Martin Luther King Jr.

===Opposition to the Vietnam War===
{{quote box|width=23em|The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws—racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced|salign=right|source=–Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=liberal>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|title=MLK An American Legacy.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4FRDAAAQBAJ&q=The+black+revolution+is+much+more+than+a+struggle+for+the+rights+of+Negroes.+It+is+forcing+America+to+face+all+its+interrelated+flaws%E2%80%94racism,+poverty,+militarism,+and+materialism.+It+is+exposing+evils+that+are+rooted+deeply+in+the+whole+structure+of+our+society.+It+reveals+systemic+rather+than+superficial+flaws+and+suggests+that+radical+reconstruction+of+society+itself+is+the+real+issue+to+be+faced%3D21+Jan+2013&pg=PT1078|newspaper=MLK An American Legacy|year=2013|isbn=978-1-5040-3892-8|access-date=August 15, 2021|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124317/https://books.google.com/books?id=g4FRDAAAQBAJ&q=The+black+revolution+is+much+more+than+a+struggle+for+the+rights+of+Negroes.+It+is+forcing+America+to+face+all+its+interrelated+flaws%E2%80%94racism,+poverty,+militarism,+and+materialism.+It+is+exposing+evils+that+are+rooted+deeply+in+the+whole+structure+of+our+society.+It+reveals+systemic+rather+than+superficial+flaws+and+suggests+that+radical+reconstruction+of+society+itself+is+the+real+issue+to+be+faced%3D21+Jan+2013&pg=PT1078#v=onepage&q=The%20black%20revolution%20is%20much%20more%20than%20a%20struggle%20for%20the%20rights%20of%20Negroes.%20It%20is%20forcing%20America%20to%20face%20all%20its%20interrelated%20flaws%E2%80%94racism%2C%20poverty%2C%20militarism%2C%20and%20materialism.%20It%20is%20exposing%20evils%20that%20are%20rooted%20deeply%20in%20the%20whole%20structure%20of%20our%20society.%20It%20reveals%20systemic%20rather%20than%20superficial%20flaws%20and%20suggests%20that%20radical%20reconstruction%20of%20society%20itself%20is%20the%20real%20issue%20to%20be%20faced%3D21%20Jan%202013&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{quote box|width=23em|We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power... this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are all tied together… you can't really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.|salign=right|source=—Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=capitalism>{{cite web|last1=King|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|title=The 11 Most Anti-Capitalist Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.|url=https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/21/11-most-anti-capitalist-quotes-martin-luther-king-jr|access-date=21 Jan 2019|archive-date=April 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415181804/https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/21/11-most-anti-capitalist-quotes-martin-luther-king-jr|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{see also|Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War}}

King was long opposed to [[American involvement in the Vietnam War]],<ref name=kingandvietnam1 /> but at first avoided the topic in public speeches to avoid the interference with civil rights goals that criticism of President Johnson's policies might have created.<ref name=kingandvietnam1>{{cite book|title=The Sixties Chronicle|first=Peter|last=Braunstein|publisher=Legacy Publishing|page=[https://archive.org/details/sixtieschronicle0000unse/page/311 311]|year=2004|isbn=1-4127-1009-X|url=https://archive.org/details/sixtieschronicle0000unse}}</ref> At the urging of SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the [[Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]], James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of [[Muhammad Ali]],<ref name=kingandvietnam2>{{cite news|url=https://latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bevel25-2008dec25-story.html|title=The Rev. James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King|first=Alexander|last=Remington|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 24, 2008|access-date=September 15, 2014|archive-date=September 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916034118/http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bevel25-2008dec25-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war as opposition was growing among the American public.<ref name=kingandvietnam1 />

During an April 4, 1967, appearance at the New York City [[Riverside Church]], King delivered a speech titled "[[Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence]]".<ref name=vwar29>{{cite book|title= The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II| last=Krenn|first=Michael L.|page=29|isbn=0-8153-3418-4|publisher= Taylor & Francis|year= 1998}}</ref> He spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, arguing that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony"{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=107}} and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=102}} He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change:

{{blockquote|A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} }}

King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been [[Social programs in the United States|spent on social welfare at home]]. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} He stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands",{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=106}} and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children".<ref>{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first= Lewis V.|page=273|title= To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. |isbn= 0-8006-2543-9| publisher=Fortress Press|year=1992}}</ref> King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms.<ref>{{cite book | title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King Jr. and the State|page=199|last=Long|first=Michael G.|isbn=0-86554-768-8|publisher=Mercer University Press|year= 2002}}</ref>

King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies including President Johnson, [[Billy Graham]], union leaders, and powerful publishers.<ref name=MED08>{{cite book|last=Dyson|first=Michael Eric|title=April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and how it changed America|year=2008|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=978-0-465-00212-2|chapter=Facing Death|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso}}</ref><ref name="Shellnutt 2018">{{cite web | last=Shellnutt | first=Kate | title=What Is Billy Graham's Friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Worth? | website=News & Reporting | date=February 23, 2018 | url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/billy-graham-martin-luther-king-jr-friendship-civil-rights.html | access-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011101448/https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/billy-graham-martin-luther-king-jr-friendship-civil-rights.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Blake 2018">{{cite web | last=Blake | first=John | title=Where Billy Graham 'missed the mark' | website=CNN | date=February 22, 2018 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html | access-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-date=March 20, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320230948/https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref> "The press is being stacked against me", King said,<ref>David J. Garrow, ''Bearing the Cross'' (1986), pp. 440, 445.</ref> complaining of what he described as a double standard that applauded his nonviolence at home, but deplored it when applied "toward little brown Vietnamese children".<ref name=Pierre2011>{{cite news|last=Pierre|first=Robert E.|title=Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/martin-luther-king-jr-made-our-nation-uncomfortable/2011/10/16/gIQA78NPoL_blog.html|access-date=August 17, 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 16, 2011|archive-date=November 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109183117/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/martin-luther-king-jr-made-our-nation-uncomfortable/2011/10/16/gIQA78NPoL_blog.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for [[Radio Hanoi]]",{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."<ref name=Pierre2011 />{{sfn|Lawson|Payne|Patterson|2006|p=148}}

[[File:Martin Luther King Jr St Paul Campus U MN.jpg|thumb|King speaking to an anti-Vietnam war rally at the [[University of Minnesota]] in St. Paul on April 27, 1967]]
The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive [[Highlander Research and Education Center]], with which he was affiliated.<ref>{{cite book|title= Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies|page=297|last1=Harding|first2=Cindy|last2=Rosenthal|isbn= 0-472-06954-3| publisher =University of Michigan Press|year=2006|first1= James M.}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|last=Lentz|first=Richard|page=64|publisher=LSU Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8071-2524-5}}</ref> King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the American political and economic situation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct injustice.<ref>{{cite book| title= Martin Luther King, Jr. | url= https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling | url-access= registration | last= Ling| first= Peter J. |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling/page/277 277]|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0-415-21664-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-university-of-impossible-to-get-into/|website=freakonomics.com|first=Stephen|last=Dubner|year=2022|title=Episode 501: The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into|quote=education is preparation for citizenship ... citizenship has to do with contributing to your own economic well-being, as well as contributing to the economic well-being of the broader society|access-date=May 2, 2022|archive-date=April 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428031323/https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-university-of-impossible-to-get-into/|url-status=live}}</ref> He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to [[communism]], but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for [[democratic socialism]].<ref name="Sturm1990">{{Cite journal|last=Sturm|first=Douglas|date=1990|title=Martin Luther King, Jr., as Democratic Socialist|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40015109|journal=The Journal of Religious Ethics|volume=18|issue=2|pages=79–105|jstor=40015109|issn=0384-9694|access-date=September 4, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316162437/http://www.jstor.org/stable/40015109|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Martin Luther Jr. |last=King |editor-first=Cornel |editor-last=West |editor-link=Cornel West |title=The Radical King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=978-0-8070-1282-6 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124044/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

King stated in "Beyond Vietnam" that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar&nbsp;... it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."<ref name="Zinn 2002">{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0-8070-1407-9|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/powerofnonviolen0000unse_y5s7/page/122 122–23]|url=https://archive.org/details/powerofnonviolen0000unse_y5s7/page/122}}</ref> King quoted a U.S. official who said that from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution."<ref name="Zinn 2002" /> King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America", and said that the U.S. should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the [[Third World]] rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.<ref name="Zinn 2002" />

King's stance on Vietnam encouraged [[Allard K. Lowenstein]], [[William Sloane Coffin]] and [[Norman Thomas]], with the support of anti-war Democrats, to attempt to persuade King to run against President Johnson in the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]]. King contemplated but ultimately decided against the proposal as he felt uneasy with politics and considered himself better suited to activism.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Engler|first1=Mark|last2=Engler|first2=Paul|title=Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-martin-luther-king-didnt-run-for-president-20160118|access-date=March 16, 2017|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=January 18, 2016|archive-date=January 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150449/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-martin-luther-king-didnt-run-for-president-20160118|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On April 15, 1967, King spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the United Nations. The march was organized by the [[Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]] under chairman James Bevel. At the U.N. King brought up issues of civil rights and the draft:

{{blockquote|I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1967/Protests/12303074818188-15/ |title=1967 Year In Review |work=United Press International |access-date=November 30, 2010 |archive-date=January 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103142011/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1967/Protests/12303074818188-15/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Seeing an opportunity to unite civil rights and anti-war activists,<ref name=kingandvietnam2 /> Bevel convinced King to become even more active in the anti-war effort.<ref name=kingandvietnam2 /> Despite his growing public opposition to the Vietnam War, King was not fond of the [[counterculture movement|hippie culture]] which developed from the anti-war movement.<ref name=kingandvietnam3>{{Cite web|last=Theophrastus|date=January 17, 2013|title=Martin L. King on hippies|url=https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2013/01/17/martin-l-king-on-hippies/|access-date=March 18, 2022|website=BLT|language=en|archive-date=July 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706162922/https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2013/01/17/martin-l-king-on-hippies/|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 1967 [[Massey Lectures|Massey Lecture]], King stated:

{{blockquote|The importance of the hippies is not in their unconventional behavior, but in the fact that hundreds of thousands of young people, in turning to a flight from reality, are expressing a profoundly discrediting view on the society they emerge from.<ref name=kingandvietnam3 />}}

On January 13, 1968, King called for a large march on Washington against "one of history's most cruel and senseless wars":<ref name="kurlansky2004">{{cite book| title= 1968: The Year That Rocked the World| last =Kurlansky|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Kurlansky|page=[https://archive.org/details/196800mark/page/46 46]|year=2004|publisher=[[Jonathan Cape]] ([[Random House]])|isbn=978-0-345-45582-6|url=https://archive.org/details/196800mark/page/46}}
</ref><ref name="nyt-13jan1968">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B1EFD3C5E1A7B93C1A8178AD85F4C8685F9|title=Dr. King Calls for Antiwar Rally in Capital February 5–6|last=Robinson|first=Douglas|page=4|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 13, 1968|access-date=April 22, 2010|archive-date=November 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105214612/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B1EFD3C5E1A7B93C1A8178AD85F4C8685F9|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|We need to make clear in this political year, to congressmen on both sides of the aisle and to the president of the United States, that we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer vote for men who continue to see the killings of Vietnamese and Americans as the best way of advancing the goals of freedom and self-determination in Southeast Asia.<ref name="kurlansky2004"/><ref name="nyt-13jan1968"/>}}

==== Correspondence with Thích Nhất Hạnh ====
[[Thích Nhất Hạnh]] was an influential Vietnamese [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] who wrote a letter to Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965 entitled: "In Search of the Enemy of Man". It was during his 1966 stay in the US that Nhất Hạnh met with King and urged him to publicly denounce the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html|title=Searching for the Enemy of Man" in Nhat Nanh, Ho Huu Tuong, Tam Ich, Bui Giang, Pham Cong Thien|date=1965|work=Dialogue|publisher=Saigon: La Boi|pages=11–20|access-date=September 13, 2010|archive-date=October 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061027112237/http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html|url-status=live}}, Archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website</ref> In 1967, King gave a famous speech at the [[Riverside Church]] in New York City, his first to publicly question U.S. involvement in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite speech|url=http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html|title=Beyond Vietnam|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|location=Riverside Church, NYC|date=April 4, 1967|publisher=Archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website|access-date=September 13, 2010|archive-date=August 20, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820044643/http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Later that year, King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. In his nomination, King said, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to [[ecumenism]], to world brotherhood, to humanity".<ref name="nomination">{{cite letter|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/025.html|subject=Nomination of Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize |first=Martin Luther Jr. |last=King |recipient=The Nobel Institute |date=January 25, 1967 |access-date=September 13, 2010}}</ref>