The link below connects you to a document preserved electronically by the King Center.  It is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responding to multiple requests that he endorse candidates in the 1960 election.  Dr. King refused all such requests.

He writes:

The role that is mine in the emerging social order of the south and America demands that I remain non-partisan.  This devoid of partisan political attachments, I am free to be critical of both parties when necessary.

He continues:

The best antidote to degeneration of conflict of opinion into maliciousness and violence is statesmanlike, firm, expressions of the moral issues giving active support to proper resolution.

This is not the time to look back, but to look forward.  I am full of hope for the future because of the goodwill and concern shown by so many people in Georgia and all over the country.

Now let us use this period for genuine negotiations so that Atlanta can take a step forward toward the society of “wisdom, justice and moderation” which the seal of the state of Georgia and the Constitution of the United States promised.

Click here to read the entire document.  Click and drag to move the page.