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that way. That'ss the key. That's the key. And I have always -- sometimes people will say, “You're too broad.”
And I say, “You can't be too broad on these things.” See, I would say that on Vietnam, we should not identify with the left position on this, a broader approach in the labor leadership. If those of us who want to identify should identify, but don't bring the organization into it. You'll hurt it that way because there's enough problems that you have. Be broad on it. Everything, be broad.
In '59, you see, the networking also is valuable, and people that you knew or got to know, or you'll see a name and you'll say, “Where did I see that name?” And you'd find a way of getting to him. Or I get to know Stanley Levison, and I can't at this moment remember how I got to know Stanley Levison. Oh, I know what it was, the Youth March of [A. Philip] Randolph.
Not the '41 civil rights march.
Not the '41 civil rights march. In '59 I got to know Randolph very, very well. Not the '41 one, no. Later on there was a march for some kind of youth march that Randolph was involved in, and Stanley and Bayard [Rustin] were involved in it. That's where I went to a meeting and I met them. Then I heard that Stanley was close to [Martin Luther] King, and I would see Stanley and I'd see people who knew Stanley, and so I went to Stanley and I told him what we were doing, and Stanley had a great love for labor. He always would write things for King about labor, and he'd say, “Gee, Martin ought to meet you.”
I'd say, “That's great.”
He said, “Okay.” Then one day he said, “Look, I want you to come with me. Martin's going to be here.” And we talked about what we were doing. He was impressed with what we were doing. It ended up with I could use his name and check anything I wanted from him with Stanley. And so that I would call Stanley and I'd say, “Stanley, this is what we need.” There was always a long pause.
“Uh-huh. Uh-huh.” I'm talking and talking and talking. “Uh-huh, uh- huh.” And there's a long pause. “Well, that's not a bad idea.”
“So what do I do?”
“Why don't you draft something and send it over to me.” After a while it was, “Why don't you draft something and call it in to me?” And then he'd say, “Okay.” So I was really able to get King to react to things.
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