97 206
KING’S FUNERAL:“THE SECRET SERVICEMAN
TELEPHONED ME . . .AT 4:30 AM”
143
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KENNEDY, JACQUELINE. Autograph Letter Signed, “Jackie,” to U.S. Attorney
General Nicholas Katzenbach (“Dear Nick”), apologizing for a miscommunication con-
cerning the plane trip they were to take together to Atlanta [to attend the funeral of
Martin Luther King, Jr.]. 3 pages, 4to, personal stationery, pale blue paper, written on two
sheets; paper clip stain at upper left of first page, horizontal fold.With the original enve-
lope.
[NewYork],“Tuesday night” [10 April 1968: from postmark]
[1,000/2,000]
“
. . .When the Secret Serviceman telephoned me to wake me up at 4:30 am, he said in a
sleepy voice that he saw a piece of paper there that must have come during the night—that you
would fly up fromWashington to go down to Atlanta with me at 6:30 . . . .
“
So many confusing messages had come to me all the day before—when I couldn’t reach
Bobby—Teddy was going to try to come up to fly down with me—then I was on a plane with
everyone from the Greek Patriarch to Stanley Steingut—then Bill Walter was going to make
Martin Luther King’s brother come to the airport to meet me—which I thought the greatest
imposition of all—I was miserable, until I talked to Bunny [Mellon], & she said we could go
together . . . .”
The day before this letter was postmarked, Jacqueline, Bobby, and Ted Kennedy attended
funeral services for Martin Luther King, Jr., at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.
WITH
—
Western Union telegram from Ralph D. Abernathy urging Katzenbach to attend Dr.
King’s funeral.Atlanta, 9 April 1968.