As we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day against the backdrop of a war openly assailed by members of both parties of Congress, and a scandal involving wiretaps of U.S. citizens suspected of being in league with enemies of the state, it behooves us to recognize how cyclical is the nature of American politics and policy, for Dr. King was facing those very same issues in the 1960s.

Not only was Dr. King the object of a massive, illegal eavesdropping program aimed at painting him as a sexual deviant and a Communist fifth columnist, but he was also demonized for his opposition to the Vietnam War by the same media organizations that had practically canonized him a few years before.

Truthdig has assembled a selection of resources highlighting various aspects of Dr. King’s life that seem particularly pertinent to current-day discussions of liberties at home and sovereignty abroad.

Update: Download an audio Mp3 version of Dr. King’s controversial “Beyond Vietnam” speech, in which he called America the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” Right-click on this link and select “save link/target as” (file is 24 megs and runs about an hour).

MLK and Spying

King the “Radical”

Exactly one year before he was assassinated in 1968, Dr. King delivered a speech at the Riverside Church in New York City entitled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,” in which he called America the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” Time magazine, which had declared King “Man of the Year” in 1964, now accused him of providing succor to Hanoi. The Washington Post said that King had “diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people.”

Text of speech

Audio download (Right-click on the link and select “save link/target as”–file is 24 megs and runs about an hour.)

To better understand this seeming about-face, and to get a bead on why many history books leave out or paper over the last three years of Dr. King’s life, check out this article from Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting.

Biographical Resources

Multimedia, Speeches, Misc.