The Ripple Effects of Ministry

Douglas of Illinois as being the "greatest of all senators" because of his fierce advocacy
for civil rights causes over the years.
King critiqued both parties' performance on promoting racial equality:
Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic
party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of
the Southern Dixiecrats. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the
blatant hypocrisy of reactionary right wing northern Republicans. And this coalition of
southern Dixiecrats and right wing reactionary northern Republicans defeats every bill
and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.
Although King never publicly supported a political party or candidate for president, in a
letter to a civil rights supporter in October 1956 he said that he was undecided as to
whether he would vote for Adlai Stevenson or Dwight Eisenhower, but that "In the past I
always voted the Democratic ticket." In his autobiography, King says that in 1960 he
privately voted for Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy: "I felt that Kennedy would
make the best president. I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I
never made one." King adds that he likely would have made an exception to his nonendorsement
policy for a second Kennedy term, saying "Had President Kennedy lived, I
would probably have endorsed him in 1964."
In 1964, King urged his supporters "and all people of goodwill" to vote against
Republican Senator Barry Goldwater for president, saying that his election "would be a
tragedy, and certainly suicidal almost, for the nation and the world."
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