Jack Minnis ran SNCC's research department out of the Atlanta office. For most of 1965, he wrote and distributed a poorly mimeographed weekly research report titled, "Life With Lyndon in the Great Society" that exposed the truth behind LBJ's carefully constructed facade of lies and misdirection.
Number 1, January 22, 1965: Colonialsm, War on Poverty, hunger, corporate corruption, Humphrey, Selma, IAD/CIA. 3 pages. Number 2, February 2, 1965: Number 3, February 11, 1965: Number 4, February 18, 1965: Number 6, March 4, 1965: Number 7, March 10, 1965: Number 8, March 18, 1965: Number 9, March 25, 1965: Number 10, April 1, 1965. LBJ & Alabama, U.S. corporations & South Africa, profits from poverty, price of bread and corporate corruption. 7 pages. Number 11, April 15, 1965. Hoover & the FBI and Proctor & Gamble, Olin-Mathieson & Vietnam corruption, Chase Bank & South African apartheid, corporations and universities. 6 pages. Number 12, April 15, 1965. Johnson/Humphrey administration and Louisiand and Alabama; Kimberly-Clark Inc. in South Africa; Shah of Iran, U.S. oil companies, and bribery of U.S. officials; German NAZIs and current (1965) U.S. chemical business. 6 pages. Number 13, April 22, 1965. War on Poverty and "profits from poverty," Litton Industries; domstic service and the poverty program; Selma and the Southern States Industrial Council (SSIC), Vietnam War and military contracts. 6 pages. Number 15. May 6, 1965. U.S. occupation of Dominican Republic, American business interests, and racism; FBI informant, assasination of Viola Liuzzo, and DoJ fund; Federal Services Finance Corp, Financial General Corp and loan sharking; benefits for General Curtis LeMay. Number 16, May 20, 1965. Surplus food to South Africa and the Congo for diamonds and uranium but no foor Selma Blacks fired for trying to register to vote. Giving a legal pass to white racist political leaders and killers. Imperialism and "Pax Americana." Birth-control, population-control, and corporate profit. 6 pages. Number 17, May 27, 1965. Coroporate roots of U.S. invasion of Dominican Republic. Dorporate corruption and influence on public life. %ear-gas uses and users. U.S. foreign aid for the benefit of American corporations. Arming the White Citizens Council. Choosing not to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Hubert Humphrey. 6 pages. Number 18, June 3, 1965. U.S. foreign aid for the benefit of American corporations.Arming the White Citizens Council, Not enforcing the Civil Rights Act. Hubert Humphrey. 6 pages. Number 19, June 10, 1965. The White House conference, killing of O'Neal Moore, the FBI on TV, South African & American corporations. 6 pages. Number 20, June 17. 1965. Evans & Novak, FDA corruption, foreign aid Dominican Republic and union-busting in Argentina, federal services financial corruption. 5 pages. Number 21, June 24, 1965. Mississippi Governor Colman appointment to 5th Circut, trade with South Africa. 6 pages. Number 22, July 1, 1965. Ed Clark ambassdor to Australia and oil, Bobby Baker & LBJ, corporate promotion of Alabama's image, Westinghouse Inc compliance with Civil Rights Act . 6 pages. Number 23, undated, 1965. Number 24, July 15, 1965. Number 25, July 22, 1965. Number 26, July 29, 1965. Number 27, August 5, 1965. Vietnam War and Johnson's "Peace Offensive" and military policy. Torture of military prisoners by the South Vietnamese. Corporate investments in Columbia subsidized by American taxpayers. Whitewashing southern school segregatioh. Medicare taxes and payments. 5 pages. Number 28, August 12 1965. Voting Rights Act, Poverty programs and Catholic Church. Income level of poverty program officials. Corporate war profits. U.S. nuclear power for South Africa. South Africa book on how to treat bantu servants. 6 pages. Number 29, August 19, 1965. Watts uprising. Chemical warfare in Vietnam. Treatment of enemy prisoners in Vietnam. Poverty and social consequences in Vietnam of the war. 7 pages. Number 30, August 26, 1965. Number 31, September 2, 1965. Number 32, September 9, 1965. Number 33, September 16, 1965. Number 34, September 23, 1965. Number 35, September 30, 1965. Number 36, October 7, 1965. Number 37, October 14, 1965. Number 38, October 21, 1965. Number 39, October 28, 1965. Number 40, November 4, 1965. Number 41, November 11, 1965. Number 42, November 18, 1965. Number 44, December 2, 1965.
These weekly reports played a significant role in the radicalization of SNCC, SCLC, and CORE field staff. A radicalization that began with the Johnson-Humphrey-Mondale betrayal of the MFDP at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City in August of 1964 (see MFDP Challenge to Democratic Convention and Mississippi Movement & the MFDP).
Week after week Jack's reports analyzed current events — local, national, and international — in terms of the connections between wealth, power, and government policy. He identified the key decision makers and (long before Bernstein, Woodward, and Watergate) followed-the-money as it determined what was being done to whom — and why. He had the facts and he layed them out for all to see. And for many freedom fighters the conclusion was inescapable — the abuses we were fighting in the South were not abberations but rather symptoms of deep systemic injustices that applied nationwide and internationally.
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