In January 1961, Martin Luther King declined an invitation from John F. Kennedy to attend his inauguration.
Two weeks, later, however, King was in communication with the new young president urging him to use executive orders, the moral suasion of the newly occupied bully pulpit, and whatever other means he had available to combat racial discrimination.
That strategic slight in the ethical and political pas-de-deux between the Kennedys and MLK and the civil rights brain trust is one of the historical insights that emerged on the MLK Holiday edition of WNHH radio’s “This Day In New Haven History.”
That info, courtesy of an essay by UConn history professor Jelani Cobb writing in the current edition of The New Yorker, was the starting point of a discussion between yours truly, TDNHH host Allan Appel, and regular co-host Jason Bischoff-Wurstle of the New Haven Museum.
Click above to listen to the episode.
We traced the evolution of the acceptance of the holiday, advocacy for which began just months after King’s assassination in April 1968. The first black mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington, was instrumental in having Illinois accept the day as a state holiday when he became governor in 1973.
The holiday began a journey of acceptance state by state despite the failure, by only five votes in the House of Representatives, to make it a national holiday in 1979. The holiday became national in 1986, but was not fully recognized by all the states until 1999, with New Hampshire having the dubious distinction of being the last.
Connecticut, which began observing the holiday in 1973, got some unwanted national attention around MLK day in 2000 when nearby Wallingford received a visit from Jesse Jackson.
The reason was that, while the holiday was observed in the 169 towns of the state, Wallingford was a Nutmeg holdout in refusing to mark the holiday with a paid day off for municipal workers.
Jackson’s visit was the trigger for then Gov. John Rowland to sign a special bill to make Wallingford do the right thing.
According to an article by Paul Zielbauer in The New York Times of April 27, 2000, “Roger Vann, the president of the N.A.A.C.P. in Connecticut, said that even though the bill became law before Mr. Jackson could lend his presence to the effort, the anticipation of his arrival was an effective catalyst.”
Join us for all these historical tidbits — and also for how issues raised by the G.A.R., the Grand Army of the Republic, the progressive organization representing the fast- aging veterans of the Civil War — played a role then, as now, in winning elections.
As I recall, Wallingford was more than willing to give its workers MLK day off, provided they exchanged it for another holiday. The workers, however, wanted something for nothing, adding costs to the town. (Government workers get lots of minor holidays which pass unnoticed in the private sector: e.g., Columbus Day, Presidents' Day.)