Dinkler Plaza Hotel Becomes Battleground in Civil Rights Struggle
During a tumultuous era, in which racial segregation was the norm and the fight for civil rights would turn ugly, Dinkler Hotels became one of the first hospitality companies to integrate, but change came neither quickly nor easily. Referring to the unwavering attitudes of the day, Inman Allen, son of the late Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr., acknowledges, "We were a segregated society in the 50s and up into the 60s." And, though the widespread violence observed in cities like Selma and Montgomery was kept at a minimum in Atlanta, many white business owners were very reluctant to accept and implement progressive reforms.
Despite a change in ownership, the Dinklers, under the auspices of a management contract, remained the primary policy makers for the hotels. While the Dinkler family was by no means a clan of bigots, their perspective on segregation was more reflective of the times and accepted business practices than personal convictions. The Dinklers ultimately yielded to the call for integration, but some prominent Atlantans like eventual Georgia governor Lester Maddox (who opted to close his Pickrick Cafeteria, an Atlanta institution, rather than serve black customers) stubbornly refused to relinquish their Jim Crow persuasions.
That said, between 1961 and 1964, the Dinkler Plaza Hotel was the focus of several protests and racial controversies, some of which made national headlines.
One notable example was the national convention of the Junior Chambers of Commerce which was held June 19-22, 1961 at the Dinkler Plaza. While African Americans were generally able to attend meetings and conferences at all-white hotels in Atlanta, these hotels offered no dining or lodging options to black convention goers. Therefore, United Press International's coverage of the convention, insisting that the Dinkler Plaza was housing Pennsylvania Jaycees president William D. Johnson, a black man, stirred much controversy and prompted an earnest public relations effort by hotel management. The Associated Press further reported that Johnson had been "assigned" to the Dinkler Plaza. In response, E. M. Turlington, vice president of the Dinkler Hotel Corporation told the Atlanta Constitution, "Reports that Negro delegates have been registered either under their own name or fictitious names at the Dinkler Plaza Hotel are completely erroneous."
However, some 45 years later, Dick Thomas, former Director of Sales for Dinkler Hotels, recounts what he calls "the toughest day I ever had in my life." And his memory of what took place behind closed doors contrasts sharply with the Dinkler Plaza's public assertions. Serving as the Jaycees' national public relations chairman, Thomas recalls the protests and bomb threats that ensued when the news circulated that William D. Johnson "had a suite at the hotel." Even some hotel employees were irate, Thomas says. Shocked that Atlanta, once declared to be the "city too busy to hate," was still experiencing such racial strife in spite of changing views and recent advances, Thomas says the hotel essentially bowed to pressure. To ensure his safety and appease the dissenters, a limousine was summoned, and Johnson (who, as rumored, did have a room at the Dinkler Plaza) was discreetly taken to a black-owned hotel.
Months later, in October 1961, the Dinkler Plaza was the site of a national meeting of Employment Security Program administrators. Citing the hotel's racial policies, 22 states boycotted the event. Marion Williamson, Georgia's Employment Security director, called the racial issue "artificial," but the hotel was once again cast in a negative light, both locally and nationally.
More bad press came in November 1961 when U. S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara traveled to Atlanta to address a segregated audience at the Dinkler Plaza. The New York Times covered McNamara's every move from his arrival at the airport to his cab ride to the hotel. At the last minute, Delta Airlines "diverted the huge Boeing 707 from its designated gate" apparently because of the "presence of Negro demonstrators," the newspaper reported. As McNamara made his way up the concourse, Times reporter Claude Sitton inquired what he thought of the protest, but McNamara denied being aware of the demonstration. Asked to turn his head toward the protesters, McNamara did so and then arrogantly refused to admit he had seen anyone!
A taxi transported McNamara from the airport to a side entrance of the Dinkler Plaza. As he spoke at the dinner honoring U. S. Senator Richard B. Russell and U. S. Representative Carl Vinson, picketers representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) protested outside. Holding signs that read "Negroes in the Peace Corps but not the Dinkler" and "Mr. Secretary, you attend this dinner at the expense of human dignity," neither the protesters nor their cause was acknowledged in McNamara's speech. Having attended the event with President John F. Kennedy's apparent blessing, there was much concern within the African American community. After all, blacks had generally supported the Kennedy Administration, but even civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pondered if Kennedy had "merited the overwhelming support received from Negroes in the last Presidential election."
In March 1962, the NAACP announced plans to hold its annual meeting in Atlanta in July. Expected to draw 1500 to 2000 delegates, the civil rights group vowed to hold the convention regardless of whether Atlanta hotels would accommodate black guests. News of the meeting prompted discussion among members of the Atlanta Hotel Association, and the Dinkler Plaza's own A. J. Crocy (who was also president of the AHA) publicly stated, "Any action taken will come only after long, conscientious deliberations . . . " In the end, the AHA was unrelenting.
"At Your Service"
Like many other southern hoteliers, Dinkler Hotels continued to refuse black guests into the early 1960s, but the company had no qualms about employing African Americans in service positions.
"Maynard Jackson was [once] a waiter at the Dinkler Plaza," Dinkler III recalls, referring to the future Atlanta mayor. In fact, Calvin H. Gibson Sr. (1892-1988), a 60-year employee of Dinkler Hotels and headwaiter for the Dinkler Plaza, hired numerous black college students, including Jackson. "Providing them with jobs that helped pay for their expenses," according to his obituary in the May 19, 1988 Atlanta Constitution, Gibson was noted for his integrity, character and positive effect on young, impressionable students. Crediting Gibson's impact on his life and career, Mayor Jackson said, "He taught me how to wait tables and keep my nose clean, emphasized fine character, clean personal appearance and hard work."
While a student at Clark College, African American Marvin Arrington worked at the Dinkler Plaza under Gibson to earn part of his tuition. An eventual president of the Atlanta City Council, Arrington told the Constitution, "It gave me good work ethics, and he [Gibson] was a part of that growth."
The Turning Point
Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. (1911-2003), a Dinkler family friend, was "credited with leading the city through an era of significant and economic growth" and was "able to broker more peaceful paths to integration," Tammy H. Galloway wrote for the New Georgia Encyclopedia. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described him as having a "buoyant personality, progressive political style and aristocratic demeanor," and recognized Allen for "bringing major league sports to the South." Undoubtedly, it would take a leader of Allen's stature and charisma to sway hard-line segregationists, and hindsight reveals that his persistence prevailed.
Even though many Atlanta businesses, at Allen's urging, opened their doors to African Americans well before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Dinkler III remembers the adminstration of President Kennedy playing a role in motivating his family to amend its policies regarding the acceptance of black customers.
"Bobby Kennedy called and said, 'Carling, the president would really appreciate it if you would integrate your hotels,' " Dinkler III says. That evening, Dinkler Jr. arrived home from the office and gathered his family together for a meeting. Explaining that the Attorney General had telephoned him about the matter, the family agreed that complying with Kennedy's request would be the right thing to do. "It's gonna cost us money," the elder Dinkler conceded, but Dinkler III says, "We did it anyway."
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and, on January 11, 1964, fourteen major Atlanta hotels (including the Dinkler Plaza) announced from Mayor Allen's office their pledge to accept reservations regardless of race (although several had already been quietly accepting black guests).
As Dinkler had predicted, the decision was not without repercussions. Several conventions canceled their reservations, and Dinkler III says a bomb was even placed in the mailbox of the Dinkler family home in Atlanta. Nonetheless, Dinkler Hotels set a positive example, and the family never regretted its decision.
Dinkler Plaza Hotel Site of Historic Banquet
An extraordinary orator and brilliant leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. unequivocally impacted the civil rights movement, persevering with organized peaceful protests, in spite of persecutions and numerous setbacks. Violent retaliations against King-led marches attracted attention both nationally and internationally, ultimately drawing sympathy and recruiting allies for the cause. As a result of his tireless labor and advocacy of non-violent demonstration, Dr. King received the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Dr. King, who had been treated like royalty in Oslo upon receiving the Nobel Prize, returned to Atlanta where enthusiasm was lukewarm at best. Initially, ticket sales for a monumental integrated banquet city leaders were holding at the Dinkler Plaza to honor King were fickle, but Coca Cola Company chairman and CEO J. Paul Austin reportedly fostered support and created anticipation for the dinner and, thanks to his bold stand, the banquet tickets were much sought after and sold out quickly.
"More than 1,500 people---the cream of Atlanta's business, civic, political and religious communities---jammed the Dinkler Plaza Hotel downtown for the three-hour affair. Outside, police were on hand to control picketing that never materialized," the Journal-Constitution stated in a 2002 article, reflecting on the January 29, 1964 event.
Reminiscing of the evening, Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., in his book Mayor: Notes on the Sixties (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1971) wrote, "Somebody came up to the Reverend Sam Williams and me and apologized to us that the dinner was going to run about forty-five minutes late because of the unexpectedly large turnout. 'Don't worry about that,' I said. 'My friend Sam Williams has been waiting for a hundred years to get in that ballroom, and forty-five minutes one way or the other isn't going to bother him much.' "
Janice Rothschild Blumberg, widow of Rabbi Jacob Rothschild, described the unforgettable evening in an interview with the Constitution. "At the end, everyone spontaneously joined hands and sang 'We Shall Overcome.' If there were any dry eyes, I didn't see them."
Other Memorable Moments at the Dinkler Plaza
Presidential stays immediately come to mind for Carling Dinkler III when asked which guests he remembers most. According to Dinkler, both Presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson stayed at the Dinkler Plaza. A teenage boy at the time, he especially recalls the occasions because three floors were always rented. For security reasons, the president and his entourage would have one level to themselves, and the immediate floors below and above were off limits to other hotel guests.
James F. "Jimmy" Campbell worked for 35 years as manager of the hotel's bellboy staff. When he died in 2005, at the age of 94, family and friends reminisced of Campbell's days at the Dinkler Plaza. Campbell shook hands with everyone from presidents to celebrities like Bing Crosby. A daughter, Mary Anderson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "He met Elvis and got his autograph for me when I was a teenager, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven." The newspaper reported that Campbell was always eager to share a story about his experiences at the Dinkler Plaza and, from the sound of it, he had quite a few to tell.
The Dinklers Dock in Miami . . . Literally!
Following the sale of the Dinkler hotels and his eventual departure from managing the properties, Carling Dinkler Jr. moved his family from Atlanta to Miami where he and his wife, Cornelia "Connie" Dinkler, built the posh Palm Bay Club on Biscayne Bay. Just as Dinkler Jr. had been inspired to establish the highly successful restaurant, The Luau (Atlanta's first eatery to offer Polynesian fare), the Palm Bay Club was but another well-executed concept stemming from Dinkler's keen business mind. Featuring condominiums and a marina (and later the 27-floor Palm Bay Club Towers), the exclusive development was frequented by many celebrities including Charlton Heston and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
On November 18, 1967, the haven for socialites was even the site of a jewel heist. Two gunmen slipped in, bound and gagged Mr. and Mrs. Dinkler and made off with $350,000 in gems. The Dinklers had just returned to their penthouse from a $1,000-a-plate charity function they had hosted at the Palm Bay Club. One bandit, described as the "polite" one, kissed Mrs. Dinkler on the cheek and whispered, "You can roll over and touch the telephone." As he essentially apologized for robbing the couple, his accomplice, dressed in a tuxedo, said, "That's enough talk, Gary."
In other news, the Palm Bay was a popular stop for a number of prominent politicians who had come to Miami Beach for the 1972 Republican National Convention. CBS journalist Charles Kuralt concluded in a news report, "At Palm Bay Club, there is air of Republican equality---everybody is a millionaire. Mrs. Carling Dinkler's yacht flags spell out 'Nixon Now'."
The Dinkler penthouse was even featured within the pages of the July 8, 1972 issue of Architectural Digest.
In 1982, Mrs. Dinkler died unexpectedly of a heart attack. She was 59. Carling Dinkler Jr. later remarried, leaving behind the 16-acre residential club he and his first wife had founded. At the age of 85, he died in 2005 in his home in Morgantown, West Virginia.
