THE PRESIDENT and Mrs. Nixon were most distressed to learn of the tragic death of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr., the death of one of her parishioners, and the wounding of another.
It is a terrible irony that a family whose devotion to nonviolence has so greatly advanced the cause of social justice in the United States should have two of its own members struck down in this fashion.
The President's prayers are with Dr. King, Sr., in this hour of his bereavement, and with the members of the Ebenezer Baptist Church upon whom this tragedy falls with a special force.
Note: Mrs. King was slain by an assailant during services at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.
The President designated Stanley S. Scott, Special Assistant to the President, to serve as his Personal Representative at funeral services for Mrs. King held in Atlanta on July 3. Other members of the official delegation included H. R. Crawford, Assistant Secretary for Housing Management, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and John H. Powell, Jr., Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The statement was released at Oreanda, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and Washington, D.C.
Richard Nixon, White House Statement on the Death of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256056