the window to a dog! We don t want that, we just want to be free.
We want to have a soul s salvation, we want to be free! We don t want
nothing they got. We just want happiness. We don t wanna rob  em or
nothing. That s all we wanna do, is live like people. I want my people
to live too. Life is misery. Every time you read the paper, your heart
aches for the poor people that s there that can t get away.
So maybe someday, when you pick up the paper you ll see where
things done changed, where everybody is free, and everybody is happy.
But I think until that day, and when that day comes, I ll be gone along
before. I may be six feet down in the ground, but maybe that day ll
come to the other people, and I hope it ll come someday.
So, I leave those few words with you from the bottom of my heart,
how I feel about my home that I can t go to and be in peace. But until
we meet again someday, I wanna say:  Live while you re living. 7
Kennedy s narrow margin of victory in the 1960 election had been
partly due to his popularity among African Americans. He claimed that
he was also held back by his unfamiliarity with the issues of desegregation
and civil rights. Harris Wofford, one of Kennedy s speechwriters, reported
him as saying:  You know, I m way behind on this, because I ve hardly
known any blacks in my life. It isn t an issue that I ve thought about a
lot . . . I ve got to learn a lot, and I ve got to catch up fast. 8
In the early days of Kennedy s presidency, civil rights remained low on
his list of priorities. Indeed, the administration would continue for some
time to respond to each racial conflagration on an ad hoc basis, interven-
ing as unobtrusively as possible and fearful of alienating the support of
southern, white Democrats in and out of Congress. Meanwhile the presi-
dent built bridges with prominent members of the African-American com-
munity. In 1961 a dinner was given in Kennedy s honor at the Hollywood
Palladium in Los Angeles, and the entertainer Nat  King Cole was invited
to perform. After dinner Cole apologized to the assembled guests for hav-
ing to leave early, as he wished to attend a debutantes ball at the L.A. Hilton
Hotel where his daughter Carol was appearing. Later that evening the pres-
ident himself made a surprise appearance at the ball, explaining that  Nat
sang at our dinner tonight, so I thought I d reciprocate. I m grateful to you
girls for letting an itinerant president come and visit your party. 9
[ 7 4 ] M a r c h O n , D r. M a r t i n L u t h e r K i n g