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Home  >  Musings  >  Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Flight
Musings

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Flight

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 17, 2022January 17, 2022 13 Comments

Martin Luther King Eastern Airlines
Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King

Travel may be my main gig, but I am a student of U.S. history at heart. As Martin Luther King Jr. day is observed today, I recount an anecdote about his last commercial flight.

King Suicide LetterJ. Edgar Hoover, former director of the FBI, did not like Martin Luther King Jr. He called him the “most notorious liar in the country” and had one of his aides send a suicide letter to King in 1964, stating in part, “King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is… You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”

Then there was the issue of flying. Threats against his life were routine, but one of Hoover’s tricks was never to warn King when specific threats were picked up against him. The exception to that rule was when King was on a flight, since it endangered more than King.

But even then, Hoover would not let King know but the airline. Often, King would learn about the specific threat only after he had boarded the plane.

On April 3, 1968, King boarded Eastern Air Lines Flight 381 from Atlanta to Memphis. A bomb threat had been called in against the flight and the captain announced the flight would be delayed. The entire baggage hold was searched and nothing was found. Just another travel day for King.

That evening he mentioned the incident in his sermon, remarking, “But I’m not concerned about that now, I’m not worried about anything! I’m not fearing any man.”

The next day he was assassinated. Eastern 381 would be his last flight…commercial anyway.


The account of this incident was taken from At Canaan’s Edge by Taylor Branch (the third book in a trilogy on Martin Luther King that sits on my library shelf and I highly recommend), though this New Yorker article refreshed my memory of the incident.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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13 Comments

  1. Paolo Reply
    January 18, 2021 at 4:06 pm

    The Taylor Branch trilogy is far and away the best thing I’ve ever read on the civil rights struggle. While it’s a little daunting at close to 2,000 pages, still well worth the effort.

  2. Stuart Reply
    January 18, 2021 at 5:49 pm

    Curious as to the aircraft. DC-9?

  3. carletonm Reply
    January 18, 2021 at 11:45 pm

    J. Edgar Hoover was a terrible human being. He was indeed instrumental in setting up the FBI, but beyond that … terrible.

  4. JoeMart Reply
    January 17, 2022 at 10:44 am

    “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair.” Why we can’t wait by Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

  5. Pericles Reply
    January 17, 2022 at 10:44 am

    TL:DR

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      January 17, 2022 at 10:53 am

  6. Debit Reply
    January 17, 2022 at 10:52 am

    “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.”

    ^ i see this everyday here on this blog.

    • Aaron Reply
      January 17, 2022 at 3:13 pm

      King King identifies the “white moderate” as one who is more concerned with maintaining the status quo than with justice for the oppressed.

  7. derek Reply
    January 17, 2022 at 11:25 am

    MLK’s Birthday is an outdated concept and should end. All other birthday holidays are. (Christmas is a religious festival and not a birthday, just ask non Christians).

    Columbus Day is going away. Lincoln’s Birthday is not a holiday. Washington’s Birthday has generally been taken away from him and renamed for all Presidents.

    If people want a holiday, then change the name to Civil Rights Day.

  8. stogieguy7 Reply
    January 17, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    An interesting aside; I recently heard a 1967 news report where Dr. King was interviewed about a rally that he had helped to organize. Dr. King can be heard saying how he was pleased with the vast majority of the crowd. However, he had disdain for some and called out those who were there burning American flags, burning draft cards, waving Viet Cong flags and holding Che Guevara signs. Told them that these were not things that were part of his message.

    Found it interesting because that’s the crowd who is now running the White House.

    • Billy Bob Reply
      January 17, 2022 at 1:56 pm

      Almost as bad as waving a confederate flag in the capital.

      • Aaron Reply
        January 17, 2022 at 3:17 pm

        Also almost as bad as encouraging the waving of a confederate flag in the capital.

    • Aaron Reply
      January 17, 2022 at 3:09 pm

      I thought MLK condemned the Vietnam War in 1967?

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