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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. What's Up? Everyone? Welcome to This Day in

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Speaker 1: History Class, where we bring you a new tidbit from

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Speaker 1: history every day. Today is April four. The day was

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Speaker 1: April four, nineteen sixty seven. Civil rights leader Dr. Martin

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Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. Delivered a speech at Riverside Church in

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Speaker 1: New York City denouncing the Vietnam War in front of

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Speaker 1: three thousand people. King had voiced his opposition to the

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Speaker 1: war in Vietnam before, but this time King's speech largely

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Speaker 1: focused on the problems of the war and the need

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Speaker 1: for social justice, and it was radical. The speech, entitled

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Speaker 1: Beyond Vietnam, A Time to Break Silence, was met with

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Speaker 1: a ton of criticism, but King didn't let up on

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Speaker 1: his anti war dance. King had long been praised as

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Speaker 1: a bastion of non violent protests and social activism, but

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Speaker 1: he was still an enemy in many people's eyes. FBI

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Speaker 1: director j. Edgar Hoover called him the most dangerous man

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Speaker 1: in America, and by the time he gave the Beyond

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Speaker 1: Vietnam speech, King was already falling out of favor with

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Speaker 1: the public. Americans. Opinions were mixed on whether u S

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Speaker 1: military involvement in Vietnam was a mistake. In early nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty seven, there were a lot of people who still

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Speaker 1: supported the war and who took issue with King's criticism

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Speaker 1: of it, but the King the Vietnam War was not

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Speaker 1: about saving people from the threat of communism. The US

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Speaker 1: was plagued by militarism, materialism, and racism. Instead of spending

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Speaker 1: loads of money to commit atrocities in an illegitimate war,

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Speaker 1: King argued that American power should be harnessed to the

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Speaker 1: service of peace and human beings, not an inhumane power

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Speaker 1: unleashed against defenseless people. King had first announced the Vietnam

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Speaker 1: War in March nineteen sixty five, when he said millions

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Speaker 1: of dollars can be spent every day to hold troops

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Speaker 1: in South Vietnam, and our country cannot protect the rights

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Speaker 1: of negros in Selma. Throughout nineteen sixty five and nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty six, King committed to non violence anywhere continued to

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Speaker 1: condemn the war. He had a solid relationship with President

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Speaker 1: Lyndon B. Johnson, who had advanced civil rights legislation, but

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Speaker 1: King was firm in his belief that the civil rights

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Speaker 1: movement was tied to American military aggression abroad, and in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles in February nineteen sixty seven, he gave a

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Speaker 1: speech called the Casualties of the War in Vietnam. Vincent Harding,

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Speaker 1: a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, had written

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Speaker 1: the speech for the Los Angeles address, and he drafted

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Speaker 1: the speech that King would give at Riverside Church. Wesleyan

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Speaker 1: professor John McGuire also helped draft the speech, and on

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Speaker 1: April nineteen sixty seven, King was accompanied by Amirst College

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Speaker 1: professor Henry Commager, Union Theological Seminary president John Bennett, and

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Speaker 1: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel at an event sponsored by clergy

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Speaker 1: and layman concerned about Vietnam, King delivered his Beyond Vietnam speech,

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Speaker 1: claiming his conscience left him no other choice. In the speech,

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Speaker 1: King mentioned his reason for speaking up, and I knew

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Speaker 1: that I could never again raise my voice against the

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Speaker 1: violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first

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Speaker 1: spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the

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Speaker 1: world today, my own government. King charged the US with

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Speaker 1: rebeling in its wealth while it created a hill for

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Speaker 1: the poor. He suggested a five point plan for stopping

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Speaker 1: the war in Vietnam. But it was about more than

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Speaker 1: just Vietnam. This war was just one expression of American colonialism.

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Speaker 1: He said that peaceful revolution was out impossible and a

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Speaker 1: radical revolution of values was imperative. Near the end of

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Speaker 1: his speech, King said the following, we still have a

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Speaker 1: choice today. Non violent coexistence are violent co annihilation. We

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Speaker 1: must move past indecision to action. We must find new

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Speaker 1: ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout

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Speaker 1: the developing world, a world that borders on our doors.

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Speaker 1: If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged

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Speaker 1: down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved

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Speaker 1: for those who possessed power without compassion, might without morality,

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Speaker 1: and strength without sight. The war in Vietnam was a

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Speaker 1: controversial issue, and his speech inspired lots of backlash. Scholar

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Speaker 1: and diplomat Ralph Bunch, as well as the National Association

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Speaker 1: for the Advancement of Color People or in double a CP,

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Speaker 1: accused King of linking unrelated issues, and in April seven

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Speaker 1: New York Times editorial titled doctor King's Error, the Times wrote,

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Speaker 1: linking these hard, complex problems will lead not to solutions.

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Speaker 1: But to deeper confusion, the Washington Post set about King.

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Speaker 1: Many who have listened to him with respect will never

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Speaker 1: again accord him the same confidence. He has diminished his

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Speaker 1: usefulness to his cause, to his country, and to his people,

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Speaker 1: and that is a great tragedy. King stood by his

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Speaker 1: views that the Vietnam War was morally and economically wrong.

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Speaker 1: As a result, his relationship with the Johnson administration soured.

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Speaker 1: The Church showed him support, but the mainstream media, other

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Speaker 1: civil rights activists, and politicians did not. King had began

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Speaker 1: professing his anti war sentiment before the anti war movement

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Speaker 1: picked up in America, but he continued to give speeches

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Speaker 1: against the Vietnam War even as the FBI began seeing

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Speaker 1: him as more of a political threat and up is

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Speaker 1: surveillance and harassment of King. He wasn't worried about gallop

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Speaker 1: poles measuring his popularity or losing political respect. Exactly one

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Speaker 1: year to the day after King gave this speech, he

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Speaker 1: was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm

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Speaker 1: each Jeffcoat, and hopefully you know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: add something that Vincent Harding said about the criticism that

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Speaker 1: King was getting. He said that it reflected a kind

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Speaker 1: of paternalism. Harding said it was as if his critics

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Speaker 1: were saying the following, Martin Luther King, you have forgotten

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Speaker 1: who you are and who we are. You should be

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Speaker 1: very very happy that we have allowed you to talk

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Speaker 1: critically about race relations in this country. You should be

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Speaker 1: very happy that we've allowed you to talk about Negro things.

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Speaker 1: But MLK, when it comes to the foreign policy of

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Speaker 1: this country, you are not qualified to speak to these issues.

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Speaker 1: These are our issue us, our white establishment is in

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Speaker 1: charge of such things, and you are absolutely out of

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Speaker 1: your place to enter into this kind of arena. You

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Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at t

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Speaker 1: d i h C Podcast. Thanks again for listening and

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Speaker 1: we'll see you again tomorrow