| |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement,
|
To Dwight D. Eisenhower25 September 1957 Montgomery, Ala. Days after criticizing the president as "wishy-washy" on the Little Rock situation at a speaking engagement in Macon, Georgia, King applauds Eisenhower's decision, announced in a 24 September radio and television address, to use federal troops to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. King sent a similar telegram to Vice President Nixon on the same day. King had wired Eisenhower on 9 September, warning: "If the federal government fail[s] to take a strong positive stand at this time it will set the process of integration back fifty years." Maxwell Rabb thanked King for this wire on 30 September; Eisenhower wrote to King on 7 October. the president the white house i wish to express my sincere support for the stand you have taken to restore law and order in little rock, arkansas. in the long run, justice finally must spring from a new moral climate. yet spiritual forces cannot emerge in a situation of mob violence. you should know that the overwhelming majority of southerners, negro and white stand firmly behind your resolute action. the pen of history will record that even the small and confused minority that oppose integration with violence will live to see that your action has been of great benefit to our nation and to the christian traditions of fair play and brotherhood martin luther king jr president southern christian leadership conference. PWSr. WCFG-KAbE: Box 733. |
