MLK Day


The final vote in the House of Representatives on August 2, 1983 was 338–90 (242–4 in the House Democratic Caucus and 89–77 in the House Republican Conference) with 5 members voting present or abstaining,

the National Football League threatened to move Super Bowl XXVII, which was planned for Arizona in 1993, if the MLK holiday was voted down. Consequently, the state lost the chance to host Super Bowl XXVII.

Happy birthday stevie wonder

The bill faced a somewhat tougher fight in the Senate, however. In an opposition campaign led primarily by Republican Senators John P. East and Jesse Helms of North Carolina, some attempted to emphasize King's associations with communists and his alleged sexual dalliances as reasons not to honor him with a federal holiday. As part of his efforts, on Oct. 3, 1983, Helms read a paper on the Senate floor, written by an aide to Senator East, called "Martin Luther King Jr.: Political Activities and Associations" and also provided a 300-page supplemental document to the members of the Senate detailing King's communist connections. Some Senators expressed outrage over Helms' actions, including New York's Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who threw the document to he ground, stomped on it and deemed it a "packet of filth."

Arguing that any person opposing a King holiday would automatically be dubbed a racist, Helms urged the Senate not to be bullied into elevating King to "the same level as the father of our country and above the many other Americans whose achievements approach that of Washington's" by making him one of the few individuals honored by a federal holiday. The day before the bill passed the Senate, District Judge John Lewis Smith Jr. denied Helms' request to unseal FBI surveillance tapes of King that were due to remain sealed until 2027. President Reagan signed the bill into law in November 1983 and the first official holiday was observed on the third Monday of January 1986.

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), charging that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. espoused "action-oriented Marxism" and other "radical political" views, yesterday temporarily blocked Senate action on a House-passed bill to create a new national holiday in memory of the slain civil rights leader.

Helms' assault on King, which prompted a scathing denunciation from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), came as the White House was putting out word that President Reagan intends to sign the measure, even though the administration once had opposed it.

Helms had hardly begun his attack on the bill when Senate leaders of both parties, including Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the conservative chairman of the Judiciary Committee, filed a cloture petition to shut off debate and bring the bill to a vote, perhaps as early as Wednesday.

And Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), floor manager for the legislation, acerbically attacked the contention by Helms and other critics of the bill that another federal holiday would be costly for the economy. "Since when did a dollar sign take its place atop our moral code?" Dole asked.

Although Helms' colleagues had expected his effort to derail the bill by sending it to committee for hearings, the tone of his attack--linking King to what he called "the official policy of communism"--appeared to take them by surprise.

"I will not dignify Helms' comments with a reply. They do not reflect credit on this body," an angry Kennedy said, adding that what Helms said should be "shunned by the American people, including the citizens of his own state." Later, Kennedy accused Helms of using "Red smear" tactics.

Asked before television cameras to say whether he considered King a "Marxist-Leninist," as he had suggested earlier on the Senate floor, Helms at first demurred, then said, "But the old saying--if it has webbed feet, if it has feathers and it quacks, it's a you-know-what." Asked again later if he considered King a Marxist, Helms said, "I don't think there is any question about that."

When asked if his attack on King would cause him political trouble in North Carolina, where he faces a tough race for reelection next year, Helms said bluntly, "I'm not going to get any black votes, period."

The bill, approved 338 to 90 in the House two months ago, would set aside the third Monday in January as the 10th official federal holiday. After the Democratic-controlled House approved the measure, Senate Republican leaders swung quickly behind it, and the White House indicated that Reagan probably would sign it despite earlier reservations about the cost.

Helms began his attack by suggesting the bill's cost in loss of productivity could be as high as $12 billion a year, although the Congressional Budget Office has said it would be more like $18 million. He also said it was being "steamrollered" through the Senate without hearings, although hearings had been held on the House side.

But it was Helms' attack on King himself that drew the most notice.

A federal holiday should be an occasion for "shared values," but King's "very name itself remains a source of tension, a deeply troubling symbol of divided society," Helms said.

Helms said King had used "nonviolence as a provocative act to disturb the peace of the state and to trigger, in many cases, overreaction by authorities."

He asserted that there were Marxists in King's movement and that King had been warned against them by the president at the time, apparently meaning President Kennedy.

Added Helms: "I think most Americans would feel that the participation of Marxists in the planning and direction of any movement taints that movement at the outset . . . . Others may argue that Dr. King's thought may have been merely Marxist in its orientation. But the trouble with that is that Marxism-Leninism, the official philosphy of communism, is an action-oriented revolutionary doctrine. And Dr. King's action-oriented Marxism, about which he was cautioned by the leaders of this country, including the president at that time, is not compatible with the concepts of this country."

Kennedy was joined by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in disavowing Helms' charges. Specter, calling King a "Herculean figure on the American scene," credited an appearance by King in Philadelphia with being a "stabilizing influence" that prevented rioting there in the 1960s.

Said Dole: "To those who would worry about cost, I would suggest they hurry back to their pocket calculators and estimate the cost of 300 years of slavery, followed by a century or more of economic, political and social exclusion and discrimination

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mansa Musa & Ibn Battuta 1280-1368

Image
Salt and copper Crossing the desert, paying a horseman from the destination to meet you The Sahara Egypt was always a prosperous cross-road between three continents. At a time, the Kingdom of Carthage in modern day Tunisia & Libya was the biggest rival to the Roman Empire. the Moors of modern-day Morocco had conquered half of Spain until being forced out in the 14 th  century, and the great Christian philosopher Augustine of Hippo (St Augustine named after) was a member of the Berber people from modern-day Algeria during the last days of the Roman Empire. However, these lands all bordered the Sahara Desert. The largest hot desert in the world. Covering almost 6 million square miles, it’s the size of China and the US combined. Alone it makes up 8% of the earths land mass. It receives less than an inch of rain each year, has a highest recorded temperature of 136 Fahrenheit and an average annual temperature of 86. (Florida is 72) Meanwhile, at night it drops to 21 degrees
Read more

Thomas Paine

Image
Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, Norfolk, England. Early in his life he suffered the loss of his wife, his child, and his business. He took a job as a tax collector and ended up writing pamphlets advocating for pay rises for tax collectors. He became relatively well known and ended up meeting Benjamin Franklin who had been living in London for a number of years. When Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1775 he invited Paine to join him. With the American revolution in full swing, Paine latched on to their cause and became very passionate about it. He wrote Common Sense anonymously and it became hugely popular. It was sold and distributed widely and read aloud at taverns and meeting places. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time (2.5 million), it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. It was rumored that John Adam's had wrote it but in a private letter to his wife Abigail, he admitted that he had not and
Read more

Immigration: 2. Jewish

Image
Prejudice Passed On As Irish and Italian immigrants became more accepted in America, they feared the next groups of immigrants; the Jewish and the Chinese.  Jewish Life in Russia - A Different Mirror- page 263 Many people in America were prejudiced against Jewish people. Their religion was different to the Christianity of the Catholics and Protestants. They dressed differently and spoke differently. Some believed Jewish people were secretly trying to take over the USA and spread harmful ideas such as communism.  Henry Ford Henry Ford's father was born in Ireland. However, he wrote of "The International Jew: the Foremost Problem" and believed that the Jews wanted to take over the world.  https://youtu.be/FXBGK3OQIi8?si=NfZ4eiU9O96PNooK Father Couglin  Father Couglin was a Catholic priest who became hugely popular on American radio when radio was first invented. Both of Father Couglin's parents had Immigrated from Ireland and faced discrimination. However, n
Read more