Oral history transcript, Nash Castro, interview 4 (IV), 4/25/1969, by Joe B. Frantz

Title:

Oral history transcript, Nash Castro, interview 4 (IV), 4/25/1969, by Joe B. Frantz

Number of Pages:

62

Description:

Congressional interest in, and reaction to, planning of the Resurrection City demonstration in the 1968 Poor People's Campaign; congressional hearings related to the demonstration; the issue of whether or not to issue a permit for Resurrection City; Congressman Ken Gray's involvement in issuing a permit; Congressman John Marsh's effort to stop a permit from being issued; Senator Robert Byrd; Congressman Wayne Aspinall; laws governing demonstrations in Washington, D.C.; Castro's and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's (SCLC) interaction with the press; communication problems within SCLC; racial tension at Resurrection City; lack of coordination and organizational problems at the demonstration; Ralph Abernathy; the terms of the Resurrection City permit; Reverend James Bevel; Resurrection City city managers; Jesse Jackson; press and visitor access to Resurrection City; demonstrator demographics; Mayor Walter Washington's involvement with the demonstration; Julian Dugas; daily meetings on the status of the demonstration; undercover government Resurrection City residents; the effect of heavy rains on living conditions at Resurrection City; site selection for the demonstration; the SCLC's decision to apply for a permit after initial plans to force a confrontation over not applying for a permit; selecting the name "Resurrection City" and why the original name, "City of Hope," was not used; negotiating the terms of the permit and a bond; Solidarity Day June 19, 1968; a demonstration by New York Puerto Ricans on the grounds of the Washington Monument; SCLC lawyers Frank Reeves and Leroy Clarke; Coretta Scott King; Walter Washington's response to Martin Luther King's death; Ramsey Clark, Stephen Pollak, Fred Vinson, Jr., Matthew Nimetz, and others who were involved with Resurrection City; the roles of Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and Park Service Director George Hartzog; consulting with the Secret Service on issuing permits for demonstrations; Parks Police cooperation with the Washington, D.C. Police Department and concerns that violence might erupt at the demonstration; stress among park police working at Resurrection City; June 20, 1968, incident where demonstrators were gassed; extending the original permit and the decision to not grant another extension; preparations for the departure of Resurrection City demonstrators; Ralph Abernathy leading the demonstrators from Resurrection City to Capitol Hill, where they were arrested; closing Resurrection City; arranging for cleanup and restoration of the site; the cost of the demonstration; the successes and failures of Resurrection City

Contributor:

Castro, Nash, 1920-

Collection:

LBJ Library Oral Histories

Collection Description:

Go to List of Holdings

Series:

Transcripts of LBJ Library Oral Histories

See Also:

See all online interviews with Nash Castro

Relation:

Go to Interviewee bio page

Rights:

Possibly copyright restricted: see deed at end of transcript for details