The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.: News, Riots, and Aftermath Through Contemporary Accounts

On the evening of April 4, 1968, the United States was shattered by the news that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the nation’s foremost apostle of nonviolence, had been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. The 39-year-old Nobel laureate had traveled to the gritty Mississippi River city to support a strike of 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers. Within hours, grief turned to rage in cities across America, and the White House mobilized troops to contain the worst civil unrest in years. This article reconstructs the assassination as it was experienced in real time—through the urgent wire dispatches, the somber television broadcasts, the front-page headlines, and the fears of a nation bracing for more violence.

What Happened?

On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 PM local time, Dr. King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when a single shot rang out from across the street. According to the Associated Press, King was hit in the neck and died shortly after at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He was 39 years old. In the immediate aftermath, police issued an all-points bulletin for a well-dressed young white man seen running from the scene. Walter Cronkite, anchoring the CBS Evening News that night, described the moment:

“Dr. Martin Luther King, the apostle of non-violence in the civil rights movement, has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. Police have issued an all-points bulletin for a well-dressed, young white man seen running from the scene. Officers also reportedly chased and fired on a radio-equipped car containing two white men.”

The assassination did not occur in a vacuum. King had come to Memphis to support the strike of 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers, who were protesting the refusal of Mayor Henry Loeb to meet their modest demands for higher wages and safer working conditions. The strike had already attracted King’s attention, and he had led a march in Memphis two weeks earlier that had turned violent—a development that deeply troubled King’s commitment to nonviolence. He had returned to Memphis to lead another peaceful protest when the bullet struck.

• April 4, 1968, 6:04 PM: King shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
• 6:30 PM: King pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
• April 5: Riots erupt in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Detroit, and other cities.
• April 5: President Johnson orders 4,000 regular Army and National Guard troops into the nation’s capital.

How It Was Seen at the Time

Contemporaries understood the assassination as both a symbol and a symptom of the nation’s racial malaise. The Time magazine article, published shortly after, observed that “in causation and execution, the murder of Martin Luther King was both a symbol and a symptom of the nation’s racial malaise.” The proximate cause, the article noted, was the sanitation strike in Memphis, but the deeper cause was the systemic racism that had fueled the civil rights movement. News of the assassination spread rapidly, and the immediate reaction was a mixture of shock, sorrow, and dread. Walter Cronkite’s broadcast, which was watched by millions, framed King as “the apostle of nonviolence” and explicitly connected his murder to the ongoing struggle for civil rights. The Associated Press report from Memphis by Doug Stone began: “Nobel Laureate Martin Luther King Jr., father of nonviolence in the American civil rights movement, was killed by an assassin’s bullet Thursday night.”

Historical Snapshot

Contemporary Newspaper Coverage

Newspapers across the nation covered the assassination with banner headlines and urgent dispatches. On April 6, 1968, The New York Times front page read: “Army Troops in Capital as Negroes Riot,” with a subheading: “Guard Sent into Chicago, Detroit, Boston; Johnson Asks a Joint Session of Congress.” The article, written by Ben A. Franklin, described the situation in Washington:

“President Johnson ordered 4,000 regular Army and National Guard troops into the nation’s capital tonight to try to end riotous looting, burglarizing and burning by roving bands of Negro youths. The arson and looting began yesterday after the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.”

The Times also reported that the White House had issued a proclamation declaring “a condition of domestic violence and disorder” and that troops were sent to guard the Capitol and the White House. The coverage focused on the immediate violence, but also on the government’s response—Johnson’s decision to address a joint session of Congress, and the deployment of federal troops to restore order.

Eyewitness Accounts

Eyewitnesses provided harrowing accounts. In the CBS broadcast, Walter Cronkite quoted a companion of King who was present at the shooting: “In the friend’s words, the bullet exploded in his face.” The Associated Press reported that King was “hit in the neck,” and that he was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital. The identity of the shooter was initially unknown; police searched for a white man seen fleeing the scene. The immediate eyewitness accounts were confused and contradictory—some said there were two white men in a car, others said a single gunman. The chaos of the moment was captured in the AP report: “Police also reportedly chased and fired on a radio-equipped car containing two white men.”

What People Feared

In the hours and days after the assassination, the nation feared a full-scale race war. The New York Times reported that the capital was under military occupation, with troops guarding the White House and the Capitol. The paper wrote: “The arson and looting began yesterday after the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.” Many feared that the assassination would destroy the nonviolent civil rights movement and ignite widespread violence. The Time magazine noted that King’s murder “was both a symbol and a symptom of the nation’s racial malaise.” In Washington, D.C., 14 deaths were reported in the first wave of riots. The fear was not unfounded: in the days following, over 100 cities experienced arson, looting, and clashes with police.

What People Expected Would Happen Next

At the time, many expected the violence to spread and the nation to descend into chaos. President Johnson’s decision to ask for a joint session of Congress indicated a sense of national emergency. The New York Times reported that Johnson had ordered troops into the capital, and that he would address Congress. Many observers also expected that the Poor People’s Campaign—a planned “camp-in” of poverty-stricken Southern Blacks in Washington, D.C., scheduled for April 22—would go ahead, but without King’s leadership. The Time article noted that King had been more concerned with that campaign than with Memphis. The future of the civil rights movement was uncertain; some feared it would become radicalized, while others hoped that King’s death would galvanize support for federal action.

Aftermath

The immediate aftermath was marked by unrest and a massive federal response. In Washington, D.C., President Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to try to end the rioting, and the White House was guarded by G.I.s. The New York Times reported that “the arson and looting began yesterday after the murder of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.” In Chicago, Detroit, and Boston, National Guard units were mobilized. The death toll in the first wave of riots was 14 in the United States. The assassination also spurred a period of national mourning and soul-searching. King’s funeral was held on April 9, 1968, with tens of thousands marching in Atlanta. The Poor People’s Campaign, which King had planned, went ahead in May, but without his leadership, it was not as effective. The assassination also led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included fair housing provisions, signed into law by President Johnson on April 11, 1968.

How Historians See It Today

Historians today view the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. as a turning point in American history. Contemporary accounts, as this article shows, captured the shock and fear of the moment. Modern scholarship places the assassination within the broader context of the civil rights movement’s evolution, the rise of Black Power, and the ongoing racial and economic inequalities. Historians also note that the immediate riots were not a rejection of King’s nonviolence, but a reaction to his murder—a grief-stricken outburst that many saw as a cry for justice. The sources from April 1968—the AP reports, the Cronkite broadcast, the New York Times articles—remain invaluable because they preserve the raw emotions and the uncertainties of that week. They remind us that history is not a neat narrative, but a messy, human experience.

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. was a moment that forever changed the United States. The contemporary accounts of that night—the urgent broadcasts, the front-page headlines, the eyewitness descriptions—capture a nation in turmoil, a people in grief, and a movement at a crossroads. They show us how Americans in 1968 understood the event: as a national tragedy, a symbol of racial injustice, and a portent of further conflict. The primary sources from that week are not just records of the past; they are windows into the fears, hopes, and realities of a country that was, and still is, struggling to live up to its ideals.