1

THE CIVIL RIGHTS DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

------

232-4883

(AC 202)

232-7023

September 5, 1968

Mr. Julian Bond

162 Euharlee Street, S. W.

Atlanta, Georgia

Dear Julian,

I caught your show on television last week. You got pretty high Nielsen ratings in this area. Enclosed are a few clips from the Washington Post regarding your star quality.

I only caution you of one thing: the folks are using your performance at the Convention as an excuse to whitewash you and to clean you up. For a man of fairly radical philosophies like yourself, too much ink of the type in the enclosed articles can prove to be a harsh detergent. Your job as a lecturer requires that your image remain that of a radical dissident.

Since you know what our Project is about, let me know by phone very soon whether or not you think we need to interview you further, with emphasis on the events leading up to and through the Convention struggle. I would like for you to call me--collect--anyhow so I can at least have an understanding personally of what went on in the case of Georgia in general, and Leroy and Ben and Johnnie Yancey in particular. I'm told by an authoritative source that Leroy was calling the radio stations in Atlanta three times a day at his own expense to report his version of events and to ask what people were saying about him. I know this to be true of Station WAOK because a top executive there told me so.

Also, just so your list of important contacts will be current, I'll tell you that beginning Monday, September 9th, M. Carl Holman will be vice president for program development of The Urban Coalition, headed by John Gardner. The top man at the Civil Rights Commission, William Taylor, is also resigning, effective the same day Carl leaves, to become a senior fellow at Yale Law School.

You were looking good at the Convention, brother. Keep on pushing!

Oh! One more thing. WAOK might, if management takes my suggestion seriously, offer you a nightly or weekly public affairs program (for