You could also do it yourself at any point in time. At the time, civil rights leaders publicly condemned him for it. So even McNamara eventually comes around to that point. [20][21], In a 1952 letter to Coretta Scott, he said: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic ..."[22] In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism. "[10], King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms. "[9] He stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands", and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children. And number two, at what cost? CONAN: And I think a lot of people will see your parallels regarding Iraq, where, indeed, the United States was the aggressor in that conflict. Mr. SMILEY: We - let me just tell you this. ", After King delivered the speech, Smiley reports, "168 major newspapers the next day denounced him." United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act, King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis, The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King. AD Exactly one year before his assassination, on April 4, 1967, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" was a powerful and angry speech that raged against the war. CONAN: Indeed. CONAN: Indeed, it was Oslo. WALT (Caller): Yes. "[9], King opposed the Vietnam War because it took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare at home. King delivering his speech, later dubbed "Beyond Vietnam," at Riverside Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side, April 4, 1967 © John C. Goodwin That night, in front of more than 2,100 people, King laid out a five-step plan culminating in the withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam. He rarely gave speeches from a text. Some, like civil rights leader Ralph Bunche, the NAACP, and the editorial page writers of The Washington Post[3] and The New York Times[4] called the Riverside Church speech a mistake on King's part. Mr. SMILEY: That's right. [19] Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr. "Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President", "The Story Of King's 'Beyond Vietnam' Speech", "Dragons, legos, and solitary: Ai Weiwei's transformative Alcatraz exhibition", Full transcript of the speech from Commondreams.org. Mr. SMILEY: Well, I think the question is whether or not - I hear your point, Neal, and I take it. Let's go to Walt(ph). And the last poll taken in his life by Harris, the Harris Poll, Neal, found that nearly three quarters of the American people, nearly three quarters, had turned against Martin on this issue, and 55 percent of his own people, black folk, had turned against him. "The press is being stacked against me", King said,[14] Date 1967-04-18 Asset type Episode Topics Social Issues Media type Sound Duration 00:29:41 [6] At the urging of SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of Muhammad Ali,[7] King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war as opposition was growing among the American public.[6]. Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence Rev. It was the speech he labored over the most. "[15][16], The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with which he was affiliated. He turned that into a great speech when he got out of the hospital. Thanks, as always for your time. Relevance to U.S. Wars and Militarism Today. CONAN: We (unintelligible) to see it. So 60 year(ph) is really, really a hot year here around this particular issue. By the time King made the "Beyond Vietnam" speech, Smiley tells host Neal Conan, "he had fallen off already the list of most-admired Americans as tallied by Gallup every year." Tavis Smiley joins us today from the Sheryl Flowers Studios in Los Angeles. That's my own personal assessment. I use WIKI 2 every day and almost forgot how the original Wikipedia looks like. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just. English: Martin Luther King, Jr, Ph.D. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was a Baptist minister and political activist who was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement. And that is precisely what concerned Dr. King so much, that these young boys were being sent halfway around the world to fight a war that was unwinnable, that resources were being used there that should've been used here at home. You can also join the conversation at our Web site. 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