--- title: Robert J. Brown Talks Working With Both MLK and Nixon description: Robert J. Brown, the civil rights power broker, talks about his new memoir and working with Martin Luther King Jr. and Richard Nixon. canonical: https://time.com/5505454/robert-j-brown-interview/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-17T11:32:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:31:44.870Z article:section: U.S. og:title: What Robert J. Brown Says Went on Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement og:description: 'Robert J. Brown talks about his new memoir and working with Nixon and MLK' og:url: https://time.com/5505454/robert-j-brown-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbedbb3dc7fd2d0dd/6989437a929fad1541bf286e/robert-j-brown-civil-rights-10q-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: robert-j-brown-civil-rights-10q og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Robert J. Brown Says Went on Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement twitter:description: 'Robert J. Brown talks about his new memoir and working with Nixon and MLK' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbedbb3dc7fd2d0dd/6989437a929fad1541bf286e/robert-j-brown-civil-rights-10q-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Robert J. Brown Worked With Both MLK and Nixon. Here’s What He Says Went on Behind the Scenes of the Civil Rights Movement  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 17, 2019 11:32 AM CUT   by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jan 17, 2019 11:32 AM CUT _The civil rights power broker talks about his new memoir and working with Martin Luther King Jr. and Richard Nixon._ **In your new book,** **_You Can’t Go Wrong Doing Right_** **, you describe being a liaison between business and the civil rights movement in the ’60s. How did you persuade executives to come to the table?** No businesses can be successful in the kind of environment where people are burning down places. Everybody is a potential customer, and it’s all about the money. **You then went to work in the Nixon White House. What do people get wrong about him?** All they have to do is look at Nixon’s record in terms of civil rights. When we took over the White House, there were two black \[generals or admirals\]. We changed that. I would review the Pentagon’s list of people nominated to be promoted to generals. If I didn’t see black people, I’d send it back. **Did Watergate change your feelings on Nixon? You were accused of being a key figure in drafting an “enemies list” of his foes.** It didn’t change too much. He made some mistakes and errors, and I know he paid for it. **You describe your work with his Office of Minority Business Enterprise as some of your proudest. How do you think that work has held up?** It revolutionized how society thought about minority enterprise, but some people don’t think that’s important. Regional offices that we opened to make sure minorities and women got a chance to get government contracts were closed under President Obama. **How do you think American race relations changed in general during Obama’s presidency?** I thought he was a good President and a good, decent man, but I didn’t see any great movement under him. I don’t think race relations got any worse. It’s getting worse now. Some race-relations problems are more severe than they were 40 or 50 years ago. **The police are so often at the center of those conflicts. How do feel about that, given that your first job was as a cop?** I’m very disturbed, and somewhat surprised but not totally. I was a cop in the ’50s. Those were difficult days. It’s getting more attention now–before, it was your word against the policeman’s; now people show what really happens \[by capturing it on\] their phones. **As someone who brought a PR perspective to civil rights, what do you think of protests against police brutality like those led by Colin Kaepernick?** He has a right to do that peacefully. This is America. I would’ve sought another way to do that, maybe to organize a series of meetings. I don’t want to be protesting against my country. **Do you think it’s easier or harder to start a movement now than it was in the ’60s?** Nobody is stepping up to the plate. I haven’t seen the churches organize a race-relations conference. Online is ridiculous. How’re you going to get people emotionally involved online? It ain’t going to happen. People need to meet people in the flesh and blood. **As Martin Luther King Day comes around, are there any memories of him that you return to?** He was one of my closest friends. During some meeting with the Rev. King and Ralph Abernathy, I looked down at their socks. One of Martin’s socks had a hole in it. I said, “Ralph, look at Martin’s foot down there, he’s got a hole in his socks.” Ralph lifted up his leg; he had a hole in his. We got the biggest laugh. A couple weeks later, I went back with dozens of black and dark blue socks and gave a pair to each one of them, and then they started giving away the socks to Andrew Young and \[now Congressman\] John Lewis. Now whenever I see him he pulls up his pant leg and shows me he’s got socks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5505454/robert-j-brown-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5505454/robert-j-brown-interview/"},"headline":"Robert J. Brown Worked With Both MLK and Nixon. 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