Watch an extended interview of Dr. Martin Luther King with David Susskind on his show "Open End" from June 6, 1963. In the interview, Dr. King stresses the importance of President John F. Kennedy to propose civil rights legislation that would eventually be the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Less than a week later, President Kennedy would deliver his Civil Rights Address on June 11, 1963.
In this interview, Dr. King addresses many other issues around the civil rights struggle, including the Birmingham protests, the plans for a March on Washington (which took place on August 28, 1963), the differences between North and South when it comes to race relations, the role of James Baldwin and Malcolm X in civil rights, and much more. Throughout the interview, Susskind questions Dr. King on the viability of nonviolence and its tension with violent resistance. Dr. King sticks to his arguments for militant nonviolence when confronting the racial injustices in the United States.