Serial: MLK - Part 3

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a complicated man, both champion of equal rights and unfaithful reverend to his devoted wife. This dichotomy has made him a difficult figure to understand and label. The left has elevated him to near Mount Olympus status, while the right has told of his communist leanings and immoral activities. While King railed against racial and economic injustice, he also denounced LBJ's Great Society. While many King supporters believe he wanted socialism, he spoke out against communism. While appearing the devoted husband, wiretaps approved by then Attorney General Robert Kennedy, revealed King's multiple affairs. He was accused of plagiarizing both his Ph.D. dissertation from Boston University and I Have a Dream speech. The former is true; the latter is not. Clearly, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a complex and deeply flawed man. Whatever MLK believed ideologically, whatever his moral flaws, his success in moving a nation forward on civil rights --- with love and nonviolence --- should be admired and emulated.