martin luther king jr vietnam war speech transcript

Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their governments policy, especially in time of war. 0000043425 00000 n As we counsel young men concerning military service we must clarify for them our nations role in Vietnam and challenge them with the alternative of conscientious objection. Though he avoided condemning the war outright, at the August 1965 annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) convention King called for a halt to bombing in North Vietnam, urged that the United Nations be empowered to mediate the conflict, and told the crowd that what is required is a small first step that may establish a new spirit of mutual confidence a step capable of breaking the cycle of mistrust, violence and war (King, 12 August 1965). Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Vietnam. These are the times for real choices and not false ones. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience). And he said these three issues of racism and poverty and militarism are going to destroy this nation. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend? [27], In 2010, PBS commentator Tavis Smiley said that the speech was the most controversial speech of King's career, and the one he "labored over the most". What liberators? His wife, Coretta Scott King, on the other hand, critiqued the war publicly for years before her husband did. Martin Luther King, Jr.,'s Searing Antiwar Speech, Fifty Years Later Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist that led the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements until his assassination in 1968. 0000001616 00000 n On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The march was organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and initiated by its chairman, James Bevel. How Did Martin Luther King Jr Use Of Figurative Language Mr. SMILEY: We - let me just tell you this. Mr. SMILEY: He'd wanted to give it two years earlier and had attempted a dry run at this speech, to your appoint, Neal, a couple of years prior to when he gave it. On the evening of April 4, 1967, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King lent his full-throated oratory to a growing chorus of opposition to the rapidly expanding American role in the Vietnam War. 50 Years Ago: Dr. King's Anti-War Sermon at Riverside Church Take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds in Southeast Asia by curtailing our military buildup in Thailand and our interference in Laos. It is with such activity in mind that the words of the late John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. dH(*b(jGB@'k1zTR~{dA9|\b. If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. King, Excerpts, Address at mass rally on 12 August 1965, 13 August 1965, MLKJP-GAMK. The MLK Speech We Need Today Is Not the One We Remember Most And they are surely right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help form without them the only party in real touch with the peasants. And I can't tell young black men, who are being denied right here in the streets of America, that they should offer themselves up and to sign themselves up to go - to do harm to people around the world who they do not know. 0000011068 00000 n And about a month after that speech was given, I was wounded. The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. Howard's calling us from South Bend. "This was a huge, huge speech," he continues, "that got Martin King in more trouble than anything he had ever seen or done. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today my own government. That's what set so many of them off. A call for equality and freedom, it became one of the defining moments of the civil rights movement and one of the most iconic speeches in American history. [26], The same year, King nominated Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the prize was not awarded to anyone that year. I'm Neal Conan. Beyond Vietnam: The MLK speech that caused an uproar - USA TODAY 2/QB(yQVz^*oU.FW So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. They must see Americans as strange liberators. But certainly one of the greatest orators of our time. Because, to your point now, one, I want people to go online and read the speech so you can see the text for yourself. Delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Manhattan's Riverside Church, April 4, 1967 . Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War - The Atlantic We must be prepared to match actions with words by seeking out every creative means of protest possible. Tavis Smiley joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land. 0000044282 00000 n He turned that into a great speech when he got out of the hospital. Jazmyn Ford. And let's see if we can get another caller on the line. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. $25.00. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. Beyond the calling of race or nation or creed is this vocation of sonship and brotherhood, and because I believe that the Father is deeply concerned especially for his suffering and helpless and outcast children, I come tonight to speak for them. Some 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington. He did say he was going to increase troop levels in Afghanistan, so he's kept that promise. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because they wanted to stop the spread of communism. Let us hope that this spirit will become the order of the day. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. Before he was assassinated at age 39, the Rev. I think of them too because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries. "[9] 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", and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children. And King gives a great speech out of that hospital called "If I Had Sneezed." It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. But when he turns the corner and then says, essentially, that Martin's philosophy wouldn't work in today's world, he goes on to say that Dr. King didn't know al-Qaida, as if to suggest that Martin didn't understand evil, that Martin didn't understand violence, that he himself had not been subjected to it. In 1967, in the shadows of Columbia, Dr. King shifted the world again. "MLK: A Call to Conscience" premieres on PBS tomorrow night. 0000012541 00000 n CONAN: And the place - choice of place is very interesting too. But there was a great turnout for the speech. It basically ruined their working relationship. It was a wonderful, I think, place to give the speech in the sense that it's pretty cavernous. When he saw those pictures, there's a very famous picture, Neal, that we all know of a Vietnamese girl running naked in the streets who had just been, you know, had been victimized as had her village by these napalm attacks. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond Vietnam A Time To Break Silence Rhetorical Precis Dr. Martin Luther King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech - HistoryNet That's what I feel. Life magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi",[9] and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people. It was the speech he labored over the most. And we are spending money for a war abroad that ought to be spent for the war on poverty here at home. 0000007566 00000 n For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. If we love one another God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Your donation is fully tax-deductible. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. (Unintelligible) on this program about, you know, the chances he took and even, you know, speaking truth to power to LBJ helped him so much in civil rights. n/a martin luther king jr. (born michael king january 15, 1929 april 1968) was an american baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in . 0000007161 00000 n But they didn't stay for the speech in its entirety. On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. So when the president suggests - and whether directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally diminishes in that Nobel speech Martin's powerful, nonviolent philosophy, it tweaked some people, and you'll see that in the presentation Wednesday night. And his argument, basically, was that I cannot, as a practitioner and a true believer in nonviolence, espouse that nonviolent philosophy in our movement and then somehow sit idly by when I see violence being engaged around the world. While King was personally opposed to the war, he was concerned that publicly criticizing U.S. foreign policy would damage his relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been instrumental in passing civil rights legislation and who had declared in April 1965 that he was willing to negotiate a diplomatic end to the war in Vietnam. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest. 0000009147 00000 n Is our nation planning to build on political myth again and then shore it up with the power of new violence? We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Martin Luther King, Jr., giving his speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at Riverside Church in NYC, April 4, 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. - Challenges of the final years | Britannica "[8] He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change: A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. Fifty years ago in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr.. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. Accuracy and availability may vary. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain.. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. We must not call everyone a Communist or an appeaser who advocates the seating of Red China in the United Nations and who recognizes that hate and hysteria are not the final answers to the problem of these turbulent days. 0000001739 00000 n They brought in extra chairs. King to Weigh Civil Disobedience If War Intensifies, New York Times, 2 April 1967. This speech is not addressed to Hanoi or to the National Liberation Front. Martin Luther King Jr. - Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam Martin Luther King Jr. speaks out against the war - HISTORY Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence - American Rhetoric I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. And what really got him to the point of figuring that he really, really had to address this again back to the children, he couldn't say to young folks in this country who were being denied, that they should engage nonviolence as a philosophy when he saw the children, when he saw these pictures of these Vietnamese children being bombed and the impact - the effect that napalm was having on their bodies. What must they think of us in America when they realize that we permitted the repression and cruelty of Diem which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group in the south? 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. Mr. SMILEY: Yeah. Mr. SMILEY: And therein lies the rub. On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a speech named, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" addressing the Vietnam War. 0000008347 00000 n It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty program. I've always argue that Dr. King is the greatest American we've ever produced. [19][20], 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"[21] In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism. Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Vietnam, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. And it was on that occasion that he - when he saw those pictures, said, I have to speak out about this. Screenshots are considered by the King Estate a violation of this notice. As Arnold Toynbee says : Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. 0000002025 00000 n However, you argue strongly in the film that it was completely consistent with the nature and the character of Dr. King and something he needed to say. King Leads Chicago). It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poorboth black . The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: A time comes when silence is betrayal. That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam. And thirdly, I think the main point here in this MLK "Beyond Vietnam" speech is that there is another way. In that address, he articulated his reasons for his opposition to the Southeast Asian conflict. Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. MLK Opposed "Poverty, Racism & Militarism" in Speech One Year Before I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. Benjamin Hedin on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, anti-Vietnam War speech at Riverside Church in New York, which risked King's relationship with Lyndon Johnson. At what cost? Could we blame them for such thoughts? Smiley continues, "it was the most controversial speech he ever gave. As if the weight of such a commitment to the life and health of America were not enough, another burden of responsibility was placed upon me in 1964; and I cannot forget that the Nobel Prize for Peace was also a commission a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for the brotherhood of man. This is a calling that takes me beyond national allegiances, but even if it were not present I would yet have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of Jesus Christ. CONAN: Walt, thank you. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. As the head of state, I cannot necessarily embrace the same principles that, as you point out, Martin Luther King, a prophet, an outsider could embrace. 0000046786 00000 n A few years ago there was a shining moment in that. How are you, sir? In Hanoi are the men who led the nation to independence against the Japanese and the French, the men who sought membership in the French commonwealth and were betrayed by the weakness of Paris and the willfulness of the colonial armies. I Have a Dream | Date, Quotations, & Facts | Britannica Can I threaten them with death or must I not share with them my life? His house was bombed. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Because he received a letter from a little white girl who said, Dr. King, I read the newspaper that had you sneezed that blade would've moved, ruptured your aorta and you would've drowned in your own blood. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy. This is an excellent Common Core-aligned primary source from Martin Luther King speaking about his stance on the Vietnam War. Well, it was taken in that context, anyway. Martin built his speech that night, Neal, around three major points: around increasing militarism, around escalating poverty and around the issue of racism. 0000003503 00000 n We appreciate that. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War "The greatest irony and tragedy of all is that our nation, which initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world, is now cast in the. 0000004855 00000 n What then can I say to the Vietcong or to Castro or to Mao as a faithful minister of this one? And that's the issue that King was raising. Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? ", In 1967, a year to the day before his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. departed from his message of civil rights to deliver a speech that denounced America's war in Vietnam. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. "The press is being stacked against me", King said,[13] The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. Martin Luther King's Most Controversial Speech: Beyond Vietnam - THIRTEEN Martin Luther King, who was already beginning to lose some of his influence, nevertheless made a huge challenge to the establishment. Those pictures turned Dr. King's stomach. And King had preached at this church any number of times before, of course. Martin Luther King's Beyond Vietnam Speech is in many ways even more relevant today than in 1967. . But it ends up being the most controversial speech. In so many words, powerful interests told him: "Mind your own business.". One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on lifes highway. Peace and civil rights dont mix, they say. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. And Walt's with us from Cortez in Colorado. A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. WALT (Caller): Yes. Others, including James Bevel, King's partner and strategist in the Civil Rights Movement, called it King's most important speech. PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley's new documentary, MLK: A Call to Conscience explores King's speech. For the peasants this new government meant real land reform, one of the most important needs in their lives. But most Americans, I think, do not know this speech, "Beyond Vietnam.". History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As we all know, Neal, before he died, Robert McNamara, the Defense secretary that had Walt and others over in Vietnam, before he died, of course, announced that he was wrong. Some civil rights leaders urged King not to speak out on the Vietnam War, but he said he could not separate issues of economic injustice, racism, war, and militarism. We have supported the enemies of the peasants of Saigon. Shall we say the odds are too great? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech opposing the Vietnam War in April 1967. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. So far we may have killed a million of them mostly children. How do they judge us when our officials know that their membership is less than twenty-five percent Communist and yet insist on giving them the blanket name? King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech was delivered at the Riverside Church in New York exactly one year before his assassination. I am pleased to say that this is the path now being chosen by more than seventy students at my own alma mater, Morehouse College, and I recommend it to all who find the American course in Vietnam a dishonorable and unjust one. A few other Americans know, of course, the "Mountaintop" speech given the night before he's assassinated in Memphis. CONAN: Tavis Smiley, author, journalist, political commentator, host of his talk show on PBS, joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. [18] He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to communism by his enemies, but in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. The problem was that practically everyone in his inner circle - not all, there was James Bevel and a couple of others - but practically everyone in his inner circle advised him strongly not to give this speech. Martin Luther King Jr. - Acceptance Speech - NobelPrize.org Then we must make what reparations we can for the damage we have done. (Scott) King,My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1969. Declare a unilateral cease-fire in the hope that such action will create the atmosphere for negotiation. 0000005717 00000 n They question our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded. Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. "Vincent Harding dies at 82; historian wrote controversial King speech", "Vincent Harding, author of Martin Luther King Jr.'s antiwar speech, dies", "The Rev. "[10], King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms. Soon we would be paying almost the full costs of this tragic attempt at recolonization. So they go primarily women and children and the aged. Check your local listings. Of course, he's assassinated in Memphis a year to the day later after giving this speech. On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech in New York City at Riverside Church on the occasion of his becoming co-chairperson of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (subsequently renamed Clergy and Laity Concerned ). King Scores Poverty). This call for a world-wide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond ones tribe, race, class and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all men. CONAN: And one thing that I was unaware of was the timing of the speech in that he had wanted to say something along these lines. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. Instead, we decided to support France in its reconquest of her former colony.

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