Ali and MLK, not always allies, shared opposition to Vietnam War: ‘It cost them both dearly’

Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King Jr. speak to reporters on March 29, 1967. | AP file

Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t agree on a lot of things, but both paid heavy prices for their loud opposition to the Vietnam War.

Ali, then the reigning heavyweight boxing champion, refused induction into the Army in 1967, saying he was “exempt as a minister of the religion of Islam.” King spoke about his own opposition to the war after Ali became a conscientious objector.