The likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. stands now in the Capitol rotunda where the first of the civil rights laws of the 1960s was signed, within sight of the spot where he told the nation of his dream.
Coretta Scott King drew the veil from the 3-foot bronze bust of her martyred husband Thursday and the hammering beat of the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' soared through the great dome.
The installation of the bust -- the first work of art representing a black person to be placed in the Capitol -- was a highlight of the weeklong celebration of King's 57th birthday. That birthday fell on Wednesday, but it will be observed as a federal holiday on Monday.
The focus of the King week celebrations moved back to his hometown of Atlanta today, featuring a speech by Undersecretary of Labor Dennis Whitfield.
About a thousand people, among them such one-time hard-line segregationists as Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, attended the unveiling in the Capitol rotunda Thursday.
Mrs. King said she hoped her husband's life 'will remain a living and creative force in our society.'
It was in the Capitol rotunda in 1964 that President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the most sweeping civil rights bill in history. And visitors could see through windows the Lincoln Monument, where in 1963 King delivered his now-famous 'I Have a Dream' speech to 250,000 people.
'He had a dream we would all sit down at the table of brotherhood,' his widow said Thursday. 'We have much work yet to do if Martin's dream is to become a reality.'
The bust, the work of black sculptor John Wilson, will remain in the rotunda for 10 months and then will be moved to a permanent place near Statuary Hall, the old House of Representatives chamber where scores of likenesses of American heroes stand.
After the ceremony Mrs. King spent more than half an hour with President Reagan. She said she found him 'affable' but apparently unaware of 'how bad the situation is for a lot of people.'
Reagan, in a message to the Congress of Racial Equality, urged civil rights leaders to 'never abandon the dream. Never forget that this is America, the land where dreams come true.'
A statement from Pope John Paul II, released in Washington Thursday by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said:
'Mindful of the significant contribution made by Dr. King in the quest for peace through justice and in search for universal solidarity through the elimination by non-violent means of every form of unjust discrimination, His Holiness hopes that the observance of his memory will serve to further the worthy ideals exemplified by his life.'
From the shuttle Columbia in orbit around Earth, co-pilot Charles Bolden, the fourth black astronaut to fly aboard the shuttle, sent word that he was joining in the celebration.
'Charles says he enjoyed Martin Luther King's birthday in orbit,' commander Robert Gibson told ground controllers.
Former Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver told soldiers at Fort Ord, Calif., Wednesday he once wanted to hurt King.
'Dr. King used to shock me,' Cleaver said. 'He made me so angry I wanted to do something to him because he said if there's going to be any blood, let it be our blood.
'I couldn't understand him. But he was right. He knew what he was talking about. I thought all of our problems on Earth had military solutions, economic solutions. But Dr. King had his eye on a star.'
