King Day Celebrations Include Calls for Cease-Fire in Persian Gulf War : Holiday: Many say the conflict calls attention to the slain civil rights leader’s quest for peace and social progress. 25,000 attend Phoenix rally.

With a mixture of hope, anger and determination, thousands of Americans on Monday remembered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in parades and speeches, vowing to continue his quest for world peace and social progress.

The celebration of what would have been King’s 62nd birthday was fused into calls for a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf War and in efforts to increase federal assistance to programs in education, health and housing.

Rejecting the notion that the war overshadows such efforts, many who attended King Day events said the conflict actually calls attention to what they are doing.

“It gives us an opportunity, more strongly than ever, to finish the unfinished work,” said Yolanda King, a daughter of the slain rights activist, as she watched a spirited parade down Peachtree Street in Atlanta on a cold, raw afternoon.

On Sunday, her mother, Coretta Scott King, in her annual “State of the Dream” speech, called for a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf, decrying a system that she said puts a higher priority on war than on education and health care.

Perhaps the most ironic celebration was held in Arizona, one of only three states refusing to declare a paid holiday for state workers: A Phoenix rally drew an estimated 25,000 people, setting a record and adding additional fuel to an already acrimonious debate over the holiday.

Chanting “King Day Now,” the marchers made their way to a gathering where the Rev. Warren Stewart thundered: “We are here not just for a holiday, but we are here for peace.”

New Hampshire and Montana are the other states without the holiday.

The struggle for a holiday continued Monday in Missoula, Mont., as supporters outnumbered opponents nine to one at a legislative hearing on the issue, which may be decided in the next few weeks.

In stark contrast to such debate, some 1,000 people braved temperatures hovering around 4 degrees to attend a rally for King in St. Paul, Minn., an “absolutely amazing” turnout, declared Gov. Arne Carlson.

And 30,000 people marched through three miles of city streets in San Antonio, then stopped to sing and pray for peace and social justice.

Monday’s events culminated 10 days of celebration. King’s birthday was Jan. 15. The federal holiday is on the third Monday of January.

In Atlanta, some 70,000 people lined both sides of the street as bands, floats and marching bands wound their way through downtown.

Reflecting the tenor of commemorations nationwide, many of the onlookers wore grim faces and spoke with a resolute edge.

Coakley Pendergrass, a portrait photographer, wore a black leather jacket with this inscription on the back: “American Dream, Land of Opportunity.” Like so many others who marked the day, he had war on his mind.

“I’d like to see the end of the war,” he said. “If Martin were to return this day, he’d be very disturbed with what is happening in the Persian Gulf, in Russia and in America.”

In the 10 days since the celebration began, momentous world events have conspired to overshadow the event and to anger those who celebrate it.

Many still seethe over the United Nations setting the deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait at Jan. 15, King’s birthday. When the United States led a massive attack on Iraq less than 24 hours later, the anger was compounded.

Further disheartening the King celebrants was this irony: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who was awarded this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize for his “courageous leadership and humanitarian vision,” is embroiled in Soviet troops’ bloody crackdown on the Baltic republics of Latvia and Lithuania, which are seeking independence from the Moscow government.

Jesse Hill, an Atlanta businessman who is president of the board of the King Center, defended the choice of Gorbachev, saying in an interview, “We have no second thoughts about honoring him. He could be fighting for his political life at this moment.”

Hill went on to say that the selection, made before the Soviet crackdown, was “timely at the time” because of Gorbachev’s efforts at reform in Eastern Europe. He added, “we hope and pray for him.”

Also contributing to this story were correspondents Laura Laughlin in Phoenix and Dan Baum and Margaret L. Knox in Missoula, Mont.