On April 3, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Memphis.  A crowd had gathered at the Mason Temple.  Dr. King, feeling too weary to address the crowd left the the duty to his constant friend and colleague, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy.  As Rev. Abernathy experienced the crowd he realized that they were not there for anything substituted or watered-down.  He knew they would only be satisfied when they saw and heard from Dr. King. Reverend Abernathy called Dr. King and relayed this message.  Dr. King resolved to get up and come down.  Upon his arrival he extemporaneously delivered one of the most revered speeches in history.  Commonly called the "Mountain-Top Speech" Dr. King openly identified with Moses, acknowledging the continual threats on his life.  Perhaps it is the case that only this admonition to speak to the beleaguered strikers at the Mason Temple led Dr. King to externalize his private fears, rise to them and give them a purpose born of God.

Today when Nelson Mandela comes to Memphis he is treated with the greatest of care.  Dr. King however, though a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the author of some of the most convincing non-violent promotion ever written was staying at a motel while in Memphis due to his unforgivable blackness.  On the day following his delivery of the the ultimate declaration of self-sacrifice Dr. King stepped out on to the balcony of the Lorraine Motel and was shot in the head with a 30.06 rifle from a flop-house across the street.  Dr. King died on the scene.  For more information about this part of the story please see The Death of Dr. King.

This was more than president Johnson could bear.  He immediately sent Undersecretary of Labor James Reynolds to Memphis to assume the leadership in mediation talks.  Along with Reynolds President Johnson sent Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the FBI and Federal troops to the city.  Although the main priority was to find the killer of Dr. King there was also significant pressure applied to settle the strike.  Meeting individually with the Mayor and the union Reynolds was able to hammer out a compromise in seven days.

The strike was settled on April 11th.  The final score was one minor pay raise for the workers, union recognition and a dues checkoff through convoluted means.  On the other side of the ledger was the death of one of the greatest leaders the world has known, staggering loss of commerce, bitterness that lingers and a renewal of Memphis's reputation as a backwater, racist, southern river town.

It can be argued that Mayor Loeb stuck firmly to a principle and it may be argued that he was indifferent to the true issue of the financial unfairness that existed along racial lines.  In the end it is hard to argue that a Mayor who had continued to hold such a hard line, despite the urging of his friends and local businessmen and the ugly spectacle of the first King-led march would then refuse an offer of mediation from the President of the United States.