DANIEL T. MILLER, PhD
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was tragically killed, six people who were leaders made decisions on coping with the event. They were just like you. Their stories are your stories. Their thoughts, actions, and choices then can help make you a better leader for today and tomorrow. Relive their fateful day of April 4, 1968 to gain a unique perspective on your own.
Dr. Daniel T. Miller devotes his life to helping people learn from history. His students are the people who make important decisions every day about work, family, and community. His classrooms are the businesses, organizations, and community associations which define much of American life. His content is the American past, the rich stories that help us know who we are, where we've been, and where we're going. His company, Historical Solutions LLC, has existed since 2004. It can be found on the Internet at www.historicalsolutions.com. Dan lives in Indianapolis with his wife Kelly and their daughter Haley.
It was a dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s. But instead of a world free of bigotry, this time he dreamed of death. On April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King told the crowd at Masonic Temple that he had foreseen his own end. With no notes, nothing written, he was revealing his heart to them.
"I've been to the mountaintop," he cried out, "and I've looked over--and I've se-e-e-e-e-n--the promised land." As the crowd stamped, exhorting him on, they became one with the speaker in a symphony of sound and emotion that filled the church. "I may not get there with ya, but I want ya to know tonight...that we as a people will get to the promised land!"
Outside, thunder growled, lightning flashed, and hanging low were the blackish-green clouds of tornadoes. "So I'm not worried, I'm not fearin' any man--my e-e-y-y-y-e-e-s-s have seen the glory of the comin' of the Lord!"
He collapsed into the arms of friends next to the podium. In less than 24 hours, King would collapse again, this time never to rise again.
The death of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 was an event of enormous importance. His murder ended the life of a man with vision. It was a death that sent chaos into the midst of American cities and strained further the already tense frame of mind of the American people. In a decade that featured more than its share of drama, April 4, 1968 marked an intersection of tragedy, confusion, and peril.
In this book we will examine the effect that King's death had on six people that night. These people were leaders, meaning that they had followers, drawn by power, influence, or both. On the night of April 4, 1968, the six leaders had little in common except being in the same city--Indianapolis, Indiana--and hearing the news that King had been shot. I will extract from the past the story of their night. My purpose is to suggest how each of us might benefit from their experience.
The six leaders were Robert Kennedy, US Senator from New York; Richard Lugar, Mayor of Indianapolis; Dr. Frank Lloyd, Director of Medical Research at Methodist Hospital and specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in Indianapolis; Paul Cantwell, Marion County Commissioner and local Democratic Party official; Carol Olson, night-shift nursing supervisor at Community Hospital in Indianapolis; and Charles "Snooky" Hendricks a local social activist and small-time criminal. They represent a cross-section of American life and leadership.
