News, 'That man's terrible': Secret Jackie Kennedy tapes reveal her disgust over Martin Luther King's (influence, 60s)

[JD59]

Jackie Kennedy hated Martin Luther King so much she could barely look at photographs of him.

In interviews taped in 1964 but only just released, she said the black civil rights leader was a ‘terrible man’ and a ‘phoney’.


Read more: Jackie Kennedy cannot look at an image of Martin Luther King after his sex party claims | Mail Online

[silverkris]

Maybe it sounds a little surprising today because we've often lionized MLK as a saint or paragon. However, back in the 1960s, King wasn't the popular person that he is today. Certainly the ruling establishment viewed him with suspicion because he was "rocking the boat". Change, or the threat of change, is always uncomfortable to those who have the power and perceive a loss of their prestige and influence. Viewed in that light, it isn't surprising that J. Edgar Hoover had him under surveillance.

But none of these should diminish from his accomplishments, for which he is honored. It's just that we have to recall the context of how a person is viewed.

[CAVA1990]

I'm sure my parents and their friends felt the same way, blaming the Watts riots on him and all those other "troublemakers". They were convinced black people were going to come to our neighborhood burn our homes and take away our stuff. That kind of thinking was not all that uncommon back then. African Americans were as foreign to them as Martians.

Jackie was from Virginia, where inter-racial marriage was illegal at that time. I think we have a difficult time fathoming that generation's racial beliefs. They honesly felt minorities were and should remain second class citizens.

[theoldnorthstate]

And it wasn't that way at all where I grew up in WNC during those times. Guess it is a matter of where you are from and who you knew. So I disagree about that way of thinking being common back then or not uncommon. At least where I lived

[Grandstander]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

I think we have a difficult time fathoming that generation's racial beliefs. They honesly felt minorities were and should remain second class citizens.

Yup. Big mistake giving the Irish the vote.

[Johnny Vanderburgh]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

Yup. Big mistake giving the Irish the vote.

The Irish vote? Maybe I should take down these campaign posters.

[/The Critic]

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by theoldnorthstate

And it wasn't that way at all where I grew up in WNC during those times. Guess it is a matter of where you are from and who you knew. So I disagree about that way of thinking being common back then or not uncommon. At least where I lived

I'm talking about Southern California, bastion of the John Birch Society then. They were second to no Southern state in their views on minority rights.

[slowlane3]

To get off the subject a little: in Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid's, recent autobiography, he tells the story of how he had been a young Capitol Policeman, back in 1963 when J.F.K. was assassinated. As young officer Harry Reid visited the Republican Congressman from Nevada's office that day, the Congressman told Reid "It's probably a good thing for the country that this happened."

[Retroit]

I can barely look at photographs of Obama.

[Hamish Forbes]

Old white guy here. As a kid, I hated King. As an adult, I have come to admire him. He was a flawed man, as all of us are, and a great man, as few of us are. He preached a good message and had absolutely incredible personal courage.