By Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker


Former Chief of Staff to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pastor Emeritus of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem
Residing in Chester, Virginia

Martin Luther King had many high moments during his storied career. There was the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott of 381 days, which brought him to the Nation’s attention. There was the Birmingham Campaign that resulted in the 1965 Public Accommodations Act, which ended segregation in the nation. The “I Have A Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington, established King as one of the world’s greatest orators. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1964 brought him international acclaim. But with all his accomplishments, his finest hour occurred during the nadir (lowest point) of his career. His opposition to the Vietnam War caused a severe decline in his popularity and the loss of many supporters in the human rights struggle. The national board of SCLC, his own organization, voted unanimously that he as president should not speak against the war, afraid that it would have a deleterious effect on SCLC fund-raising efforts. Dr. King responded by saying, “You will have to get another president because I am going to speak against the war.” It was his finest hour.

The cost was high. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP criticized Dr. King saying that he was splitting support of the Civil Rights Movements by his protest of the war. He underscored his criticism by calling a news conference at which Whitney Young of the National Urban League joined him. Some high placed Jewish leaders wondered out loud if Dr. King had the expertise to comment on foreign policy issues. Many black preachers who claimed to be friends of Dr. King closed their pulpits to Dr. King. Lyndon Baines Johnson slammed the door of the White House shut, never to open again. White supporters of the movement claimed “Dr. King lost me on the war issue!” However, Dr. King’s protest against that obscene war never flagged. At the Riverside Church, Dr. King gave his most definitive speech against the war in Vietnam. One year later, almost to the day, Martin Luther King was assassinated.

In that year, Newsweek Magazine reported that 31% of the people in the U.S. had reservations about the war. When Dr. King was killed in Memphis, 47% of the nation had reservations about the war. Martin Luther King turned the nation around on the Vietnam War. Three ex-presidents on a plane returning from Anwar Sadat’s funeral in Egypt, all agreed that Dr. King’s position on the war had been right. Vietnam was a mistake. Dr. King died without knowing that he had been vindicated by history. I have been saying for years that Dr. King should have been given a second Nobel Peace Prize posthumously for his work against the war in Vietnam. Dr. King’s finest hour was that at the lowest point in his public life, he took up an unpopular cause which we in the movement believe cost him his life. “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his brethren.” It was Dr. King’s finest hour!