The summer of 1963 featured protests across the country at segregated facilities and courthouses, while the Kennedy administration sought support for civil rights legislation. King was mindful of the many challenges he still faced, from FBI surveillance to the Nation of Islam and its chief spokesperson, Malcolm X, who derided King’s efforts as collaboration with the white establishment. Kennedy had come to embrace civil rights only grudgingly, and there was no guarantee he would translate his rhetoric into action, or that he would have the skill to overcome considerable political opposition even if he was committed. King proposed a large march on Washington, DC, to help spur legislation, while Kennedy pled for patience as he gathered votes.

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, with the SCLC working in conjunction with several other organizations, each of which provided a speaker (King spoke last). In the days leading up to the march, the FBI recorded King’s phone calls, in which he scrambled to make last-minute adjustments and spoke with several romantic liaisons. The wiretaps were an early product of an illegal counterintelligence program run entirely by the FBI, without the knowledge of the Justice Department.