3 chapters across the catalog
The discussion covers the impact of President Eisenhower sending federal troops to Little Rock in 1957, which significantly boosted his standing among Black Americans. This created fear among Democrats that Richard Nixon would inherit this goodwill in the 1960 election. However, the Kennedys' strategic phone call to get MLK Jr. out of jail in Georgia successfully swayed MLK Sr. and the Southern Black vote toward the Democratic ticket.
During the 1960 presidential campaign, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on a trumped-up charge in Georgia. While Richard Nixon declined to intervene to avoid "grandstanding," John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy worked to secure King's release. This act of political maneuvering caused King's father, a lifelong Republican, to switch his support to Kennedy, significantly impacting the Black vote and the election outcome.
Malcolm X explains that because white voters are often evenly divided, a unified minority block holds the "key factor" in determining who goes to the White House. He argues that black voters put the Democrats in power in 1960 but were placed "last" in terms of legislative priority. He famously refers to those who give their vote without receiving anything in return as "chumps."
