 Twenty @-@ four hours after his arrest , King was allowed to see local attorneys from the SCLC . When Coretta Scott King did not hear from her husband , she called Walker and he suggested that she call President Kennedy directly . Mrs. King was recuperating at home after the birth of their fourth child when she received a call from President Kennedy the Monday after the arrest . The president told her she could expect a call from her husband soon . When Martin Luther King called his wife , their conversation was brief and guarded ; he correctly assumed that his phones were tapped . Several days later , Jacqueline Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to express her concern for King while he was incarcerated . 
