill Moyers called in emergency help: Spike,
Photographs,
pp. 108–9;
Jet,
April 1, 1965, p. 10.

civil rights speech at Gettysburg: Branch,
Pillar,
pp. 91–92.

Busby dismissed the Justice Department draft: Miller,
Lyndon,
p. 525.

yanked in a startled new speechwriter: Goodwin,
Remembering,
pp. 325–26.

At the Lowndes County seat: Eagles,
Outside Agitator,
p. 122.

neighboring counties such as Wilcox: Wilcox County report of Gerald Olivari, May 18, 1965, Folder 25, Reel 37, SNCC.

had ever been inside the long-abandoned relic: Int. John Hulett, by Stanley Smith, May 30, 1968, RJBOH; int. Elzie McGill by Robert Wright, Aug. 4, 1968, RJBOH; int. John Hulett, Sept. 8, 2000; Hampton and Fayer,
Voices,
p. 272.

“I wonder if that old thing still works”:
Saturday Evening Post,
May 22, 1965, p. 94.

Mattie Lee Moorer noticed items: Int. Mattie Lee Moorer, March 10, 2000.

A news photographer later captured the registrar:
Saturday Evening Post,
May 22, 1965, p. 94.

ventured alone on Tuesday to witness: Presentation by Sidney Logan and John Hulett at Mt. Gillard Baptist Church, Trickem, Alabama, March 7, 2000.

President Johnson convened the Joint Chiefs: FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 395–96; McNamara,
In Retrospect,
pp. 176–77.

“arrest the deterioration”: Johnson Report outline dated March 14, 1965, FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 438–39.

“current expectation of early victory”: Bundy, “Memorandum for Discussion,” March 16, 1965, FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 446–49.

“70% to avoid a humiliating defeat”: McNaughton memo of March 10, 1965, FRUS, Vol. 2, pp. 427–32; also in amended form dated March 24, 1965, in Gravel, ed.,
Pentagon Papers,
pp. 694–702.

The report stunned the assembled commanders: McNamara,
In Retrospect,
pp. 176–77.

“Kill more Vietcong”: Logevall,
Choosing,
p. 370.

appointment with columnist Walter Lippmann: PDD, March 15, 1965, LBJ; Johnson,
Diary,
p. 251.

“The reappraisal of our present policy”: Lippmann, “Vietnam Policy Reexamined,” March 18, 1965, in
Congressional Record,
March 18, 1965, p. 5452.

“Your policy is all stick”: Steel,
Walter Lippmann,
pp. 560–61; Bird,
Color,
p. 314.

“He doesn't understand that I'm debatin'”: LBJ phone call with Bill Moyers, 9:40
A.M.
, March 10, 1965, Cit. 7051, Audiotape WH6503.05, LBJ.

“Mac, I've got Walter Lippmann”: Steel,
Walter Lippmann,
p. 561.

relieved his anxiety about being ostracized: Ibid. See also Busby to LBJ, “About: Walter Lippmann,” March 9, 1965, Box 52, Horace Busby Papers, LBJ.

Somewhat to their chagrin: Valenti,
Human,
pp. 64–66; int. Horace Busby, Feb. 3, 1992.

“I just wanted to remind you”: Goodwin,
Remembering,
p. 329.

“A liberal Jew”: Ibid., p. 326.

weekend speeches in Chicago: “5,000 Hear King at Liberty Baptist Church,” CDD, March 15, 1965, p. 1; Rev. A. P. Jackson to MLK, March 16, 1965, A/KP5f24; Joseph D. Hanson to MLK, March 16, 1965, A/KP5f24. On Sunday, March 14, Chicago FBI agents monitored King's travel, his press conference in the VIP Room of O'Hare Airport, and his televised address from the Chicago Sunday Evening Club, then reported by coded Teletype to headquarters: “Primarily religious sermon, no reference Bureau or government, and only passing reference racial matters. Military and Secret Service advised.” SAC, Chicago, to Director, Atlanta, and Mobile, March 15, 1965, FK-996.

President Johnson's personal invitation: Johnson's diary shows that he called King “in Chicago” at 10:48
P.M
. Sunday night, and King told reporters that he and the President discussed the voting rights bill. Johnson did not record the call. PDD, March 14, 1965, LBJ; NYT, March 17, 1965, p. 27.

“I never saw any violence”: Sikora,
Judge,
p. 215.

two of those charged in the Reeb murder: WP, March 16, 1965, p. 12.

“tiptoe stance”: Cf. “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in Washington, ed.,
Testament,
p. 293.

“in some quarters”: Clarence Jones telegram to MLK, March 15, 1965, A/KS.

intensified King's vulnerability: Cf. “Administration Trying Feverishly to Prevent New Clash in Selma/ Some Vow to March No Matter What,” WP, March 16, 1965, p. 1. “Some Negroes in Selma have rejected Dr. King's leadership because they feel he ‘sold out' in the arranged confrontation last Tuesday.”

he declined the President's invitation: MLK telegram to LBJ, March 15, 1965 (“I just talked with Mr. Valenti stating that complications in my schedule will make it impossible…. I had looked forward to being there with you.”), A/KP13f7.

secured an excused absence from Judge Johnson: (“King will attempt to be excused from appearance in federal court, Montgomery.”), SAC, Mobile, to Director, March 15, 1965, FDCA-611.

“got tired and even a little hostile”: Fager,
Selma, 1965,
p. 133.

futile attempts since dawn to circumvent: FBI agents reported a march briefing by Hosea Williams at 6:58
A.M.
, nonviolent instruction by Rev. Charles King of Evanston, Indiana, at 8:00
A.M.
, and a large march led by SCLC's Rev. C. T. Vivian at 9:24
A.M.
, blocked by Sheriff Clark. Mobile LHM dated March 19, 1965, FDCA-693, p. 12.

brink of open fisticuffs: Garrow,
Protest,
p. 105.

swelling bank of dignitaries: NYT, March 16, 1965, pp. 1, 31.

first direct Vatican contact in nine hundred years: Poulos,
Breath,
p. 105.

alone in a Charleston hotel room: Int. Archbishop Iakovos, Jan. 24, 2002.

seven of eighteen bare bulbs: WP, March 16, 1965, p. 12.

“I found myself greatly agitated”: Richard D. Leonard, “Selma65: A View from the Balcony,”
UU World,
May–June 2001.

“James Reeb was martyred”
to
“We thank God for his goodness”: MLK eulogy for James Reeb, Selma, Alabama, March 15, 1965,
UU World,
May–June 2001.

“At times, life is hard”: Branch,
Parting,
p. 892.

“the most sacred values in our Judeo-Christian heritage”: Branch,
Pillar,
pp. 47–48.

“the shirtless and barefoot people”
and
“not yet discouraged about the future”: Ibid., pp. 542–43.

Clark received mortifying news: Mobile LHM dated March 19, 1965, FDCA-693, p. 12.

Four minutes later: Ibid., p. 13.

“Grown men wept”: Fager,
Selma, 1965,
p. 134.

met briefly in Geneva after the bus boycott: Int. Archbishop Iakovos, Jan. 24, 2002; Branch,
Parting,
p. 214.

A march of some 3,500 people: WP, March 16, 1965, p. 1.

this hard-won release more impressive: Judy Upham oral history dated June 6, 1966, p. 13, JDC.

his five children watched: NYT, March 16, 1965, p. 1.

A photographer captured the extraordinary assembly: Friedland,
Lift Up,
pp. 129–30;
Life,
March 26, 1965.

to remove a mourning wreath: NYT, March 16, 1965, p. 31.

10: AND WE SHALL OVERCOME

Stokely Carmichael reported: WATS report, March 15, 1965, Reel 15, SNCC.

Carmichael saw police units: Int. Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Jan. 31, 1984.

SNCC colleagues came upon Carmichael: Ibid. Also Sellers,
River,
p. 127; int. Cleveland Sellers, Dec. 14, 1983. (Dates adjusted to fit the record.)

a standoff that lasted into Monday evening: Forman,
Sammy Younge,
p. 98; Carson,
Struggle,
p. 160; Fager,
Selma, 1965,
pp. 138–39.

“Melzetta Poole, 19, Alabama State”: WATS report, “Montgomery, Ala., March 15, 1965, People injured in march,” Reel 15, SNCC.

“300 Negro demonstrators blocking an ambulance”: WP, March 16, 1965, p. 1. A small story in the same day's
New York Times
presented a toned-down police version as “one unconfirmed report,” and noted a conflicting statement from SNCC headquarters in Atlanta that “there was no ambulance involved and that the mounted deputies charged into the crowd without provocation.” NYT, March 16, 1965, p. 31.

the contrast of bustling normalcy at an airport concourse: Int. Willie (Ricks) Mukasa, May 14, 1992.

Carmichael collapsed on the floor: Int. Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), Jan. 31, 1984.

Lady Bird Johnson stoically watched: Johnson,
Diary,
p. 252.

“fourteen goddam wooden fingers”: Rowan,
Breaking,
p. 250.

heard no sound from the arriving sphinx: Goodwin,
Remembering,
p. 330.

script changes that lengthened Goodwin's draft: “President's Remarks to Accompany Voting Message, Draft 1 Goodwin, 3/15/65,” as compared with “Remarks of the President to a Joint Session of Congress, March 15, 1965 (As Actually Delivered) (9:02
P.M
.

EST),” Moyers Papers, Box 6, LBJ.

Where Goodwin exhorted: Ibid.

a boycott by the entire Mississippi and Virginia delegations: Mann,
Walls,
p. 461.