Pillar of Fire (136 page)

“dropping bombs on dark-skinned people”: Malcolm X Rochester speech of Feb. 16, 1965, in ibid., p. 150.

“Think of this”: Malcolm X New York speech of Feb. 15, 1965, in ibid., p. 136.

“so complex that it was impossible”: Malcolm X Rochester speech of Feb. 16, 1965, in ibid., p. 170.

talks at the Hotel Albert: Fager,
Selma 1965
, p. 69.

More than four hundred of these: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 15, 1965, FDCA-339.

“I filled out the form”: NYT, Feb. 16, 1965, p. 18.

“about 150 Negroes were so inspired”: Ibid.

Vivian tried to lead: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, pp. 390-91.

Nuns crowded around King: NYT, Feb. 17, 1965, p. 35.

addressed a voting rally: Ibid.

church in Lowndes County: SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 15, 1965, FDCA-345; SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 16, 1965, FDCA-351.

“The similarity will certainly shock you.”: STJ, Feb. 16, 1965.

“the ultimate expression”: “Sanity and Realism Must Come to Selma,” STJ, Feb. 18, 1965, p. 1.

“Virus Fells King”: CDD, Feb. 18, 1965, p. 1.

FBI wiretap picked up Ralph Abernathy: New York LHM dated Feb. 18, 1965, FK-NR. Abernathy appealed to Bayard Rustin, who obtained the money from Wachtel.

“Selma
still
isn't right!”: Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 70-71. King stayed afterward for a strategy session, missing his flight to Atlanta. He stayed overnight at the Sullivan Jackson home in Selma, and left for home Thursday morning. SAC, Mobile, to Director, Feb. 18, 1965, FDCA-358.

fn “The naked boldness”: Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 18, 1965, FK-917.

irate sentiment prevailed: Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 72-73.

overflowed Mount Zion Baptist: Int. C. T. Vivian, May 26, 1990; int. Willie Bolden, May 14, 1992; Hampton and Fayer,
Voices
, pp. 222-23.

correspondents told their crews: Remarks of Charles Quinn and Richard Valeriani, at the University of Mississippi symposium, “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

two abreast from Mount Zion: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, pp. 390-91; Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 72-74.

correspondents instantly sent crews: Remarks of Charles Quinn and Richard Valeriani, at the University of Mississippi symposium, “Covering the South,” April 3-5, 1987.

“Negroes could be heard”: NYT, Feb. 19, 1965, pp. 1, 29.

Fifty state troopers: Ibid. The
Selma Times-Journal
counted twenty-one state trooper cars at the scene. STJ, Feb. 19, 1965, pp. 1, 5.

bleeding into Mack's Cafe: Mount Zion sources from above, plus NYT, Feb. 20, 1965, p. 1, and affidavit of Cager Lee, Feb. 23, 1965, collected by the Inter-Citizens Committee of Birmingham, Alabama.

expelled one crippled customer: Affidavit of James Bell, Feb. 23, 1965.

cafe owner saw troopers: Affidavit of Normareen Shaw, Feb. 23, 1965.

shot him twice in the stomach: NYT, Feb. 20, 1965, p. 1; STJ, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1; Fager,
Selma 1965
, p. 74; Hampton and Fayer,
Voices
, pp. 224-25; affidavit of Viola Jackson, Feb. 23, 1965; affidavit of Cager Lee, Feb. 23, 1965.

George Baker: Affidavit of George Baker, Feb. 26, 1965. Witnesses also charged that patrol cars chased down random Negroes far out of town. Affidavit of George Sawyer, Feb. 22, 1965 (attacked at Piggly Wiggly store); affidavit of John C. Lewis, Feb. 22, 1965 (stopped by state troopers outside Marion on his way home from work, left unconscious on the car seat).

“This situation can only”: MLK to Katzenbach, Feb. 19, 1965, A/KP21f11.

Katzenbach replied: Katzenbach to MLK, Feb. 19, 1965, A/KP21f11. Katzenbach called J. Edgar Hoover the next morning, and was assured that an investigation was already under way. Hoover approved the same day a request by the Mobile SAC for six additional FBI agents in Selma. Hoover for Tolson et al., 9:52
A.M.
, Feb. 19, 1965, FCT-NR; Rosen to Belmont, Feb. 19, 1965, FDCA-440.

“a nightmare of State Police”: Cited in Garrow,
Protest
, p. 62.

Jimmy Lee Jackson:
Jet
, March 18, 1965, pp. 14-19; Bullard,
Free at Last
, pp. 76-77.

Wilson Baker stopped him: Fager,
Selma 1965
, pp. 76-77.

relief of some terrified: Int. Frank Soracco, Sept. 13, 1990; int. L. L. Anderson, May 27, 1990.

“naming the places”:
Congressional Record
, Feb. 18, 1965, p. H3037.

just lost an appeal: “High Court Refuses,” NYT, Jan. 19, 1965, p. 19; “Judgment Against Powell Is Increased to $210,000,” NYT, Feb. 12, 1965, p. 1.

no more respectful attention: NYT, Feb. 15, 1965, p. 26, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1, March 1, 1965, p. 17.

Dirksen set the tone:
Congressional Record
, Feb. 18, 1965, p. S-3146ff; Frank Church Oral History dated Sept. 16, 1977, pp. 20-27, LBJ.

“these former colonial regions”:
Congressional Record
, Feb. 17, 1965, pp. S-2869-89. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota delivered a similar speech the same day. Dirksen concentrated his attack on Church, most likely because of his seniority on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Johnson was hosting another: Transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, LBJ.

As usual: Cf. transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, pp. 16-17, LBJ. (LBJ: “They waked me the other morning at 1:30. I called the Situation Room, and they said the boys were off the deck. ‘They're off, they're on their mission, they're on their way.' And at 3:30 I waked up without anybody calling me, and I called them and said, ‘Where are my boys?' And they said, ‘Well, they are all back but four….'”)

“what's necessary to win that war”: Transcript from tape, Feb. 18, 1965, Congressional Briefings on Vietnam, Box 1, p. 7, LBJ.

“choose up and the winner take it”: Ibid., p. 14.

orders approved February 13: Gravel,
Pentagon Papers
, Vol. 3, p. 321.

arrested General Nguyen Khanh: Karnow,
Vietnam
, p. 401.

“Khanh Is Deposed”: NYT, Feb. 19, 1965, p. 1.

Johnson announced that Head Start: Levitan,
Poor Law
, p. 136.

“in view of the disturbed situation”: Gravel,
Pentagon Papers
, Vol. 3, pp. 324-25.

“condition of virtual non-government”: Ibid., p. 323.

Taylor put Khanh on an airplane: Ibid., p. 325.

Final bomb clearance: The first sustained sorties were initiated for February 26, but a series of bad-weather days postponed them until March 2. Ibid., pp. 329-30. Also, Gravel,
Pentagon Papers
, Vol. 2, p. 354.

ROLLING THUNDER: Karnow,
Vietnam
, p. 340. The hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” begins: “O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder/Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made/I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder/Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

“the United States had dropped”: Ibid., p. 341.

first two American combat battalions: Gravel,
Pentagon Papers
, Vol. 2, p. 422, Vol. 3, pp. 389-90.

“Now I pray several times”: mf [Marie Fehmer] to Buzz [Horace Busby], with LBJ dictation and
Christian Science Monitor
inquiry attached, Feb. 22, 1965, Box 52, Busby Papers, LBJ.

“The air was heavy”: Int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

Harlem temple felt the fury: Barboza,
American Jihad
, pp. 150-51.

many distant captains: Goldman,
Death and Life
, p. 414.

Ali checked into the Americana: Ibid., p. 314.

Louis X of Boston presided: Magida,
Prophet of Rage
, p. 84.

knew of the pressures: Robert Lipsyte, “Other Muslims Fear for Lives,” NYT, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 10.

made and canceled trips: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 265-68.

“when I jump out and say”: Remarks on the Stan Bernard
Contact
program, WINS Radio, New York, Feb. 18, 1965, in Clark, ed.,
Final Speeches
, pp. 184-229. Still, Malcolm seized upon detailed new inquiries. When his fellow radio guest, Aubrey Barnette, told listeners of being stomped the previous August, Malcolm begged program host Bernard's indulgence to ask Barnette if he knew whether the defense lawyer for the attackers had been “retained by the Muslims in Boston or was he retained by the Chicago headquarters?” Barnette said Chicago, indicating that headquarters orchestrated even the aftermath of punishment.

“It's a time for martyrs now”:
Life
, March 5, 1965, p. 28ff.

a secretary and four members: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 409-19; Karim,
Remembering Malcolm
, pp. 191-93; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991; “Who Killed Malcolm X?”, CBS
60 Minutes
, Jan. 17, 1982. Also (courtesy of William Kunstler) affidavit of Mujahid Abdul Halim (Talmadge X Hayer, alias Thomas Hagan), Feb. 25, 1978; affidavit of William M. Kunstler, Feb. 28, 1978; affidavit of William M. Kunstler, April 3, 1978; Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus, Muhammad Abdul Aziz (Norman 3X Butler) and Khalil Islam (Thomas 15X Johnson), Dec. 31, 1979; int. William Kunstler, Dec. 13, 1991.

“Malcolm X paced backstage.”: Goldman,
Death and Life
, pp. 268-75; Alex Haley epilogue in Malcolm X,
The Autobiography
, pp. 431-46; Perry,
Malcolm
, pp. 364-66; Karim,
Remembering Malcolm
, pp. 191-193; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991.

“Get your hand out”: Ibid. Also SA [deleted] to SAC, New York, Feb. 21, 1965, FMXNY-5644; SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Feb. 23, 1965, FMX-243; SAC, Philadelphia, to Director, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-245; Bland to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-259; Bland to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-264; Baumgardner to Sullivan, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-273; SAC, New York, to Director, Feb. 22, 1965, FMX-283; New York LHM dated March 12, 1965, FMX-360; New York report dated Sept. 8, 1965, FMX-418, pp. 4-9
Baltimore Afro-American
, Feb. 27, 1965, p. 1.

“I am deeply saddened”: MLK statement of Feb. 21, 1965, A/KP15f16.

On Monday in Selma: SAC, Mobile, to Director, 2:10
P.M.
, Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-425; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:00
P.M.
, Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-422; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:10
P.M.
, Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-411; SAC, Mobile, to Director, 11:42
P.M.
, Feb. 22, 1965, FDCA-431.

“That is another matter”: NYT, Feb. 23, 1965, p. 16.

Katzenbach called King: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, p. 392; CDD, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 5.

“absolute extinction of all”: Fager,
Selma 1965
, p. 79.

private objective of city officials: FBI agents reported to headquarters that Mayor Smitherman was complaining to Governor Wallace that state troopers occupied Selma and Brown Chapel without a specific request from local authorities. SAC, Mobile, to Director, 6:00
P.M.
, Feb. 23, 1965, FDCA-422.

local citizens welcomed: NYT, Feb. 23, 1965, p. 16.

“Followers of Malcolm X”: STJ, Feb. 22, 1965, p. 1. Elsewhere, the
Charlotte Observer
declared, “Black Nationalist Civil War Looms,” and
U.S. News & World Report
exclaimed, “Now It's Negroes vs. Negroes in America's Racial Violence,” in what writer Claude Clegg called “an exasperated tone.” Cited in Clegg,
An Original Man
, p. 230.

Colonel Al Lingo: Branch,
Parting
, pp. 795-96, 891-93.

“baseless and irresponsible”: Fager,
Selma 1965
, p. 80. The Alabama Senate toned down the wording of the original resolution, after some local news organizations protested the failure to protect reporters on the scene in Marion. STJ, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 1.

“twilight march”: NYT, Feb. 24, 1965, p. 1.

press conference Wednesday: Transcript (from an FBI recording) of MLK press conference at Delta Air Lines Crown Room, LAX, Feb. 24, 1965, A/KS.

Christian Nationalist State Army: SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, 12:06
P.M.
, Feb. 24, 1965, FK-980; SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, 5:21
P.M.
, Feb. 24, 1965, FK-954.