Non-partisanship of Dr Martin Luther King Jr
I have been asked from many quarters whether it is my intention to endorse one of the presidential candidates. The organization of which I am president, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, from its inception and in its constitution has been non-partisan. Accordingly, as its titular head, I am unable to endorse a political party or its candidate. Moreover, the role that is mine in the emerging social order of the South and America demands that I remain non-partisan. This, devoid of partisan political attachments, I am free to be critical of both parties when necessary.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/statement-presidential-endorsement
I am very sorry that you have been misinformed concerning my political views at this time. I have not in the past and I will not in the next few days endorse Senator Kennedy or Vice President Nixon for the position of President of the United States. It has been my policy all along to follow a non-partisan course.
I am sure you will agree with me that my father, being sixty-two years old, is capable of making his own decisions and should have the freedom to vote any way that he chooses. His position does not in any way need to be construed as my position.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/ray-burchfield
This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party. Both political parties have betrayed the cause of justice. (Oh yes) The Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the prejudices and undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of right wing, reactionary northerners. These men so often have a high blood pressure of words and an anemia of deeds. [laughter]
I must hasten to say that the dearth of positive leadership from Washington is not confined to one political party. The cause of justice has been betrayed by both political parties. Many Democrats have betrayed it by capitulating to the undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. Many Republicans have betrayed it by capitulating to the hypocrisy of right-wing northerners. Sometimes I am prone to feel that this hypocrisy in the Republican Party is more dangerous than the undemocratic practices of the southern Dixiecrats. At least you know where the Dixiecrats stand. One can deal better with an Eastland because he airs his vicious prejudice all the time, and makes it clear that he stands against the more enlightened conscience of our time. But the individual who dresses his words up in the garments of enlightenment in order to get votes when at bottom he is actu-ally reactionary is a dangerous menace, not only to his party, but to democracy itself. It is difficult to understand how many of the Republican politicians are as reactionary as they are on the question of Civil Rights when they do not confront the sectional pressures and prejudices that the southern politicians face. Hypocrisy, whether in politics or ordinary human relations, is a tragic vice that can lead only to moral degeneration.
We see obvious signs of this Republican laxity in the present civil rights debate in Congress. The failure of the House Judiciary Committee to go along with the language of the Civil Rights Bill authorizing “the attorney general to act in all types of denial of civil rights” revealed the same old coalition of southern Democrats and ultra conservative Republicans that has defeated every progressive move in the area of civil rights. The southern Democrats could not have removed the language by themselves. They had to receive help from the Republicans.
It is noteworthy that both political parties have emerged with the strongest civil rights platforms in their history. They have signed huge promissory notes. But we must not be content with empty promises. We know that platforms in the past have too often been used to get elected on and not to stand on. We must demand implementation. We must make it clear that neither political party can deliver its platform promises alone. The job can only be done through a sincere determined bi-partisan effort. Both parties missed a marvelous opportunity to demonstrate their good faith on the civil rights issue by failing to pass desperately needed civil rights legislation in the post convention session of Congress. Here we saw a vivid example of the same old game of hypocrisy, immoral compromises, and political chicanery. The fact remains, however, that the issue of racial injustice cannot be successfully evaded nor will it disappear with double-talk.
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