gained recognition to ask whether the President in fact opposed the idea of a march on Washington, as indicated by press reports. His question invited the President to plant himself firmly against the idea, which offered him the best chance to scuttle the march but left no dignified avenue of retreat if the Negroes marched anyway. “We want success in the Congress,” he replied, “not a big show on the Capitol.” A. Philip Randolph was the first to speak up on the other side. “The Negroes are already in the streets,” he declared, and he told why he thought it was rightly so. To Randolph, this made
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