Chapter 323: The Death Of Martin Luther King
Robert Kennedy, compared to John Kennedy, Lin Ran had not dealt with him much.
In Lin Ran’s impression, his knowledge of this man was mostly limited to the fact that he was President Kennedy’s brother, rather than the Attorney General.
Therefore, when Lin Ran met Robert Kennedy in Huntsville City, this politician, who was only forty-three years old, was completely different from the one in his memory.
Lin Ran could feel that the other man was full of worries inside, as if he was not living for himself.
(Lyndon Johnson and Robert Kennedy meet in the White House)
He could understand this, after all, first his older brother Joseph Kennedy Jr. died, then his brother President Kennedy died, including the appearance of V, and the White House’s firm claim that there was no conspiracy behind Kennedy’s death, all of which caused Robert Kennedy extreme pain.
Robert Kennedy realized that only if he became president and could mobilize the national machine would he have a chance to uncover the truth behind Kennedy’s death and find out who V was.
Opportunities had never arisen in the past, but now, with Lyndon Johnson’s decision-making mistake, an opportunity had appeared in his view.
But unfortunately, the window of opportunity was only a short more than a month, and Lin Ran, the most outstanding talent his brother had excavated, helped Lyndon Johnson make up for the mistaken decision, and the war was about to come to an end.
The most attractive part of his campaign slogan had lost its effect.
Relying only on African, Hispanic, and Catholic voters, could he really defeat Lyndon Johnson in the party primary? And then he still needed to defeat the candidate from the Elephant Party; the road to the White House was so difficult.
But if he could pull Lin Ran into his campaign team, Robert Kennedy believed it would turn the road to the White House into a smooth path.
This was also what his father, old Joseph Kennedy, meant, asking him to strive for Lin Ran’s support.
Old Joseph Kennedy was the former Ambassador to England of America (1938-1940), Chairman of the America Securities and Exchange Commission, a real power-holding bureaucrat.
At the time node in 1938 when World War II was about to begin, the position of Ambassador to England of America was more important than ever.
“Professor, I need your support,” Robert Kennedy said. “I hope you can serve as my campaign consultant.”
The consultant position is big if you say it is, small if you say it is.
The power of this position depends on who holds it; if Lin Ran took this position, he would definitely be able to decide many things, from campaign strategy to target groups, even to campaign speeches.
Lin Ran remained noncommittal and did not answer.
Robert Kennedy continued, “Professor, if I can enter the White House, I will push for America to establish diplomatic relations with China, and at the same time, I will let you serve as the first Ambassador to China after the establishment of diplomatic relations, if you are willing.”
Lin Ran remained expressionless; he was not interested in this position, nor was he interested in returning to Yanjing at this point in time.
With the existence of the gate, such conditions were not enough to move him.
Robert Kennedy did not waver. “If my campaign fails, then I will hand over the New York State Senator position to you, and I will do my utmost to help you become a Senator of New York State.”
This meant Lin Ran would have to compete with Fred.
Fred, as a Congressman of New York State, had always been eyeing the Senator position covetously.
He was not sure he could be elected president, but he was fully confident about the Senator position.
After hearing this, Lin Ran grinned. “You don’t like Fred either?”
Robert smiled wryly. “No Donkey Party member likes Fred. I once said that President Johnson was mean, sharp-tongued, vicious — an animal in many ways.
But after seeing Fred, sorry, I have to apologize to President Johnson, because a Congressman who is even more like an animal has appeared.”
Robert called Johnson an animal, and Johnson called Robert a little dwarf.
In the 1964 presidential election, Gallup public opinion polls showed that Robert Kennedy was the vice presidential choice of 47% of Donkey Party voters, ranking first; second place had only 18%, and the final vice presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey ranked third, with only 10% of Donkey Party voters supporting him.
Even with so many Donkey Party voters supporting Robert and his overwhelming advantage, Johnson ultimately chose Humphrey.
The contradiction between Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson was so obvious.
Lin Ran laughed loudly. “What about big T?” he then asked.
Robert Kennedy replied without thinking, “An animal who likes to wear suits.”
This made Lin Ran burst into laughter. He felt a bit regretful that social media had to come out soon; he couldn’t wait to see these Cold War era politicians trash-talking each other on social media.
Nixon bickering with Leonard in the White House, how interesting that would be, and Nikita vacationing in the Black Sea could chime in with some sarcasm.
De Gaulle hadn’t died yet either; everyone could chat a bit.
“Robert, you’re interesting, but I still have to refuse you. I’m not interested in this position, and I don’t want to take sides prematurely, because I’m not interested in any position except those at NASA,” Lin Ran said.
Robert’s face looked a bit unpleasant; he hadn’t expected that establishing diplomatic relations and the first Ambassador to China position couldn’t move Lin Ran.
Robert Kennedy came full of excitement and left disappointed.
Not long after Robert left, Nixon also came.
The meeting time Nixon arranged with Lin Ran was on April 5.
April 2 was the Elephant Party primary in Wisconsin; Nixon won this primary with a slight advantage, 49% of the vote, defeating Fred T’s 40% and Ronald Reagan’s 11%.
He won, but not by much.
However, soon a black swan event broke everything’s balance.
That was Martin Luther King’s death on April 4; his death profoundly broke all balance.
Whether in the original spacetime or this spacetime.
In the original spacetime, if Martin Luther King hadn’t died, Nixon probably wouldn’t have beaten Hubert Humphrey.
Because Martin Luther King’s death caused an unprecedented wave of protests in the black community; the White House controlled by the Donkey Party deployed the National Guard to suppress the riots, which caused a large number of black voters not to turn out to vote.
The Lorraine Motel was located at the corner of Mulberry Street, this simple two-story building known in the local black community for its blue-and-white sign and iron balcony.
Martin Luther King stayed here for several days to make the strike effective.
The striking sanitation workers were mostly black and had been on strike for weeks, demanding higher salaries and better working conditions.
The current weekly salary of only 22 US dollars made it hard for them to make ends meet.
Martin Luther King’s arrival injected hope into them; he planned to lead a peaceful march.
In this spacetime, the social movement environment for Martin Luther King was much looser because Hoover was restricted by the Kremlin and didn’t send anyone to follow Martin Luther King at all.
The reports provided by the BI to the White House showed they had been following Martin Luther King to ensure his movement stayed within controllable limits, but in reality, Hoover’s reports to the Kremlin showed they had not tracked or surveilled Martin Luther King’s activities.
In the afternoon, Martin Luther King rested in room 237 of the motel.
For people in the mathematics community, this was the prime number room that brought them inspiration, and for ordinary people, this was the professor’s door number that brought good luck.
His team gathered around: Priest Ralph Abernathy, his close assistant Andrew Young, young civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, and the strike organizer, busy arranging the evening rally.
After resting, Martin Luther King walked out of the room and discussed the evening speech at Mason Temple with his team members; he planned to theme it “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” to inspire the crowd to persist in the strike.
Around 6 p.m., King walked out of the room and stood on the second-floor balcony.
The sun was setting, elongating the motel’s shadow; the Bethseda boarding house across the street was inconspicuous in the dusk, with one bathroom window open unnoticed.
Martin Luther King leaned on the railing, chatting with his team below.
In that instant, a sharp gunshot tore through the quiet.
The bullet shot from the bathroom window of the opposite boarding house, striking his right jaw and neck, tearing the artery and spinal cord.
Martin Luther King’s body was hit and fell backward, blood quickly staining the iron railing and concrete floor of the balcony.
The team below was stunned for a moment, then screams and chaos erupted.
Abernathy rushed up to the balcony, knelt beside King, trying to stop the bleeding: “Dr. King, hold on! God, no!”
Martin Luther King’s eyes were half-open, murmuring something, but his voice was already weak.
His thoughts flashed like movie clips: Is this the end?
Ever since seeing President Kennedy’s death on television, he had always had a premonition that he would meet the same fate.
Because the mountain peak nation never belonged to black people, nor to those striving for racial equality.
Those dreams — equality, justice, nonviolence — would they all go with me?
Blood surged from the wound, and he felt a strange calm.
A surge of strength erupted in his heart; his voice went from weak to clear: “Invite the professor to give a speech at my funeral!”
The team members around him all clearly heard his final request; while others hesitated, Abernathy directly said, “Dr. King, you won’t die like this! If you really sacrifice, I will definitely do it!”
Martin Luther King nodded, closed his eyes, and conserved his strength.
Andrew Young murmured, “I saw V!”
Jesse Jackson doubted if he heard correctly: “Who did you say?”
Andrew Young’s tone became firm this time: “V! The V who filmed the entire Kennedy assassination, his mask appeared across the street!”
After Andrew Young spoke, everyone was shocked; Abernathy was still tending to Martin Luther King, and Jesse Jackson rushed to the balcony to look out, but couldn’t see clearly in the dusk.
He could only see a car starting up.
Inside the boarding house, the assassin James Earl Ray quickly fled; he discarded the rifle barrel, got into the car, and prepared to escape to the Maple Leaf Country.
“I saw a car, don’t know if it was the killer or V!” Jesse Jackson said.
In the chaos, the motel manager Lorraine Bailey called for an ambulance.
Martin Luther King was quickly carried on a stretcher and sent to nearby St. Joseph Hospital.
The hospital emergency room was brightly lit, doctors bustling around the operating table: the bullet had torn the jugular vein and trachea, excessive blood loss leading to shock.
The attending doctor tried to repair the wound, but Martin Luther King’s blood pressure dropped sharply.
At 7:05 p.m., the doctor announced his death.
The team members wept in the corridor.
The news spread like wildfire.
Lyndon Johnson mourned in a White House television address: “America has lost a great leader.”
The nation had fallen into riots: Washington D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, and over 100 other cities erupted in unrest, with anger in black communities erupting like volcanoes.
Buildings burned, the National Guard was deployed, causing dozens of deaths and thousands injured.
Amid the unrest, Lin Ran met Nixon in Huntsville.
When only Lin Ran and Nixon were present, Nixon did not feign the sadness he showed to reporters outside; he was only calm.
He felt nothing about Martin Luther King’s death, as if an insignificant character had died.
Don’t expect the Elephant Party’s presidential candidate to have any goodwill toward black people.
Fred put his contempt for black people out in the open, and Nixon was no better.
In his call with Reagan, he directly called Africans monkeys.
In terms of racial discrimination, Wallace > Fred > Nixon.
After all, Fred wouldn’t refuse to do business with someone just because they were black, nor did he pull stunts like no blacks allowed in his own apartment, so he was still a bit better than Wallace in this regard.
Lin Ran was equally calm: “Vice President Nixon, congratulations, Vice will soon be removed.”
As a Chinese person who received traditional Chinese education, he really found it hard to empathize with the historical event of Martin Luther King’s death; the faint sadness in his heart was because they were friends, not because the other was Martin Luther King.
He appeared at the scene, filmed decisive evidence proving there was another killer besides James Earl Ray, and finding the real culprit was, in Lin Ran’s view, the best comfort for Martin Luther King.
Seeing that Lin Ran was not saddened by Martin Luther King’s death, Nixon began to smile: “Professor, I hope so. I can’t wait to work with you.
We can lead America to victory!”
Lin Ran thought to himself, indeed, to some extent, Americans could win because Nixon caused the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement, stubbornly decoupling the US dollar from gold, giving America’s health bar a huge boost out of thin air, and grinding the Soviet Union to death.
What Nixon said wasn’t bragging.
“Aren’t you worried about Fred and Lyndon Johnson?” Lin Ran asked.
Nixon shook his head: “Everyone likes watching clowns doesn’t mean they’ll really vote a clown into the White House.”
