Betrayed By Both Parties: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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CREDIT:

Host: Martin Agronsky
Guest: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

NBC Program: "Look Here"
NBC Program: Date: Sunday, October 27th, 1957

DESCRIPTION:

In 1957 and at the ripe old age of twenty-eight (28), Martin Agronsky (January 12, 1915 – July 25, 1999) interviewed Dr. King in Montgomery in the NBC one-on-one interview program "Look Here". Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) discussed Mahatma Gandhi, nonviolence, his expectations for the Civil Rights movement, and his reaction to having his home bombed. Although the show was nationally broadcast, an act of local sabotage prevented it from being seen in more than half of Alabama’s counties.

With only 3,812 days left to live (from the date of this interview Dr. King would live another 10 years, 5 months and 8 days excluding the day he was assassinated, Thursday, April 4th, 1968 at the age of 39), Dr. King, a baptist preacher in the south, dedicated himself to fighting racism, poverty, war and injustice.

TRANSCRIPT:

[Agronsky:] And this would be your answer to the editor. To explore another facet of the Little Rock situation, are you satisfied with President Eisenhower’s performance on the racial issue?

[King:] Well, I guess to answer that question, I would need to make a general statement. That is, that the Negro has been betrayed at many points by both po- litical parties, I don’twant to make this a party situation. I don’t think either party can boast of having clean hands in this area. It is my conviction that both parties have failed to take the strong stand in the area of civil rights that they could take.

[Agronsky:] But you are dissatisfied with the overall performance of both the president’s party and of the Democratic Party?

[King:] Oh, yes. I think both parties could improve, and I think both parties must come to the point that they see the moral issues involved, rather than mak- ing a political football out of the civil rights issue.

Read the entire transcript here: http://stanford.io/1FK5Lsa​.

REFERENCE:

1. The King Center: http://bit.ly/1LpQif9​.
2. "Martin Luther King Jr.": http://bit.ly/1FdcarS​.