Martin Luther King Jr.

===Politics===
As the leader of the SCLC, King maintained a policy of not publicly endorsing a U.S. political party or candidate: "I feel someone must remain in the position of non-alignment, so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience of both—not the servant or master of either."<ref name="Oates1993">{{cite book|first=Stephen B.|last=Oates|title=Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr|url=https://archive.org/details/lettrumpetsound00step/page/159|year=1993|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-452-25627-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/lettrumpetsound00step/page/159 159]}}
</ref> In a 1958 interview, he expressed his view that neither party was perfect, saying, "I don't think the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] is a party full of the almighty God nor is the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party]]. They both have weaknesses&nbsp;... And I'm not inextricably bound to either party."<ref name="King-Carson2000p364">{{cite book|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|editor1-first=Clayborne|editor1-last=Carson|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Holloran|editor3-first=Ralph|editor3-last=Luker|editor4-first=Penny A.|editor4-last=Russell|title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957&nbsp;– December 1958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA364|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22231-1|page=364}}</ref> King did praise Democratic Senator [[Paul Douglas]] of Illinois as being the "greatest of all senators" because of his fierce advocacy for civil rights causes.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Merriner|first1=James L.|title=Illinois' liberal giant, Paul Douglas|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-03-09/entertainment/0303080081_1_illinois-gov-paul-douglas-liberal/2|access-date=May 17, 2015|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=March 9, 2003}}</ref>

King critiqued both parties' performance on promoting racial equality:

{{blockquote|Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern [[Dixiecrats]]. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of [[reactionary]] right-wing northern Republicans. And this [[Conservative coalition|coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right-wing reactionary northern Republicans]] defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.<ref name="King-Carson2000p84">{{cite book|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|editor1-first=Clayborne|editor1-last=Carson|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Holloran|editor3-first=Ralph|editor3-last=Luker|editor4-first=Penny A.|editor4-last=Russell|title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957&nbsp;– December 1958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA84|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22231-1|page=84}}</ref>}}

Although King never publicly supported a political party or candidate for president, in a letter to a civil rights supporter in October 1956 he said that he had not decided whether he would vote for Democrat [[Adlai Stevenson II]] or Republican [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at the [[1956 United States presidential election|1956 presidential election]], but that "In the past, I always voted the Democratic ticket."{{sfn|King|1992|p=384}} In his autobiography, King says that in [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]] he privately voted for Democratic candidate [[John F. Kennedy]]: "I felt that Kennedy would make the best president. I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I never made one." King adds that he likely would have made an exception to his non-endorsement policy for a second Kennedy term, saying "Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him in 1964."<ref name="King-Carson1998p187">{{cite book|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|last1=King|first2=Clayborne|last2=Carson|title=The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00king/page/187|year=1998|publisher=Hachette Digital|isbn=978-0-446-52412-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00king/page/187 187]}}</ref>

In [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]], King urged his supporters "and all people of goodwill" to vote against Republican Senator [[Barry Goldwater]] for president, saying that his election "would be a tragedy, and certainly suicidal almost, for the nation and the world."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJyWWM9OHKA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/JJyWWM9OHKA| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Mr. Conservative: Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964|website=YouTube|date=September 18, 2006|access-date=May 17, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> King believed [[Robert F. Kennedy]] would make for a good president, but also believed that he wouldn't beat Johnson in the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He also expressed support for the possible presidential candidacies of Republicans [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[George W. Romney|George Romney]] and [[Charles H. Percy|Charles Percy]]. <ref>MLK: An American Legacy: Bearing the Cross, Protest at Selma, and the FBI, and Martin Luther King, Jr.</ref>

King rejected both [[Laissez-faire|''laissez-faire'' capitalism]] and [[communism]]; King had read [[Karl Marx|Marx]] while at Morehouse but rejected communism because of its "[[Historical materialism|materialistic interpretation of history]]" that denied religion, its "[[Moral relativism|ethical relativism]]", and its "[[Totalitarianism|political totalitarianism]]". He stated that one focused too much on the individual while [[Marxism|the other]] focused too much on the collective.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Martin Luther Jr. |url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00king_0/page/39 |title=The Martin Luther King Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr. |last2=King |first2=Coretta Scott |last3=King |first3=Dexter Scott |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-312-19990-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00king_0/page/39 39]}}</ref> The American philosopher [[Tommie Shelby]] has described King as a [[Social democracy|social democrat]] who advocated for advocating [[Economic interventionism|economic]] and [[social intervention]]s to promote [[social justice]] within the framework of a [[liberal-democratic]] [[polity]] and a [[capitalist]]-oriented [[mixed economy]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Terry |first=Brandon |last2=Shelby |first2=Tommie |date=April 4, 2018 |title=The Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr |url=https://jacobin.com/2018/04/martin-luther-king-rhetoric-political-philosophy |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] |language=en-US}}</ref> However, he was often reluctant to speak directly of this support due to the [[anti-communist]] sentiment being projected throughout the United States at the time, and the association of social democratic ("socialist") movements with [[communism]]. King believed that a ''laissez-faire'' economic system would not adequately provide the necessities of many American people, particularly African Americans.<ref name="Sturm1990"/>

In a 1952 letter to Coretta Scott, he said: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic&nbsp;..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Laurent |first= Sylvie |date=2019 |title=King and the Other America: The Poor People's Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0JvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |location= |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page=82 |isbn=978-0520288577}}</ref><ref name=AntiCapitalism>{{cite news | first=Obery M. | last=Hendricks Jr. | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-uncompromising-anti-capitalism-of-martin-luther-king-jr_b_4629609 | title=The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr. | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=January 20, 2014}}</ref> In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and said, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought|last=Franklin|first=Robert Michael|page= 125| publisher =Fortress Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8006-2392-4}}</ref> King further said that "capitalism has outlived its usefulness" and "failed to meet the needs of the masses".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Loggins|first1= Jared A.|last2=Douglas|first2=Andrew J.|title=Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism |date=2021 |publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]]|url= |page=44|isbn=978-0820360171}}</ref>