Volume 18 , Issue 3

Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize (14 Oct. 1964)

In the Redlands Daily Facts, Redlands, California newspaper, dated 14 October 1964, Wednesday, we found this front page news article concerning Martin Luther King Wins Nobel Peace Prize for '64," via Oslo, Norway.

Found on Newspapers.com

Orals, Norway (UPI) -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American Negro civil rights leader won the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964.

King was selected by the Nobel committee of the Norwegian National Assembly from a field reported to include such figures as former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, French president Charles de Gaulle, Sir Anthony Eden and former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

The award carried a cash prize of $54,600. King was the third Negro and the 12th American to get the coveted award. At the age of 35, the Atlanta, Ga., minister also was one of the youngest persons ever to become a Nobel Peace laureate.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner was selected each year by a committee of the Norwegian Parliament under terms of the will of the late dynamite magnate, Alfred Nobel. The award committee never announced the reasons for its awards.

Its verse communique on that day said only: "The Nobel Committee of the Norwegian National Assembly has decided to award the peace prize for 1964 to Martin Luther King Jr., the sum of the prize is 283,000 Swedish kroner ($54,600)."

A short biography of King issued by the committee said: "One of the king's characteristics is that he follows the principle of non-violence."

In his campaign for Negro civl rights, King had been arrested more than a dozen times and had been the target of three assassination attempts.

King was first nominated for the award last January (1963) by eight members of Parliament in neighboring Sweden.

At the time, the Norwegian government newspaper Arveiderbladen said his selection "would give a handshake to all the liberal forces in the American democracy. Originally, it was Nobel's idea that the peace prize should go to the person "who in the preceding year had done most for the convening of peace conferences and the reduction of standing armies."

This concept, however, has changed since the first peace prize was awarded in 1901. The prize now was usually given to the person or institution "which had done most for mankind and humanity in the preceding year."

The awards committee was elected by the Norwegian National assembly, but was an independent body. It met behind closed doors and there were no reports on its deliberations.

King In Hospital
King was in a hospital bed in Atlanta on this day when he learned he had won the award. Mrs. King, a former concert singer, called her husband at the St. Joseph Infirmary, which, he entered Tuesday "thoroughly exhausted" from a heavy schedule of speaking engagements and trip to Europe. Mrs. King said her husband said, "Well really, " when she informed him he was the winner. She said he could not quite believe he had won, and asked her, "How do you know?"

The new Nobel prize winner is head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Atlanta (UPI) -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sent word from his hospital room that he was "deeply moved and gratified and honored" for being selected as the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

King, who was described by his wife as being "thoroughly exhausted" and in need of a complete physical checkup, appeared in fine spirits after learning of the award. King sent a one sentence message from the hospital room: "I am deeply moved and gratified and honored to be chosen for such a significant award."
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