From Sherman Adams
Author: Adams, Sherman
Date: March 13, 1957
Location: Washington, D.C.
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views
Details
The White House chief of staff responds to the Southern Leaders Conference’s 14 February telegram, which repeated their call for Eisenhower to speak out against southern resistance to integration. Adam refers to a meeting between King and Vice President Nixon that was proposed when the two men met during the Ghanaian independence celebrations. 1
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
530–80 Union Street
Montgomery, Alabama
Dear Mr. King:
The President has asked that I acknowledge your recent telegram. He is pleased to know that you will be meeting with the Vice President concerning these matters upon his return from Africa.
The suggestions you make have already been given earnest study here, and I know the President will be interested in having the further expression of your views as conveyed to the Vice President.
Sincerely,
[signed] Sherman Adams
1. King and Nixon met in Washington, D.C. on 13 June 1957; see King, Statement on Meeting with Richard M. Nixon, pp. 222–223 in this volume. Llewellyn Sherman Adams (1899–1986), born in Grover, Vermont, earned his B.A. (1920) from Dartmouth College. He was governor of New Hampshire from 1949 until joining the White House as chief of staff in 1953. In September 1958 Adams resigned amid allegations that he had granted political favors in exchange for expensive gifts.
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954-1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.