Fact check: What was no kings 1963

1. Summary of the results

The query appears to be about events in 1963, which was the year of the historic March on Washington, taking place on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial ^[1]. This massive civil rights demonstration drew over 200,000 participants ^[2] to as many as a quarter million people ^[3], during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several crucial contextual elements were missing from the original query:

• FBI Surveillance: The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, had been monitoring Dr. King since December 1955, during the Montgomery bus boycott ^[4]. The FBI viewed King as a potential communist threat ^[5].
• Post-Speech Response: Just two days after the iconic speech, an FBI intelligence director labeled King as "the most dangerous Negro of the future" in terms of communism, racial issues, and national security ^[6].
• Modern Context: The crowd size of the 1963 March has become a point of modern political comparison. When compared to more recent events, such as Donald Trump's January 6th speech (which drew 25,000-53,000 people), the 1963 March's attendance of over 200,000 remains significantly larger ^[7].
• Contemporary Usage: The term "No Kings" has been repurposed in 2025 as the name of a protest movement against the Trump administration ^[8].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The vague nature of the original query "What was no kings 1963" could lead to confusion between:

• The historical 1963 March on Washington and its significance in the civil rights movement
• The modern "No Kings" protest movement of 2025 ^[8]
• The ongoing political debate about crowd sizes and historical comparisons ^[7]

It's important to note that various groups have attempted to use the 1963 March for different political purposes, including:

• The FBI's attempt to frame it within a communist threat narrative ^{[5] [4]}
• Modern politicians attempting to draw comparisons to their own events ^[7]