Madie Boyle
West/ Cargill Block 1
Sources
Eugene Bullard Articles:
1) Lloyd, Craig. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-741,
Columbus State University, 11/19/2002, Web, 13 March 2013
39a - give reasons for World War I and describe Georgia’s contributions
Article:
Eugene Bullard was the world's first black combat aviator, flying in French squadrons during World War I (1917-18). Before he
became a pilot he served in the French infantry and was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Born in a three-room house in Columbus, Eugene James (Jacques) Bullard was the seventh child of Josephine Thomas and William
O. Bullard. Bullard's parents, married in Stewart County in 1882, had Creek Indian as well as African American ancestry. William
Bullard was born into slavery; his parents were the property of Wiley Bullard, a planter in Stewart County. In the early 1890s William
Bullard moved to Columbus, where he worked for W. C. Bradley, a rising cotton merchant.
The young Bullard attended the Twenty-eighth Street School from 1901 to 1906. Although his education was minimal, he
nonetheless learned to read, one of the keys to his later successes. With his older sister and brothers, Bullard absorbed his father's
conviction that African Americans must maintain dignity and self-respect in the face of the prejudice of a white majority determined
to "keep blacks in their place" at the bottom of society. Shaken by the near lynching of his father in 1903 and seeking adventure in
the world beyond Columbus, he ran away from home in 1906. In Atlanta he joined a group of gypsies (an English clan known by the
surname Stanley) and traveled with them throughout rural Georgia, tending and learning to race their horses. The Stanleys brought
to his attention that the racial color line did not exist in England. Disheartened that the gypsies were not soon returning home,
Bullard left them at their camp in Bronwood in 1909 and found work and patronage with the Zachariah Turner family of Dawson.
Friendly and hard working as a stable boy, Bullard won the affection of the Turners, who allowed him to ride as their jockey in horse
races at the Terrell County Fair in 1911.
Despite his relationship with the Turners, Bullard was still affronted by racism and he resolved to leave the United States for Great
Britain. He did so as a stowaway on a German merchant ship, the Marta Russ, which departed Norfolk, Virginia, on March 4, 1912,
bound for Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1912-14, Bullard performed in a vaudeville troupe and earned money as a prizefighter in Great
Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe. He appeared in Paris for the first time at a boxing match in November 1913.
At the beginning of World War I, Bullard joined the French army, serving in the Moroccan Division of the 170th Infantry Regiment.
The French government awarded him the Croix de Guerre for his bravery at the Battle of Verdun. Twice wounded and declared unfit
for infantry service, he requested assignment to flight training. He amassed a distinguished record in the air, flying twenty missions
and downing at least one German plane.
Between the world wars he owned and managed nightclubs in the Montmartre section of Paris, where he emerged as a leading
personality among such African American entertainers as Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Sidney Bechet. In 1923 he
married Marcelle Straumann, the daughter of a wealthy Parisian family. The couple had two surviving children, Jacqueline and
Lolita, before separating in 1931. In the late 1930s Bullard joined a French government counterintelligence network spying on
Germans in Paris. When Nazi Germany conquered France in 1940 Bullard and his daughters escaped to New York City. He worked
there in a variety of occupations for the rest of his life.’
2) http://blog.nasm.si.edu/aviation/eugene-j-bullard/, The National Air and Space Museum, 12 Oct. 2010, Web, 13 March 2013
39a - give reasons for World War I and describe Georgia’s contributions
Article:
October 12, 2010, marks the forty-ninth anniversary of the death of Eugene Jacques Bullard at the age of 67. Bullard is considered
to be the first African-American military pilot to fly in combat, and the only African-American pilot in World War I. Ironically, he never
flew for the United States.
Born October 9, 1895, in Columbus, Georgia, to William Bullard, a former slave, and Josephine Bullard, Eugene’s early youth was
unhappy. He made several unsuccessful attempts to run away from home, one of which resulted in his being returned home and
beaten by his father.
In 1906, at the age of 11, Bullard ran away for good, and for the next six years, he wandered the South in search of freedom. In
1912 he stowed away on the Marta Russ, a German freighter bound for Hamburg, and ended up in Aberdeen, Scotland. From there
he made his way to London, where he worked as a boxer and slapstick performer in Belle Davis’s Freedman Pickaninnies, an
African American entertainment troupe. In 1913, Bullard went to France for a boxing match. Settling in Paris, he became so
comfortable with French customs that he decided to make a home there. He later wrote, “… it seemed to me that French democracy
influenced the minds of both black and white Americans there and helped us all act like brothers.”
After World War I had begun in the summer of 1914, Bullard enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. While serving with the 170 th
Infantry Regiment, Bullard fought in the the Battle of Verdun (February to December 1916), where he was wounded seriously. He
was taken from the battlefield and sent to Lyon to recuperate. While on leave in Paris, Bullard bet a friend $2,000 that despite his
color he could enlist in the French flying service. Bullard’s determination paid off, and in November 1916 he entered the
Aéronautique Militaire.
Bullard began flight training at Tours in 1916 and received his wings in May 1917. He was first assigned to Escadrille Spa 93, and
then to Escadrille Spa 85 in September 1917, where he remained until he left the Aéronautique Militaire. In November 1917, Bullard
claimed two aerial victories, a Fokker Triplane and a Pfalz D.III, but neither could be confirmed. (Some accounts say that one victory
was confirmed.) During his flying days, Bullard is said to have had an insignia on his Spad 7 C.1 that portrayed a heart with a
dagger running through it and the slogan “All Blood Runs Red.” Reportedly, Bullard flew with a mascot, a Rhesus Monkey named
“Jimmy.”
After the United States entered the war in 1917, Bullard attempted to join the U.S. Air Service, but he was not accepted, ostensibly
because he was an enlisted man, and the Air Service required pilots to be officers and hold at least the rank of First Lieutenant. In
actuality, he was rejected because of the racial prejudice that existed in the American military during that time. Bullard returned to
the Aéronautique Militaire, but he was summarily removed after an apparent confrontation with a French officer. He returned to the
170th Infantry Regiment until his discharge in October 1919.
After the war Bullard remained in France, where he worked in a nightclub called Zelli’s in the Montmartre district of Paris, owned a
nightclub (Le Grand Duc) and an American-style bar (L’Escadrille), operated an athletic club, and married a French woman,
Marcelle de Straumann. During this time Bullard rubbed elbows with notables like Langston Hughes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and
Josephine Baker.
By the late 1930s, however, the clouds of war began to change Bullard’s life dramatically. Even before World War II officially began
in 1939, Bullard became involved in espionage activities against French fifth columnists who supported the Nazis. When war came
he enlisted as a machine gunner in the 51st Infantry Regiment, and was severely wounded by an exploding artillery shell. Fearing
capture by the Nazis, he made his way to Spain, Portugal, and eventually the United States, settling in the Harlem district of New
York City.
After his arrival in New York, Bullard worked as a security guard and longshoreman. In the post-World War II years, Bullard took up
the cause of civil rights. In the summer of 1949, he was involved in an altercation with the police and a racist mob at a Paul Robeson
concert in Peekskill, New York, in which he was beaten by police. Another incident involved a bus driver who ordered Bullard to sit
the back of his bus. These events left Bullard deeply disillusioned with the United States, and he returned to France, but was unable
to resume his former life there.
During his lifetime, the French showered Bullard with honors, and in 1954, he was one of three men chosen to relight the everlasting
flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris. In October 1959 he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor, the highest
ranking order and decoration bestowed by France. It was the fifteenth decoration given to him by the French government.
In the epilogue to his well-researched book, Eugene Bullard, Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris (Athens: Univ. of Georgia Press,
2000), Craig Lloyd points out the poignancy of Bullard’s situation in the United States: “The contrast between Eugene Bullard’s
unrewarding years of toil and trouble early and late in life in the United States and his quarter-century of much-heralded
achievement in France illustrates dramatically … the crippling disabilities imposed on the descendants of Americans of African
ancestry … .”
In 1992, the McDonnell Douglas Corporation donated to the National Air and Space Museum a bronze portrait head of Bullard,
created by Eddie Dixon, an African American sculptor. This work is displayed in the museum’s Legend, Memory and the Great War
in the Air gallery.
Postscript:
On September 14, 1994, Bullard was posthumously commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. A display case in the
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, honors him.
3) Brennan, Carol, http://www.answers.com/topic/eugene-bullard, n.p, n.d, Web, 13 March 2013
39a - give reasons for World War I and describe Georgia’s contributions
Article:
aviator
Personal Information
Full name, Eugene Jacques Bullard; born October 9, 1894, in Columbus, GA; died, 1961, in New York, NY; married Marcelle
Straumann, c. 1920s; children: Jacqueline Hernandez, Lolita Robinson.
Career
Worked odd jobs in England and France prior to World War I; enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, 1914; served in the French
Army during World War I; wounded at the Battle of Verdun, 1916, and given a medical discharge; enlisted in the French Air Service
and flew several missions, 1917; became jazz drummer and nightclub owner, Paris, France, 1920s; fought in French Army at the
onset of World War II and later worked in the French Resistance; returned to United States and became perfume sales person in
New York City, mid-1940s; RCA Building, New York City, elevator operator, early 1950s.
Life's Work
Though many think of the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II as the first African American combat fighters, they were simply
the first to serve in the United States military. Eugene Bullard, a Georgia-born bon vivant who spent much of his life in France, was
the first African American to fly a fighter plane--though World War I-era prejudices dictated that his missions be flown for France.
Remembered as the "black swallow of death" for his in-air bravery, Bullard earned several decorations from the French government
for his service and stayed on in Paris after World War I, even working for the French Resistance during World War II. Bullard
eventually returned to the United States and lived a more sedate existence-- for a time he even worked as an elevator operator in
New York City.
Bullard was born in the heart of the South in 1894. His hometown of Columbus, Georgia, was typical of the geographic region in its
extreme racial tensions. As a boy Bullard was witness to lynch mobs and other signs of Ku Klux Klan violence; his brother Hector
was murdered by one such gang. Sometimes the family, like others in the community, was forced to hide from bands of marauding
whites, and during those sleepless nights Bullard's father would regale the children with stories about their Martinique ancestry. On
this French-held island in the Caribbean, the elder Bullard said, harmony between whites and blacks prevailed, as it did in France;
all men were considered equal. Such talk inspired eight-year-old Bullard to leave home and sell his goat for $1.50, assuming that
with the proceeds he could make his way to France. Instead he joined a troupe of English Gypsies that traveled through the South,
from whom he learned much about horses; he eventually found work as a jockey.
During his teens Bullard hopped on a freight car to Newport News, Virginia, and from there stowed away on a German cargo ship
bound for Scotland. When he was discovered, the captain first threatened to toss him overboard, but instead allowed him to work in
the ship's coal furnaces. In Scotland and later in England, Bullard earned a living through a variety of colorful jobs, such as running
errands for bookies and acting as a lookout for illegal gambling operations. As he grew into an adult, he became a boxer for a time,
but found the compensation not worth the aggravation. One day a musical troupe called "Freedman's Pickaninnies" invited Bullard
to accompany them to Paris, and he accepted, finally setting foot on the soil of a country whose principles had inspired him to look
elsewhere for freedom from such an early age.
In 1914 longstanding tensions between neighbors Germany and France erupted in a war that would become World War I. Bullard
enlisted in the French Foreign Legion, a legendary refuge of some of the world's most daring mercenary soldiers--as well as
scoundrels on the lam. He was eventually transferred into the regular French Army, where he fought on the notoriously bloody
battlefield of Verdun. He sustained injuries twice, but twice returned to the field. Finally French military authorities gave him a
medical discharge because of his injured leg. Sitting in a Paris cafe on the Boulevard Saint Michel one day with a group that
included another opinionated American, Bullard bragged that he could fly a fighter plane even with his bad leg. The American bet
him a large sum of money that he couldn't, but Bullard pulled a few strings from among his friends who were now high-ranking
French military officials. He enrolled in flight training school, and, upon earning his pilot's license, returned to the cafe and collected
on the wager.
Combat aviation was a reckless pursuit in those years. The airplane itself was less than two decades old, and pilots strapped
themselves into open cockpits of tiny planes that were loaded with artillery guns; Bullard's Spad biplane was enhanced by the
presence of Jimmy, a monkey he had bought in Paris. The commander of his flying regiment, the Lafayette Escadrille, often
chastised him for flying behind enemy lines or making too-daring sorties in his attempts to shoot down German planes, and from this
daredeviltry Bullard earned the nickname "the black swallow of death." It is known that the pilot chalked up one kill to his outstanding
record of military service, downing a German plane known as a Fokker Dreidecker. There were other American pilots in the
Lafayette Escadrille fighting on the side of France; when the United States formally entered the war against Germany, the Yankees
applied for transfers, and all but Bullard's application were accepted.
The American forces also put an end to what was surely an embarrassment--an African American flying a plane for France, while
back home racial prejudices held that blacks were not intelligent enough for such endeavors. The Americans pressured Bullard's
French superiors into ruling his injured leg a liability, and Bullard was grounded permanently. After the war, Bullard convinced a
fellow African American to teach him how to play drums, and with his new profession became a fixture in the jazz nightclub circuit in
Paris during the 1920s. He eventually owned two nightclubs as well as a gymnasium and married a French woman, but with the
renewal of French-German tension in the 1930s things began to go awry for Bullard. His wife wished to relocate to the countryside,
but he refused to leave Paris. She died unexpectedly, leaving him to raise their two daughters. When Nazi Germany invaded
France, he became a part of the Resistance movement, an underground network that worked to undermine and sabotage both Nazi
rule and French collaboration. He often eavesdropped on conversations between German military officers in both his bar and the
gym--the prejudiced Germans seemed unaware that an African American could understand their language.
Eventually Bullard decided that he should return to America, and rode a bike to Portugal, where a Red Cross ship was allowing
evacuees. His daughters eventually joined him, and for a time he worked as a perfume salesperson in New York City. After the war
he returned to France, and attempted to recover his nightclub that had been expropriated during the chaos of the war. He received a
small settlement, and in New York City worked for a time as an elevator operator at the RCA Building. In 1954 the fledgling NBC
Today show discovered Bullard and his colorful past, and featured him in an interview segment. He died in Harlem in 1961,
forgotten as the only African American to pilot a plane during World War I. In 1994 the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and
Space Museum honored Bullard, whom the Chicago Tribune called "probably the most unsung hero in the history of U.S. wartime
aviation." The chair of the aviation museum, Dom Pisano, compared Bullard's achievements to that of the Tuskegee Airmen of the
second World War, a unit created only when the War Department was threatened with a bias lawsuit. The Tuskegee unit "broke the
color barrier and proved to everyone that [blacks] were the equal of white pilots," Pisano noted. "It was rough, but Eugene Bullard
was the precursor of all of them. He must have been quite a man."
Awards
Received numerous military honors from the French government for his service during World War I, including the Legion of Honor,
Croix de Guerre, and the Medaille Militaire; decorated for work in the French Resistance during World War II; honored posthumously
by the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, 1994.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Sources:
1) "Franklin D. Roosevelt." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Mar 13 2013, 06:10 http://www.biography.com/people/franklin-droosevelt-9463381.
40d - discuss President Roosevelt's ties to Georgia including his visits to Warm Springs and his impact on the state
39e - discuss the effect of the New Deal in terms of the impact of Civilian Conservation Corps, Agricultural Adjustment Act, rural
electrification, and Social Security
Article:
SYNOPSIS
Born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921. He became the 32nd
U.S. president in 1933, and was the only president to be elected four times. Roosevelt led the United States through the Great
Depression and World War II, and greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and
reforms known as the New Deal. Roosevelt died in Georgia in 1945.
EARLY LIFE
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, into a wealthy family. The Roosevelts had been prominent for several
generations, having made their fortune in real estate and trade. Franklin was the only child of James Roosevelt and Sara Ann
Delano Roosevelt. The family lived at Springwood, their estate in the Hudson River Valley in New York State. While growing up,
Franklin Roosevelt was surrounded by privilege and a sense of self-importance. He was educated by tutors and governesses until
age 14, and the entire household revolved around him, with his mother being the dominant figure in his life, even into adulthood. His
upbringing was so unlike the common people who he would later champion.
In 1896, Franklin Roosevelt attended Groton School for boys, a prestigious Episcopal preparatory school in Massachusetts. The
experience was a difficult one for him, as he did not fit in with the other students. Groton men excelled in athletics and Roosevelt did
not. He strived to please the adults and took to heart the teachings of Groton's headmaster, Endicott Peabody, who urged students
to help the less fortunate through public service.
After graduating from Groton in 1900, Franklin Roosevelt entered Harvard University, determined to make something of himself.
Though only a C student, he was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, editor of the Harvard Crimson newspaper and received
his degree in only three years. However, the general consensus was that he was underwhelming and average. During his last year
at Harvard, he became engaged to Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin. She was the niece of Franklin's idol, Theodore Roosevelt.
They married on March 17, 1905.
Franklin studied law at Columbia University Law School and passed the bar exam in 1907, though he didn't receive a degree. For
the next three years, he practiced corporate law in New York, living the typical upper-class life. But he found law practice boring and
restrictive. He set his sights on greater accomplishments.
POLITICAL BEGINNINGS
In 1910, at age 28, Roosevelt was invited to run for the New York state senate. Breaking from family tradition, he ran as a Democrat
in a district that had voted Republican for the past 32 years. He campaigned hard and won the election with the help of his name
and a Democratic landslide. As a state senator, Roosevelt opposed elements of the Democratic political machine in New York. This
won him the ire of party leaders, but gained him national notoriety and valuable experience in political tactics and intrigue.
During this time, he formed an alliance with Louis Howe, who would shape his political career for the next 25 years. Roosevelt was
reelected in 1912 and served as chair of the agricultural committee, passing farm and labor bills and social welfare programs.
During the 1912 National Democratic Convention, Roosevelt supported presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson and was rewarded
with an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the same job his idol, Theodore Roosevelt, had used to catapult himself to
the presidency. Franklin Roosevelt was energetic and an efficient administrator. He specialized in business operations, working with
Congress to get budgets approved and systems modernized, and he founded the U.S. Naval Reserve. But he was restless in the
position as "second chair" to his boss, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, who was less enthusiastic about supporting a large
and efficient naval force.
In 1914, Franklin Roosevelt, decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat for New York. The proposition was doomed from the start, as
he lacked White House support. President Wilson needed the Democratic political machine to get his social reforms passed and
ensure his reelection. He could not support Franklin Roosevelt, who had made too many political enemies among New York
Democrats. Roosevelt was soundly defeated in the primary election and learned a valuable lesson that national stature could not
defeat a well-organized local political organization.
In politics, Franklin Roosevelt was finding personal as well as professional success. He took to Washington politics and thrived on
personal relationships. He was often seen at the most prominent parties and was considered by women to be a very attractive man.
In 1914, he developed a relationship with Lucy Mercer, Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary, which evolved into a love affair. In
1918, Eleanor discovered the affair and gave Franklin an ultimatum to stop seeing Lucy or she would file for divorce. He agreed, but
continued to secretly see Mercer over the years.
With his political career thriving, Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the nomination for vice president—as James M. Cox's running
mate—at the 1920 Democratic Convention. The pair was soundly defeated by Republican Warren G. Harding in the general
election, but the experience gave Roosevelt national exposure.
POLIO DIAGNOSIS
While vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, he was diagnosed as having contracted polio. At first, he refused
to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried numerous therapies and even bought the Warm Springs resort in Georgia
seeking a cure. Despite his efforts, he never regained the use of his legs. He later established a foundation at Warm Springs to help
others, and instituted the March of Dimes program that eventually funded an effective polio vaccine.
For a time, Franklin Roosevelt was resigned to being a victim of polio, believing his political career to be over. But Eleanor
Roosevelt and political confidante Louis Howe encouraged him to continue on.
Over the next several years, Roosevelt worked to improve his physical and political image. He taught himself to walk short distances
in his braces and was careful not to be seen in public using his wheelchair. He also began to repair his relationship with New York's
Democratic political machine. Roosevelt appeared at the 1924 and 1928 Democratic National Conventions to nominate New York
governor Al Smith for president, which increased his national exposure.
U.S. PRESIDENCY
Al Smith urged Franklin Roosevelt to run for governor of New York, in 1928. Roosevelt was narrowly elected, and the victory gave
him confidence that his political star was rising. As governor, he believed in progressive government and instituted a number of new
social programs. By 1930, Republicans were being blamed for the Great Depression and Franklin Roosevelt sensed opportunity. He
began his run for the presidency, calling for government intervention in the economy to provide relief, recovery and reform. His
upbeat, positive approach and personal charm helped him defeat Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in November 1932. By the
time Roosevelt took office in March of 1933, there were 13 million unemployed Americans, and hundreds of banks were closed.
Roosevelt faced the greatest crisis in American history since the Civil War.
In his first 100 days, President Franklin Roosevelt proposed sweeping economic reform, calling it the "New Deal." He ordered the
temporary closure on all banks to halt the run on deposits. He formed a "Brain Trust" of economic advisors who designed the
alphabet agencies such as the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) to support farm prices, the CCC (Civilian Conservation
Corps) to employ young men, and the NRA (National Recovery Administration), which regulated wages and prices. Other agencies
insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market, subsidized mortgages, and provided relief to the unemployed.
By 1936, the economy showed signs of improvement. Gross national product was up 34 percent, and unemployment had dropped
from 25 percent to 14 percent. But Franklin Roosevelt faced criticism for increased government spending, unbalanced budgets, and
what some perceived as moving the country toward socialism. Several New Deal acts were declared unconstitutional by the U.S.
Supreme Court. Roosevelt retaliated by proposing to "pack" the court with justices more favorable to his reforms. Many in Congress,
including some Democrats, rejected the idea. By 1938, negative publicity, a continuing sluggish economy, and Republican victories
in mid-term elections virtually ended Roosevelt's ability to pass more reform legislation.
Since the end of World War I, America had adopted an isolationist policy in foreign affairs. In the early 1930s, Congress passed the
Neutrality Acts to prevent the United States from becoming entangled in foreign conflicts. In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped
away from the unilateral principle of the Monroe Doctrine and established the Good Neighbor Policy with Latin America.
However, as military conflicts emerged in Asia and Europe, Roosevelt sought ways to assist China in its war with Japan and
declared France and Great Britain were America's "first line of defense" against Nazi Germany.
THIRD TERM AND THE U .N.
Early in 1940, Roosevelt had not publically announced that he would run for an unprecedented third term as president. But privately,
with Germany's victories in Europe and Japan's growing dominance in Asia, he felt that only he had the experience and skills to lead
America in such trying times. At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Roosevelt swept aside all challengers and
received the nomination. In November 1940, he won the presidential election against Republican Wendell Willkie.
During 1941, Franklin Roosevelt pushed to have the United States' factories become an "arsenal of democracy" for the Allies—
France, Britain, and Russia. As Americans learned more about the war's atrocities, isolationist sentiment diminished. Roosevelt took
advantage, standing firm against the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Bipartisan support in Congress expanded the Army
and Navy and increased the flow of supplies to the Allies. Hopes of keeping the United States out of war ended with the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt was a commander in chief who worked with and sometimes around his military advisors. He
helped develop a strategy for defeating Germany in Europe through a series of invasions, first in North Africa in November 1942,
then Sicily and Italy in 1943, followed by the D-Day invasion of Europe in 1944. At the same time, Allied forces rolled back Japan in
Asia and the eastern Pacific. During this time, Roosevelt also promoted the formation of the United Nations.
FINAL YEARS
The stress of war, however, began to take its toll on Franklin Roosevelt. In March 1944, hospital tests indicated he had
atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. In spite of this, and because the country was deeply involved
in war, there was no question that Roosevelt would run for another term as president. He selected Missouri Senator Harry S.
Truman as his running mate, and together they defeated Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey, carrying 36 of the 48 states.
In February 1945, Franklin Roosevelt attended the Yalta Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet
General Secretary Joseph Stalin to discuss post-war reorganization. He then returned to the United States and the sanctuary of
Warm Springs, Georgia. On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Roosevelt suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died. At his
side were two cousins, Laura Delano and Margaret Suckley, and his former mistress Lucy Mercer Rutherford (by then a widow),
with whom he had maintained his relationship.
Franklin Roosevelt's sudden death shook the American public to its roots. Though many had noticed that he looked exhausted in
photographs and newsreels, no one seemed prepared for his passing. He had led the United States through an economic
depression and the greatest war in human history. A whole generation of Americans had grown up knowing no other president. His
social programs during the Great Depression redefined the role of government in Americans' lives. His role during World War II
established the United States' leadership on the world stage. His 12 years in the White House set a precedent for the expansion of
presidential power and redefined liberalism for generations to come.
2) “The Presidents of the United States of America,” Beschloss, Michael and Sidey, Hugh.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/franklindroosevelt, Copyright 2009, the White House Historical Association, Web, 13
March 2013
40d - discuss President Roosevelt's ties to Georgia including his visits to Warm Springs and his impact on the state
40a - describe the impact of events leading up to American involvement in World War II to include the Lend-lease Act and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
Article:
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in
themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we
have to fear is fear itself."
Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a national historic site--he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. On
St. Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt.
Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered
public service through politics, but as a Democrat. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.
In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, disaster hit-he was stricken with poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he
fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on
crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York.
He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost
every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to
business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through
the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
By 1935 the Nation had achieved some measure of recovery, but businessmen and bankers were turning more and more against
Roosevelt's New Deal program. They feared his experiments, were appalled because he had taken the Nation off the gold standard
and allowed deficits in the budget, and disliked the concessions to labor. Roosevelt responded with a new program of reform: Social
Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the
unemployed.
In 1936 he was re-elected by a top-heavy margin. Feeling he was armed with a popular mandate, he sought legislation to enlarge
the Supreme Court, which had been invalidating key New Deal measures. Roosevelt lost the Supreme Court battle, but a revolution
in constitutional law took place. Thereafter the Government could legally regulate the economy.
Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy, transforming the Monroe Doctrine from a unilateral
American manifesto into arrangements for mutual action against aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep
the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and
England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation's manpower and
resources for global war.
Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, he devoted much
thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.
As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt's health deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a
cerebral hemorrhage.
3) http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/education/resources/bio_fdr.html, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, n.d,
Web, 13 March 2013
40d - discuss President Roosevelt's ties to Georgia including his visits to Warm Springs and his impact on the state
39e - discuss the effect of the New Deal in terms of the impact of Civilian Conservation Corps, Agricultural Adjustment Act, rural
electrification, and Social Security
40a - describe the impact of events leading up to American involvement in World War II to include the Lend-lease Act and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
Article:
The Early Years
Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York on January 30, 1882. He was the son of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano
Roosevelt. His parents and private tutors provided him with almost all his formative education. He attended Groton (1896-1900), a
prestigious preparatory school in Massachusetts, and received a BA degree in history from Harvard in only three years (1900-03).
Roosevelt next studied law at New York's Columbia University. When he passed the bar examination in 1907, he left school without
taking a degree. For the next three years he practiced law with a prominent New York City law firm. He entered politics in 1910 and
was elected to the New York State Senate as a Democrat from his traditionally Republican home district.
In the meantime, in 1905, he had married a distant cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who was the niece of President Theodore
Roosevelt. The couple had six children, five of whom survived infancy: Anna (1906), James (1907), Elliott (1910), Franklin, Jr.
(1914) and John (1916).
Roosevelt was reelected to the State Senate in 1912, and supported Woodrow Wilson's candidacy at the Democratic National
Convention. As a reward for his support, Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913, a position he held until
1920. He was an energetic and efficient administrator, specializing in the business side of naval administration. This experience
prepared him for his future role as Commander-in-Chief during World War II. Roosevelt's popularity and success in naval affairs
resulted in his being nominated for vice-president by the Democratic Party in 1920 on a ticket headed by James M. Cox of Ohio.
However, popular sentiment against Wilson's plan for US participation in the League of Nations propelled Republican Warren
Harding into the presidency, and Roosevelt returned to private life.
While vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick in the summer of 1921, Roosevelt contracted poliomyelitis (infantile
paralysis). Despite courageous efforts to overcome his crippling illness, he never regained the use of his legs. In time, he
established a foundation at Warm Springs, Georgia to help other polio victims, and inspired, as well as directed, the March of Dimes
program that eventually funded an effective vaccine.
With the encouragement and help of his wife, Eleanor, and political confidant, Louis Howe, Roosevelt resumed his political career.
In 1924 he nominated Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York for president at the Democratic National Convention, but Smith lost the
nomination to John W. Davis. In 1928 Smith became the Democratic candidate for president and arranged for Roosevelt's
nomination to succeed him as governor of New York. Smith lost the election to Herbert Hoover; but Roosevelt was elected governor.
Following his reelection as governor in 1930, Roosevelt began to campaign for the presidency. While the economic depression
damaged Hoover and the Republicans, Roosevelt's bold efforts to combat it in New York enhanced his reputation. In Chicago in
1932, Roosevelt won the nomination as the Democratic Party candidate for president. He broke with tradition and flew to Chicago to
accept the nomination in person. He then campaigned energetically calling for government intervention in the economy to provide
relief, recovery, and reform. His activist approach and personal charm helped to defeat Hoover in November 1932 by seven million
votes.
The Great Depression
The Depression worsened in the months preceding Roosevelt's inauguration, March 4, 1933. Factory closings, farm foreclosures,
and bank failures increased, while unemployment soared. Roosevelt faced the greatest crisis in American history since the Civil
War. He undertook immediate actions to initiate his New Deal programs. To halt depositor panics, he closed the banks temporarily.
Then he worked with a special session of Congress during the first "100 days" to pass recovery legislation which set up alphabet
agencies such as the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) to support farm prices and the CCC (Civilian Conservation
Corps) to employ young men. Other agencies assisted business and labor, insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market,
subsidized home and farm mortgage payments, and aided the unemployed. These measures revived confidence in the economy.
Banks reopened and direct relief saved millions from starvation. But the New Deal measures also involved government directly in
areas of social and economic life as never before and resulted in greatly increased spending and unbalanced budgets which led to
criticisms of Roosevelt's programs. However, the nation-at-large supported Roosevelt, and elected additional Democrats to state
legislatures and governorships in the mid-term elections.
Another flurry of New Deal legislation followed in 1935 including the establishment of the Works Projects Administration (WPA)
which provided jobs not only for laborers but also artists, writers, musicians, and authors, and the Social Security act which provided
unemployment compensation and a program of old-age and survivors' benefits.
Roosevelt easily defeated Alfred M. Landon in 1936 and went on to defeat by lesser margins, Wendell Willkie in 1940 and Thomas
E. Dewey in 1944. He thus became the only American president to serve more than two terms.
After his overwhelming victory in 1936, Roosevelt took on the critics of the New Deal, namely, the Supreme Court, which had
declared various legislation unconstitutional, and members of his own party. In 1937 he proposed to add new justices to the
Supreme Court, but critics said he was "packing" the Court and undermining the separation of powers. His proposal was defeated,
but the Court began to decide in favor of New Deal legislation. During the 1938 election he campaigned against many Democratic
opponents, but this backfired when most were reelected to Congress. These setbacks, coupled with the recession that occurred
midway through his second term, represented the low-point in Roosevelt's presidential career.
World War II
By 1939, with the outbreak of war in Europe, Roosevelt was concentrating increasingly on foreign affairs. New Deal reform
legislation diminished, and the ills of the Depression would not fully abate until the nation mobilized for war.
When Hitler attacked Poland in September 1939, Roosevelt stated that, although the nation was neutral, he did not expect America
to remain inactive in the face of Nazi aggression. Accordingly, he tried to make American aid available to Britain, France, and China
and to obtain an amendment of the Neutrality Acts which rendered such assistance difficult. He also took measures to build up the
armed forces in the face of isolationist opposition.
With the fall of France in 1940, the American mood and Roosevelt's policy changed dramatically. Congress enacted a draft for
military service and Roosevelt signed a "lend-lease" bill in March 1941 to enable the nation to furnish aid to nations at war with
Germany and Italy. America, though a neutral in the war and still at peace, was becoming the "arsenal of democracy", as its
factories began producing as they had in the years before the Depression.
The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, followed four days later by Germany's and Italy's declarations of
war against the United States, brought the nation irrevocably into the war. Roosevelt exercised his powers as Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces, a role he actively carried out. He worked with and through his military advisers, overriding them when
necessary, and took an active role in choosing the principal field commanders and in making decisions regarding wartime strategy.
He moved to create a "grand alliance" against the Axis powers through "The Declaration of the United Nations," January 1, 1942, in
which all nations fighting the Axis agreed not to make a separate peace and pledged themselves to a peacekeeping organization
(now the United Nations) upon victory.
He gave priority to the western European front and had General George Marshall, Chief of Staff, plan a holding operation in the
Pacific and organize an expeditionary force for an invasion of Europe. The United States and its allies invaded North Africa in
November 1942 and Sicily and Italy in 1943. The D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches in France, June 6, 1944, were followed
by the allied invasion of Germany six months later. By April 1945 victory in Europe was certain.
The unending stress and strain of the war literally wore Roosevelt out. By early 1944 a full medical examination disclosed serious
heart and circulatory problems; and although his physicians placed him on a strict regime of diet and medication, the pressures of
war and domestic politics weighed heavily on him. During a vacation at Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945, he suffered a
massive stroke and died two and one-half hours later without regaining consciousness. He was 63 years old. His death came on the
eve of complete military victory in Europe and within months of victory over Japan in the Pacific. President Roosevelt was buried in
the Rose Garden of his estate at Hyde Park, New York.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Fast Facts:
BORN: January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York
PARENTS: Sara Delano and, James Roosevelt His father died when he was 18. His mother died when he was 59. BROTHER: A
half brother named James Roosevelt Roosevelt, (1854-1927)
EDUCATION: Tutored at home until 1896 Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts (1896-1900) Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts (1900-1903) Received a B.A. in History Columbia Law School, New York City (1903-1905) Course work towards a
degree in law, but no degree earned
MARRIED: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (fifth cousin once removed), March 17, 1905 in New York City.
CHILDREN: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (May 3, 1906 - December 1, 1975) James Roosevelt (December 23, 1907 - August 13, 1990)
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. (March 18, 1909 - November 8, 1909) Elliott Roosevelt (September 23, 1910 - October 27, 1990) Franklin
D. Roosevelt, Jr. (August 17, 1914 - August 17, 1988)
ACTIVITIES: New York State Senator Assistant Secretary of the Navy Nominated for Vice President on ticket with James Cox
Founded the Warm Springs Georgia Foundation Two term Governor of the State of New York Four term President of the United
States, guiding the nation through the Great Depression and World War II
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Brown hair, 6 feet 2 inches tall, blue -grey eyes
DIED: April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs Georgia-cause of death listed cerebral hemorrhage.
Chronology of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Career
The Early Years
1882 Born in Hyde Park, NY on January 30
1896-1900 FDR attends Groton, a private preparatory school in Massachusetts
1900-1903 FDR attends Harvard, receiving a BA in history
1905 Married Eleanor Roosevelt, a fifth cousin once removed, in NYC on March 17 Enters Columbia Law School
1907 FDR passes the bar examination and leaves Columbia without completing a degree
1910 FDR elected to the New York State Senate
1912 FDR was re-elected to the New York State Senate
1913 FDR was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson
1920 Ran as Vice-President on the Democratic ticket along with James Cox of Ohio. Lost the election to Warren Harding and
returned to private life.
1921 FDR is stricken with polio while vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick.
1924 FDR returns to politics by nominating Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York for president at the Democratic National
Convention.
1928 FDR elected governor of New York State
1930 FDR re-elected governor of New York State. Begins his campaign for the presidency.
1932 FDR is nominated as the Democratic Party candidate for president and defeats Hoover in November by seven million votes.
The New Deal Presidency
1933 FDR takes the oath of office on March 4 During his first "100 Days," he is able to get a large number of Legislative Initiatives
through Congress which set up the alphabet agencies such as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration & Civilian Conservation
Corps aimed at bringing about economic relief recovery & reform.
1935 Additional New Deal legislation is passed including the Works Progress Administration and Social Security
1936 FDR was re-elected president to a second term
1937 FDR proposes to add justices to the Supreme Court, in an ill fated court "packing" plan
World War II
1939 Germany invades Poland there by starting WWII. While the U.S. remains neutral, FDR does try to make American aid
available to the Allied powers
1940 FDR is re-elected for an unprecedented third term
1941 In March, FDR signs the Lend-Lease bill to aid nations at war with Germany & Italy On December 7, Japan attacks Pearl
Harbor bringing the United States into the war. The next day FDR delivers his "day of infamy" speech before Congress and asks for
a formal declaration of war against Germany.
1942 FDR moves to create a "grand alliance" of Allied powers through "the Declaration of the United Nations"
1944 FDR is re-elected president for a fourth term
1945 On April 12, FDR passes away at Warm Springs, Georgia. He is buried in the Rose Garden of his estate at Hyde Park, New
York.
Carl Vinson Sources:
1) Cook, James, http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-514, Floyd College, 7/11/2002, Web, 13 March 2013
40a - describe the impact of events leading up to American involvement in World War II to include the Lend-lease Act and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor
40b - evaluate the importance of Bell Aircraft, military bases, Savannah and Brunswick shipyards, Richard Russell and Carl Vinson
Article:
Carl Vinson, recognized as "the father of the two-ocean navy," served twenty-five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
When he retired in January 1965, he had served in the U.S. Congress longer than anyone in history. He also set the record for
service as chair of a standing committee. He chaired the House Naval Affairs Committee for sixteen years (1931-47) and its
successor, the House Armed Services Committee, for fourteen years (1949-53 and 1955-65). By concentrating on military affairs
throughout his long career, Vinson became the foremost advocate of a strong national defense and the most powerful voice in
Congress in shaping defense policies. His strong support of the navy earned him the nickname "the Admiral."
Born on November 18, 1883, in Baldwin County, Vinson was one of seven children born to Edward Storey Vinson, a farmer, and
Annie Morris. He attended Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College in Milledgeville, read law with county judge Edward R.
Hines, and earned a degree from Mercer University's law school in Macon in 1902. Admitted to the state bar, Vinson became a
junior partner of Judge Hines in Milledgeville. After serving two terms as county court solicitor, he won a seat in the Georgia General
Assembly at age twenty-five. Reelected two years later, he was chosen Speaker pro tempore during his second term.
In 1912 Vinson suffered his only defeat at the hands of the voters of middle Georgia in a political career that spanned six decades.
His bid for a third term in the legislature lost by five votes, apparently the result of voter backlash over reapportionment. The
governor then appointed him judge of the Baldwin County court. Soon afterward, however, when the U.S. representative from the
Tenth District resigned, Vinson ran for the vacant House seat. Easily defeating three wealthy opponents, he was sworn in on
November 3, 1914, as the youngest member of Congress. Competent and hardworking, he became a fixture in Congress. After
defeating the former Populist leader Thomas E. Watson in 1918, he rarely faced opposition.
In 1921 he married Mary Green of Ohio. They had no children. She died in 1949 after a lengthy illness, and he never remarried.
Although Vinson represented a landlocked district, he secured a seat on the Naval Affairs Committee in 1917. Convinced that
increased spending for national defense was absolutely necessary,
he believed this committee would provide a needed arena in which to present his views. He foresaw a growing role for both sea and
air power. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Vinson consistently called for strengthening the nation's defenses. Committed to arms
reduction, the United States had agreed to the Washington Treaty of 1922 and the London Treaty of 1930, which limited the size of
the naval fleets of the major powers. Vinson protested that the United States, unlike the other powers, had not even built its navy up
to the level authorized by these treaties. He made little headway during the administrations of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, but
found President Franklin Roosevelt more receptive to his arguments. In 1934 Roosevelt signed the Vinson-Trammell Act, which
would bring the navy to the strength permitted by the treaties of 1922 and 1930.
As conditions in Europe and Asia became more ominous, Vinson wrote several bills strengthening the navy and applying aircraft in
national defense. Twenty months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, an event that precipitated America's entry into World
War II (1941-45), Vinson steered two bills through Congress. The first called for expanding naval aviation to 10,000 planes, training
16,000 pilots, and establishing 20 air bases; the second speeded naval construction and eased labor restrictions in the shipbuilding
industry. Assessing Vinson's impact on sea power, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz later remarked, "I do not know where this country
would have been after December 7, 1941, if it had not had the ships and the know-how to build more ships fast, for which one
Vinson bill after another was responsible."
A modest man of simple tastes, Vinson shunned the limelight and quietly did his duty. When Congress was in session, he lived in a
modest six-room bungalow in Chevy Chase, Maryland; when it adjourned, he retreated to his 600-acre farm near Milledgeville.
Unlike most of his congressional colleagues, he rarely traveled. He went to the Caribbean once in the 1920s and never traveled
abroad again. He rarely set foot on an airplane or ship and never learned to drive a car. Eccentric in many ways, he smoked or
chewed cheap cigars, wore his glasses on the end of his prominent nose, and spoke with a middle Georgia drawl. Although he
appeared to be a country bumpkin, his shrewd political instincts, enormous common sense, and mastery of detail enabled him to
dominate his committee and steer legislation through Congress.
Vinson asserted, "The most expensive thing in the world is a cheap Army and Navy." During the cold war he continued to stress the
need for military preparedness, especially a buildup of strategic bombers. He rammed his views through Congress, often over the
objections of the president. Indeed, throughout his career he tangled with presidents, cabinet members, and top brass, whittling
pompous admirals and generals down to size. When he was rumored to be in line for appointment as secretary of defense, his
standard rejection was, "I'd rather run the Pentagon from up here."
After serving fifty years and one month, Vinson quietly retired to his Baldwin County farm, having set the record for longevity in the
House. In 1964 U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Vinson the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest award that a
president may bestow upon a civilian. U.S. president Richard Nixon honored Vinson in 1973 by naming the nation's third nuclearpowered carrier for him. He died in Milledgeville on June 1, 1981, at age ninety-seven.
In 1983 the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Georgia was renamed the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The institute
seeks to improve the understanding, administration, and policymaking of governments and communities by bringing the resources
and expertise of the university to bear on the issues and challenges facing Georgia.
2) http://www.reference.com/browse/Carl_Vinson, HighBeam Research, Inc., n.d, Web, 13 Match 2013
40b - evaluate the importance of Bell Aircraft, military bases, Savannah and Brunswick shipyards, Richard Russell and Carl Vinson
Article:
Carl Vinson
Carl Vinson ( November 18, 1883 – June 1, 1981) was a United
States Representative from Georgia. He was a Democrat, and thefirst person to serve for more than 50 years in the United States
Congress.
Early Years
Vinson was born in Baldwin County, Georgia, attended Georgia Military College, and graduated with a law degree from Mercer
University in 1902. He was elected to the Georgia House of
Representatives in 1908. After losing a third term followingredistricting, he was appointed judge of the Baldwin
County court,but following the sudden death of Senator Augustus Bacon,Representative Thomas W.
Hardwick of Georgia's 10thCongressional District was nominated to fill Bacon's Senate seatand Vinson announced his candidacy for
Hardwick's seat inCongress. Vinson won over three opponents. He was the youngestmember of Congress when he was sworn in o
n November 3, 1914.
Service in Congress
Vinson served as a Representative from November 3, 1914, toJanuary
3, 1965. During his tenure in the U.S. House, Vinson wasa champion for national defense and especially the U.S.
Navy. Hejoined the House Naval Affairs Committee shortly after World War Iand became the ranking Democratic member in the earl
y 1920s. Hewas the only Democrat appointed to the Morrow Board, whichreviewed the status of aviation in America in the mid1920s. In1931, Vinson became chairman of the House Naval AffairsCommittee. In 1934, he helped push the VinsonTrammell Act,along with Senator Park
Trammell of Florida. The bill authorizednew warships as they were required by the age limits of the navallimitation treaties (Washing
ton, 1922 and London, 1930) andapproproations to build the USN to its Treaty limits. This wasnecessary as during the previous Ad
ministration, not a single majorwarship was laid down and the US Navy was both aging and losingground to the Japanese Navy, whi
ch would repudiate the Treatiesin late 1934. He later was primarily responsible for additional navalexpansion legislation, the Second
Vinson Act of 1938 and theThird Vinson Act of 1940, as well as the Two-Ocean Navy
Act of1940. The ambitious program called for by this series of lawshelped the U.S. Navy as the country entered World War
II, as newships were able to immediately match the latest ships from Japan.
Following World War II, the House Naval Affairs Committee wasmerged with the Military Affairs Committee to become the House
Armed Services Committee (this consolidation mirrored thecreation of the Department of
Defense when the old Departmentsof War and of the Navy were consolidated). With Republicanswinning control of Congress in the
1946 election, Vinson served asranking minority member of the committee for two years beforebecoming Chairman in early 1949. H
e held this position, with theexception of another twoyear Republican interregnum in the early1950's, until his retirement in 1965. In this role, Vinson adopted acommittee rule that came
to be known as the "Vinson rule."Accordingly, each year junior members of the committee could askonly one question per year of se
rvice on the committee. Aschairman, Vinson oversaw the modernization of the military as itsfocus shifted to the Cold
War. He oversaw the procurement of thefirst nuclear-powered aircraft carriers starting with the USSEnterprise in the late 1950s.
In 1956 staunch segregationist Carl Vinson signed "The Southern Manifesto."
Vinson did not seek re-election in 1964 and retired from Congressin January 1965. He returned to Baldwin County,
Georgia where helived in retirement until his death.
Personal
In recognition of his efforts on behalf of the U.S. Navy, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was named for him, the USS Carl
Vinson;Vinson became one of a handful of living
Americans to have aNavy vessel named for them. On March 15, 1980, at age 96, heattended the ship's launching.
Vinson Massif, Antarctica's highest mountain, is also named afterhim.
Carl Vinson served 26 consecutive terms in the U.S. House, rarelyrunning against significant opposition. He served for 50 years and
one month, a record that stood until 1994, when the mark wassurpassed by James Whitten of Mississippi.
For his commitment to Duty, Honor, Country, Vinson was awardedthe prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States
Military Academy. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awardedVinson the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Special
Distinction,the highest award the President can give to a civilian.
Vinson did not have children, but his grand-nephew, Sam
Nunn,served as a Senator from Georgia for 25 years. Nunn followed inhis grand-uncle's footsteps, serving on the Senate Armed
Services Committee for nearly his entire tenure in the Senate.
3) Hill Jr., Melvin, http://www.cviog.uga.edu/about/carl-vinson-legend, Carl Vinson Institute of Government, n.d, Web, 13 March
2013
40b - evaluate the importance of Bell Aircraft, military bases, Savannah and Brunswick shipyards, Richard Russell and Carl Vinson
Article:
Every now and then someone will call and ask, "Who was Carl Vinson, anyway?" Of course, this does not happen that often -- nor is
it a question often asked by those who were born and raised in Georgia and have started shaving. However, it is a question that is
likely to be asked with increasing frequency as time marches on and institutional and personal memories fade. So, for the record
and to help preempt any more embarrassment for the uninformed, here is a brief profile of a great Georgian who became a legend
in his own time.
Perhaps the best way to begin is at the end. On November 16, 1973 -- at the celebration of Carl Vinson's ninetieth birthday, held as
part of the one hundredth anniversary of the Walter F. George School of Law in Macon, Georgia -- then-President Richard Nixon
paid tribute to Vinson by saying:
I am honored to be here for two reasons. First, because it is the 100th Anniversary of a great educational institution; and second,
because it is the 90th birthday of a man who has served longer in the House of Representatives, in the Congress, than any man in
our history, and one who is a legendary figure for those who did not know him, and one who is a loved figure for those like myself
who had the privilege of knowing him.
A great deal of attention has been paid to the fact that Carl Vinson was a man who stood for a strong national defense. He was Mr.
Armed Services, he was Mr. Navy, he was Mr. American, and he was Mr. Congressman. He was all of those things, but he must not
be just remembered and thought of that way, because Carl Vinson was a broad-gauged man. In his first speech, listen to what he
said: "I devoutly hope that the casting of every gun and the building of every ship will be done with a prayer for the peace of
America. I have at heart no sectional nor political interest but only the Republic's safety." In those words, we capture the life of a
very great man. "I have," he said, "at heart no sectional nor political interest."
He served eight Presidents, four of them Republicans, four of them Democrats. He had the confidence of every one of them and he
served each one of them as loyally whether they were of his party or the other, and it is the kind of service which puts America
above party that he represents and that America can always use today.
Herman Eugene Talmadge, then senior Senator from Georgia, had this to say:
Carl Vinson came to Congress when the Springfield rifle was our nation's principal weapon. Under his leadership, the country's
defense establishment evolved from horse and buggy days to the modern era of the Polaris submarine and intercontinental ballistic
missile. Carl Vinson had never seen a battleship until he achieved prominence in the Congress. Yet he was a founding parent of the
two-ocean navy, which became vital to our nation's survival during World War II. He did not like to fly in airplanes Yet he was a
forceful and persuasive advocate of an expanded United States Air Force when it became apparent to him that command of the
skies in the modern world was just as important as command of the seas a generation ago.
Only once in his entire lifetime did he set foot outside the United States, and that was when he went on an inspection trip of the
Panama Canal Zone in the early 1920's. Mr. Vinson used to say that his responsibilities in the House of Representatives kept him
too busy to go traveling all over the world. Mr. Vinson was known by the military establishment as "the Admiral" because of his early
affection for the United States Navy. By his colleagues in the House he was known as the "Swamp Fox" because of his masterful
grasp of parliamentary procedure and virtual unerring strategy in getting important legislation through Congress. Mr. Vinson is
known and loved in Georgia as "Uncle Carl."
In his own remarks that day, Carl Vinson expressed sincere gratitude for all the kind words that were being offered about him and
responded:
I cannot give you the secret of longevity, for I do not know what produces it, except perhaps to suggest that maintaining a vigorous
pace in all my mental and physical activities has played a very important part. However, if I had to select one factor that may have
played a dominant role in reaching my years, I would name the challenge of Public Service.
It was this record and this spirit that led the University of Georgia in 1983 to name its Institute of Government in honor of this great
Georgian.
Carl Vinson's story was not unlike that of many other Americans born into humble circumstances and yet went on to achieve
prominence at the state and national levels. His story began in Baldwin County, Georgia, where he was born on November 18,
1883. The great-grandson of a Methodist preacher, the grandson and son of a farmer, Carl was one of seven children born to
Edward Storey Vinson and Annie Morris Vinson. He attended the Middle Georgia Military and Agricultural College in Milledgeville at
a young age (the college taught both sexes and all grades) and by all accounts was a serious student. Carl's father made the
children work either on the farm or in town after school, and Carl chose the latter. He worked in Culver and Kidd's Drug Store,
delivered newspapers for The Atlanta Journal, and later worked for two local department stores.
In his late teens, Carl decided he wanted to be a lawyer and started reading law in county judge Edward R. Hines' law library. He
entered Mercer University Law School in 1900, graduated two years later, was admitted to the State Bar, and returned to
Milledgeville as a junior partner with Judge Hines. In 1904, and again in 1906, Vinson was appointed County Court Solicitor. In
1909, at the age of twenty-five, he ran for and won a two-year term in the Georgia General Assembly. He was reelected in 1911 and
served as Speaker Pro Tempore during his second term.
During the legislative reapportionment process following the 1910 census, Baldwin County (Vinson's home district) was moved from
the Sixth Congressional district to the Tenth, which was then referred to as the "Bloody Tenth." In the 1912 general election, voter
backlash in Baldwin County over the new alignment contributed to Vinson's 5-vote loss in his own race for a third term in the state
house. The Governor then appointed him judge of Baldwin County Court, but on February 14, 1914, Augusta Bacon--Georgia's
senior U.S. senator-- died. U.S. Representative Thomas W. Hardwick of the new Tenth District announced his candidacy for the
vacant Senate seat, and Carl Vinson announced for the vacant House seat. Vinson won the election handily against three wealthy
opponents, winning all but four of the twelve counties in the Tenth District.
On November 3, 1914, fifteen days before his 31st birthday, Carl Vinson was sworn in as the youngest member of Congress. Due to
the timing of the vote, he was elected to both the unexpired term in the Sixty-third Congress and a full term in the Sixty-fourth.
Thereafter, Vinson would be reelected to the U.S. House of Representatives for 26 consecutive terms, usually against only token
opposition (except in 1918, when he narrowly defeated the former populist leader Thomas Watson). His federal legislative career
spanned 50 years and one month, a record of service that was unsurpassed until 1994 when Congressman James Whitten of
Mississippi passed Vinson's mark.
Early in his tenure in Congress, Vinson's interest in national defense and sea power earned him a seat on the House Naval Affairs
Committee. In 1931, he became committee chairman, serving in that capacity until 1947, when the Naval Affairs Committee and the
Military Affairs Committee combined to become the House Armed Services Committee. Vinson's effectiveness on the Naval Affairs
Committee is attested to by the fact that in the first nine years of his chairmanship, the House defeated only one bill that he
sponsored. He served as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee for the remainder of his legislative career, except for
four years of Republican control of Congress. His influence over defense policy was so great that when asked by reporters in 1952
about a possible appointment as President Eisenhower's Secretary of Defense, Vinson replied, "No, I'd rather run the Pentagon
from here."
Carl Vinson received numerous awards and honors throughout his career. In 1964 President Johnson awarded him the Presidential
Medal of Freedom with Special Distinction, the highest award that a president can bestow upon a civilian. In 1973, at the very same
ceremony at Mercer University celebrating Vinson's 90th birthday, President Nixon announced: "As you know, we have just begun
to develop nuclear carriers. The first one was named the Eisenhower, the second one was named the Nimitz, the great naval
commander of World War II. The third is just beginning, and it will be named the Carl Vinson."
When he retired in 1965 at the conclusion of the 88th Congress, Carl Vinson had held public office for 59 consecutive years. He
returned to his beloved farm in Baldwin County, and lived the last years of his life in Milledgeville at the home of Molly Sneed, widow
of his Congressional administrative assistant and long-time friend of Carl and his wife.
Carl Vinson had no children, but it appears that his interest in politics and military affairs was passed on to his grandnephew, Sam
Nunn of Perry, Georgia. In 1972, Nunn was elected to the United States Senate, where he served on the Senate Armed Services
Committee for almost a quarter century. Until his retirement in 1997, Sen. Nunn followed "Uncle Carl" as a widely respected leader
in maintaining a strong national defense for this country.
On March 15, 1980, Carl Vinson became the first living American to have a U.S. Navy ship named after him. At age 96, he and
Molly Sneed attended dedication ceremonies for the U.S. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier at Newport News, Virginia.
When it came time to launch the carrier, Vinson insisted that his long-time family friend Molly perform the christening honors. To
considerable fanfare, the huge ship slid into the water and active Naval duty.
On June 1, 1981, Georgia's legendary Congressman died at age 97. Today, the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the
University of Georgia continues as a living legacy to the life of a great Georgian who devoted half a century in public service to his
state and nation.
Martin Luther King Jr. Sources:
1) "Martin Luther King Jr." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Mar 13 2013, 07:12 http://www.biography.com/people/martinluther-king-jr-9365086.
42a - examine major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the 1940’s and 1950’s to include Herman Talmadge,
Benjamin Mays, the 1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the 1956 state flag
Article:
SYNOPSIS
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a
seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among many efforts, King headed the SCLC.
Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other
areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of
the most lauded African-American leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream."
EARLY YEARS
Born as Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was the middle child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams
King. The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia. Martin Jr.'s grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for
years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. He took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and
made it into a forceful congregation. He married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived, Alberta. Michael King
Sr. came from a sharecropper family in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship. The
newlyweds moved to A.D. Williams home in Atlanta.
Michael King Sr. stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931. He too became a
successful minister, and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther.
In due time, Michael Jr. would follow his father's lead and adopt the name himself.
Young Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. The King children grew up in
a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while his wife's gentleness easily balanced out the father's
more strict hand. Though they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. Martin Luther King
Sr. fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an
affront to God's will. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin
Jr.
Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr. entered public school at age 5. In May, 1936 he was baptized, but the event
made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event
was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents' wishes when she died. Distraught at
the news, young Martin jumped from a second story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide.
King attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student.
He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades, and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a popular
student, especially with his female classmates, but an unmotivated student who floated though his first two years. Although his
family was deeply involved in the church and worship, young Martin questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly
emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort continued through much of his adolescence, initially leading him to decide
against entering the ministry, much to his father's dismay. But in his junior year, Martin took a Bible class, renewed his faith and
began to envision a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision.
EDUCATION AND SPIRIT UAL GROW TH
In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and attended the liberal Crozer Theological
Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, and was valedictorian of his class in 1951, and elected student
body president. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study. But Martin also rebelled against his father’s more conservative
influence by drinking beer and playing pool while at college. He became involved with a white woman and went through a difficult
time before he could break off the affair.
During his last year in seminary, Martin Luther King Jr. came under the influence of theologian Reinhold Niebbuhr, a classmate of
his father's at Morehouse College. Niebbuhr became a mentor to Martin, challenging his liberal views of theology. Niebuhr was
probably the single most important influence in Martin's intellectual and spiritual development. After being accepted at several
colleges for his doctoral study including Yale and Edinburgh in Scotland, King enrolled in Boston University.
During the work on this doctorate, Martin Luther King Jr. met Coretta Scott, an aspiring singer and musician, at the New England
Conservatory school in Boston. They were married in June 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott
and Bernice. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of
Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D. and was award his degree in 1955. King was only 25 years old.
MONTGO MERY BUS BOYCO TT
On March 2, 1955, a 15-year-old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus in violation of local law.
Claudette Colvin was arrested and taken to jail. At first, the local chapter of the NAACP felt they had an excellent test case to
challenge Montgomery's segregated bus policy. But then it was revealed that she was pregnant and civil rights leaders feared this
would scandalize the deeply religious black community and make Colvin (and, thus the group's efforts) less credible in the eyes of
sympathetic whites.
On December 1, 1955, they got another chance to make their case. That evening, 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland
Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work.
She sat in the first row of the "colored" section in the middle of the bus. As the bus traveled its route, all the seats it the white section
filled up, then several more white passengers boarded the bus. The bus driver noted that there were several white men standing
and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other African American passengers
reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated. The driver asked her again to give up her seat and again she refused.
Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. At her trial a week later, in a 30-minute hearing, Parks was
found guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court fee.
On the night that Rosa Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin Luther King Jr. and other
local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained with
solid family connections and had professional standing. But he was also new to the community and had few enemies, so it was felt
he would have strong credibility with the black community.
In his first speech as the group's president, King declared, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown
an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we
come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice."
Martin Luther King Jr.'s fresh and skillful rhetoric put a new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama. The bus boycott would
be 382 days of walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation for the Montgomery's African-American community. Both
King's and E.D. Nixon's homes were attacked. But the African-American community also took legal action against the city ordinance
arguing that it was unconstitutional based on the Supreme Court's "separate is never equal" decision in Brown v. Board of
Education. After being defeated in several lower court rulings and suffering large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the
law mandating segregated public transportation.
THE SOUTHERN CHRISTI AN LEADERSHIP CONFER ENCE
Flush with victory, African-American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their
efforts. In January 1957, Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches. They would help conduct
non-violent protests to promote civil rights reform. King's participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout
the South, as well as a national platform. The organization felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to
enfranchise them in the voting process. In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in key southern cities
to register black voters in the South.
King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues.
In 1959, with the help of the American Friends Service Committee, and inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism,
Martin Luther King visited Gandhi's birthplace in India. The trip affected him in a deeply profound way, increasing his commitment to
America's civil rights struggle. African-American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had studied Gandhi's teachings, became one
of King's associates and counseled him to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence. Rustin served as King's mentor and
advisor throughout his early activism and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. But Rustin was also a
controversial figure at the time, being a homosexual with alleged ties to the Communist Party, USA. Though his counsel was
invaluable to King, many of his other supporters urged him to distance himself from Rustin.
In February 1960, a group of African-American students began what became known as the "sit-in" movement in Greensboro, North
Carolina. The students would sit at racially segregated lunch counters in the city's stores. When asked to leave or sit in the colored
section, they just remained seated, subjecting themselves to verbal and sometimes physical abuse. The movement quickly gained
traction in several other cities. In April 1960, the SCLC held a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina with local
sit-in leaders. Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. Out of this
meeting, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee formed and for a time, worked closely with the SCLC. By August of 1960,
the sit-ins had been successful in ending segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities.
By 1960, Martin Luther King Jr. was gaining national notoriety. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor with his father at
Ebenezer Baptist Church, but also continued his civil rights efforts. On October 19, 1960, King and 75 students entered a local
department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied. When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36
others were arrested. Realizing the incident would hurt the city's reputation, Atlanta's mayor negotiated a truce and charges were
eventually dropped. But soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. The news of his
imprisonment entered the 1960 presidential campaign, when candidate John F. Kennedy made a phone call to Coretta Scott King.
Kennedy expressed his concern for King's harsh treatment for the traffic ticket and political pressure was quickly set in motion. King
was soon released.
'I HAVE A DREAM'
In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Entire families
attended. City police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. Martin Luther King was jailed along with large numbers of his
supporters, but the event drew nationwide attention.
However, King was personally criticized by black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended
the demonstration. From the jail in Birmingham, King eloquently spelled out his theory of non-violence: "Nonviolent direct action
seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused to negotiate, is forced to
confront the issue."
By the end of the Birmingham campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. and his supporters were making plans for a massive demonstration
on the nation's capital composed of multiple organizations, all asking for peaceful change. On August 28, 1963, the historic March
on Washington drew more than 200,000 people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that King made his famous "I
Have a Dream" speech, emphasizing his belief that someday all men could be brothers.
The rising tide of civil rights agitation produced a strong effect on public opinion. Many people in cities not experiencing racial
tension began to question the nation's Jim Crow laws and the near century second class treatment of African-American citizens.
This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public
accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities. This also led to Martin Luther King receiving the Nobel
Peace Prize for 1964.
King's struggle continued throughout the 1960s. Often, it seemed as though the pattern of progress was two steps forward and one
step back. On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march, planned from Selma to Alabama's capital in Montgomery, turned violent as police
with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge. King was not in the march,
however the attack was televised showing horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured. Seventeen
demonstrators were hospitalized leading to the naming the event "Bloody Sunday." A second march was cancelled due to a
restraining order to prevent the march from taking place. A third march was planned and this time King made sure he was on it. Not
wanting to alienate southern judges by violating the restraining order, a different tact was taken. On March 9, 1965, a procession of
2,500 marchers, both black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers.
Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in prayer and they then turned back. The event caused King the
loss of support among some younger African-American leaders, but it nonetheless aroused support for the passage of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965.
From late 1965 through 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his Civil Rights Movement into other larger American cities, including
Chicago and Los Angeles. But he met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young black-power leaders. King's
patient, non-violent approach and appeal to white middle-class citizens alienated many black militants who considered his methods
too weak and too late.
In the eyes of the sharp-tongued, blue jean young urban black, King's manner was irresponsibly passive and deemed non-effective.
To address this criticism King began making a link between discrimination and poverty. He expanded his civil rights efforts to the
Vietnam War. He felt that America's involvement in Vietnam was politically untenable and the government's conduct of the war
discriminatory to the poor. He sought to broaden his base by forming a multi-race coalition to address economic and unemployment
problems of all disadvantaged people.
ASSASSINATION AND LE GACY
By 1968, the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on Martin Luther King Jr. He had grown tired of
marches, going to jail, and living under the constant threat of death. He was becoming discouraged at the slow progress civil rights
in America and the increasing criticism from other African-American leaders. Plans were in the works for another march on
Washington to revive his movement and bring attention to a widening range of issues. In the spring of 1968, a labor strike by
Memphis sanitation workers drew King to one last crusade. On April 3, in what proved to be an eerily prophetic speech, he told
supporters, "I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get
to the promised land." The next day, while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel, Martin Luther King Jr. was
struck by a sniper's bullet. The shooter, a malcontent drifter and former convict named James Earl Ray, was eventually
apprehended after a two-month, international manhunt. The killing sparked riots and demonstrations in more than 100 cities across
the country. In 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He died in prison on April
23, 1998.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s life had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States. Years after his death, he is the most widely
known African-American leader of his era. His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings
named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C. But his life remains controversial as well. In the 1970s,
FBI files, released under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that he was under government surveillance, and suggested his
involvement in adulterous relationships and communist influences. Over the years, extensive archival studies have led to a more
balanced and comprehensive assessment of his life, portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible and limited in his control
over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet a visionary leader who was deeply committed to achieving social
justice through nonviolent means.
2) McMillan, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkingML.htm, Spartacus Educational Publishers Ltd, n.d, Web, 13 March
2013
42a - examine major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the 1940’s and 1950’s to include Herman Talmadge,
Benjamin Mays, the 1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the 1956 state flag
Article:
Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia on 15th January, 1929. Both his father and grandfather were Baptist preachers who
had been actively involved in the civil rights movement.
King graduated from Morehouse College in 1948. After considering careers in medicine and law, he entered the ministry. While
studying at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, King heard a lecture on Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent civil
disobedience campaign that he used successfully against British rule in India.
Over the next few months King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that the same
methods could be employed by blacks to obtain civil rights in America. He was particularly struck by Gandhi's words: "Through our
pain we will make them see their injustice". King was also influenced by Henry David Thoreau and his theories on how to use
nonviolent resistance to achieve social change.
After his marriage to Coretta Scott, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In
Montgomery, like most towns in the Deep South, buses were segregated. On 1st December, 1955, Rosa Parks, a middle-aged
tailor's assistant, who was tired after a hard day's work, refused to give up her seat to a white man.
After the arrest of Rosa Parks, King and his friends, Ralph David Abernathy, Edgar Nixon, and Bayard Rustin helped organize
protests against bus segregation. It was decided that black people in Montgomery would refuse to use the buses until passengers
were completely integrated. King was arrested and his house was fire-bombed. Others involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott also
suffered from harassment and intimidation, but the protest continued.
For thirteen months the 17,000 black people in Montgomery walked to work or obtained lifts from the small car-owning black
population of the city. Eventually, the loss of revenue and a decision by the Supreme Court forced the Montgomery Bus Company to
accept integration. and the boycott came to an end on 20th December, 1956.
Harris Wofford was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement in the Deep South in the late 1950s and became a friend and
unofficial advisor to Martin Luther King. In 1957 Wofford arranged for King to visit India. According to Coretta King, after this trip her
husband "constantly pondered how to apply Gandhian principles in America." In 1957 King joined with the Reverend Ralph David
Abernathy and Bayard Rustin to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The new organisation was committed
to using nonviolence in the struggle for civil rights, and SCLC adopted the motto: "Not one hair of one head of one person should be
harmed."
There had been a long tradition of nonviolent resistance to racism in the United States. Frederick Douglass had advocated these
methods during the fight against slavery. Other black leaders such as Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin had successfully used
nonviolence against racism in the 1940s. The importance of the SCLC was that now the black church, a powerful organisation in the
South, was to become fully involved in the struggle for civil rights.
After the successful outcome of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, King wrote Stride Toward Freedom (1958). The book described what
happened at Montgomery and explained King's views on non-violence and direct action. The book was to have a considerable
influence on the civil rights movement.
In Greensboro, North Carolina, a small group of black students read the book and decided to take action themselves. They started a
student sit-in at the restaurant of their local Woolworth's store which had a policy of not serving black people. In the days that
followed they were joined by other black students until they occupied all the seats in the restaurant. The students were often
physically assaulted, but following the teachings of King they did not hit back.
Harris Wofford was involved in negotiations with John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon during the 1960 Presidential Campaign. He
later recalled: "He (King) was impressed and encouraged by the far-reaching Democratic civil rights platform, and preferred to use
the campaign period to negotiate civil rights commitments from both candidates, but particularly from Kennedy." After his election
victory Kennedy appointed Wofford as his Special Assistant for Civil Rights. Wofford also served as chairman of the Subcabinet
Group on Civil Rights.
King's non-violent strategy was adopted by black students all over the Deep South. This included the activities of the Freedom
Riders in their campaign against segregated transport. Within six months these sit-ins had ended restaurant and lunch-counter
segregation in twenty-six southern cities. Student sit-ins were also successful against segregation in public parks, swimming pools,
theaters, churches, libraries, museums and beaches.
King travelled the country making speeches and inspiring people to become involved in the civil rights movement. As well as
advocating non-violent student sit-ins, King also urged economic boycotts similar to the one that took place at Montgomery. He
argued that as African Americans made up 10% of the population they had considerable economic power. By selective buying, they
could reward companies that were sympathetic to the civil rights movement while punishing those who still segregated their
workforce.
The campaign to end segregation at lunch counters in Birmingham, Alabama, was less successful. In the spring of 1963 police
turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. King and large number of his supporters, including schoolchildren, were arrested
and jailed.
King always stressed the importance of the ballot. He argued that once all African Americans had the vote they would become an
important political force. Although they were a minority, once the vote was organized, they could determine the result of presidential
and state elections. This was illustrated by the African American support for John F. Kennedy that helped give him a narrow victory
in the 1960 election.
In the Deep South considerable pressure was put on blacks not to vote by organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. An example of
this was the state of Mississippi. By 1960, 42% of the population were black but only 2% were registered to vote. Lynching was still
employed as a method of terrorizing the local black population. Emmett Till, a fourteen year old schoolboy was lynched for whistling
at a white woman, while others were murdered for encouraging black people to register to vote. King helped organize voting
registration campaigns in states such as Mississippi but progress was slow.
During the 1960 presidential election campaign John F. Kennedy argued for a new Civil Rights Act. After the election it was
discovered that over 70 per cent of the African American vote went to Kennedy. However, during the first two years of his
presidency, Kennedy failed to put forward his promised legislation.
During the Freedom Riders campaign Robert F. Kennedy issued a statement as Attorney General criticizing the activities of the
protesters. Kennedy admitted to Anthony Lewis that he had come to the conclusion that Martin Luther King was closely associated
with members of the American Communist Party and he asked J. Edgar Hoover “to make an intensive investigation of him, to see
who his companions were and also to see what other activities he was involved in… They mad that intensive investigation, and I
gave them also permission to put a tap on his phone.”
Hoover reported to Kennedy that was a “Marxist” and that he was very close to Stanley Levison, who was a “secret member of the
Executive Committee of the Communist Party”. Hoover informed King that Levison, who was a legal adviser to the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, was a member of Communist Party. However, when King refused to dismiss Levison, the
Kennedys became convinced that King was himself a communist.
John F. Kennedy agreed to move Harris Wofford in April 1962. Robert Kennedy told Anthony Lewis: “Harris Wofford was very
emotionally involved in all these matters and was rather in some areas a slight madman. I didn’t want to have someone in the Civil
Rights Division who was dealing not from fact but was dealing from emotion… I wanted advice and ideas from somebody who had
the same interests and motivation that I did.” Wofford became the Peace Corps Special Representative for Africa. Later he was
appointed as Associate Director of the Peace Corps.
The Civil Rights bill was brought before Congress in 1963 and in a speech on television on 11th June, Kennedy pointed out that:
"The Negro baby born in America today, regardless of the section of the nation in which he is born, has about one-half as much
chance of completing high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day; one third as much chance of completing
college; one third as much chance of becoming a professional man; twice as much chance of becoming unemployed; about oneseventh as much chance of earning $10,000 a year; a life expectancy which is seven years shorter; and the prospects of earning
only half as much."
In an attempt to persuade Congress to pass Kennedy's proposed legislation, King and other civil rights leaders organized the
famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Bayard Rustin was given overall control of the march and he managed to
persuade the leaders of all the various civil rights groups to participate in the planned protest meeting at the Lincoln Memorial.
The decision to appoint Bayard Rustin as chief organizer was controversial. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP was one of those who was
against the appointment. He argued that being a former member of the American Communist Party made him an easy target for the
right-wing press. Although Rustin had left the party in 1941, he still retained his contacts with its leaders such as Benjamin Davis.
Wilkins also feared that the fact that Rustin had been imprisoned several times for both refusing to fight in the armed forces and for
acts of homosexuality, would be used against him in the days leading up to the march. However, King and Philip Randolph insisted
that he was the best person for the job.
Wilkins was right to be concerned about a possible smear campaign against Rustin. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of
Investigations, had been keeping a file on Bayard Rustin for many years. An FBI undercover agent managed to take a photograph
of Rustin talking to King while he was having a bath. This photograph was then used to support false stories being circulated that
Rustin was having a homosexual relationship with King.
This information was now passed on to white politicians in the Deep South who feared that a successful march on Washington
would persuade President Lyndon B. Johnson to sponsor a proposed new civil rights act. Strom Thurmond led the campaign against
Rustin making several speeches where he described him as a "communist, draft dodger and homosexual".
Most newspapers condemned the idea of a mass march on Washington. An editorial in the New York Herald Tribune warned that:
"If Negro leaders persist in their announced plans to march 100,000-strong on the capital they will be jeopardizing their cause. The
ugly part of this particular mass protest is its implication of unconstrained violence if Congress doesn't deliver."
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on 28th August, 1963, was a great success. Estimates on the size of the crowd
varied from between 250,000 to 400,000. Speakers included Philip Randolph (AFL-CIO), Floyd McKissick (CORE), John Lewis
(SNCC), Roy Wilkins (NAACP), Witney Young (National Urban League), Dorothy Height (NCNW) and Walter Reuther (AFL-CIO).
King was the final speaker and made his famous I Have a Dream speech.
Kennedy's Civil Rights bill was still being debated by Congress when he was assassinated in November, 1963. The new president,
Lyndon Baines Johnson, who had a poor record on civil rights issues, took up the cause. Using his considerable influence in
Congress, Johnson was able to get the legislation passed.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination in public places, such as theaters, restaurants and hotels, illegal. It also
required employers to provide equal employment opportunities. Projects involving federal funds could now be cut off if there was
evidence of discriminated based on colour, race or national origin.
King now concentrated on achieving a federal voting-rights law. In March 1965 he organized a protest march from Selma to the
state capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama. King was not with the marchers when they were attacked by state troopers with
nightsticks and tear gas. He did lead the second march but upset some of his younger followers when he turned back at the Pettus
Bridge when faced by a barricade of state troopers.
After the attacks on King's supporters at Selma, Lyndon Baines Johnson attempted to persuade Congress to pass his Voting Rights
Act. This legislation proposed to remove the right of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections. Johnson explained
how: "Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and
women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes."
Although opposed by politicians from the Deep South, the Voting Rights Act was passed by large majorities in the House of
Representatives (333 to 48) and the Senate (77 to 19). The legislation empowered the national government to register those whom
the states refused to put on the voting list.
After the passing of these two important pieces of legislation, King concentrated on helping those suffering from poverty. King
realised that race and economic issues were closely connected and he began talking about the need to redistribute wealth. In Why
We Can't Wait (1964) and Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community (1967), King argued that African Americans and poor
whites were natural allies and if they worked together they could help change society. King's growing radicalism was illustrated in a
speech he made in Selma, Alabama: "For the last twelve years we have been in the reform movement (but now) we have moved
into a new era, which must be an era of revolution."
On 3rd April, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. made a speech where he outlined the reasons why he was opposed to the Vietnam War.
After he made this speech, the editor of The Nation, Carey McWilliams and the Socialist Party leader, Norman Thomas, urged King
to run as a third-party presidential candidate in 1968.
William F. Pepper suggested that King should challenge Lyndon B. Johnson for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. King
rejected this idea but instead joined with Pepper to establish the National Conference for New Politics (NCNP). “From this platform,
Dr King planned to move into mainstream politics as a potential candidate on a presidential ticket with Dr Benjamin Spock in order to
highlight the anti-poverty, anti-war agenda.”
In his autobiography, William C. Sullivan, Deputy Director of the FBI, admitted that this decision created a great deal of concern to
the ruling elite. “The Civil Rights Movement which began in the late 1950s gave organization and impetus to the antiwar movement
of the late 1960s. The tactics of direct action against authority that proved successful in the earlier struggle were used as a model
for the students of the New Left.”
Pepper was later to discover that the wiretaps of the conversations that took place about King becoming a third-party candidate
“were relayed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and, through him, to Lyndon Johnson.” According to Anthony Summers, Hoover
suggested to Johnson that the best way of dealing with King and Malcolm X would be to “get those two guys fighting”. He added the
problem could be solved “if we could get them to kill one another off.”
Hoover told William C. Sullivan when he became head of the Intelligence Division in 1961 that “King was an instrument of the
Communist Party” and posed “a serious threat to the security of the country.” Hoover instructed Sullivan to get evidence that “King
had a relationship with the Soviet bloc”. Despite an intensive surveillance campaign, Sullivan was unable to find a clear link between
King and the American Communist Party. When told this by Sullivan, Hoover replied: “I kept saying that Castro was a Communist
and you people wouldn’t believe me. Now they are saying that King is not a Communist and you’re just as wrong this time as you
were with Castro.”
Sullivan continued in his campaign to discredit King. In a memo to Hoover in December, 1963, Sullivan wrote: “When the true facts
concerning his (King’s) activities are presented, such should be enough, if handled properly, to take him off his pedestal… When
that is done… the Negroes will be left without a national leader of sufficiently compelling personality to steer them in the proper
direction.”
In June, 1967, Hoover had a meeting with fellow gambler, close friend, and Texas oil billionaire, H. L. Hunt in Chicago. Hunt was
very concerned that the activities of King might unseat Lyndon B. Johnson. This could be an expensive defeat as Johnson doing a
good job protecting the oil depletion allowance. According to William F. Pepper: “ Hoover said he thought a final solution was
necessary. Only that action would stop King.”
It was King’s opposition to the Vietnam War that really upset Hoover. According to Richard N. Goodwin, Hoover told Johnson that
“Bobby Kennedy was hiring or paying King off to stir up trouble over the Vietnam War.” It is true that Robert Kennedy, like King, was
growing increasingly concerned about the situation in Vietnam. Johnson became convinced that Kennedy was leaking information to
the press about his feelings on the war. At a meeting on 6 th February, 1967, Johnson told Robert F. Kennedy: “I’ll destroy you and
everyone one of your dove friends. You’ll be dead politically in six months.”
Martin Luther King continued his campaign against the Vietnam War. This upset the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. In
October, 1961, McNamara established the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). This took over the U.S. Army’s Strategic Intelligence
Unit. However, following the racial riots at Oxford, Mississippi, the on-scene commander, Major General Creighton V. Abrahams,
wrote a report on the performance of army intelligence at Oxford. It included the following: “We in the Army should launch a major
intelligence project, without delay, to identify personalities, both black and white, and develop analyses of the various civil rights
situations in which they became involved.” Abrahams’ advice was accepted and in 1967 the Military Intelligence Branch (MIB) was
formed as part of the U.S. Army Intelligence Command (USAINTC) based at Fort Holabird, Maryland. It was the MIB that now began
to take a close look at the activities of Martin Luther King.
On 19th February, 1968, Cesar Chavez, the trade union leader, began a hunger strike in protest against the violence being used
against his members in California. Robert F. Kennedy went to the San Joaquin Valley to give Chavez his support and told waiting
reporters: “I am here out of respect for one of the heroic figures of our time – Cesar Chavez. I congratulate all of you who are locked
with Cesar in the struggle for justice for the farm worker and in the struggle for justice for Spanish-speaking Americans.”
Chavez was also a strong opponent of the Vietnam War. Kennedy had begun to link the campaign against the war with the plight of
the disadvantaged. Martin Luther King was following a similar path with his involvement in the Poor People’s Campaign. As William
F. Pepper has pointed out: “If the wealthy, powerful interests across the nation would find Dr King’s escalating activity against the
war intolerable, his planned mobilization of half a million poor people with the intention of laying siege to Congress could only
engender outrage – and fear.”
In February, 1968, Memphis clergyman James Lawson, informed Martin Luther King about the sanitation workers’ dispute in the
city. Over 90% of the 13,000 sanitation workers in Memphis were black. Men were often sent home by management during working
hours and this resulted in them losing pay. Much of the equipment they used was old and in a bad state of repair. The dispute began
when two sanitation workers, Echole Cole and Robert Walker were killed by a malfunctioning “garbage packer” truck. There was no
company insurance scheme and the men’s families did not receive any compensation except for a month’s pay and a contribution
towards funeral expenses.
The local branch of the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) threatened strike action unless
working conditions improved in Memphis. When negotiations failed to achieve an acceptable solution to this problem, the sanitation
workers went on strike. A protest march on 23 rd February, ended in violence when the local police used Mace on the marchers. At
this point, Rev. James Lawson, one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), became chairman of
the strike strategy committee. The Community on the Move for Equality (COME), a coalition of labour and civil rights groups, also
gave its support to the sanitation workers. Roy Wilkins of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
and Bayard Rustin of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), agreed to speak at a strike meeting on 14 th March. Martin Luther
King also agreed to help and it was announced he would speak at a public meeting in Memphis on 18 th March.
At the meeting King expressed his solidarity with the sanitation workers and called for a general strike to take place in Memphis.
This caused create concern amongst the ruling elite. Many people interpreted the idea of a general strike as a tactic that had been
employed by revolutionaries in several European countries. The strategy of King seemed to be an attempt to link the campaign
against poverty with the civil rights struggle and the protests against the war in Vietnam. In his speeches King argued that the
money being spent on the war was making it more difficult for Lyndon B. Johnson to fulfil the promises he had made about
improving America’s welfare system.
James Lawson later claimed that King “saw the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike as the beginning of a non-violent revolution that
would redistribute income.” He argued his long term plan was to “shut down the nation’s capital in the spring of 1968 through
massive civil disobedience until the government agreed to abolish poverty.” He added that the government became especially upset
after he began making speeches against the Vietnam War.
King’s strategy of linking poverty, civil rights and the Vietnam War seemed to be mirroring the presidential campaign of Robert F.
Kennedy. Both men appeared to be seriously threatening the status quo and in that sense were acting as revolutionaries. Recently
released FBI files show that during this period J. Edgar Hoover reported to Johnson that Kennedy and King were working together in
order to undermine his presidency.
On 28th March, 1968, King led a march from Clayborn Temple to the Memphis City Hall. Although the organizers had ordered the
marchers to refrain from any acts of violence, groups of young people ignored the marshals’ instructions and created a great deal of
damage to shops on the way to the city hall. A sixteen-year-old boy, Larry Payne, was shot dead by the police who claimed he was
a looter. An eyewitness said that Payne had his hands up when shot.
King was convinced that the violence on the march had been caused by government provocateurs. According to Coretta Scott King,
her husband returned to Memphis on 3rd April to prepare for a truly non-violent march and to prove SCLC could still carry out a
pacifist campaign in Washington. That night King made a speech at the Mason Temple. The I've Been to the Mountaintop speech It
ended with the following words: "Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t
matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity
has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And
I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land. So I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen
the glory of the coming of the Lord."
After the meeting King and his party were taken to the Lorraine Motel. The following day King was shot and killed as he stood on the
balcony of the motel. His death was followed by rioting in 125 cities and resulted in forty-six people being killed. Two months later,
James Earl Ray was arrested in London and extradited to the United States. He pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sent to jail
for ninety-nine years.
People close to King were convinced that the government was behind the assassination. Ralph Abernathy, who replaced King as
head of the SCLC, claimed that he had been killed “by someone trained or hired by the FBI and acting under the orders from J.
Edgar Hoover”. Whereas James Lawson, the leader of the strike in Memphis remarked that: “I have no doubt that the government
viewed all this (the Poor People’s Campaign and the anti-Vietnam War speeches) seriously enough to plan his assassination.”
William F. Pepper, who was to spend the next forty years investigating the death of Martin Luther King, discovered evidence that
Military Intelligence was involved in the assassination. In his book, Orders to Kill, Pepper names members of the 20th Special
Forces Group (SFG) as being part of the conspiracy.
Even the Deputy Director of the FBI, William C. Sullivan, who led the investigation into the assassination, believed that there was a
conspiracy to kill King. In his autobiography published after his death, Sullivan wrote: “I was convinced that James Earl Ray killed
Martin Luther King, but I doubt if he acted alone… Someone, I feel sure, taught Ray how to get a false Canadian passport, how to
get out of the country, and how to travel to Europe because he would never have managed it alone. And how did Ray pay for the
passport and the airline tickets?” Sullivan also admits that it was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and not the FBI who
successfully tracked Ray down to London.
In a television interview from prison that took place in 1988, James Earl Ray claimed the FBI agents threatened to jail his father and
one of his brothers if he did not confess to King’s murder. Ray added that he had been framed to cover up an FBI plot to kill King.
However, there is evidence that it was another organization that was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King. According
to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, military intelligence became very interested in the activities of King
after he began making speeches against the Vietnam War. In a report published in 1972, the committee claimed that in the spring of
1968 King’s organization was “infiltrated by the 109 th, 111 th and 116 th Military Intelligence Groups.” In his book, An Act of State,
the lawyer, William F. Pepper points out that the committee was surprised when it discovered that military intelligence appeared to
be very interested in where King was “staying in various cities, as well as details concerning housing facilities, offices, bases of
operations, churches and private homes.” The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee commented: “Why such information was sought has
never been explained.”
3) "Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 14 Mar 2013
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
42a - examine major developments in civil rights and Georgia’s role during the 1940’s and 1950’s to include Herman Talmadge,
Benjamin Mays, the 1946 governor’s race and the end of the white primary, Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the 1956 state flag
Article:
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to
Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to
1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin
Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A.
degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had
graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of
a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate
studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met
and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were
born into the family.
In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker
for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955,
to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus
boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December
21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses,
Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was
subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.
In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new
leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational
techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over
twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well
as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world,
providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro
revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on
Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F.
Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four
times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the
symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his
selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a
protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.