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Posted By Joshua Scheer
We’ve just published a piece on Coretta Scott King’s public opposition to the Vietnam War, drawing from a powerful series of speeches she delivered after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Her first major address came on April 27, 1968, in New York City’s Central Park, less than a month after her husband was killed. Speaking to a grieving nation, Coretta Scott King explained that Dr. King had planned to address the rally himself and that she would instead read from notes found in his pocket after his death—his unpublished “Ten Commandments on Vietnam.”
Despite her personal loss, King made clear that the struggle against war could not pause. She reminded the crowd that her husband’s opposition to the Vietnam War had been met with attacks on his patriotism and loyalty, yet history was already proving him right. The movement he helped ignite had shifted public opinion and forced political change.
Reading directly from Dr. King’s words, she rejected the myths used to justify the war—military victory, political legitimacy, fabricated body counts, and the notion that U.S. violence served democracy. She concluded with the simplest and most damning commandment of all: “Thou shall not kill.”
Coretta Scott King also warned that militarism abroad and poverty and racism at home were inseparable, arguing that bombs dropped on Vietnam would inevitably “explode at home.” The same logic used to wage war overseas, she said, was being used to neglect the poor, exploit labor, and suppress dissent within the United States.
Her speech stands as both an act of mourning and an act of resistance—an insistence that peace, justice, and accountability must continue even in the face of devastating loss.
“My dear friends of peace and freedom: I come to New York today with a strong feeling that my dearly beloved husband, who was snatched suddenly from our midst slightly more than three weeks ago now, would have wanted me to be present today. Though my heart is heavy with grief from having suffered an irreparable personal loss, my faith in the redemptive will of God is stronger today than ever before. As many of you probably know my husband had accepted an invitation to speak to you today and had he been here, I am sure he would have lifted your hearts and spirits to new levels of understanding in his customary fashion. I would like to share with you some notes taken from my husband’s pockets upon his death. He carried these scraps of paper upon which he scribbled notes for his many speeches. Among these notes was one set which he never delivered. Perhaps they were his early thoughts for the message he was to give to you today. I am sure he would have developed and delivered them in his usual eloquent and inspired fashion. I simply read them to you as he recorded them.
And I quote, “Ten Commandments on Vietnam”;
1. Thou shalt not believe in a military victory.
2. Thou shall not believe in a political victory.
3. Thou shall not believe that they, the Vietnamese love us.
4. Thou shall not believe that the Saigon government has the support of the people.
5. Thou shall not believe that the majority of the South Vietnamese look upon the Vietcong as terrorists.
6. Thou shalt not believe the figures of killed enemies or killed Americans.
7. Thou shall not believe that the generals know best.
8. Thou shalt not believe that the enemy’s victory means communism.
9. Thou shall not believe that the world supports the United States.
10. Thou shall not kill.
These are Martin Luther King’s ten commandments on Vietnam. You who have worked with and loved my husband so much, you who have kept alive the burning issue of war in the American conscience, you who will not be deluded by talk of peace, but who press on in the knowledge that the work of peacemaking must continue until the last gun is silent. I come to you in my grief only because you keep alive the work and dreams for which my husband gave his life. My husband arrived somewhere to his strength and inspiration from the love of all people who shared his dream, that I too now come hoping you might strengthen me for the lonely road ahead. It was on April 4th, 1967 that my husband gave his major address against the war in Vietnam. On April 4th, 1968 he was assassinated. I remember how he agonized over the grave misunderstanding which took place as a result of his position on the Vietnam war. His motives were questioned. His credentials were challenged and his loyalty to this nation maligned. Now, one year later we see almost unbelievable results coming from all of our united efforts. Had we then suggested the possibility of two peace candidates as front-runners for the presidency of the United States, our sanity certainly would have been questioned. Yet I need not trace for you how many of our hopes have been realized in these 12 short months. Never in the history of this nation have the people been so forceful in reversing the policy of our government in regard to war. We are indeed on the threshold of a new day for the peacemakers. But just as conscientious action has reversed the tide of public opinion and government policy, we must now turn our attention and the sole force of the movement of people of good will to the problems of the poor here at home. My husband always saw the problem of racism and poverty here at home and militarism abroad as two sides of the same coin. In fact, it is even very clear that our policy at home is to try to solve social problems through military means just as we have done abroad. The interrelatedness of domestic and foreign affairs is no longer questioned. The bombs we drop on the people of Vietnam continue to explode at home with all of their devastating potential. And so I would invite you to join us in Washington in our effort to enable the poor people of this nation to enjoy a fair share of America’s blessing. There is no reason why a nation as rich as ours should be blighted by poverty, disease, and illiteracy. It is plain that we don’t care about our poor people except to exploit them as cheap labor and victimize them through excessive rents and consumer prices.”
Clearly, these are battles we are still fighting. The forces Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr confronted—militarism abroad, poverty and racism at home, and a political culture that punishes dissent—remain intact. If her words still feel urgent, it is because the conditions that demanded them have never been resolved. We should not need a commemorative date to remember that justice requires action, or that peace is not a sentiment but a struggle that must be renewed every day.
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