Pillar of Fire (108 page)

“make sure that we're doing”: “Notes on a Quick Meeting with the President and other Leading Members of the Kennedy Family,” Nov. 19, 1963, Box 6, Heller Papers, LBJ.

fn gain him no votes: Reeves,
President Kennedy
, pp. 655-57.

“That's my kind of program”: Lemann,
The Promised Land
, pp. 140-41.

“Human Conservation”: Heller to Secretary of Agriculture et al., Nov. 5, 1963, Legislative Background of EOA 1964, Box 1, Heller Papers, LBJ.

“push ahead full-tilt”: “Notes on Meeting with President Johnson, 7:40
P.M.
, Saturday, November 23, 1963,” Box 7, Heller Papers, LBJ; Johnson,
The Vantage Point
, p. 71.

chew discarded grapefruit: McPherson,
Political Education
, p. 139. Johnson's numerous public references to his Cotulla experience include a speech in honor of Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos, Feb. 22, 1964, PPP, 1963-64, pp. 308-10.

fn “[The children] never seemed”: LBJ address to a Joint Session of Congress, March 15, 1965, PPP, 1965, p. 281.

his proudest moment: See LBJ to John Carmody, Jan. 31, 1959, cited in Dallek,
Lone Star Rising
, p. 183.

lit up 90 percent: Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 516-28.

make his point physically: “Notes on Meeting with President Johnson, 7:40
P.M.
, Saturday, November 23, 1963,” Box 7, Heller Papers, LBJ.

Baxter urged his congregation: McPherson,
Political Education
, pp. 214—15; Harry McPherson, quoted in Miller,
Lyndon
, pp. 404-5.

first murder ever broadcast: Manchester,
Glory and the Dream
, p. 1233.

He began by flatly denying: John McCone, “Memorandum for the Record,” Nov. 25, 1963, regarding meeting at 3:00
P.M.
, Nov. 24, 1963, of LBJ, Rusk, McNamara, Ball, Bundy, McCone, and Lodge, Meeting Notes File, Box 1, LBJ.

“Lodge said that we were”: Ibid.

Lodge was overly optimistic: Ibid. Also Shapley,
Promise and Power
, pp. 291-92; reminiscence by Bill Moyers in
Saturday Review
, Nov. 11, 1967, p. 53.

cool toward Lodge: “Why did you send Lodge out there, for God's sake?” Johnson asked Senator J. William Fulbright. “I just think he's got things screwed up good, that's what I think.” Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Fulbright, 7:01
P.M.
, Dec. 2, 1963, LBJ. Johnson also generally criticized Lodge and Ambassador Averell Harriman, one of the principal stateside advocates of the coup against Diem, in a conversation with National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Bundy, 5:55
P.M.
, Dec. 9, 1963, LBJ.

portrait hung: Miller,
Lyndon
, p. 425.

“We had a hand in killing him”: Ibid.

“Whenever those rich people”: Int. Horace Busby, Feb. 3, 1992.

“I need you a lot more”: Dictabelt and transcript of telephone conversation between LBJ and Larry O'Brien, 4:04
P.M.
, Nov. 25, 1963, LBJ. The burial ceremony had ended at 3:34
P.M.
(NYT, Nov. 26, 1963).

reversed Kennedy's intention: Dictabelt of telephone conversation among Bill Moyers, LBJ, and Theodore Sorensen, 10:10
P.M.
, Nov. 25, 1963, LBJ.

thanks to Martin Luther King: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and MLK, 9:20
P.M.
, Nov. 25, 1963, LBJ.

“all these ambassadors”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Theodore Sorensen, 10:10
P.M.
, Nov. 25, 1963, LBJ.

Johnson snatched time: Miller,
Lyndon
, p. 411.

Senate aide from Texas: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Horace Busby, 1:25
P.M.
, Nov. 26, 1963, LBJ.

devices such as the parallel: NYT, Nov. 28, 1963, p. 20. The
Times
identified the device as the “chiasmus.”

“not to turn about”: Ibid.

“Heavens to Betsy”: Ibid., p. 21.

by Johnson's count: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Adam Clayton Powell, 2:22
P.M.
, Nov. 27, 1963, LBJ.

“As soon as Lyndon Johnson”: Miller,
Lyndon
, p. 414.

“Like everyone else”: Lowenstein to “My dear Mr. President,” Nov. 27, 1963, WHCF—Name File, LBJ.

Thanksgiving SNCC conference: Branch,
Parting
, p. 920; int. Betty Garman Robinson, Jan. 28, 1991.

wiped out the planned agenda: Int. Michael Sayer, June 25, 1992. Sayer remembered the scheduled members of Congress as Rep. Donald Rumsfeld (R-III.) and Rep. William F. Ryan (D-NY).

“the problem of overcoming fear”:
Movement Soul
, Folkways Album FD5486.

marathon freedom songs: Ibid.

approached Moses to ask: Int. Robert Stone, June 3, 1993.

“the Negro groups as such”: Lawrence F. O'Brien to LBJ, Nov. 29, 1963, Box 3, Henry Wilson Papers, LBJ.

“Say to the Republicans”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Robert Anderson, 1:30
P.M.
, Nov. 30, 1963, LBJ.

“I believe that we can”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Rep. Richard Bolling, 6:50
P.M.
, Dec. 2, 1963.

“God almighty”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Rep. Carl Albert, 11:15
A.M.
, Dec. 4, 1963, LBJ. Also dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Lawrence O'Brien, 6:08
P.M.
, Dec. 4, 1963, LBJ.

“would be very bad”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover, 10:30
A.M.
, Nov. 25, 1963, LBJ.

fn “I don't have much influence”: Ibid.

Hoover's true goal: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Senator Everett Dirksen, 11:40
A.M.
, Nov. 29, 1963, LBJ.

“the country would be”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Senator Richard Russell, 4:05
P.M.
, Nov. 29, 1963, LBJ.

“I couldn't serve on it”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Senator Richard Russell, 8:55
P.M.
, Nov. 29, 1963, LBJ.

“a similar bombardment”: Ibid. Johnson told Russell that Warren had surrendered in tears after Johnson had tongue-lashed him as follows: “I think you can put on your uniform of World War I, fat as you are, and do anything you can to save one American life.” Chief Justice Warren's similar but less graphic recollection is recorded in Miller,
Lyndon
, p. 423.

“a West Coast lawyer”: Hoover memorandum for Tolson et al., 1:39
P.M.
, Nov. 29, 1963, Folder 92, FHOC.

“the proposed group”: Ibid.

“In Florida and on Cape Cod”: Brennan to Sullivan, Dec. 1, 1963, Folder 92, FHOC.

King preached on Thanksgiving: Good,
Trouble I've Seen
, pp. 17-21.

“If they hated him”: Mays to MLK, Nov. 29, 1963, A/KP15f30.

he was wounded: Branch,
Parting
, p. 918.

campaign in Albany, Georgia: Ibid., pp. 731-32.

Katzenbach turn him down: Int. Nicholas Katzenbach, June 14, 1991.

“I trust that”: RFK to MLK, Dec. 4, 1963, A/KP24f21.

“Is it well?”: Good,
Trouble I've Seen
, pp. 18-20.

merchants along Jamaica Avenue: NYAN, Dec. 7, 1963, p. 29, FMXNY-3980.

Malcolm first repeated statements: Perry,
Malcolm
, pp. 239-40.

Elijah Muhammad sent out: Malcolm X,
The Autobiography
, p. 300; comments of Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph) on “Malcolm X: Make It Plain,” PBS documentary,
The American Experience
, 1994. Int. Abdulalim Shabazz (Lonnie X Cross), March 14, 1991.

wrote out in advance: Int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; Perry,
Malcolm
, p. 240.

“the chickens coming home to roost”: Malcolm X,
The Autobiography
, p. 301.

“had the nerve to say it”: NYT, Dec. 2, 1963, p. 21.

“speech in which he mocked”: NYT, Dec. 5, 1963, p. 22.

Malcolm X called Muhammad: Wiretap transcript of conversation between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, Dec. 4, 1963, FMXNY-3978, pp. 3-4.

“The nation still mourns”: MS, Dec. 20, 1963, pp. 1, 3.

Kennedy deserved respect: Cf. wiretap transcripts of Muhammad's conversations with inquiring reporters, Dec. 5 and 6, 1963, FMXNY-3988, pp. 1-2, 5-6.

“my work is in accordance”: Wiretap transcript of Elijah Muhammad conversation, Dec. 5, 1963, FMXNY-3992.

“just a little spanking”: Wiretap transcript of Elijah Muhammad conversation with James Farmer, Dec. 5, 1963, FMXNY-3988, pp. 2-3. An FBI informant quoted Muhammad as saying that “if he [Malcolm X] sticks out his lip and starts popping off, he will get a worse beating the next time.” FMXNY-3978, p. 7.

“the ruler”: NYT, Dec. 5, 1963, p. 22.

Rumors of an impending split: Cf. Ted Poston article in
New York Post
, Dec. 5, 1963, p. 2.

extended the speaking ban: Perry,
Malcolm
, p. 242. Also wiretap transcript of conversation between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, Dec. 4, 1963, FMXNY-3978, pp. 3-4.

dispatched letters to Captain Joseph: Wiretap transcript of conversation between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, Dec. 7, 1963, in Report to Director from SAC, Phoenix, Dec. 13, 1963, FEM-NR.

block him physically: Perry,
Malcolm
, p. 242.

fashioned parables: Wiretap transcript of conference call featuring Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, Jan. 2, 1964, in Report to Director from SAC, Phoenix, Jan 23, 1964, FEM-NR. Also int. Abdulalim Shabazz (Lonnie X Cross), March 14, 1991; int. Benjamin Karim, March 19, 1991; int. Yusuf Shah (Captain Joseph), Oct. 17, 1991.

secured Elijah Muhammad's permission: Wiretap transcript of conversation between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, Dec. 7, 1963, in Report to Director from SAC, Phoenix, Dec. 13, 1963, FEM-NR.

“I feel like”: Press conference of 12:05
P.M.
, Dec. 7, 1963, PPP, pp. 34-38.

“I've never agreed”: LBJ phone call with Walter Heller, Dec. 14, 1963, Audiotape K6312.08, LBJ.

“You destroyed me”: Dictabelt of telephone conversation between LBJ and Senator Richard Russell, 12:55
P.M.
, Dec. 7, 1963, LBJ.

“I tried my best”: Ibid. Russell was referring to a consultation by then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles with congressional leaders on April 2, 1954, over a desperate French request for American air strikes in Indochina to rescue the besieged colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu. The congressional leaders convinced Eisenhower, through Dulles, that the United States must not intervene without support from other European powers, which effectively prevented U.S. military intervention that year. Ambrose,
Eisenhower: The President
, p. 178; Gravel, ed.,
Pentagon Papers
, Vol. 1, pp. 100-101; Dallek,
Lone Star Rising
, p. 444.

“I'm not going to cavil”: Int. Jack Valenti, Feb. 25, 1991; Johnson,
The Vantage Point
, pp. 157-58; Stern,
Calculating Visions
, p. 162.

made peace with James Rowe: PDD, Dec. 1, 1963, LBJ; McPherson,
Political Education
, pp. 215-16.

facilitated young Congressman Johnson's: Roberts, LBJ's
Inner Circle
, pp. 175-76; Caro,
Path to Power
, pp. 451-59.

“Uncle Lyndon”: Caro,
Path to Power
, p. 452.

maiden speech to the U.S. Senate: LBJ speech of March 9, 1949,
Congressional Record
, Vol. 95, Part 2, pp. 2402-2409; LBJ to James H. Rowe, March 15, 1949, cited in Monroe Billington, “Lyndon B. Johnson and Blacks: The Early Years,”
Journal of Negro History
, Jan. 1977, p. 39; Dallek,
Lone Star Rising
, pp. 369-70.

“there won't be any Senate”: Rowe to “Lyndon,” April 29, 1954, LBJA-Selected Names, Box 32, LBJ.