The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
From Norman Thomas
I
1
September 1959
New York, N.Y.
Sept
‘959
Thomas, a Socialist Party leadm who had corresponded with King during the bus
boycott, invites him to GO-sponsora public forum to discuss world peace and human
righfs during Soviet premier Nikita Khwhchev’s visit to the United States.’ In his
5 September reply King indicated that he would “be hapay to serven as a ~ p o n s o r . ~
Martin Luther King, Jr.
301 S. Jackson
Montgomery, Ala.
Dear Martin Luther King, Jr.
The impending Khrushchev-Eisenhower talks are of profound importance to
all of us. Certainly any discussion in the present tense situation is a healthy thing.
There is a danger, however, that in all the discussion of the pros and cons of
the visit, certain key issues may be overlooked. The point which some of us believe should be emphasized is that while the talks are a good thing, they cannot
end the Cold War until both major powers are prepared to deal with the basic
issues.
We are arranging for a large public meeting at Community Church here in New
York the night of September 20-following immediately after Khrushchev’s visit
to this city. We hope at that time to raise the basic issues of disarmament, disengagement, ending nuclear tests, human rights, national self-determination, etc.,
that must be discussed if peace is to become a reality.
In a sense we plan to discuss a possible “agenda”for these two leaders to concentrate on-we want to use the visits not to attack or to praise one side or the other,
but to focus public attention on the basic problems underlying the Cold War.
I am writing to ask if you would agree to serve on the Ad Hoc Sponsoring
Committee-being formed for the sole purpose of sponsoring this one public
meeting. The suggested list of sponsors is enclosed with this letter, with asterisks
indicating those who have already agreed to
Speakers being invited include Eleanor Roosevelt, James P. Warburg, Roger
I . One month earlier, King declined Thomas’s invitation to be interviewed for a nationally distributed radio program, citing scheduling conflicts (King to Thomas, 3 I July 1959).
2 . King was among the signatories of a 3 September New YOJK Times advertisement applauding the
Khrushchev-Eisenhower talks (Clarence Pickett to King, 27 August 1959).He also agreed to sign a statement drafted by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy calling for arms control (Maude L.
Ballou to Norman Cousins, I I September I 959).
3. The list of fifty-two proposed members included labor leader A. Philip Randolph, sociologist C.
Wright Mills, urban planner Lewis Mumford, psychologist Erich Fromm, and playwright Tennessee
Williams (“Proposed members of the ad hoc committee on the Eisenhower-Khrushchevtalks,” I S e p
tember 1959).
275
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
4 Sept
1959
Baldwin, George Kennan, A. J. Muste, Rep. William Myers, and m y ~ e l fWe
. ~ had
hoped you might be able to speak but Bayard Rustin tells me that you cannot make
it that evening. Stanley Issacs, the Republican member of the New York City Council, has agreed to chair the meeting.
May we hear from you immediately-by collect wire-to know if you will agree
to serve.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Norman Thomas
NT/dmc
TLS. MLKP-MBU: Box 72.
0 Norman Thomas Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor,
Lenox and Tilden Foundations.
4. Warburg served as a financial advisor to the Roosevelt administration; Baldwin co-founded the
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920;Kennan was a historian, diplomat, and U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1952; Muste was a leading pacifist; William Meyer was a congressman
from Vermont.
To Marjorie McKenzie Lawson
4 September 1959
[Montgomery,Ala.]
Following Massachusetts senatorJohn E Kennedy’sfailed bid for the vice presidency
at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, he asked Washington attorn? Marjorie
Lawson and her husband, B e y i d , to help boost his projile among Afican A m k a n s . ’
At the 2 0 August meeting of the National Bar Association in Milwaukee, Marjorie
Lawson approached King about the possibility of meeting Kennedy2 In the following
letter King informs Lawson that he i s unable to meet with Kennedy until after
oct~ber.~
276
I . Belford V. Lawson, Interview by Ronald J. Grele, I I January I 966. Marjorie McKenzie Lawson
(1912-1980), born in Pittsburgh, received a B.A. ( I 933) from the University of Michigan and law degrees from Terrell Law School (1939) and Columbia University School of Law (1950). For several
years preceding Kennedy’s successful 1960 presidential bid, Lawson represented him at national gatherings of black religious, political, and women’s organizations, and she managed his 1958 senatorial
reelection campaign in Boston’s black community. In 1962 Kennedy appointed Lawson to his Commission on Equal Employment Opportunities and to serve as judge of the Juvenile Court of the District
of Columbia. During the 1950sand I 960s, she wrote a weekly public affairs column for the Pillsburgh
courier
2. For King’s remarks at the event, see Address at the Thirty-fourth Annual Convention of the National Bar Association, 20 August 1959, pp. 264-270 in this volume.
3. See also Kennedy to King, I O November 1959,p. 319 in this volume.