Office of the Historian

181. Circular Telegram From the United States Information Agency to All Principal United States Information Service Posts1

USIA 9809. Infoguide 68–23.
Washington, April 5, 1968

SUBJECT

  • Assassination of Martin Luther King

1. President’s April 5, 1968 proclamation set tone and substance of treatment.2 Detailed guidelines to media called for output to note that:

(a) Leaders throughout U.S., including white southerners, expressing grief. Nation, white and Negro, not touched by such grief since death of President Kennedy.

(b) Massive search continues for murderer. President directed Justice Department cooperate fully.

(c) King never deviated from principles of nonviolence, even under great pressure from extremists to give up faith in American system. His nonviolent tactics during Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 helped drive first major wedge in historic pattern of southern segregation practices. His role in 1963 civil rights march on Washington was key factor in passage sweeping civil rights bill, which banned segregation and discrimination in public accommodations. His leadership of Selma (Alabama) demonstrations in 1965 lent impetus to passage of voting rights law which helped to add 1.5 million Negro voters to polling lists in American south.3

(d) Specific cause for which King went to Memphis was strike of Negro sanitation workers. Strike had massive support of national union, mostly white, and strong support of white trade unionists in Memphis.

2. IPS will provide texts key public statements. Among these, President’s is paramount in expressing national shock and revulsion at crime, and calling for victory over violence and end to divisiveness in U.S. Key quote from Vice President Humphrey: “The blight of discrimination, poverty, and neglect must be erased from America. Indeed, an America full of quality of hope should be and shall be as living memo [Page 582] rial.” Quote from Roy Wilkins, head of NAACP: “If anger caused by tragic death of Martin Luther King results in violence, it would dishonor his name and the cause King stood for, because his entire life was devoted to nonviolence. . . . Let us channel our anger toward constructive action to get the legislative programs we need to improve the lives of all Negroes.”

3. An infinitesimal proportion of 22 million Negro Americans involved in disorders. Avoid impression of recurrence of mass rioting that erupted in Watts, Detroit, Newark.

4. For earlier guidance on related subjects, see Infoguides 64–12, “War Against Poverty”;4 64–23, “Civil Rights Act of 1964”;5 65–12, “The Right to Vote”;6 67–8, “Progress Toward Equal Rights”;7 68–3, “Violence in American Cities”;8 68–20, “Report on Civil Disorder”;9 68–22, “Urban Crisis in the U.S.”10 See also CA—961, 10/20/67, “Who Speaks for the Negro American?”11

Marks
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files; 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 313, Master Copies, 1968. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Glazer; cleared by Pauker, White, and Carter; approved by White. Sent via telegraph.↩
  2. For text of Johnson’s proclamation, see Public Papers: Johnson, 1968–1969, Book I, pp. 493–495.↩
  3. Reference is to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (P.L. 79–584), which Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965.↩
  4. A copy of Infoguide 64–12 is in the National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files; 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 308, Master Copies—1964.↩
  5. A copy of Infoguide 64–23 is ibid.↩
  6. A copy of Infoguide 65–12 is in the National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files; 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 308, Master Copies—1965.↩
  7. Not found.↩
  8. A copy of Infoguide 68–3 is in the National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files; 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 308, Master Copies—1967.↩
  9. See footnote 2, Document 179.↩
  10. See Document 179.↩
  11. A copy of CA–961 is in the National Archives, RG 306, General Subject Files; 1949–1970, Entry UD WW 264, Box 309, Master Copies—1967.↩