LBJ Condolence Letter to MLK Jr's Widow on Auction Block in Falls Church

A letter from President Lyndon Baines Johnson to Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., goes on the auction block March 5 at a Falls Church auction house.

The letter is from the collection of Stoney Cooks, a longtime activist and political consultant, according to the auction house Web site. Cooks was a project director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) under the tenure of Martin Luther King, Jr. He served on the staff of Congressman Andrew Young and later worked as a political consultant.

The letter is one of more than a dozen items being put up for auction from Cooks’ collection. Other items include a guest book from the MLK wake at Spelman College.

The auction house expects the item to fetch between $120,000 to $180,000, according to notes in the catalog.

The letter, dated April 5, 1968, the day after King was assassinated, states:

“Dear Mrs. King: My thoughts have been with you and your children throughout this long and anguished day. Tonight, Mrs. Johnson and I pray again that God gives you the solace of His strength. Since early morning, I have devoted all my hours and energy to honoring your good husband in the manner he would most approve. I have sought --by word, deed, and official act – to unite this sorrowing and troubled nation against further and wider violence. I have met in that cause – in your husband’s name and faith – with leaders of government, Negro and white communities, our cities, churches and courts. We found more than grief to share. I wanted you to know tonight of the determination that binds us: We will overcome this calamity and continue the work of justice and love that is Martin Luther King’s legacy and trust to us. I am also determined that the assassin will be found and punished. The full powers of local and Federal authority are marshaled now to assure it. I am enclosing copies of my statements today so that you may know fully the concerns and intentions that guide me. I believe, with all my heart, that the American majority will also be guided by them, in goodwill and great hope. All of us ask God to comfort you now and restore your compassionate influence to us. Sincerely,” “Lyndon B. Johnson.”

Is the letter at the Falls Church auction house the same one that singer Harry Belafonte tried to sell seven years ago at Sotheby’s?

A 2008 article from The New York Times says that Coretta Scott King had given Belafonte a condolence letter written by LBJ.

But Belafonte was blocked in 2008 by the family from selling it. He “appeared to fall out with the King family around the time of Mrs. King’s funeral in 2006, when he was invited, and then disinvited, to give a eulogy,” the Times story noted.

Belafonte then sued the estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Last year, The New York Times reported that Belafonte reached a confidential agreement with the family about the papers.

Patch has contacted the Falls Church auction gallery to find out if it is the same letter.

PHOTOS: Image of letter from Quinn’s Auction Galleries Web site; President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act Aug. 6, 1965 as Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders, look on, in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. White House photo from National Archives