Vincent Harding on Dr. Martin Luther King’s Courageous—and Overlooked—Anti-War and Economic Justice Activism

Dick Gregory.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was assassinated on April 4th 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. A year to the day before he was murdered, King delivered his historic antiwar speech at New York’s Riverside Church. It became known as “Beyond Vietnam.”

Dr. Martin Luther King.

Time magazine later called the speech “demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi,” and the Washington Post declared that King had “diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people.”

King’s landmark address was drafted by his friend and colleague, Dr. Vincent Harding. Today, four decades later, Dr. Harding joins us for a look back at King’s life and significance. Dr. Harding was a close associate of Martin Luther King and his former speechwriter. He is a Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He is the author of many books including “Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero.” Dr. Harding was also the first director of the Martin Luther King Memorial Center in Atlanta.

Related Links

• Democracy Now!'s 2008 MLK Day Special