FEED DROP: March on Washington: Post Oval Office Meeting Part 1

Presidential Recordings

NAACP President Roy O. Wilkins isthe first speaker captured on this recording. He gives a long report on the significance of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which had taken place earlier in the day. Following Wilkins were A. Philip Randolph, a fixture in the labor field and the leader of the March on Washington; Whitney M. Young Jr., director of the National Urban League; Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW); Reverend Eugene Carson Blake, the leader of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and former president of the National Council of Churches; Floyd McKissick, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

The emphasis in this meeting was clearly on the “Jobs” part of the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” as most of the participants emphasized the necessity of a powerful FEPC to address employment discrimination and the importance of education and job training programs in an era when automation struck fear into the hearts of workers and economists alike.

President Kennedy emphasized the need to get Republican support for the bill and the danger of going too far. He was especially concerned about gaining the favor of House Minority Leader Charles A. “Charlie” Halleck [R–Indiana] and William M. “Bill” McCulloch [R–Ohio], the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, who Kennedy believed was the key to securing the necessary 60 Republican votes in the House—although Kennedy repeatedly referred to him mistakenly as “McClintoch” in this recording.

You can find a full transcript of this audio at: https://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/4006294

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