Mickey Schwerner and two other civil rights workers went missing early in the summer of 1964. When he did, much attention turned to his wife, Rita. As civil rights leader Julian Bond recalls, "Rita Schwerner plays an important role here. This is her husband after all who is the leader of the three missing men, and she puts a face on them, and she plays an enormous role in making this seem like these are real people." When Rita went to the White House to meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson, she pled with him to help with the case.