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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