Essay Series: A Turbulent Week in April 1968

A record 120 million Americans watched television coverage of Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral in 1968.^[1] The Nielsen ratings reaffirmed what had become evident just five years earlier when the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination was eventually viewed in four out of five US households with TV sets.^[2] By 1963, television, not the daily newspaper, had become the number one source of news for most Americans, according to pollsters.^[3]

In 1968, this evolution could be witnessed in the nation’s number one media market, New York City, where every TV station that televised Dr. King’s funeral doubled its normal viewership.^[4] Declining circulation had already forced the recent closure of four daily newspapers in the city that once had been at the center of the penny press revolution. Still, the city’s surviving print media outlets continued to reveal their vital role with immersive coverage of the myriad events in the week following Dr. King’s assassination, which included the historic passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Most significantly, the coverage revealed how the interplay between these competing media forms—print and television as well as radio—had served to dramatically accelerate the news cycle. Already by 1968, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Theodore H. White wrote, “swift communications” had served to “speed circumstances in a cascade of events without sequence or thread.”^[5]

The “cascade of events” that surrounded the passage of the Civil Rights Act included the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese forces in late January that shook the faith of Americans in their country’s war effort; anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy then nearly beat President Lyndon Johnson in the March 12 New Hampshire primary, prompting Robert F. Kennedy to join the race four days later, followed by Johnson’s surprise announcement on March 31 that he would not run for reelection. That same month, the moribund civil rights bill introduced in 1966 as a means to help end housing discrimination—advanced through the Senate after barely avoiding a filibuster by one vote, but still faced fierce opposition in the House of Representatives.^[6]

Then, on April 4, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis. The New York City newspapers scrambled to cover the aftermath. The New York Times, already the country’s leading national newspaper, reported on the widespread rioting in major American cities.^[7] The New York Daily News, which once had the largest newspaper circulation in the nation, focused on New York Mayor John Lindsay’s effort to quell unrest by taking to the streets of Harlem.^[8] The New York Post, the competing afternoon tabloid, capitalized on its later deadline by delivering a front-page column by Jimmy Breslin, who managed to get to Memphis in time to interview Dr. King’s advisors  about his final moments.^[9] The Village Voice, an alternative weekly, ran an account by a reporter who learned of the assassination from a transistor radio while attending a closed-circuit viewing at Madison Square Garden of a Stanley Cup playoff game involving the New York Rangers.^[x] The New York Amsterdam News, the city’s longstanding African American newspaper, offered a heartfelt column by Jackie Robinson, who had broken baseball’s so-called color line just two decades before and had become a staunch supporter and friend of Dr. King.^[10]

On April 5, President Johnson delivered a national speech that not just declared that the coming Sunday would serve as a national day of mourning for Dr. King, but also contained a plea for passage of the dormant civil rights legislation; that same day, Johnson sent a letter to House Speaker John McCormick, writing that “the Nation so urgently needs the healing balm of unity,” and urging that the “most immediate” step that Congress could take would be “to enact legislation so long delayed and so close to fulfillment. We should pass the Fair Housing law.”^[12] With that language, Steven R. Goldzwig wrote, Johnson revealed a new rhetorical approach that had “turned from principled idealistic argument based on fairness, equality, and social progress to that of the pragmatic and practical.”^[13] Johnson sought to define the civil rights bill as a means “to ameliorate the death of Martin Luther King and the ensuing riots,” Goldzwig said, while presenting it “symbolically as the best and most concrete mode for healing division in the social hierarchy”— action “that went beyond a tribute” to a slain leader.^[14] With that, Johnson was employing what Goldzwig has described as a “recurrent Johnsonian rhetorical pattern, a strategy that earmarked needed legislation as a path to national transcendence.”^[15]

Part of that strategy involved a seemingly risky political calculation; out of fear that he would antagonize some members of Congress who were shifting support to the civil rights bill, Johnson cancelled a speech planned for April 9 that would have tied the civil rights legislation to a need for more law and order in response to the rioting.^[16] He instead decided to stand back as the news spoke for itself.

As the nightly TV news reports continued to broadcast searing images of riots in major US cities, coverage of the aftermath of the assassination expanded to include almost every section of local newspapers. The New York Stock Exchange shut down for a moment of silence.^[17] Museums and libraries were closed; Broadway shows were cancelled; the New York Yankees postponed their opening game of the season; the Rangers rescheduled their next Stanley Cup playoff game; the local racetracks were shuttered as well.^[18] The opening of the Major League Baseball season was effectively halted, though the Philadelphia Phillies were forced to vote to not field a team if the Los Angeles Dodgers carried through on a threat to play anyway.^[19]

There were accounts of memorials large and small, including one that drew 5,000 mourners to Central Park.^[20] Bells at the city’s fire stations tolled in the same solemn sequence as they would for a fallen firefighter—five bells rung in order four times, twice in a row.[21] Public school students in New York City had no classes on the day of Dr. King’s funeral in Atlanta.[22] The International Ladies Garment Workers, which included a membership of 435,000, stopped work for an hour as a tribute to Dr. King.^[23]

Members of the Metropolitan New York Retail Merchants Association—including major department stores such as Bloomingdale’s, Gimbels, Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, and Saks Fifth Avenue—took out newspaper ads announcing they would be closed the morning of the funeral.[24] The major grocery store chains collectively took out an ad announcing their closings as well, saying: “The super market industry joins men of good will throughout the world in mourning the death of a man dedicated to the highest principles of peace, brotherhood and freedom, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”^[25] The major stock exchanges—after originally planning to remain open—decided to shut down for the day, an historic move after “the death of a private citizen.”[26]

So too did the unions that commanded the broader workforce in the city. The offices of Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced that it would close its offices the day of the funeral.[27] The Electric Circus, a prominent Greenwich Village nightclub, took out a simple, understated ad in the Village Voice, honoring Dr. King for giving “all mankind a dream.”[28] Some individuals took out ads too, such as entertainer Harry Belafonte, who announced the creation of a memorial fund in Dr. King’s name.^[29]

Some of the ads would have qualified as major news stories in simpler times. On page 43 in the April 10 edition of the New York Daily News, Levitt and Sons—not only the nation’s largest builder of homes, but essentially the creator of the suburbs with its planned community, Levittown, on Long Island—purchased a full-page ad, announcing: “Levitt pays tribute to Dr. King in deed—not empty phrases.” ^[30] Levitt announced: “As a tribute to Dr. King this Company has adopted a new policy—effective at once—eliminating segregation any place it builds … .”^[31] Levitt’s unveiling of its new policy merited a brief news item on page 6 in the same edition of the newspaper.^[32] Also relegated to page 6 was news that the House of Representatives would be voting that day on Johnson’s civil rights legislation.^[33] The New York Post had published a three-paragraph brief on page 35 in its April 9 edition, reporting that the House Rules Committee had reversed “it’s earlier opposition” that day, clearing “the way for the House to act on the Senate-passed civil rights bill without change.”[34]

With Johnson cancelling his major speech about the legislation, the resurgence of the civil rights bill remained relatively underreported. The bill’s historic passage by a 250-171 House vote earned the lead headline on the New York Daily News front page on April 11: “Congress Oks Open Housing.”^[35] However, the actual story on page 3 was played beneath news of the state legislature’s passage of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s “$6 billion slum bill” to rehabilitate the state’s inner cities.[36] Other major stories included the revelation that Memphis police had been “hoaxed” by a false report on their internal radio network about a fleeing vehicle being chased from the scene of Dr. King’s shooting.^[37] And there was also the report that General Creighton Abrams had been named to replace General William Westmoreland as commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam.^[38]

The news coverage of the civil rights bill may have been ultimately too low key for the White House. On April 10, the day the House approved the bill, Johnson’s advisors told him that a public signing ceremony should be scheduled immediately to generate publicity—Americans needed to appreciate the magnitude of the Civil Rights Act and to understand it was not just a quick fix to quell civic unrest.^[39]

The April 11 signing ceremony received the news coverage the White House desired. The front page of the New York Daily News on April 12 was dominated by a photo of Johnson handing a ceremonial signing pen to Walter Washington, the African American mayor of Washington, D.C. ^[40] That day’s New York Times front page included a prominent photo of a Johnson signing the bill as he was surrounded by Congressional leaders and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.^[41] Noting that “all America is outraged by the assassination” as well as “the looting and the burning that defiles our democracy,” Johnson said “we just must put our shoulders together and put a stop to both. The time is here. Action must be now.”^[42]

Still, even the signing ceremony was just one of many major news stories that day. The New York Times ran a lead story about the call up of more troops to be sent to Vietnam. ^[43] The lead headline on the cover of the New York Daily News concerned the recovery by police of a car believed to have been discarded by Dr. King’s assassin.^[44]

Major news events would continue as the year passed. Campus protests erupted that spring, most prominently at Columbia University in New York City. Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June. The Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in August, a week before demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were met by an aggressive police crackdown. Richard Nixon won the presidency in November. Three US astronauts in Apollo 8 circled the moon and transmitted the first photograph of earth as it rose on the horizon. Meanwhile, the US death toll in Vietnam escalated.

Despite its landmark status, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 would not even merit inclusion in the list of the year’s top news events.^[45] Many of those tumultuous events cemented the view by many that, despite his many important legislative triumphs, Lyndon Johnson’s presidency was ultimately a failed one. Yet a look back at news coverage during the turbulent week following Dr. King’s assassination revealed that—amid the riots and the mourning—the President was able to use his considerable political and rhetorical skills one last time to help bring the county a desperately needed moment of transcendence.

About the Author

Raymond McCaffery, PhD, has served on faculty at the University of Arkansas since 2014. His research has focused on journalism history and media ethics, and his work has explored journalistic coverage of civil rights, politics, sports, and traumatic events. McCaffery has worked for more than twenty-five years as a journalist, including eight years as a staff writer and editor at the Washington Post. His career includes work as a reporter, columnist, and writing coach at the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Photo: President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the White House Cabinet Room, Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, March 18, 1966.

Notes

[1] Bob Williams, “On the Air,” New York Post, April 10, 1968, 111.

[2] Mark Jurkowitz, “50 Years Ago, America Turned on the Television,” Pew Research Center, November 22, 2013, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/11/22/50-years-ago-america-turned-on-the-television/.

[3] William G. Mayer, “Poll Trends: Trends in Media Usage,” Public Opinion Quarterly 57, no. 4 (1993): 603.

[4] Kay Gardella, “Coverage of King Services Memorable Radio-TV Day,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 46.

[5] Theodore H. White: The Making of the President, 1972 (New York: Harper Collins, 2010), 107.

[6] “President Signs Civil Rights Bill; Pleads for Calm,” New York Times, April 12, 1968: A1,16.

[7] Earl Caldwell, “Guard Called Out,” New York Times, April 5, 1968: A1, 24.

[8] Owen Fitzgerald, “Lindsay Asks City Youths to Keep Peace,” New York Daily News, April 6, 1968, 5.

[9] Jimmy Breslin, “Breslin in Memphis: The Last Hours,” New York Post, April 5, 1968: 3, 18.

[10] Michael C.D. Macdonald, “A Happy Wake Ends in Tears,” Village Voice, April 11, 1968: 1, 24-25.

[11] Jackie Robinson, “After Emotions Die Down,” New York Amsterdam News, April 13, 1968, 21.

[12] Steven R. Goldzwig, “LBJ, the Rhetoric of Transcendence, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 6, no. 1 (Spring 2003): 40-41.

[13] Goldzwig, 41.

[14] Goldzwig.

[15] Goldzwig, 27.

[16] Goldzwig, 39, 42.

[17] Vartanig G. Vartan, “Hectic Week on Wall St. Closes on a Somber Note,” New York Times, April 6, 1968, 55.

[18] Lawrence Van Gelder, “Events Deferred as City’s Gesture,” New York Times, April 7, 1968: 1, 64.

[19] Larry Fox, “Mourning Sports World Comes to Standstill,” New York Daily News, April 7, 1968, 124; and Dick Young, “Phillies Balk,” New York Daily News, April 7, 1968, 124.

[20] Edward Benes and Joseph McNamara, “One of His Favorite Hymns Sung at City’s Last Tribute,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 5.

[21] “City Firemen Honor Dr. King,” New York Post, April 5, 1968, 6.

[22] Bernard Bard and Anthony Mancini, “Schools Closing Here Tomorrow,” New York Post, April 8, 1968, 2.

[23} Edward Benes and Joseph McNamara, “One of His Favorite Hymns Sung at City’s Last Tribute,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 5.

[24] Metropolitan New York Retail Merchants Association, New York Daily News, April 9, 1968, 51.

[25] Super Market Industry, advertisement, New York Daily News, April 7, 1968, 114.

[26] “Street Comes to a Halt,” New York Post, April 9, 1968, 67.

[27] Joint Council 16, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, advertisement, New York Daily News, April 9, 1968, 22.

[28] Electric Circus, advertisement, Village Voice, April 11, 1968, 31.

[29] Harry Belafonte, advertisement, New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 29.

[30] Levitt and Sons, advertisement, New York Daily News,” April 10, 1968, 43.

[31] Levitt and Sons, advertisement.

[32] “Open Housing by Levitt,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 6.

[33] Charles Rabb, “House Votes Today on Rights Measure,” New York Daily News, April 10, 1968, 6.

[34] Associated Press, “Civil Rights Bill Set For Quick House Vote,” New York Post, April 9. 1968, 35.

[35] “Congress OKs Open Housing; Rocky Admits ‘Personal Favor’ Deal on $6 Billion Slum Bill,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968, 1.

[36] Gene Spagnoli, “‘Some’ Arm-Twisting on Slum Bill: Rocky,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968, 3; and Charles Rabb, “House Okays Fair Housing, Sends Bill to the President,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968, 3, 26.

[37] Anthony Burton, “Memphis Says Police Were Hoaxed in Plot,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968, 2.

[38] “Gen. Abrams Viet Chief,” New York Daily News, April 11, 1968, 2.

[39] Goldzwig, “LBJ, the Rhetoric of Transcendence, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968,” 42.

[40] “Another Step Forward,” New York Daily News, April 12, 1968, 1.

[41] “President Signs Civil Rights Bill; Pleads for Calm,” New York Times, April 12, 1968, 1.

[42] “President Signs Civil Rights Bill; Pleads for Calm.”

[43] Neil Sheehan, “U.S. Calls 24,500 Reserves,” New York Times, April 12, 1968, 1, 5.

[44] “Seize Auto in King Slaying,” New York Daily News, April 12, 1968, 1.

[45] United Press International, “Events of 1968,” https://www.upi.com/Archives/Audio/Events-of-1968/Events-of-1968/.