Louis Emanuel Martin Jr. (November 18, 1912 – January 27, 1997) was an American journalist, newspaper publisher, civil rights activist and advisor to three presidents of the United States.

He was also (in 1970) a founder of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research organization in Washington, D.C. providing technical support for black officeholders and scholars.

During the campaign, Martin was instrumental in persuading candidate Kennedy to place a telephone call to Coretta Scott King to express dismay over the jailing of her husband, the Rev.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.[1] That phone call was credited with helping Kennedy win a major portion of the black vote in the general election that year.

In 1967, as a trusted advisor, Martin was influential in President Johnson's decision to nominate Thurgood Marshall as the first black Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Of his close working relationship with Johnson it was said that "They talked to each other in the shorthand of experienced political pros", according to Clifford Alexander, Special White House counsel and the first African-American Secretary of the United States Army.

Among the other leading black public figures whom Martin helped raise to prominence was Vernon E. Jordan Jr., later a close adviser to President Bill Clinton.

After helping FDR with reelection in 1944, he went on to serve as advisor and assistant to Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Carter, and along the way initiated generations of black people into the leadership ranks of the American political system.