While many recall the Rev. Martin Luther King's electrifying "I Have a Dream" speech as the culmination of the Aug. 28, 1963, March on Washington, not much has been written about the larger organization of the march. Charles Euchner's comprehensive account takes us behind the scenes, revealing the many tensions among march organizers.

President John F. Kennedy asked organizers to cancel the event, which he deemed counterproductive. Black Muslim Malcolm X, on the other hand, refused to join the march because it wasn't confrontational enough.

March organizer Bayard Rustin and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee President John Lewis aroused the most debate. Rustin was attacked as a former Communist, draft-dodger and homosexual. Segregationist South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond asserted that Rustin's "background showed the moral depravity of the march." As for Lewis, he planned to publicly attack Kennedy's proposed civil rights bill as too little, too late. Lewis' incendiary speech nearly shattered the march's fragile coalition: Catholic Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle, a Kennedy ally, threatened to drop out unless Lewis softened his tone. Lewis did.

Euchner fittingly concludes with King's epic speech: "No, no, we are not satisfied," King told his listeners, "and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Euchner explores King's belief "that suffering -- like Christ's suffering on the cross -- can bring a better day. That suffering can change people's hearts." Euchner's excellent, inside-the-organization account shows how impressive the march's success was despite the stresses that nearly unraveled it.

CHUCK LEDDY