The Rev. Earl Stallings, a white clergyman who was praised and admonished by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” has died. He was 89.
Stallings, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., died Feb. 23 at a retirement home in Lakeland, Fla., the Associated Baptist Press reported.
In 1963, Stallings was part of the so-called “Reconciliation Committee,” a group of eight prominent Birmingham clergymen – including a Jewish rabbi; Catholic, Methodist and Episcopal bishops; and a Presbyterian pastor – that said King’s efforts to integrate Birmingham soon after the election of a new white mayor were “unwise and untimely.”
The group wrote a public statement asking King and other civil rights leaders to back off on their protests because they believed the actions would be counterproductive to the greater goal of integration. “When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the court and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets,” they wrote.
When King was arrested shortly after their public statement, he penned a harsh denunciation of the position taken by the Reconciliation Committee while incarcerated in the Birmingham jail.
After King’s arrest, Stallings angered many in his white congregation by opening the church doors to black worshippers, including civil rights leader Andrew Young. That brought one of the few positive remarks from King in his letter about white attitudes in Birmingham.
“I commend you, Rev. Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a nonsegregated basis,” King wrote. The letter, however, is highly critical of the positions taken by “white moderates” in the civil rights struggle.
Bill Beutel, 75, was longtime news anchor
Bill Beutel, the longtime television news anchor and host of the show that became ABC’s “Good Morning America,” has died, the network announced. He was 75.
Beutel, whose trademark signoff “Good luck and be well” closed WABC’s nightly local newscast for more than 30 years, died Saturday at his home in Pinehurst, N.C., the network said. The cause of death was not disclosed.
In 1975, Beutel hosted “AM America,” the network’s national morning news show.
He “proved you could be a tough newsman and a gentleman at the same time,” WABC president and general manager Dave Davis said Sunday in a statement. “He was never shrill, always measured and universally respected – the original class act.”
Beutel, who won several Emmy awards and a Peabody award, began as a radio reporter in his hometown of Cleveland. He started working in television in 1962, appearing as a reporter for ABC national news and as an anchor for the local evening newscast.
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