Audio and transcripts posted today on the website of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia depict two urgent phone conversations between President Lyndon Johnson and Mayor Richard J. Daley on April 6, 1968, after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The civil rights leader's death sparked rioting in Chicago and other major cities, and Daley asked the president to send federal troops. The two refer to Illinois' Samuel Shapiro as governor. In fact, he was lieutenant governor and was serving as acting governor while Gov. Otto Kerner was out of state.
First conversation:
Operator: There you are.
President Johnson: Hello?
Richard Daley: Mr. President?
President Johnson: Yes, Dick ?
Daley: We're in trouble. We need some help.
President Johnson: Yes. I was afraid of that.
Daley: Yes. It's starting to break down in different places.
President Johnson: Yeah.
Daley: And we just met with our people, and they felt that we should try to get some federal assistance. I've talked to [Illinois Lieutenant] Governor [Samuel H.] Shapiro, and he's ready to do anything and everything, so we needed help as soon as we can get it.
President Johnson: All right. First thing you ought to do is talk to the Attorney General [Ramsey Clark] and see what kind of finding his legislature's got to make. In the meantime, we'll -- I've talked to the Attorney General. I told him I'd call early this morning and told you, because they have to move from California, you see?
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: They won't do any good tonight.
Daley: Mm-hmm. Well, we--
President Johnson: That's why--
Daley: --hope to get them in tonight if we can.
President Johnson: Well--
Daley: Where is Ramsey tonight?
President Johnson: He's right here at the Department of Justice, and I'll switch you over there now, and you can talk to him. But the Governor has to -- [unclear comment by Daley] You know the finding they have to make? [Unclear comment by Daley] They have to make a finding in the state that you've used all your [National] Guard, that you've used all your facilities, that you're unable to take care of the situation--
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: --and therefore, you ask for federal troops.
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: Then he has to make a finding for the President. The President has to issue an order. That is to keep a President from doing it except for at the instance [sic: insistence] of local officials.
Daley: I see.
President Johnson: [with Daley acknowledging] That's what I anticipated this morning, and I knew dark was coming, and I knew if we thought we'd rather have them, they ought to be moving.
Daley: Well, these fellows kept saying to you, you know, which they will, but now this--we had a meeting [unclear]--
President Johnson: That's what they did to me yesterday and I just cried.
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: I chewed--I ate my fingernails off and I finally ordered the men on my own while a mayor couldn't make up his mind. And we got them in, but they got big headlines here. Here's the--"Too Little, Too Late?"
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: "Long Stretches of the Capital Laid to Waste. What it Cost: 690 Injured, 299 Fires." So, what we'll do is we'll--we will have [acting] Governor Shapiro call Ramsey and I'll have Ramsey alert to the call. He'll be waiting for it.
Daley: All right.
President Johnson: Just tell him to call the White House, and they'll connect him. That's number--
Daley: I see.
President Johnson: Just tell him to ask for the White House in Washington. They'll connect him. He'll tell him exactly what kind of wire to send. He'll--ask him to dictate it--
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: And then, in the meantime, I'll see where he can find the troops and how many. Do you know how many they want?
Daley: At least 3,000.
President Johnson: Yeah, well, you better say 5[,000].
Daley: Yeah. I think we need 5[,000].
President Johnson: I would tell him--
Daley: Fine.
President Johnson: --what you're do, and we'll be right back to you, Dick.
Daley: I'll have Shapiro call Ramsey--
President Johnson: That's right.
Daley: --through the White House.
President Johnson: That's right. Thanks.
Daley: Thanks, Mr. President--
President Johnson: Right.
Here is the transcript of the second conversation:
Operator: Hello?
President Johnson: Yes?
Operator: Can you hear on here [unclear]?
President Johnson: Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.
Richard Daley: Hello?
President Johnson: Mayor?
Daley: Yes, sir?
President Johnson: Did you get Shapiro?
Daley: Yes.
President Johnson: Is he calling you?
Daley: Yeah. He's calling Ramsey now.
President Johnson: All right. We--I told Ramsey to go ahead, even before he got the call. We won't make a record of it.
Daley: All right.
President Johnson: But just to tell him--tell them to put the planes in the air just as soon as he can.
Daley: Right.
President Johnson: Now, it looks like that you won't get much help until a pretty late hour, midnight until daylight--
Daley: Right.
President Johnson: --and it's hard to get them deployed, but they'll be moved. I told him this morning, just keep them [unclear] with the motors running until we got the request. I wanted to move them in to Kansas City, but Attorney General--or some joint place--
Daley: Yeah.
President Johnson: But they'll be ready now, [unclear comment by Daley] and they'll be in the air very shortly, and then as soon as we--Shapiro ought to make his call and get his wire down here just as quick as he can to--
Daley: He'll get it. Don't worry about that.
President Johnson: --to the Attorney General, and you--
Daley: They'll be under way then, Mr. President?
President Johnson: Yes, sir. They're on the way now.
Daley: All right. Thank you.
President Johnson: They've already been called and told to go.
Daley: All right. Thank you.
President Johnson: OK.
--Staff report
Chicago Tribune
