As the debates were coming to a close, Nixon suffered yet another blow, this one self-inflicted. On October 19 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested while conducting a peaceful sit-in at a segregated restaurant in Atlanta. A local judge, eager to settle the score with the civil rights leader, sentenced King to four months of hard labor in the state penitentiary. Numerous African American leaders sought Nixon’s help, and White House aide Fred Morrow rushed to write a statement for Nixon to use, calling for King’s immediate release. Inexplicably Nixon stalled and his press spokesman issued a
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