Martin Luther King, Jr.


April 4, 1967 - April 4, 1968

Protest on the Homefront >> Martin Luther King, Jr. >> April 4, 1967 - April 4, 1968
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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation. Martin Luther King and Young Invited to 5/14/67 Paris Meeting of U.S. Movement. 1967. Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Martin Luther King and Young Invited to 5/14/67 Paris Meeting of U.S. Movement." 1967.

Microfiche: 1986 Fiche #76 Document #000866
Date Issued: May 13, 1967
Date Declassified: NA
Length: 3 pages
NOT Sanitized
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This is a letter from J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI to President Johnson, the Secretary of State, and Richard Helms, Director of the CIA. In the letter, written only 5 weeks after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most his most public and condemnatory anti-Vietnam speech, Hoover relays that both King and Andrew Young decided not to attend a meeting between representatives of the U.S. peace movement and a North Vietnamese representative from Stockholm, Sweden.

Several reasons were given as to why King declined the invitation. First, he felt that if he and other U.S. peace representatives attended that the North Vietnamese would receive a false impression of the numbers and influence of the peace movement. This was a concern because it could have possibly led to North Vietnam's refusal to negotiate a settlement. Secondly, King felt that if he had associated himself too closely with radicals in the peace and civil rights movements invited to attend, he would have caused irreparable harm to his ability to lead a non-violent movement. Thirdly, King was concerned that if he was to leave the country at this point that the United States government would revoke his passport and not allow him to reenter the country. Finally, Martin Luther King, Jr. felt that he could better fight the war against the war in Vietnam here in the United States. King did say however, that he would be willing to go to Hanoi to help in negotiations if shooting were to stop.


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