Dr Martin Luther King at the White House

[bigtree]

Martin Luther King, Jr. leaves the West Wing after meeting with President Johnson. August 5, 1968. Abbie Rowe, NPS: National Archive and Records Administration. (by Abbie Rowe, NPS: National Archive and Records Administration)


The White House Historical Association searched their archives and created a slideshow of historic images that show the impact the civil rights leader has had on several administrations. Dr King's interactions with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson leading up to the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the 1968 Civil Rights Act are well documented, but his first visit to the White House was actually in 1958, when he and other prominent civil rights leaders met with President Dwight Eisenhower.



President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Civil Rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young, and James Farmer in the Oval Office. January 18, 1964. . (by Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library)


Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights leaders meet with President John Kennedy prior to the renowned “March on Washington”. August 28, 1963. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.



Martin Luther King, Jr. looks on as President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the East Room. July 2, 1964. Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.



See the slideshow on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehousehistory/6680245345/

[mfcorey1]

1. In the top photo, if Dr. King died April 4, 1968, why is it dated August 1968. Is that the

date the photo was archived?

[bigtree]

4. lol, nat. archives

probably something like that.

[ProSense]

2. Thanks.

Leadership.

Some of the ankle biters who try to co-opt King's legacy need to take note.

[Cha]

3. Thank you, bigtree!

[Scurrilous]

5. K & R

[Number23]

6. Anyone that thinks that King didn't have his detractors is fooling themselves

The worship of him now almost completely obscures that he was considered Public Enemy Number 1 by large swaths of white people in his day.

I have no doubt that in 40 years, Saint Barack Obama will be used as a cudgel to bludgeon another black leader by either someone with no roots in the black community or no support from it.