TIME MAGAZINE

(April 2, 1965)

SELMA ALABAMA -

The four-day 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery had itself been an experience, not an excitement. It started on the afternoon of Sunday, March 21, with some 3,400 marchers led by two Nobel Peace prizewinners--the Rev. Martin Luther King and Ralph Bunche, now U.N. Under Secretary for Special Political Affairs. In the procession, whites and Negroes, clergymen and beatniks, old and young, walked side by side. The marchers had plenty of protection--from some 1,000 military police sent by President Johnson, from 1,900 federalized Alabama National Guardsmen, from platoons of U.S. marshals and FBI men.

The big show came on Thursday, outside the state capitol. There, blue-helmeted state troopers and green-helmeted Alabama conservation and liquor-enforcement officers were strung out in glum lines, blocking entry to the building. Inside, Governor George Wallace peeked warily through Venetian blinds, occasionally stared through binoculars, and muttered, "That's quite a crowd."

The ostensible purpose of the whole march had been to present to Governor Wallace a petition protesting voting discrimination. The Governor had promised to see "any citizens of Alabama"--and a committee of 20 petitioners, all Alabamians, had been appointed. But now George Wallace reneged. An aide met the petitioners, blandly told them, "The capitol is closed today."