Citation

Chernus I. Peace Change 2008; 33(1): 114-140.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Peace History Society; Peace and Justice Studies Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1468-0130.2007.00478.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Fifty years ago Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began his rise to fame while President Dwight D. Eisenhower was at the height of his prestige. They offered two contrasting views of human nature and peace. Eisenhower saw desire inevitably leading to selfishness and conflict. His concept of peace was based on voluntary restraint of desire, which ultimately meant restraint of historical change. In King's vision of the beloved community, desire coming from the center of each person's being could be fulfilled with no danger to the community, because all people are inherently connected in “a single garment of destiny.” For King, peace was nonviolence: the process of making the beloved community real in the present historical moment. Thus, King saw no need to restrain change. After fifty years, the U.S. society is still dominated by Eisenhower's view. But King's view remains a viable realistic alternative.