I argue that Martin’s agitative rhetoric served to mobilize certain sections of the African American community to become involved in politics and the political process beyond the act of voting. This core message never changed although the times in which Martin worked certainly did. Martin believed that the vote and the dollar were tools the community could use to make its force felt, and he emphasized this throughout his speeches, regardless of the era in which he was speaking. Ultimately, Martin’s goal was to make equality for all Americans a reality. To reach this goal, he felt the government should more closely reflect the people it purports to represent— Whites, Blacks, “Browns,”139 “yellow people,”140 and other groups, particularly Jewish people. This goal was met with varying levels of success across a span of sixty years. So while my chapters are arranged chronologically to illustrate the evolution of Martin’s thoughts, there is also attention to the concepts he consistently invokes throughout his writings, and how he articulates those concepts to his various audiences. The following chapters are arranged as follows.
Chapter two begins with a brief evaluation of Martin’s work and words as he was beginning his career as a journalist in the 1930s and his later involvement with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1944 campaign. Then, I transition to his work with Kennedy as candidate and president, as well as his work with the DNC. Louis Martin was not part of the official Kennedy administration though he certainly worked extensively with others in the Kennedy White House and Justice Department. Given his training as a journalist for African American publications, the
139 See, for example, his editorial called “Browns, Blacks Need Each Other,” Chicago Defender 02 Dec. 1989: 26.
140 See, for example, Martin’s 1982 speech to a conference of the American Society of Newspaper Editors Communication Conference. Louis E. Martin, Speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors
Communications Conference, (17 Feb. 1982), in Library of Congress, Louis Martin Papers, Box 7, Folder 17, Speeches & Writings File, Speech File, [1981-1983], 7.
Kennedy campaign realized he would be a valuable asset in their attempt to communicate with various groups making up that community. Kennedy tapped Martin to begin to understand race relations, and the details of Martin’s subsequent involvement provide us with a critical look at Kennedy’s limited involvement with the civil rights movement. Wofford writes that Martin “soon became our chief counselor, colleague, and co-conspirator.”141 Martin was not merely a fringe figure on the sidelines of the campaign. Instead, he was an integral part of the operation— providing guidance to Kennedy as well as Kennedy’s staff. I also include Martin’s speeches while he was working with President Lyndon B. Johnson in this chapter. After his time with President Johnson, Martin continued to speak to influential groups like the National Urban League. Thus, speeches for analysis in this first chapter span from the 1960s to just before he joined the Carter administration in 1978.
Chapter three details Martin’s rhetoric as he was working for President Carter. Martin frequently gave speeches during his time with the Carter administration. There is a lot of information available on Martin’s speeches, comings and goings, and his involvement in
administration activities at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. In Louis Martin’s files there, I discovered a number of unpublished speeches which I analyze in this chapter along with
contextual information. While Martin worked for Kennedy and Johnson from the beginning of their terms in office, it is important to note that Martin did not start working with Carter until after he had been elected to office and served nearly two years as president. When race relations became an issue for Carter, Martin was the “obvious”142 choice to facilitate and enhance
relations between the White House and the African American community as a whole. When Martin joined Carter in 1978, the president was having some difficulties in connecting with the
141
Harris Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, 60. 142 Poinsett, Walking with Presidents, 178.
African American community, and Louis Martin was tapped to do just what he had done for Kennedy.143 Martin’s assessment of Carter was that he simply had received bad advice from his various advisors—that the genius of Carter would come to be appreciated in later years.
Chapter four contains speeches delivered after Martin’s time with Carter until his final speech, delivered to the Ford Foundation in 1990. His work with Howard University led him to address many diverse groups at that institution. This was also a time of high productivity for Martin as a journalist. Again, his journalistic works inform his spoken rhetoric, and I use the journalistic texts as context for my analysis of the speeches. Analysis of these distinct time periods provides me with the context and content for an assessment of Martin’s rhetoric.
Chapter five contains my findings and conclusion. It pays special attention to the thematic through-lines in Martin’s works, such as Martin’s sustained belief that African
Americans must get into the power structure of government; African Americans must harness the power of the vote and the dollar; democracy depends on having all the possible players included in the process; and, above all, to remain positive and to celebrate the achievements of great African Americans, to learn from the setbacks, and to keep moving forward. This chapter also suggests paths for future scholarship. Martin was such a productive writer and speaker that many dissertations could be written based upon his texts.