To Harry H. Wachtel
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: February 12, 1962
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Voter registration
Details
At a 1 February meeting with King, Wachtel proposed the establishment of a tax-exempt organization that would eventually become the Gandhi Society for Human Rights.1 In the letter below, King thanks Wachtel for his “moral” and “practical” support for the civil rights struggle and suggests that the foundation’s focus should be on citizenship education and legal aid.2 In his 16 February 1962 reply, Wachtel confessed his “deep respect” for King’s “historic and selfless fight against encrusted injustice and humanity,” saying that the hours he spent with the civil rights leader “stirred me and afforded me new perspectives.”
Mr. Harry Wachtel
Wachtel & Michelson
711 Fifth Avenue
New York 22, New York
Dear Mr. Wachtel:
I hope that though we both were rushing to catch trains, I managed to convey to you the warm appreciation I feel for your interest in the integration work we are trying to accomplish. It is not exaggerating to say that without the depth of concern certain people like you feel, we would be unable to make real progress. Several centuries of neglect coupled with tenacious resistance to change from the established elements, are immense burdens to carry. When, with these handicaps, the job must be done by a people who are largely impoverished, our road is rough and long. Therefore, the help we receive has special significance because it is moral support and practical aid, both of which one needs in this kind of struggle.
I want to re-state my confidence in you and Ted Kheel and to urge you to pursue the project with assurance that I will be available at any time. I will be in touch with you regarding a special trip to New York where our discussion can continue.3
Responding to your suggestion that I indicate some of the objectives of a Foundation, there are two principal areas which are keys for progress in the South. The first is education in the exercise of constitutional rights. Under this heading the most important is registering and voting. Educational activity here would encompass publications, workshops, schools to teach reading and writing, conferences, etc. A staff would be required to develop materials and to work in the field where large numbers of American citizens are without the franchise, some because of artificial obstacles interposed to prevent Negro suffrage, others because apathy and tradition and lack of understanding of rights inhibit the use of the ballot even though no otherfforms of opposition exist.
There are other constitutional rights which are frequently unused because knowledge of them does not exist or techniques are not known. These include the right to travel on public conveyances, the right to employment on an equal basis in industry or in Federal Government jobs and others.4
The second major area is legal defense, especially in situations arising from activity in seeking to exercise constitutional rights. Many people who are poor find themselves in legal actions, and the heavy cost of defense is a crippling difficulty, thus hindering the progress of citizens who may be informed of their rights but lack the means to carry on. Also, there are areas where positive legal steps should be taken in the form of injunctive suits or other actions to remove illegal obstacles, and again where the financial means do not exist to see a project to completion.
I think this is a general statement of needs which are significant, and which reach a substantial part of the work that must be done to bring the South culturally, politically and socially up to the level of the rest of the nation.
Warmest personal regards.
Very cordially yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
1. Labor arbitrator Theodore Kheel also attended the meeting. The organization Wachtel suggested was to address King’s earlier observation that the lack of legal and financial support were roadblocks to SCLC’s integration efforts (King to Wachtel, 7 November 1961, pp. 325–327 in this volume).
2. King sent a similar letter to Kheel (King to Kheel, 12 February 1962).
3. King was in Connecticut 20–21 March at a meeting of the Joint Consultative Council and may have met with Wachtel on the evening of 21 March (Charles B. Markham to King, 28 March 1962). Wachtel had also made plans to meet with King in Atlanta on 23 April (Clarence B. Jones to King, 18 April 1962).
4. In 1960 the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public transportation facilities in Boynton v. Virginia (364 U.S. 454). The Kennedy administration affirmed equal access to federal employment in Executive Order 10925, which established a committee led by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. For more on the committee, see Johnson to King, 13 April 1962, pp. 435–437 in this volume.
Source: MLKJP-GAMK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers (Series I–IV), Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.