In this WSB newsfilm clip from Savannah, Georgia on October 3, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to reporters at a press conference about the upcoming presidential election and efforts by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to encourage African Americans to vote in the election. The clip begins with Dr. King apparently answering a reporter's question about candidate endorsement. King emphasizes that although SCLC has not endorsed incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson, they have clearly spoken against Republican candidate Arizona senator Barry M. Goldwater. Additionally SCLC is "out to get rid of Goldwater-ism in this nation."

After a break in the clip, King announces a nationwide drive "to bring to bear the moral weight of the nation's churchmen" on the upcoming election. King reports that at the recent SCLC annual convention held in Savannah, Georgia, delegates adopted a resolution "urging churchmen across the country to express their religious convictions by going to the polls on November 3 and voting in their local, state, and national elections for those candidates who will seek to translate into public policy and practice the basic ethical insights of our Judeo-Christian heritage." He also announces a program to encourage churches and synagogues to observe a "Civil Responsibility Day" during their services before the election where they recognize registered voters and organize car pools. SCLC undertakes these actions to combat "possible voter apathy" and out of a perceived need "that the weight of the religious and moral forces of our nation be felt at the polls." Reverend Walter Fauntroy, King continues, will lead the program to encourage voters from the national office in Washington D.C., and SCLC will employ "full-time local organizers in major urban centers." King anticipates that these voting efforts will cost nearly one hundred thousand dollars, with SCLC providing several thousand dollars to begin the effort. The remainder of the money will be raised through "national religious bodies, organized labor, and men of goodwill and civil concern."

The clip breaks and King asserts that although SCLC is against Goldwater, the voting effort will be a nonpartisan one, recognizing there are worthy Republican candidates in local and state elections. After another break he confirms an effort to encourage the participation of African American voters, nearly six million nationally and over two million in the South. A reporter begins comments that are incompletely recorded after which King calls the 1964 election "possibly the most crucial and decisive election ever held in the history of our nation." Finally, King states a goal of ninety to ninety-five percent turn out among African American registered voters as well as an emphasis on "large areas in the north." Efforts to encourage African American voters helped Johnson win the 1964 election by one of the largest percentages of the century to that point. Ninety-six percent of African Americans who voted in the election voted for Johnson. It was also the last election in the twentieth century where a Democratic candidate received a majority of white voters.

Title supplied by cataloger.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for digital conversion and description of the WSB-TV Newsfilm Collection.

1 clip (about 9 min.): black-and-white, sound ; 16 mm.

Original found in the WSB-TV newsfilm collection.

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to reporters about the upcoming presidential election and efforts by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to encourage African Americans to vote, Savannah, Georgia, 1964 October 3, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1204, 37:32/46:23, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, as presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Forms part of: Civil Rights Digital Library.