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Kenneth ClarkKenneth Clark
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about Adam, generally, and specifically -- in specific cases, in terms of my own conflicts with Adam. The general discussions all ended up with everyone accepting the fact that there was no way that one was going to contain Adam, or make him a part of a working team, and that one just had to come to terms with that. I don't think there was any civil rights leader with whom I talked, individually or collectively, who entertained the notion or the delusion that Adam could be made a part of a working team, and that you could work on the assumption that he would be consistently and reliably a member of that team. It was generally understood that Adam would work with individuals only to the extent that it was benefiting him, and would almost invariably seek to exploit any working relationship for his own personal ends, capriciously, you know -- without warning -- and no one had any questions about this. I never heard anyone present a view of Adam to the contrary.

In regard to the specific controversy I had with Adam, the civil rights leaders with whom I talked, and who were friends of mine-- I'll name names: Roy Wilkins said to me, I remember we were coming from the meeting at Senator Javits' apartment, and Roy said, “Kenneth, you know, I just don't understand you. I don't understand how you could possibly think that any Congressman was going to permit your plan to come into his area without his having control of it.”

And Roy was teaching me, too, the realities. Whitney Young, who is a very very close friend of mine, -- my brother, really, in many ways-- I mean, our families are close....





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