As we pause to honor Dr. King’s birthday today, let’s recall the political struggle it took to get the holiday approved in the first place. It took a backlash against Old South rhetoric to turn the tide.
In short: In 1983, the holiday was opposed by Ronald Reagan and many (but not all) members of the Republican-controlled Senate. The bill’s future was in doubt. then, the bigoted Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) rose to the floor and called King a Marxist. At that point, many Republicans felt they had to dissassociate themselves with his remarks. They switched sides and supported the creation of the holiday.
From the Washington Post on October 4, 1983:
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), charging that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. espoused “action-oriented Marxism” and other “radical political” views, yesterday temporarily blocked Senate action on a House-passed bill to create a new national holiday in memory of the slain civil rights leader.
Helms’ assault on King, which prompted a scathing denunciation from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), came as the White House was putting out word that President Reagan intends to sign the measure, even though the administration once had opposed it.
Helms had hardly begun his attack on the bill when Senate leaders of both parties, including Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the conservative chairman of the Judiciary Committee, filed a cloture petition to shut off debate and bring the bill to a vote, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
And Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), floor manager for the legislation, acerbically attacked the contention by Helms and other critics of the bill that another federal holiday would be costly for the economy. “Since when did a dollar sign take its place atop our moral code?” Dole asked.
Allison Silberberg, who in 1983 was an intern for Sen. Edward Kennedy, recalls the scene in today’s Washington Post:
Right after the Senate vote, which I watched from the packed gallery, I rushed in excitement to the room that had been set aside for a reception. Not seeing anyone there, I turned around. I remember hearing a thunderous sound coming toward me. A crowd turned the corner, and there were Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, other famous civil rights leaders and so many other supporters filling the long hall. As they walked, arm in arm, they began singing “We Shall Overcome.” It was a glorious moment.
Glorious, indeed.
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