Posted on 04/02/2008 5:29:44 AM PDT by Nextrush
On Monday April 1st, Martin Luther King was in Atlanta preparing for a return to Memphis to lead a march on behalf of the striking sanitation workers.
He spoke to his aides and others that day. Matters of discussion were the planned Poor People's March On Washington later in the year and the decision of President Johnson not to run for re-election.
King had started on good terms with Johnson, who pushed through the controversial civil rights legislation of 1964. Portions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were seen by conservatives as federal power usurping state power in an unconstitutional way.
King and other civil rights leaders called off protests in late July 1964 to prevent any white backlash vore for Barry Goldwater.
Then in 1965 after the Selma protests, Johnson pushed through the Voting Rights Act when public opinion was symmpathetic to civil rights.
Later though, Martin Luther King burned his bridges with LBJ by becoming a charter member of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Regarding Memphis, King spoke to his right hand man in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph Abernathy, along with Andrew Young and a young firebrand who at this time in his life didn't wear a coat or tie.
Jesse Jackson urged King to wait until April 8th to protest so he could bring in some "big names" for the protest.
Martin Luther King flew to Memphis and checked into the Lorraine Motel. He picked out Room 306 and moved in.
He had to sell it to DemocRATs. His selling point was, if we get this passed, we'll have the N*****s voting for us for decades. The majority of the support for the Civil Rights act came from Republicans.
There, fixed it for you.
As in conservatives I mean Barry Goldwater, not a Democrat.
The Dixie Democrats and conservative GOP members opposed the act.
The Dixie Dems in the name of segregation and the GOP conservatives in the name of opposing giving the federal government unconstitutional power.
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