[VIDEO] Mar. 28, 1965 | Martin Luther King on Meet the Press

Mar. 28, 1965 - A national boycott of Alabama, including a refusal to buy its products and a withdrawal of Federal support for activities in the state, was called for tonight by Dr. Martin Luther King.

Dr. King’s boycott call was made first in an interview on the NBC television program “Meet the Press.” Afterward, he told a San Francisco news conference that the plan would be discussed Thursday and Friday with board members of his group in Baltimore, but he did not expect action within the next two weeks.

On the telecast, he said Alabama conditions had sagged to a low level of “social disruption” and “man’s humanity to man.” He called on the nation for a “creative, firm action program” to induce the state’s business leaders and “decent people” to bring pressure on Governor George Wallace “and other officials who are responsible for this reign of terror.”

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