“One of the things that set the switch in the turn of things was when JFK visited Martin Luther King Jr. in jail.”
When did JFK visit Dr. King in jail?
“When did JFK visit Dr. King in jail ?
Uhhh, allow me to recuse myself and correct the record - in a way.
JFK didn’t actually go down to Georgia and step inside the Dekalb County jail.
HIs physical corporeal self didn’t go that far, but he was there in spirit and that is enough for liberals, right ?
JFK called Ernest Vandiver the governor of Georgia asking for his release; saying “it would be of tremendous benefit to me.” Vandiver couldn’t promise anything but wanted to help JFK and worked in secrecy to get MLK Jr. released.
Meanwhile, Sergeant Shriver, brother in law of JFK, persuaded JFK to make a call to Coretta King to express his sympathy and support. JFK’s call with Coretta King lasted less than 90 seconds. Of course, that call was leaked to the press.
Robert Kennedy was furious when he found out and thought that this would cost his brother the election.
With word out that JFK had called Coretta King and with Governor Vandiver working in the background, Martin Luther King Jr. was released the next day, and he publicly thanked John F. Kennedy for making his release possible. MLK Jr. had been confined in jail for 30 hours.
King also made it a point to say that he had not heard from Vice President Nixon or any other republican for that matter. King had had a closer bond with Nixon, and Nixon had often called MLK for advice; but on this matter he felt that Nixon was a “moral coward.” Nixon had told Jackie Robinson, the baseball star, that calling MLK Jr. would be “grandstanding.”
Theodore White in his book,The Making of the President 1960, said that Negro political leaders claimed that the Black vote helped carry 11 states with 169 electoral votes for Kennedy. Kennedy got 70% of the Black vote nationwide compared to Adlai Stevenson’s 60% in 1956.
As always in liberal land, it is the thought that counts which was as good as unlocking the jail door cell personally.
I found it interesting that the democrats were already getting 60% of the Black vote in 1956. JFK’s role in getting Martin Luther King, Jr. released did change history.