Rustin took leave from the War Resisters League in 1956 to advise minister
Martin Luther King Jr. of the Baptist Church on Gandhian tactics. King was organizing the public transportation
boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama, which became known as the
Montgomery Bus Boycott. According to Rustin, "I think it's fair to say that Dr. King's view of non-violent tactics was almost non-existent when the boycott began. In other words, Dr. King was permitting himself and his children and his home to be protected by guns."
Rustin convinced King to abandon the armed protection, including a personal handgun.[28] In a 1964 interview with
Robert Penn Warren for the book
Who Speaks for the Negro?, Rustin also reflected that his integrative ideology began to differ from King's. He believed a social movement "has to be based on the collective needs of people at this time, regardless of color, creed, race."
[29]