¹ AP, “King Holiday Is Linked to a Day of Service,” New York Times, 24 Aug. 1994, B7; King Holiday and Service Act of 1994, H.R. 1933, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess.; Coretta Scott King, “Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Press Conference,” 16 Nov. 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Annual Report 1994, 19, folder 1993 Annual Report, 1994 Annual Report, Box 2, Acc. 97–0005, Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Commission RG 220, National Archives at Atlanta, Morrow, GA (hereafter Holiday Commission Records).

² On the “Drum Major Instinct” sermon see Rose, Justin, The Drum Major Instinct: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Theory of Political Service (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2019)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Miller, Keith D., Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Its Sources (New York: The Free Press, 1992)Google Scholar; Rieder, Jonathan, The Word of the Lord Is upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2008)Google Scholar; Sunnemark, Fredrik, Ring Out Freedom! The Voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Making of the Civil Rights Movement (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

³ King, Martin Luther Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct,” in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr., ed. Washington, James M. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), 259–67, 260, 265, 267Google Scholar.

⁴ King, Coretta Scott, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970), 342Google Scholar; King, Scott with Rev. Dr. Reynolds, Barbara, My Life, My Love, My Legacy (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2017), 168–70Google Scholar.

⁵ James Alexander Jr., “I Have a Dream: King Is Assured of Major Place in World History,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 19 Jan. 1986, S12; Hansen, Drew, The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That Inspired a Nation (New York: Harper Collins, 2003), 207–29Google Scholar.

⁶ On collective memory and the memorialization of the civil rights movement see Romano, Renee C. and Raiford, Leigh, eds., The Civil Rights Movement in American Memory (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2006)Google Scholar; Theoharis, Jeanne, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2018)Google Scholar; Dwyer, Owen J., “Interpreting the Civil Rights Movement: Place, Memory, and Conflict,” Professional Geographer, 52, 4 (2000), 660–71Google Scholar; Dwyer, , “Location, Politics, and the Production of Civil Rights Memorial Landscapes,” Urban Geography, 23, 1 (2002), 31–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Alderman, Derek H., “Street Names and the Scaling of Memory: The Politics of Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr within the African American Community,” in Kirk, John A., ed., Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 232–44Google Scholar; Eskew, Glenn, “Exploring Civil Rights Heritage Tourism and Historical Preservation as Revitalization Tools,” in Sjoquist, David L., ed., Past Trends and Future Prospects of the American City: The Dynamics of Atlanta (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009), 309–27Google Scholar. For an account of black political power used to institutionalize black history in the southern memorial landscape see Brundage, W. Fitzhugh, The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), 270–315CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 301–7.

⁷ “Minutes of the Meeting of the Martin Luther King, Jr, Federal Holiday Commission,” 20 May 1985, 4, folder Committee Meeting/May 1985, Box 1, Acc. 97–0008, Holiday Commission Records; “House Backs Holiday on Dr. King's Birthday,” New York Times, 3 Aug. 1983, 10.

⁸ Hansen, 221.

⁹ Ibid., 219–21.

¹⁰ Jesse Jackson, “Required Reading: On Dr. King's Birthday,” New York Times, 15 Jan. 1986, B10. For more on King and his fight against economic inequality see Laurent, Sylvie, King and the Other America: The Poor People's Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality (Oakland: University of California Press, 2018)Google Scholar; Honey, Michael, To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic Justice (New York: Norton, 2018)Google Scholar.

¹¹ Vincent Harding, “Beyond Amnesia: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Future of America,” Journal of American History, 74 (Sept. 1987), 468–76, 468–69. For more on King and historical amnesia see Taylor Branch, “Uneasy Holiday,” New Republic, 2 Feb. 1986, 22–27, Carson, Clayborne, “Reconstructing the King Legacy: Scholars and National Myths,” in Albert, Peter J. and Hoffman, Ronald, eds., We Shall Overcome: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Black Freedom Struggle (New York: Pantheon Books, 1990), 239–56, 241Google Scholar. For more on King's legacy in collective memory see Kammen, Michael, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Transformation of Tradition in American Culture (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991), 662Google Scholar; Reed, Harry A., “Martin Luther King, Jr.: History and Memory, Reflections on Dreams and Silences,” Journal of Negro History, 84 (Spring 1999), 150–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹³ Cannon, Lou, Reagan (New York: Putnam, 1982), 107, 111Google Scholar; Anthony Lewis, “The Real Reagan,” New York Times, 24 Oct. 1983, 19.

¹⁴ “Reagan Quotes King Speech in Opposing Minority Quotas,” New York Times, 19 Jan. 1986, 20.

¹⁵ Daynes, Gary, Making Villains, Making Heroes: Joseph R. McCarthy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Politics of American Memory (New York: Garland Publishing, 1997), 135–36Google Scholar; Bostdorff, Denise M. and Goldzwig, Steven R., “History, Collective Memory, and the Appropriation of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Reagan's Rhetorical Legacy,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, 35, 4 (Dec. 2005), 661–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a discussion of George H. W. Bush's use of King's legacy see Bothmer, Bernard von, Framing the Sixties: The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2010), 107–12Google Scholar. For more on King's support for affirmative action see King, Martin Luther Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community (New York: Harper and Row, 1967), 193–202Google Scholar.

¹⁶ Jana Weiss aptly suggests that “some of the articles and book chapters dealing with the holiday seem more like indictments than like scholarly works.” Weiss, Jana, “Remember, Celebrate, and Forget? The Martin Luther King Day and the Pitfalls of Civil Religion,” Journal of American Studies, 53, 2 (2019), doi: 10.1017/S0021875817001384, 2–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For work on how King is (mis)remembered see Dyson, 3–8, 283–84; Sitkoff, Harvard, King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop (New York: Hill and Wang, 2008), xi–xivGoogle Scholar; Rose, The Drum Major Instinct, 3–4; Harding, Vincent, Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero (New York: Orbis Books, 2008)Google Scholar; Yanco, Jennifer J., Misremembering Dr. King: Revisiting the Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2014)Google Scholar.

¹⁷ Louis A. Ruprecht, “Cornell West: Do Not ‘Santa-Clausify’ MLK Jr.,” Religion Dispatches, 25 Jan. 2010, at http://religiondispatches.org/cornel-west-do-not-santa-clausify-mlk-jr.

¹⁸ Seay, George Russell Jr., “A Prophet with Honor? The Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and the Making of a National Icon,” in Baldwin, Lewis V. and Burrow, Rufus Jr., eds., The Domestication of Martin Luther King Jr.: Clarence B. Jones, Right-Wing Conservatism and the Manipulation of the King Legacy (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013), 236–60, 255, 260Google Scholar.

¹⁹ Danielle C. Belton, “#ReclaimMLK Seeks to Combat the Sanitizing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy,” The Root, 19 Jan. 2015, at www.theroot.com/reclaimmlk-seeks-to-combat-the-sanitizing-of-martin-lu-1790858510.

²⁰ Weiss, 17, 18.

²¹ Ibid., 21.

²² Dennis, Matthew, Red, White and Blue Letter Days: An American Calendar (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2002), 270–71Google Scholar.

²³ Chappell, David L., Waking from the Dream: The Struggle for Civil Rights in the Shadow of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: Random House, 2014), 92Google Scholar.

²⁴ Von Bothmer, 149; Berlin, Ira, The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations (New York: Viking, 2010), 2Google Scholar.

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²⁶ Wiggins, William H. Jr., O Freedom! (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 134–151Google Scholar. For more on the fight for the holiday see Sokol, Chappell Jason, The Heavens Might Crack: The Death and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. (New York: Basic Books, 2018), 223–53Google Scholar.

²⁷ Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd, “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past,” Journal of American History, 91, 4 (2005), 1233–63, 1263CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For influential studies in the long civil rights movement debate see Cha-Jua, Sundiata Keita and Lang, Clarence, “The ‘Long Movement’ as Vampire: Temporal and Spatial Fallacies in Recent Black Freedom Studies,” Journal of African American History, 92, 2 (2007), 265–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morris, Aldon D., The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change (New York: Free Press, 1984)Google Scholar; Chafe, William H., “The End of One Struggle, the Beginning of Another,” in Eagles, Charles W., ed., The Civil Rights Movement in America (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1986) 127–56Google Scholar; Minchin, Timothy J., “Beyond the Dominant Narrative: The Ongoing Struggle for Civil Rights in the US South, 1968–1980,” Australasian Journal of American Studies, 25, 1 (2006), 65–86Google Scholar; Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth, Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919–1950 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008)Google Scholar; Theoharis, Jeanne and Woodard, Komozi, eds., Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940–1980 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Minchin, Timothy J. and Salmond, John A., After the Dream: Black and White Southerns since 1965 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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²⁹ Ibid., 149–50, 154, 166–67, 177–79, 180, 182–83, 217, 209–10, 220–23, 243–58, 237–43; Eskew, Glenn T., “Coretta Scott King (1927–2006): Legacy to Civil Rights,” in Chirhart, Ann Short and Clark, Kathleen Ann, eds., Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, Volume II (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2014), 344–68, 352–53Google Scholar; Vivian, Octavia, Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006), 122Google Scholar. For more on Scott King see McCarty, Laura T., Coretta Scott King: A Biography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009)Google Scholar; Crawford, Vicki L., “Coretta Scott King and the Struggle for Civil and Human Rights: An Enduring Legacy,” Journal of African American History, 92, 1 (2007), 106–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stein, David P., “‘This Nation Has Never Honestly Dealt with the Question of a Peacetime Economy’: Coretta Scott King and the Struggle for a Nonviolent Economy in the 1970s,” Souls, 18, 1 (2016), 80–105, doi: 10.1080/10999949.2016.1162570, 83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

³⁰ Quote in Scott King, 266–67; Stein, 81, 88–90.

³¹ Scott King, 267–75; Vivian, 124.

³² Chappell, 98.

³³ Scott King, 274.

³⁴ Ibid., 266, quote on 270.

³⁵ Ibid., quote on 226, 274–77; Priscilla Painton, “‘Fly the Flag,’ MLK Day Organizers Urge,” Atlanta Constitution, 29 Oct. 1985, 17.

³⁶ Scott King, 234.

³⁷ Ibid., 279.

³⁸ Marable, Manning, Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction and Beyond in Black America, 1945–2006 (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), 203–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁴⁰ Goldsmith and Blakely, 10.

⁴¹ Ibid., 48.

⁴² Ibid., 9, 46–51.

⁴³ “38 Bodies at the County Morgue Reflect the Diversity of a Torn City,” New York Times, 2 May 1992, A7; “Deaths during the L.A. Riots,” Los Angeles Times, 25 April 2012, http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/la-riots-deaths.

⁴⁴ William J. Clinton (16 July 1992), “Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in New York,” in Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, eds., The American Presidency Project (hereafter APP), at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25958; R. W. Apple Jr., “Riots and Ballots: If Past Is Guide, Turmoil in California May Set Off Powerful Political Forces,” New York Times, 2 May 1992, 2, 9.

⁴⁵ Berman, William C., From the Center to the Edge: The Politics and Policies of the Clinton Presidency (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), 1Google Scholar.

⁴⁶ Carter, Daryl A., Brother Bill: President Clinton and the Politics of Race and Class (Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press, 2016), 21–52, esp. 29–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁴⁷ Berman, William C., America's Right Turn: From Nixon to Clinton (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), 164–68Google Scholar; Courtwright, David T., No Right Turn: Conservative Politics in a Liberal America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 217–29Google Scholar; Clinton, Bill, My Life: Bill Clinton (London: Hutchinson, 2004), 326–27, 365–66, 451–54, 495–97Google Scholar.

⁴⁸ Clinton, My Life, 458–59.

⁴⁹ Ibid., 458–59, 495–97.

⁵⁰ John M. Broder and Paul Richter, “Clinton Decries GOP Assault on National Service Program,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 Jan. 1995, 7; Clinton, My Life, 547.

⁵¹ For Clinton's first year in office see Berman, From the Center to the Edge, 19–33; Berman, America's Right Turn, 164–68; Gillon, Steven M., The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 109–18Google Scholar; Courtwright, 222–28; Chafe, William, The Unfinished Journey: America since World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 495–99Google Scholar.

⁵² Clinton, My Life, 366, 495–96.

⁵³ George H. W. Bush (18 Aug. 1988), “Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention,” APP, at www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25955; von Bothmer, Framing the Sixties, 113–18.

⁵⁴ Gingrich, Newt, To Renew America (New York: Harper, 1996), 76, 78, 79, 111, 113Google Scholar. For more on the conservative support of volunteerism see Bass, Melissa, The Politics and Civics of National Service: Lessons from the Civilian Conservation Corps, VISTA, and AmeriCorps (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2013), 153–54Google Scholar; Konczal, Mike, “The Voluntarism Fantasy,” Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, 32 (Spring 2014)Google Scholar, at https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/32/the-voluntarism-fantasy; Benjamin Soskis, “Republicans Used to Celebrate Voluntarism and Service. What Happened?”, Washington Post, 3 Aug. 2018, at www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/outlook/republicans-used-to-celebrate-volunteerism-and-service-what-happened/2018/08/03/7544bfe4-95bd-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html.

⁵⁵ Clinton, My Life, 547; CNCS, “Our History,” at www.nationalservice.gov/about/who-we-are/our-history.

⁵⁶ Clinton, My Life, 151, 547; Frumkin, Peter and Jastrzab, JoAnn, Serving Country and Community: Who Benefits from National Service? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 29–36, 41–47, 190–97Google Scholar. For an analysis of national community service before the reforms see Moskos, Charles C., A Call to Civic Service: National Service for Country and Community (New York: The Free Press, 1988)Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ Clinton, My Life, 1, 10–13, 35–38, 64.

⁵⁸ Ibid., 37–38.

⁵⁹ Ibid., 897.

⁶⁰ Ibid., 897. For an analysis of Clinton's reference to his “emotional core” see Von Bothmer, 147.

⁶¹ Toni Morrison, “Talk of the Town,” New Yorker, 5 Oct. 1998, 31.

⁶² Carter, Brother Bill, 26.

⁶³ Ibid., 26; David Mills, “Sister Souljah's Call to Arms: The Rapper Says the Riots Were Payback. Are You Paying Attention?”, Washington Post, 13 May, 1992, at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033101709_pf.html.

⁶⁴ Carter, 249.

⁶⁵ Ibid., 39, 111.

⁶⁶ AFDC included cash, health care, food stamps, and housing assistance. Ibid., 192.

⁶⁷ Coretta Scott King to Bill Clinton, 15 March 1993, folder King Center Staff Correspondence (2 of 3) 1993–1994, Box 4, Acc. 97–0003, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁶⁸ Lewis, John and D'Orso, Michael, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998), 135–74, 200–25, 323–47Google Scholar; Garrow, David, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1986), 154–56Google Scholar; “Proceedings, Quarterly Commission Meeting,” 3 May, 1993, 9, folder Quarterly Commission Meeting, May 1993, Box 5, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers; Scott King, My Life, My Love, My Legacy, 223; “Lewis, John,” Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia, at https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/lewis-john; Rice, Gerald T., The Bold Experiment: JFK's Peace Corps (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1985), 36–37Google Scholar; Wofford, Harris, Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992), 11–28Google Scholar; “Wofford, Harris Llewellyn,” Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia, at https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/wofford-harris-llewellyn.

⁶⁹ For a definition of the “classical” civil rights movement see Rustin, Bayard, Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971), 111Google Scholar.

⁷⁰ Seay, “A Prophet With Honor?”, 239.

⁷¹ For scholarship on African American holidays and festivals see White, Shane, “‘It Was a Proud Day’: African Americans, Festivals, and Parades in the North, 1741–1834,” Journal of American History, 81, 1 (1994), 13–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kauchun, Mitch, Festivals of Freedom: Memory and Meaning in African American Emancipation Celebrations, 1808–1915 (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003)Google Scholar; Fabre, Genevieve, “African-American Commemorative Celebrations in the Nineteenth Century,” in Fabre, Genevieve and O'Meally, Robert, eds., History and Memory in African-American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 72–91Google Scholar; Clark, Kathleen, “Celebrating Freedom: Emancipation Day Celebrations and African American Memory in the Early Reconstruction South,” in Brundage, W. Fitzhugh, ed., Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory and Southern Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 107–32Google Scholar; Mayes, Keith A., Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷² Dennis, Red, White and Blue Letter Days, 258.

⁷³ US Congress, House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, Designation of the Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. as a Legal Holiday: Report Together with Minority Views, 96 Cong., 1 sess., 23 Oct. 1979, 2.

⁷⁴ The BNA is a nongovernment organization that collects business information. Peter Applebome, “Broader Acceptance Sought for King Holiday,” New York Times, 16 Jan. 1994, 18.

⁷⁵ Ibid.; The 1990 Annual Report of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, 43, folder 1989 Annual Report, 1990 Annual Report, Box 2, Acc 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁷⁶ “Commission Meeting,” 16 March 16, 1993, 52–53, folder Federal Holiday Commission Meeting, March 1993, Box 5, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers. The commission found similar results in 1994. “Commission/Corporation Meeting,” 9 June 1994, 82–84, folder Commission/Corporation Meeting, Transcript of Proceedings, June 1994, Box 6, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁷⁷ “Report of Proceedings: Executive Committee Meeting,” 5 Feb. 1987, 47, folder Executive Committee Meeting: Report of Proceedings, Box 3, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers; “Minutes of Federal Holiday Nominating Committee Meeting,” 9 Nov. 1984, 6, folder Nominations Committee, Box 10, Acc. 97–0026, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁷⁸ For evidence of Davis as a Republican see Lloyd Davis to Robert H. Michel, 13 March 1989, folder Coretta Scott King: Outgoing, March 1989, Box 4, Acc. 97–0020, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁷⁹ Dick Buerkle and Amy Wallace, “Martin Luther King Day, 200,000 Watch King Day Parade despite the Rain,” Atlanta Journal, 19 Jan. 1988, 6.

⁸⁰ Mayes, 208.

⁸¹ Ibid., 209.

⁸² Dennis, Red, White and Blue Letter Days, 267–68.

⁸³ Richard Matthews, “The MLK Holiday: Who Really Needs It the Most?”, Atlanta Journal, 3 Jan. 1991, 8.

⁸⁴ Sokol, The Heavens Might Crack, 246.

⁸⁵ Ibid., 246–50; Alozie, Nicholas O., “Political Tolerance Hypotheses and White Opposition to a Martin Luther King Holiday in Arizona,” Social Science Journal, 32, 1 (1995), 1–16, 2Google Scholar.

⁸⁶ Carol Morello, “Out of the Confederacy's Shadow: Va's New King Day a Symbolic Leap,” Washington Post, 15 Jan. 2001, 1.

⁸⁷ On the Lee tradition see Cobb, James C., Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 58, 84, 307Google Scholar; Nolan, Alan T., Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 3–8Google Scholar; Connelly, Thomas L. The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977), 3–4, 27–140Google Scholar.

⁸⁸ Rick Bragg, “King, Lee Followers Will Share a Holiday,” Birmingham News, 18 Jan. 1986, 1, 8.

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ Hunter James, “Racists March to Protest Day Honoring King,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 19 Jan. 1986, 20.

⁹¹ Applebome, “Broader Acceptance Sought for King Holiday,” 1; John Blake, “King Day Short of the Mountaintop: Advocates Worry Jan. 17 Seen as ‘Black Holiday’,” Atlanta Constitution, 7 Jan. 1994, 1.

⁹² Applebome, 18.

⁹³ Ibid., 1.

⁹⁴ Coretta Scott King, “Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Press Conference,” 16 Nov. 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Annual Report 1994, 19–20.

⁹⁵ Ibid., 20.

⁹⁶ Ibid., 21.

⁹⁷ Coretta Scott King to Bill Clinton, 15 March 1993, folder King Center Staff Correspondence (2 of 3) 1993–1994, box 4, Acc. 97–0003, Holiday Commission Papers.

⁹⁸ Ibid.

⁹⁹ Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday Commission Extension Act (1989) 101st Cong., 1st sess.; Congressional support had been high since 1979, when the House initially voted for the holiday. Congressional Record, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 5 Dec. 1979, H11565–82.

¹⁰⁰ Applebome, 1, 18; William Raspberry, “King's Day,” Washington Post, 17 Jan. 1994, 23.

¹⁰¹ Scott King, “Commission Press Conference,” 16 Nov. 1993, 19.

¹⁰² US Congress, House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, Oversight Hearing to Review the Activities of Federal Holiday and Commemorative Commissions, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., 16 March 1993, 1–31; US Congress, House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993: Report Together with Minority Views, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 3 Feb. 1994, 14–15.

¹⁰³ Berman, America's Right Turn, 174.

¹⁰⁴ Newt Gingrich to Coretta Scott King, 30 Nov. 1993, folder King Center Staff Correspondence (2 of 3), Box 4, Acc. 97–0003, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁰⁵ Ibid.

¹⁰⁶ John Linder to Coretta Scott King, 15 Sept. 1993, folder King Center Staff Correspondence (2 of 3), Box 4, Acc. 97–0003, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁰⁷ Lloyd Davis, “‘Behind the Scenes’ Report of the Staff Vice President for Government and International Affairs,” 25 April 1986, 2, folder Board of Directors Meeting, Behind the Scenes, Box 1, Acc. 97–0016, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁰⁸ Editorial, “Perpetuating Dr. King's legacy,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 19 March 1993, 12.

¹⁰⁹ Coretta Scott King, “King Panel Is an Investment in Non-violence,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 16 April 1993, 11.

¹¹⁰ Editorial, “Dr. King, Peaceful Disturber,” New York Times, 18 Jan. 1993, 16.

¹¹¹ Ibid., 16.

¹¹² “Implementing the Act Establishing the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission,” Dec. 1984, 1–2, folder Legislative Mandate-Dec. 1984, Box 1, Acc. 97-0008, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹¹³ “Goals and Objectives, Draft for 1991–1994,” 12, folder Governance, Goals–Objectives 1991–1994 “Draft,” Box 1, Acc. 97–0001, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹¹⁴ For accounts of Wofford's unexpected election victory and the issues he campaigned on see Katharine Seelye, “The Climax of a Campaign Full of Surprises: Replacing Heinz Turned Out to Be a Race, Not a Walk,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 Nov. 1991, 1, 12; Claude Lewis, “Wofford Has Taken the Initiative in the U.S. Senate Race,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 Nov. 1991, 9; Katharine Seelye, “Wofford Chosen for Heinz Seat,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 May 1991, 1, 10; Alexis Moore, “Wofford Sworn In as U.S. Senator,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 10 May 1991, 2; Katharine Seelye, “Wofford Stuns Thornburgh: Sends a Message to DC,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 Nov. 1991, 1; Hacker, Jacob S., The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997)Google Scholar. Wofford nonetheless had long been a supporter of a public corporation dedicated to national service. Wofford, Harris and Eberly, Donald J., “Administrative Issues,” in Sherraden, Michael W. and Eberly, Donald J., eds., National Service: Social, Economic and Military Impacts (New York: Pergamon Press, 1982), 115–21Google Scholar.

¹¹⁵ “Strategic Plan, 1994–1999,” 1, folder Strategic Plan 1994–1999, Box 3, Acc. 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹¹⁶ Ibid., 1.

¹¹⁷ “Commission Meeting,” 16 March 1993, 20–24 (quotes on 21), folder Federal Holiday Commission Meeting, March 1993, Box 5, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹¹⁸ “Proceedings, Quarterly Commission Meeting,” 3 May 1993, 20–27, quote on 23.

¹¹⁹ Ibid., 26–27; Democratic Policy Committee, “DPC Legislative Bulletin: H.R. 1933, King Holiday and Service Act of 1994,” 23 May 1994, 2, 5, folder Governance, By Laws and Legislation: Memos and Correspondences (1 of 4), Box 1, Acc. 97–0001, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹²⁰ US Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 13 Apr. 13, 1994 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1995), 10.

¹²¹ Lewis introduced the House version (H.R.1933) on 29 April 1993, ibid., 10–11. Wofford introduced the King Holiday and Service Act of 1993 (S.774) to the Senate on 3 April 1993.

¹²² Harris Wofford, “A Day ‘On’, Not a Day Off,” Washington Post, 16 Jan. 1994, C7.

¹²³ Ibid.; Editorial, “The King Holiday, 10 Years Later,” Washington Post, 17 Jan. 1994, 22.

¹²⁴ Bill Clinton to Harris Wofford, 17 Jan. 1994, Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 13.

¹²⁵ Garrow, David, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (New York: William Morrow and Company, 1986), 459–60, 575–624Google Scholar.

¹²⁶ Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 10–11.

¹²⁷ Ibid., 10.

¹²⁸ Ibid., 10.

¹²⁹ Jack Kemp, Debate on the Designation of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., as a Legal Public Holiday, 98th Cong., 1st sess., 2 Aug. 1983, 22229–30; Charles Mathias, ibid., 28074.

¹³⁰ Moseley-Braun, Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 1–2.

¹³¹ William S. Cohen, Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 8; Office of Policy Planning and Research, US Department of Labor, “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action” (March 1965), 34–39, in Rainwater, Lee and Yancey, William L., eds., The Moynihan Report and the Politics of Controversy (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1967), 80–86Google Scholar.

¹³² Harris Wofford, Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 12.

¹³³ Ibid., 11.

¹³⁴ Polletta, Francesca, “Legacies and Liabilities of an Insurgent Past: Remembering Martin Luther King. Jr., on the House and Senate Floor,” in Olick, Jeffery K., ed., States of Memory: Continuities, Conflicts and Transformations in National Retrospection (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003), 193–226, 210–11Google Scholar.

¹³⁵ “Proceedings, Quarterly Commission Meeting,” 3 May 1993, 23–30, 63–67.

¹³⁶ Coretta Scott King, Committee on the Judiciary, King Holiday and Service Act of 1993, 18.

¹³⁷ Ibid., 19.

¹³⁸ Ibid., 17.

¹³⁹ Coretta Scott King, “Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Press Conference,” 16 Nov. 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Annual Report 1994, 19.

¹⁴⁰ Helms, Congressional Record–Senate, 98th Cong., 1st sess., Vol. 129, Pt. 20, 18 Oct. 1983, 28069–70; Chappell, Waking From the Dream, 115–19; Sokol, The Heavens Might Crack, 229; Hansen, The Dream, 215–16.

¹⁴¹ Helms, Congressional Record, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 23–24 May 1994, S6166–70, S6175–76, S6240.

¹⁴² Editorial, “A Tribute Befitting King,” Atlanta Constitution, 25 May 1995, 18.

¹⁴³ Congressional Record, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 23–24 May 1994, S6166–70, S6175–76, S6240.

¹⁴⁴ Ibid., S6244; Living the Dream, 1 (Summer 1994), folder Living the Dream Newsletter 1987–1994, Box 1, Acc. 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers; King Holiday and Service Act of 1994, sec. 2; Adam Bernstein, “Democratic Campaign Chief Eli Segal,” Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2006, at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001336.

¹⁴⁵ Congressional Record, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess., 23–24 May 1994, S6166–70, S6175–76, S6240.

¹⁴⁶ Act to Establish a Commission to Assist in the First Observance of the Federal Legal Holiday Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., Public Law 98–399, 98th Cong., 2nd sess. (27 Aug. 1984), 1.

¹⁴⁷ King Holiday and Service Act of 1994, H.R. 1933, 103rd Cong., 2nd sess. sec. 3, 2.

¹⁴⁸ “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 6 Oct. 1994, 29. For a description of Kimberly as chair of the Service Committee see Richard H. Kimberly to Coretta Scott King, 20 Dec. 1993, folder State/Local Commission Files 1989–1995, District of Columbia, Box 2, Acc. 97–0025; Kimberly was director of federal government relations at Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission Annual Report 1994, 4.

¹⁴⁹ Richard H. Kimberly, “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 6 Oct. 1994, 27–29.

¹⁵⁰ Ibid., 42–43.

¹⁵¹ Daniel Goodwin, “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 6 Oct. 1994, 36–37. For a description of Goodwin see “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 6 Oct. 1994, 2.

¹⁵² “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 6 Oct. 1994, 27–29, 32–33, 42–43, folder Transcript of Proceedings, Oct. 1994, Box 6, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁵³ Fleming, Daniel T., “‘I Have a Copyright’: The Privatization of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream,” Journal of African American History, 103, 3 (Summer 2018), 369–401, 378–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kevin Sack, “Sheen of the King Legacy Dims on New, More Profitable Path,” New York Times, 19 Aug. 1997, 1, 18; “Dexter King Installed,” Los Angeles Sentinel, 12 Jan. 1995, 15; Hollis R. Towns, “‘Tasteful’ Marketing of MLK: Heirs Agree to License the Words, Image of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4 Feb. 1996, G6; Dexter Scott King to Lloyd Davis, 17 Oct. 1994, folder Dexter S. King–King Center CEO, King Center Press Releases, Oct. 1994–Jan. 1995, Box 4, Acc. 97–0002, Holiday Commission Papers; Cynthia Tucker, “Worldly Pressures Threaten MLK Legacy,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 14 Jan. 1996, C7.

¹⁵⁴ Lloyd Davis, “Remarks by Lloyd Davis,” 6 Jan. 1994, 5, folder Remarks by Lloyd Davis, January 1994, Box 2, Acc. 97–0016, Holiday Commission Papers (the year printed on the document is 1994; however, that is likely an error as Davis refered to the imminent 1995 King Day in his text).

¹⁵⁵ Bill Darnell “Marketing Campaign,” 7 April 1994, 1, folder Marketing Campaign, Box 2, Acc. 97–0015, Holiday Commission Papers; King Commission, Annual Report 1996, 12–17, folder 1996 Annual Report on the MLK Jr. Holiday Commission, Box 3, Acc. 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁵⁶ King Commission, 1995 Annual Report, 2, 15, folder 1995 Annual Report, Box 2, Acc. 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers; “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 19 March 1996, 10–13, folder Quarterly Commission/Corporation Meeting, Transcript of Proceedings, Box 8, Acc. 97–0023, Holiday Commission Papers.

¹⁵⁷ Editorial, “King's Legacy, in His Own Words,” Atlanta Constitution, 15 Jan. 1995, 10; Dianna Marder, “Gore Salutes Those Who Honor Dr. King,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 Jan. 1995, 7.

¹⁵⁸ Editorial, “Volunteers for America,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 14 Jan. 1996, A14.

¹⁵⁹ Dennis, Red, White and Blue Letter Days, 270–71.

¹⁶⁰ B. Eric D. Taylor, “Community Service: Agency Makes Open Call for Arms, King Legacy Included Volunteering, Says Hands On Atlanta,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 16 Jan. 1997, D3.

¹⁶¹ Paula Schwed, “Building a Hands-On-Holiday, We Honor King by Improving City, Volunteers Say,” Atlanta Journal, 10 Jan. 1997, E1.

¹⁶² Editorial, “Service Day with a Smile,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 Jan. 1997, 10.

¹⁶³ Ibid., 10.

¹⁶⁴ Kevin Merida, “Dream Resounds as President, King Converge; Americans Ponder Whether Ceremony Overlap Represents Eclipse or Alignment,” Washington Post, 21 Jan. 1997, 13.

¹⁶⁵ Dan Balz, “Party Controls Both Houses for First Time since ’50s,” Washington Post, 9 Nov. 1994, A1; Helen Dewar and Bill McAllister, “Resurgent Republicans Take Control,” ibid., 21.

¹⁶⁶ Broder and Richter, “Clinton Decries GOP Assault,” 7.

¹⁶⁷ “King Holiday Commission Votes to Disband in ’96,” Atlanta Daily World, 28 May 1995, 1, 8; Cynthia Tucker, “Worldly Pressures Threaten MLK Legacy,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 14 Jan. 1996, C7; Fleming, “I Have a Copyright,” 379–94.

¹⁶⁸ Bill Clinton et al., “Remarks by President Bill Clinton, President George Bush, President Jimmy Carter, President Gerald Ford, General Colin Powell, Mrs. Nancy Reagan, and Vice President Al Gore” (28 April 1997), at http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/New/Summit/Opening-day2.

¹⁶⁹ Yusuf Davis, “King Holiday's Not for Slackers,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8 Jan. 1998, D1.

¹⁷⁰ Ibid., D1.

¹⁷¹ Will Anderson, “Gore Visits Draw Holiday Crowds: Hands On Is AmeriCorps Success,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, 20 Jan. 1998, D2; Michael Powell and Scott Wilson, “On King Day, Diverse Celebrations,” Washington Post, 20 Jan. 1998, B1; quote from James Bennet, “Clinton Seeks Additional Money to Enforce Civil Rights Laws,” New York Times, 20 Jan. 1998, B6. For more on the national dialogue on race see Lawson, Steven F., “Introduction,” in Lawson, ed., One America in the Twenty-First Century (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), xv–xxxviiiGoogle Scholar; Clinton, My Life, 757–58.

¹⁷² King Commission, Living the Dream (Aug. 1996), 1–2, folder Living the Dream Newsletter 1992–1996, Box 1, Acc. 97–0005, Holiday Commission Papers; Commission, Annual Report 1996, 12; “Proceedings, Commission Meeting,” 19 March 1996, 10–13; Davis, “Remarks by Lloyd Davis,” 8.

¹⁷³ Shelia Poole, “King Day Becomes Holiday for More Workers, but Not All,” Atlanta Journal, 16 Jan. 1998, D1; Gary Pomerantz, “Keeping the Dream Alive: Holiday Panel Fades, Bickering Marks the End of Its Efforts,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 13 Jan. 1996, C2; “Three in Ten Organizations Will Close for Business on Martin Luther King Day,” Bloomberg BNA, 12 Jan. 2011, at http://www.bna.com/three-ten-organizations-pr5072.

¹⁷⁴ Michael Paulson, “Dr King's Birthday Highlights Divisions Instead of Dream,” Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Jan. 2015, 10; Jeff Gammage, Aubrey Whelan, and Matt Gelb, “2 Visions of King's Legacy: March Asserts His Message of Resistance as Others Work to Quietly Address Problems,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 20 Jan. 2015, 1, 23.

¹⁷⁵ Joe Heim, “Recounting a Day of Rage, Hate, Violence and Death,” Washington Post, 14 Aug. 2017, at www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/charlottesville-timeline.