Chronicles of a Two-Front War: Civil Rights and Vietnam in the African American Press

Notes

215 Notes Introduction 1. I am indebted to the definitive account of the incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin in early August 1964 that appears in Moise, Tonkin Gulf. The book describes the two incidents in the gulf (73–93; 106–41), evidence as to the nature and details of what happened (143–207), as well as the geopolitical and military consequences (208–55). An insider view from the Pentagon is provided by Daniel Ellsberg’s provocative book Secrets; Ellsberg began a new assignment in the Defense Department on August 4, 1964, and found himself handling the action reports telegraphed from Herrick. See, especially, Ellsberg’s account of the reported“action”in the waters off NorthVietnam, then the rush to passage of the momentous Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which marked the beginning of the long slide into the morass of Vietnam and gave LBJ virtual carte blanche to prosecute an expanded war in Vietnam (7–20; 48–64). 2. Weisbrot, Freedom Bound, 99. 3. Ibid., 113; Bennett, Before the Mayflower, 573. 4. For an account of what Bob Moses said at the memorial service, see Branch, Pillar of Fire, 473. 5. Moses’s use of the mirror metaphor is quoted in Hayden, Reunion, 177. 6. Henry Lee Moon, “The Role of the Negro Press,” Dallas Express, December 18, 1965. Moon was director of public relations for the NAACP. For a good summary of the birth of Freedom’s Journal, see Pride and Wilson, A History of the Black Press, 3–16. The first issue of Freedom’s Journal appeared on March 16, 1827, and laid the foundation for the mission of the black press: “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.” The paper enumerated other principles and goals: to nurture and develop children; foster character development and personal improvement, and thus elevate the conduct of free blacks; guide readers to a full realization of their civil rights; and lead readers away from publications that were frivolous and time wasting. By recommending useful and educational books, the Freedom’s Journal also sought to offer ways for readers “to enlarge their stock of useful knowledge.”As Pride 216 Notes to Pages 5–10 and Wilson summarize its role,“ the new publication proposed to be a teacher, prod, unifier, and defender and to pursue a reformist program.” (13). 7. Simmons, African American Press, 9, 10. 8. Frank L. Stanley,“Negro Press Heartbeat of Freedom,” Dallas Express, March 18, 1967. Metz T. P. Lochard, associate editor of the Chicago Daily Defender, produced a manuscript in 1967 titled “Why the Black Press?” He posited that learning what the black press is requires first answering the question “Why the black press?” Lochard expanded his thesis, saying: “Posed in this manner, the question would bring to the surface the failings of the American democracy and the indifference of the white press to the woes and grievances of the black masses.” This approach brought Lochard back to what the founders of the Freedom’s Journal had said nearly a century and a half earlier. Lochard wrote: “The Negro Press was born out of stark necessity . . . as a voice crying out in the wilderness for social justice for the black people of America.” The typewritten documents (there are two) in the Abbott-Sengstacke Family Papers present a curious puzzle of provenance. One document, under the byline of John H. Sengstacke, publisher of the Defender, appears to be the earlier of the two. It is a rough draft, with cross-outs and corrections. The name Metz T. P. Lochard is handwritten next to Sengstacke’s name. The second manuscript reproduces the more roughly typed manuscript exactly and is assigned to Lochard’s authorship. The index to the Abbott-Sengstacke Family Papers has a single entry for the document attributed to Lochard. Sengstacke probably drafted the piece, then gave it to Lochard to publish under his name. For the manuscripts see Lochard, “Why the Negro Press,” 1967, box 95, folder 8, Abbott-Sengstacke Family Papers. 9. Moon, “Role of the Negro Press.” For more on the pressures the U.S. government brought to bear on the black press during World War I, see the fine book by Jordan, Black Newspapers and America’s War for Democracy, 110–68. For accounts of similar issues during World War II, see Finkle, Forum for Protest, 62–87, 108–28; and Washburn, A Question of Sedition, which examines the unsuccessful attempt by the FBI to impose wartime censorship...