'RESTORE AMERICA': Glenn Beck Calls for National Revival and Religious Rebirth; Sharpton's 'Reclaim the Dream' Event Brings Thousands to Honor MLK

Forty-seven years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream Speech," Fox News host Glenn Beck stood Saturday close to the spot at the Lincoln Memorial where the civil rights leader called for racial equality, urging the nation to return to "faith, hope and charity."

The much-ballyhooed and quite controversial "Restoring Honor" rally has brought conservatives to Washington from parts of the country. Many are making a long weekend of it, packing hotels and filling area campgrounds. Across the country, local tea party groups teamed up to charter buses to bring large crowds.

Beck, a fiery conservative populist, had urged his followers to leave political signs at home. He said that he wanted to celebrate America's military personnel and accounted that the rally raised $5.5 million, which would go to the veterans' charity Special Operations Warrior Foundation after defraying event costs.

The crowd remained civil and listened attentively through 200 minutes of speeches, prayers, songs and the awarding of medals.

Indeed, President Barack Obama was not referred to by name on stage once during the three-and-a-half hour program.

The focus of the rally was more explicitly religious than political, with many speakers openly professing their Christian faith, including Beck.

At points, it felt like a mixture of old-fashioned tent revival and a special (tamer than normal) episode of Beck's show.

On average, more than 2 million viewers watch that daily show. Crowd size is notoriously difficult to estimate at such rallies on the National Mall, but Beck supporters expected more than 100,000 to attend. Beck tweeted last week that more than 1,000 buses were filled, with more chartered.

The crowd stretched from the memorial to the base of the Washington Monument, about a mile away, as Beck took the stage after the singing of the national anthem.

"Hello, America. I have just gotten word from the media that there is over a thousand people here today," Beck said, with a hint of sarcasm. He later said he had heard the crowd was between 300,000 and 500,000, "and if that's coming from the media, God only knows."

While influential conservative groups and politicians had endorsed or supported the event, Republican party leaders carefully avoided it.

Metro trains and station platforms were packed with people headed for the rally. Vendors sold "Don't Tread on Me" flags -- a popular accessory at tea party rallies -- outside the Smithsonian station. Blasting on loudspeakers nearby was King's "I Have a Dream" speech. A picture of the civil rights leader was displayed with one of his quotes of how people must come together.

Many attendees had claimed seats the night before. Before 9 a.m., volunteers stood nearly 200 yards from the base of the steps of the memorial, telling people to turn around because the area was so densely packed, and struggling to clear an emergency exit lane as people pushed to get closer.

John Malham, a 47-year-old who owns a paintball field, left his home in Tabernacle, N.J., at 3 a.m. He caught a bus to Washington with his wife and sister. When he got here, he opened an adjustable pole and waved a big American flag.

Thousands of people joined the Rev. Al Sharpton and other leaders Saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington in 1963. The event, billed as "Reclaim the Dream," included a five-mile march that culminated at the Mall, where conservative talk show host Glenn Beck had organized the simultaneous "Restoring Honor" rally.

In an interview before the gathering began at Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington, Sharpton said he called the event to show respect for the ideals of King, who made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago near where Beck spoke to thousands Saturday.

"People are clear in what Dr. King's dream was about, and we will not react to those who try to distort that dream," Sharpton said. He was one of several prominent leaders who condemned Beck's rally, despite cries from organizers that "Restoring Honor" was not intended to dishonor King or his work.

Police kept an alert eye on the crowds for both events, concerned that skirmishes might result from the opposing camps. The events prompted crowds at end-of-the-line Metro stations because of heavy ridership by those heading in from the suburbs. Metro officials said several stations were busy because of riders unfamiliar with how to buy fare cards. To ease the crunch, officials recommended that people at the Franconia-Springfield station (at the end of the Blue line in Fairfax County) and at the Shady Grove station (at the end of the Red line in Montgomery County) use other stations.

At one point, a line was wrapped around the block near Dunbar High School because of a bottleneck to get through the door to the athletic field, which, along with the bleachers, was filled by rally participants. Speakers addressed everything from education to ending gun violence to gay rights to congressional voting privileges for the District.

Early at the event, a gospel choir took the stage after a fervent prayer by Barbara Williams-Skinner, president of the Skinner Leadership Institute.

"What do you do when you've given your all? Child, you just stand," the crowd quietly sang.

Williams-Skinner made strong ties between the 1963 rally at which King spoke of his "dream" and the rally at the Northwest Washington high school. "Like Dr. King, we believe that the bank of justice is not bankrupt," she said. "We thank you God for raising up President Barack Obama as a small down payment on that dream."

Bianca Farmer, a senior at Dunbar, drew applause when she told the crowd to continue to celebrate the achievement that Obama represents. "We must be fearful of stopping there," she said. "The fight is not in the same arena as it was 47 years ago, but the fight lives on."

Some leaders Saturday pointed to what they characterized as lost ground in the quest for the principles that King held dear. "When I look at my television, I don't see the King crowd of blacks and whites together," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who worked as an aide for King at the 1963 march.

NAACP President Ben Jealous said: "We are not sure what the message of the Beck rally is, since he told them to leave their signs at home. We have to revitalize jobs and schools and reclaim Dr. King's dream."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the rally participants that education is the civil rights issue of this generation. "Parents: Turn off the television. Educators: We have to stop making excuses," he said. "The dividing line in our country today is less around white and black and more about educational opportunity. We've been too satisfied with second-class schools."