1
He's gone.
Lyndon.
Lyndon.
Wake up, honey.
We're about to land
in Washington.
Okay.
Did you hear from Bobby?
Man: He'll be waiting
on the tarmac.
There will be
reporters there, too.
You'll be expected to make a
statement, something short.
- Thank you.
- I wanna reach out to the leadership
as soon as we hit the ground.
I wanna talk to each
and every one of them.
You call Rose Kennedy?
I did.
My Lord, what that woman
has been through.
Your lipstick.
- What?
- Fix your lipstick.
Oh.
How did John Connally's
surgery go?
Doctor said optimistic.
Ah.
Thank God for that.
Jackie?
She won't change her clothes.
Says she wants them to see
what they have done to Jack.
You see the way she stared at me
before I took the oath?
- She's upset, honey.
- We're all upset, Bird!
We're all upset.
Walter,
a televised address
to both houses of Congress...
as soon as it seems decent.
Where were you just now,
Mr. President?
Accidental President.
That's what they'll say.
Well,
we'll have to change that
next November.
Johnson:
I keep having this dream.
I'm back in the Hill Country
in the old days,
hiding down in the root cellar
while a Comanche war party
searches through the house
just over my head
hunting for me.
It's so dark down there,
like a grave.
Man: The President of
the United States!
Johnson:
For this terrible moment,
I wonder if I'm dead already...
or buried alive.
Mr. President.
Johnson: I pissed myself
like an idiot child
crouching in the dirt,
knowing it's only
a matter of time now
before they find the trapdoor,
discover me...
haul me screaming
up into the light...
where their knives gleam.
All I have
I would have given gladly
not to be standing here today.
The greatest leader of our time
has been struck down
by the foulest deed of our time.
John F. Kennedy
told his countrymen
that our national work
would not be finished
in the life
of this administration...
nor even perhaps
in our own lifetime.
"But," he said,
"let us begin."
Today,
I'd say to all
my fellow Americans,
"Let us continue."
We have talked long enough
in this country
about civil rights.
We have talked
for 100 years or more.
It is time now to write the next
chapter in the books of law.
I urge you to enact
President Kennedy's
civil rights bill into law
so that we can eliminate
from this nation
every trace of discrimination
that is based upon race
or color.
Man: That's right!
You hear what that Negro comedian
Dick Gregory said about me?
"When Lyndon Johnson
finished his speech,
20 million Negroes unpacked."
That was a fine speech,
Mr. President.
Dear to my heart, but I know some people
are wondering, "Did he really mean it?"
Johnson: Well, you could tell
that liberal crowd of yours
that I'm gonna
out-Lincoln Lincoln.
But you need to get behind me
because you know Dick
Russell and the Dixiecrats
are gonna fight me
tooth and nail
on this civil rights stuff.
Now, not too tight
in the bunghole, Manny.
And give me some extra room
in my pockets there
for my stuff...
My keys and my knife...
And leave me some slack
for my nut sack.
Johnson: Walter!
Walter, you let me know the
minute Dick Russell gets here
and get me Katharine Graham
from the "Post," will you?
But timing is critical here,
Hubert, you understand me?
With the election
only 11 months away...
If the Republicans are foolish
enough to nominate Barry Goldwater,
you'll beat him with both
hands tied behind your back.
Well, Goldwater is tougher
than you think.
But first, I gotta win
the Democratic nomination.
Holy crap. What happened here?
You tell Lady Bird about this and
she'll starve me for a month.
- Senator Russell.
- Oh, yep, yep.
Give me one minute.
George Wallace is a nobody.
Well, it wasn't Wallace
I'm thinking of.
You don't have
to worry about Bobby.
Bobby Kennedy would just soon
cut my throat as smile at me.
You know how strongly I feel
about this civil rights bill.
If there's anything I can do...
Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that
in mind, Hubert.
Mr. President.
- Senator Russell.
- Johnson: Ah.
Uncle Dick.
Well, well, well.
- Mr. President.
- Aw, Lyndon, Lyndon, please.
No, sir. No, not anymore.
Wouldn't be respectful.
Well, in public, then,
but nothing else
changes between us.
Now, hell, I owe
everything I have
to your good wisdom
and generosity,
and don't you think for a
second I'll ever forget it.
Well, you did throw me for a
bit of a loop last night.
A civil rights bill with
your election coming up...
For a hundred years, the Democratic
Party's had a lock on the South.
It'd be a foolish thing
to throw that away.
Oh, hell, Dick,
you know I got to throw Humphrey
and the rest of those liberals
a little bit of red meat
now and again.
- Yes, but...
- Sir, Dr. Martin Luther King is on three.
Well, he can wait.
So last night was just, uh,
election year politics or not?
Absolutely.
But I need you to hold the
South for me, Uncle Dick.
Party unity, it is
gonna be critical.
Well, we can talk more about it
when Lady Bird and I have you over
for dinner on Thursday, as usual.
Oh, there's no need
for that now.
Oh.
Our Thursday dinners are sacred.
- Well...
- Hey, why don't you bring your swimsuit
and you could paddle
your milk-white ass
around the White House pool
before dinner, huh?
Congratulations, Mr. President.
Thank you, Senator.
What the hell was she thinking?
Won't happen again, sir.
J. Edgar Hoover on four.
I mean no disrespect, but take
down that stuff over there.
- Edgar.
- Mr. President.
The FBI is here to assist
in any way we can.
Johnson: Oh, hell, Edgar,
you're more than
the head of the Bureau.
You're my brother.
Now, if the Bureau needs anything
from me, you just let me know.
Well, in light of your
announcement last night,
I think we should have a
discussion regarding Dr. King.
I recently acquired certain information
which is deeply troubling.
Uh, Edgar... Edgar,
I hate to interrupt,
- but they're pulling me six ways from Sunday.
- Staff: Mr. President!
I'm interested in this and
we'll talk soon, I promise.
Hoover: If I can just...
Did King screw
his sister or something?
That man's obsessed.
All right, Manny, let's
just get this over with.
What?
What is it?
Katharine Graham of the
"Washington Post" is on two.
- What?
- And Dr. King is still on three.
Look, I don't need to be
reminded of what I already know.
God damn it,
you know, you're fired.
Go on, get the hell out of here.
Walter, get me another secretary
who knows what she's doing.
And one with a little
meat on her bones,
for Christ's sake.
Not another one of these
scrawny, old Washington biddies.
Oh, God damn it, Manny.
Don't you have anything that doesn't
make me look like a dago undertaker?
I wanna thank you, Dr. King,
for your public
expression of support.
We were all very heartened by your
speech last night, Mr. President.
Well, it ain't gonna be easy.
- It's a difficult time.
- Yes, it is.
But as you suggested,
the greatest tribute
we can pay to President Kennedy
is to enact
his civil rights bill,
especially voting rights.
Yeah, well, you're preaching
to the choir there, Reverend.
Voting rights is the meat
of the coconut,
and we're gonna pass
that bill as is
without changing a word.
But, boy, I'm gonna
have to have your help.
Well, you know you have it, sir.
Well, thank you, Martin.
Thank you.
And listen, why don't you call
next time you're up here
and any suggestions you have,
- bring them in.
- Well, actually...
Just blowing smoke up my ass.
He called for a civil rights bill
in front of Congress, Martin.
King: Kennedy made
promises, too, Stanley.
- He just never delivered.
- He's no George Wallace.
You sure? So deep in
Russell's back pocket,
- you'd think
he was humping him.
He passed the '57
Civil Rights Act.
After he gutted it first.
That bill was like soup
made from the bones
of an emaciated chicken.
Levison: Martin, listen,
he's a Southern politician.
He's spent his entire life
trying to be president.
But he's there now.
For the first time,
he can do whatever he wants.
That's the question, isn't it?
What does Lyndon Johnson
really want?
Well, whatever it is,
11 months from now,
he has to run for reelection.
Like Kennedy, he damn sure is
gonna need the Negro vote to win.
Amen.
L.B.J. wants our support.
Okay.
But this president is gonna have to
deliver a real civil rights bill.
And we're gonna hold his feet
to the fire until he does.
- Levison: Damn right.
- Abernathy: That's right.
11 months from now,
he has to run for reelection.
Like Kennedy, he damn sure is
gonna need the Negro vote to win.
Abernathy: Amen.
Hoover: Stanley Levison.
Why is this so-called
"Reverend" Martin Luther King
taking advice from a
well-known Communist agitator?
That's a very good
question, sir.
Let's see who else
King is meeting.
I want all his travel
covered from now on.
- Get started.
- Yes, sir.
I will leave the goddamn
Democratic Party
before I turn it over
to a bunch of Congolese savages.
Now, hold on a second, Strom.
This bill is just
the thin edge of the wedge.
You saw what King and his
bunch did in Birmingham.
Why, integrated buses
are just the beginning.
Now we gotta shop with them,
eat with them, work with them.
We have been oppressed and
degraded by black, slimy,
- unbearably stinking niggers.
- That's enough of that kind of talk.
That's exactly
what they wanna hear
so they can dismiss us all
as a bunch of redneck goons.
Thank you, Joles.
We have to be very careful
how we handle this.
The issue is not about race.
It's about the gravest
possible assault
on the United States
Constitution,
which we are fighting to defend.
The president is actively
gathering signatures
for a discharge petition
to get the bill out of my
committee in the House.
And what do you expect
him to do, Judge?
He's got to at least look
lively on civil rights.
When the time comes,
he's gonna do the right thing.
- He'll gut the bill?
- Yes. He knows who his friends are.
But if he gets the bill
out of my committee?
It still has to go
through the House,
then out of Jim's committee
before it even gets
to the Senate floor.
And none of this can get
in the way of party unity.
In this election, we can
have a lock on the Senate
and a lock on the House and we can
elect a Southern Democrat president.
It's about time the South
rejoined the rest of the country.
My friends, if we do our part,
Lyndon is gonna know who
to thank on November 4th.
And don't you worry
about the president.
I know how to handle him.
Well, the mainstream
of American politics
has carried you and me down to the
road to statism and socialism
and the destruction of the
Constitution of the United States.
And I am, for one,
am already out
of the mainstream
of American politics.
Russell: He sure gets
people stirred up,
even in Milwaukee.
Johnson: When we get
to Atlantic City,
I will be
the Democratic nominee.
But how damaged will you be?
Be plenty strong enough
for Goldwater in November.
What if Bobby smells blood
and decides to run
at the last minute?
That little shit doesn't have
his brother's balls.
Still has his daddy's money.
You might win the nomination.
- But if the party splits...
- Oh, come on now, Dick.
All Wallace has to beat you with
is this damn civil rights bill
and I don't, for the life of me,
understand why you are
giving him this issue.
At this point, I'm more
worried about the liberals
than I am about the Dixiecrats.
We got to give them
something this time, Dick.
- You know that.
- You got to look like you're
giving them something.
All I'm saying is
don't work so hard
to get this bill
out of the House.
I do what I can.
Lady Bird: Now, Lyndon,
you're gonna talk
poor Uncle Dick to death
and here Zephyr's made
his favorite dinner
- and it's getting cold.
- Saved by the belle.
Bird, you look
beautiful as always.
Oh, and you are
a terrible liar as always.
Politician's curse.
Russell: So, do you like
being the First Lady?
Lady Bird: Well, it's
been an adjustment.
- Russell: I can imagine.
- But I am enjoying it.
"Any jackass
can kick a barn down,
but it takes a carpenter
to build one."
You remember who told me that?
Sam Rayburn?
Sam Rayburn,
Speaker of the House.
Oh, I could've
kissed his bald head.
Thank you.
God knows I've been
kissing his ass
since the day I moved
to Washington,
trying to get him
to take notice of me.
You know what Mr. Sam wanted?
- His greatest regret?
- No, sir.
A towheaded boy to take fishing.
Well, I heard that and I did
my damnedest to be that boy.
Suck-up? Yeah.
Brown-noser? Sure.
Kiss-ass? You bet.
I heard them all.
Fuck you!
Everybody wants power, Walter.
Everybody.
And if they say
they don't, they're lying.
Yes, sir.
But everybody thinks
it ought to be given out,
free of charge
like Mardi Gras beads.
Especially to them
because, of course,
they're gonna do good with it.
Nothing comes free.
Nothing.
Not even good.
Especially not good.
When the carpenter
picks up his saw,
if wood could talk...
it would scream.
Humphrey: You cannot
cut voting rights
out of the civil rights bill.
Well, you can't pass the civil
rights bill with it, not this year.
You told Dr. King you wanted this
bill passed without one word changed.
You don't go and sell a
horse by talking about it
being blind in one eye
and got the heaves.
They're gonna think you're
just gutting the bill, sir.
Bullshit!
It's still a damn good bill.
Public housing, access,
school desegregation.
- Don't you tell me that ain't nothing, God damn it!
- The liberal wing of the party
- will think you've betrayed them.
- Well, those are your people.
- It's your job to bring them around.
- My job?!
Hell, yes. You're the great white
hope of liberals everywhere.
Well, if I'm anything
like what you say,
it's because people know
I stand by my principles.
Principles? Shit.
This ain't about principles,
it's about votes!
You know, that's the problem
with you goddamn liberals...
You don't know how to fight.
- Mr. President...
- You say you're the leader of the liberal wing
of the Democratic Party?
- Then show me some goddamn leadership!
- Look out!
- I got no brakes!
- Look out!
- No brakes! Hold on!
- Oh, jeez!
Hold on!
Humphrey: What in...
My... what?
I thought I was a goner.
- This is watertight.
- Well, it's an amphibious car.
- It's a car and a boat.
- I have never seen such a thing.
I wish I had a
photograph of your face.
- Whew!
- Humphrey: I've never.
Oh.
Do you wanna know what the ugliest
sound in the world is, Hubert?
It's the tick-tick-tick
of a clock.
All the men in my
family die young.
I nearly died of that heart
attack 10 years ago.
- A terrible time.
- Yeah.
And I ain't got much time left.
You and me, we got till
the convention in August,
while the people are still
grieving Kennedy's death,
to get this bill passed.
Now, if we don't act now,
this opportunity
to do something
about civil rights
will just disappear forever.
- Now, are you in or are you out?
- Well, that...
Can you get the bill out
of the House Rules Committee?
Leave Judge Smith to me.
- And voting rights.
- Next year.
- No...
- No, no, you have my word.
Gonna be a very, very difficult sell, Mr.
President.
Oh, I know. I know.
That's why I want you to be the
floor manager of this bill.
- Floor manager?
- Uh-huh.
I assumed that Majority
Leader Mansfield...
Oh, no, no!
Mike is a good man,
but, boy, I need
someone more personable.
And people like you, Hubert.
Hell, even Dick Russell
likes you.
- Well, I wouldn't go that far.
- No, he does!
He does.
You know I'm under
a lot of pressure
to announce my running
mate for the election.
Now, you show me
that you got the guts
to push this thing through,
and you make yourself
one very real candidate
to become my Vice President
of the United States...
of America.
A step away
from the White House.
As we've seen...
anything can happen from there.
There's a barn owl out there
in the live oaks hunting mice.
Is Hubert on board?
Yeah.
One heart attack
in a lifetime is plenty,
thank you very much.
Why do I put up with you?
Oh, because you would
be lost without me.
King won't be so easy.
He won't trust me now and
I can't say I blame him.
He doesn't know you yet.
If I keep King's support,
I risk losing Uncle Dick's.
I may have in any case.
I always thought it would
take a Southern president
to drag the South
out of the past.
Shit, they're not gonna
thank me for it.
King: You promised this country a
civil rights bill, Mr. President.
And the voting rights
component is critical.
Absolutely critical,
and we're gonna fix that.
Just not in this bill.
Right now, we're gonna take care
of segregation in public
accommodations first.
I got it. I'll get that, Manny.
Thank you.
You know, every year,
my cook Zephyr Wright...
Oh, the best
damn chicken fried steak
you ever put in your mouth...
Well, every year, she and her
husband drive my Packard
from Washington back down
to the ranch for me.
Well, now, Zephyr,
she can't use any restrooms
on those highways
'cause they're all whites only.
She got to squat in a field
by the side of the road
to pee like a dog.
Now, that's just not right
and by God,
we're gonna fix that.
Well, nothing in this country will
ever change until Negroes can vote.
The next bill
will be voting rights.
After President Kennedy's
election,
Eisenhower had publicly declared
that his party had taken
the Negro vote for granted.
I would hate to see the Democratic
Party make the same mistake.
If you think Barry Goldwater's
a legitimate heir
to Abraham Lincoln,
you should vote for him.
You know, civil rights
isn't the only thing
I'm interested in, Dr. King.
We got people in this country
living in unbelievable poverty.
I know.
I grew up like that
in the Hill Country.
Picking cotton
on my hands and knees,
harnessed like a mule
to a road plow,
living off the bitter
charity of my neighbors.
But we're gonna change all that.
We're gonna declare
a war on poverty.
A war on poverty?
That's right.
Now, I got all kinds
of federal programs in mind
on health, education,
literacy, jobs, you name it.
We're gonna change
this country top to bottom.
That sounds extraordinary.
There you go.
And I would very
enthusiastically support
legislation to that effect.
But right now,
I need to be able
to go back to my people
and tell them
that this president
is committed to civil rights
and that this bill,
even without voting rights,
will still be a strong bill
with no further changes.
If I can't do that,
I'll lose their faith.
And in their despair, I...
I don't know what'll happen.
Is that a threat?
I don't want riots
any more than you do.
But...
in order to avoid
that type of situation,
I need to be able
to deliver meaningful reform.
Okay.
Okay.
Now here's what I need...
The bill is stuck in Judge
Smith's Rules Committee
and I need at least
eight votes...
Walter... To pry it out.
Five Republicans
and three Democrats.
Walter! Oh, good.
All right, here.
Now, you get your people
in each one of these districts here...
your ministers,
your clergy, your union
guys, and what have you...
To lobby these House members
to release that bill.
And lobbying is just like
propositioning women, you know?
Oh, I knew
this fellow once, ooh!
He was a real ladies' man.
He got more pussy
than you ever saw.
And I said to him,
"What is your secret?"
And he said,
"Well, I go into a bar
and I ask each woman
if she'd like to fool around."
I said, "Boy, you must've
got slapped a lot."
He said, "Oh, hell yeah,
but I also got me
a lot of yeses."
Well, now,
we only need eight yeses
to get that bill out of
Judge Smith's committee.
All right.
All right.
He said he'd get it
out of committee
and by God, he did.
- Hallelujah.
- And all it cost us
was the voting rights section.
King: The point is we can
work with this president.
Now he's asking
for our further assistance
in lobbying Congress.
What do we have to lose?
Do we have to endorse
his candidacy as well?
King: You still plan on voting
Republican this election, Bob?
You know, Goldwater came out
against civil rights,
purely on constitutional
grounds, of course.
- Yes, personally,
Goldwater deplores racism.
I just think asking for my vote
while denying me the right
to vote is bullshit!
The bill still gives us a lot.
Unless he gives that away, too.
I have his word there will
be no more compromises.
His word? Are you serious?
I cannot support a bill
without voting rights.
King: I'm not asking you to.
I'm asking you
to not work against it.
The president is planning
new legislation
that will bring
a huge federal intervention
to poverty, hunger, and jobs.
Think what that will do
for our people.
- 40 acres and a mule.
- Moses: That's right.
What if he's serious?
Okay, we will not campaign
against the bill,
but we're not gonna sit
on our hands either.
What does the visionary
Bob Moses propose?
Freedom Summer.
We are going to flood
the state of Mississippi
with hundreds
of student volunteers
- to educate and register Negro voters.
- Abernathy: You crazy.
- Mississippi?
- Not just Negro volunteers.
White students, too.
If just one of your white
volunteers gets hurt,
you will do irreparable
damage to the cause.
- Abernathy: That's right.
- Whereas if one of our Negro volunteers gets hurt,
who gives a fuck?
There may be trouble,
but if it takes some white kid
getting smacked around
to shed a little light on the
darkness that is Mississippi,
- then why not?!
- Because people will die in Mississippi!
- Roy, people are dying in Mississippi.
- Exactly!
- We're not asking...
- All right, all right, calm down.
Nobody in here gonna do
anything they can't get behind.
But we should respond to the
elimination of voting rights,
and Freedom Summer is the
perfect way to do that.
At the same time, Roy,
you are right.
The bill still does
give us a lot.
No one in this room has your
legislative experience.
So clearly, you and the NAACP
should lead our
lobbying efforts in DC.
Hmm.
All right?
Yes, okay.
Gentlemen.
Lord have mercy.
One of these days, Stokely and
Wilkins gonna kill each other
right there in the middle
of the room.
King: In that case, we
should sell tickets
so I can stop giving speeches.
I know that's right.
First thing tomorrow,
let's reach out and get
our membership mobilized
on this new campaign.
Yeah.
You need anything else?
I'm okay.
Good night, then.
Give me a minute.
Whoo!
The sex-mad preacher.
His hypocrisy is disgusting.
The man is a flagrant adulterer.
Oh, my.
A Southern preacher
who fucks his choir.
Who ever heard of that?
Oh, Edgar,
if you arrested every politician
and every preacher who ever
strayed from the marital bed,
wouldn't be nobody
in politics or the pulpit.
His moral turpitude is just
the tip of the iceberg.
Why, his... his Communist
connections...
Edgar,
far be it from me to tell
you how to do your job.
So keep an eye on him, sure,
but the House is about to
vote on my civil rights bill.
And this...
is not helpful.
- You understand me?
- Yes, sir.
Reporter on TV:
As part of Freedom Summer,
the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, or SNCC,
is recruiting and training black and
white college students from the North
and bussing them into Mississippi
to register black voters.
Police have confronted the activists,
leading to violent clashes.
Moses: For two weeks,
we've been training
to join other Freedom Summer
organizers in Mississippi,
but I cannot
emphasize enough to you
the dangers you will face.
The federal government
will not protect you
and the Mississippi government will
do everything it can to stop you.
If at any time you wish to quit,
you should do so, including now.
All right.
Let's get started.
Get on board
Children, children,
get on board
Children,
children, get on board
Children, children
Let's fight for freedom now
Get on board
Children, children,
get on board
Children,
children, get on board.
We will now call the House
of Representatives to order
to consider House Bill 736,
the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Smith: Mr. Speaker.
- Can you hear that?
This bill is nothing less than
an assault on the Constitution
by the federal government.
Who are we
to tell the owner of a cafe
who he can hire
or who he can serve?
Who are we to tell a state
that they may not pass
segregation laws?
As a conservative Republican,
I believe that state authority
should not be
needlessly usurped.
Hear, hear.
But I also believe
that the Constitution
doesn't say that whites alone
shall have our basic rights.
Didn't see that coming.
McCulloch is just playing
to the peanut gallery.
Well.
Are you, Lyndon?
Is this just still so much red
meat for Humphrey and his gang?
People aren't gonna stand for
Jim Crow anymore, Uncle Dick.
I'm not saying the Negro
hasn't been put upon.
He has been put upon
most disgracefully.
But you can't rush these things.
Look at the mess in Mississippi
with all those agitators
going down there
getting in people's business.
Folks are gonna get hurt.
And whose fault would that be?
Smith: Mr. Speaker,
I would like
to introduce an amendment
that would exempt
local businesses
in public accommodations.
For instance,
if you were a podiatrist
- and had your office in a hotel...
- Man: Come on!
If I were cutting corns,
I would wanna know whose feet
I was gonna have to be
monkeying around with.
Boo!
Unbelievable.
I would want to know whether
they smelled good or bad.
- Boo!
- God's honest truth.
Podiatrists, like other
minorities, got rights, too.
- That's nonsense!
- Yes, sir!
To force them to work
violates the 13th Amendment's
prohibition against slavery
or involuntary servitude.
You know, if that's the best
the judge has to offer,
he should've lost his
chairmanship a long time ago.
- Lyndon.
- Man: Mr. Speaker...
I, for one, am fed up
with amendments
that suddenly or blatantly
defeat the purpose of this bill.
And to my esteemed
colleague Judge Smith,
if you're going to trim the
stinky, smelly white corns...
you're gonna have to do the
same thing to the black ones.
That's telling him.
My goodness, man.
Call for a vote,
for God's sakes.
McCormack: With no more
amendments to be offered,
the Speaker calls
for a final vote
on House Bill 736.
- Abbitt.
- Nay.
Mr. Abbitt votes nay.
Abele.
- Yea.
- Mr. Abele votes yea.
- Adair.
- Yea.
- Albert.
- Nay.
Mr. Andrews from Alabama?
- Nay.
- Mr. Andrews votes nay.
Mr. Andrews from North Dakota.
- Yea.
- Mr. Andrews votes yea.
290 votes for
and 130 votes against.
The bill passes and will
now go to the Senate.
We got it, Walter. Thank you.
General Burnside thought he'd
crush Lee at Fredericksburg.
His overconfidence
cost him his army.
And only three years later,
Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
Nobody's surrendering,
Mr. President.
Thank you, Matthew. Most kind.
Reporter on TV:
In St. Augustine, Florida,
Negro demonstrators
were attacked today
by an estimated 500 angry whites
when they broke through
police lines.
The conflict began
when 200 Negro demonstrators
led by Andrew Young and other
civil rights leaders...
"Trust L.B.J. He's one of us."
Is this the first time
a civil rights bill
made it through the House?
So the bill goes to the Senate.
All right? So what?
How many civil rights bills
have you buried
in the last 10 years?
That graveyard of yours
got room for one more?
I'm digging a hole as we speak.
Well, all right, then.
If you do get it out
of committee, what then?
Then we filibuster it to death.
We stick together,
we'll be fine.
Public opinion's
already against this bill,
especially with
those riots going on.
Time is on our side.
Thank you, gentlemen.
And I see no need
why we ought to sit idly by
and see a bill pass in the American
Senate called a civil rights bill
that will destroy individual liberty
and freedom in this country.
Humphrey:
Wallace is running at 90%
with whites in Eastern Maryland.
If he wins that primary, the
Senate will never pass the bill.
- - Wallace would be
dead in the water
without these goddamn riots.
He is deliberately provocative.
King is supposed to
control his people.
I put my entire political career
at risk for the Negroes
and this is the thanks I get?
- Put more money into Maryland.
- Yeah, beef up my schedule there.
Now, what's your plan to get our
bill out of Eastland's committee?
- Discharge petition.
- Oh, shit, why, you don't have the votes.
No, but, uh, we're very close.
Close? Close don't make shit.
You don't have
the goddamn votes.
Fine, what's your idea?
What? I can't hear
a goddamn thing
you're saying, Humphrey.
Come on over here.
I said what's your idea?
Well, right now
it's all about
the rules of the Senate.
And Dick Russell's
been studying them
since he was sucking
on his mama's titty.
Boy, I've seen him
make a fool of you liberals
with some arcane rule of order
more times than...
Than I can remember.
Hold on.
Ah, son of a...
Oh.
You know what?
There is a way that we can
completely bypass
Eastland's committee
without a discharge petition.
And with a little luck,
Russell won't even
see it coming.
Russell: He did what?
Man's voice: I think the
president just put over the bill
out of committee.
All right.
All right, keep Jim calm.
I'll handle this.
Johnson: What you think it is?
Why it tastes
a little different?
Well, it's the temperature
she cooked...
Everything all right,
Uncle Dick?
Just peachy.
Would you like some more gravy?
Oh, Lady Bird, it was delicious,
but I just couldn't possibly.
- No, thank you.
- Hey, what about me?
Aren't you gonna
offer me any more gravy?
Well, honey, I'd like to,
but I can't.
Bird's got me on a diet.
Got Zephyr there in the kitchen
weighing my plates
for every meal.
It's ridiculous!
Your wife just doesn't want you
to get too big
for your britches.
An entirely
understandable concern.
I think I'll see how Zephyr's
coming with that cobbler.
I just heard how you snuck that
bill through Jim's committee
with some bogus procedural
point of order.
A perfectly legal
maneuver, Uncle Dick.
Just like you taught me.
I also taught you something
about party loyalty.
Well, the party's changing.
This younger generation's
not gonna fall on their sword
for segregation.
You think every Southerner
is gonna start dancing
to your tune, hmm?
Wallace almost won Maryland.
- But he didn't.
- Another riot and he will.
And there will be more riots.
We're gonna filibuster
this bill.
- It will never pass.
- Are you so sure about that?
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking
you're gonna cut a deal
with Senator Dirksen.
You filibuster,
what choice do you leave me?
A Democratic president
ignoring his own party
and making a deal with
the Senate Minority Leader.
Shameful!
Now, don't you get all
high and mighty with me.
You have been cutting deals
with those conservative
Republicans for years,
but now I can't cross the aisle?
Shit.
We don't have to fight, Dick.
Yes, we do.
I'm coming for you, Dick.
Now, I love you
more than my own daddy.
But if you get in my way...
I'll crush you.
I regret that the president
has embraced the radical program
of the left-wing groups
that is erroneously called
the civil rights bill.
It is still a vicious assault
on the Constitution.
And we in the Senate
intend to fight
with our boots on
to the last ditch.
Beginning today, we will
filibuster this bill.
Let the real war begin.
This ain't about
the Constitution.
It's about those who got more
wanting to hang on
to what they got
at the expense of those
who got nothing
and feel good about it.
Yeah, but the way he frames it,
draping himself
in the Stars and Stripes,
it's compelling.
I mean, what are you fighting
for, darling, in your heart?
That's what the people
need to hear.
Look at that.
Look at that. Look at
the size of his ears.
You get that?
Whoo-hoo!
Well, listen,
I just wanna thank you all
for coming up here
and sharing some time with me.
I wanted to just respond
to what Senator Russell...
His decision, uh...
Unfortunate decision
on filibustering this bill.
It reminds me that when...
When I got out of college,
now, the only job
that I could get
was teaching first grade
at this, uh...
This beat-up, old elementary
school in Cotulla, Texas.
It was just a dusty,
old border town
in the middle of nowhere
full of Mexican immigrants who
didn't have a pot to piss in.
But, God, did I love
those kids of mine.
They'd show up hungry
every morning
because most of them
hadn't had any breakfast.
But they were
so on fire to learn.
It just made you feel good.
But there... There come a day
for each and every one of them
when I would see
the light in their eyes die.
'Cause they had discovered
that the world hated them...
just 'cause of the color
of their skin.
Well, some folks tell me
just to go slow.
They say the political risk
is too high.
And to that, I say, well,
if a president can't do
what he knows is right,
then what's the presidency for?
Senator Dirksen's
so-called amendments
are like putting
a Band-Aid on a cancer.
I have a real
amendment to offer.
This map shows
the current concentration
of the Negro race in America.
I propose we resettle
Southern Negroes
all over the country...
until racial proportions
are equalized
among the 50 states.
- - I favor inflicting
on New York
and other cities
the same conditions
that will be inflicted
by this bill
on the innocent people
of Georgia.
Is the president caving in?
I'd ask him myself,
- but he's no longer returning my calls.
- Absolutely not.
My people have made
every painful sacrifice
that's been asked of them
and the bill's still stuck.
Martin, I'm as
frustrated as you are,
but lining up votes to break the
filibuster's a complicated process.
Dirksen's amendments
will gut the bill.
Dirksen needs to look
tough to his people.
The time for posturing is over.
It's time to act.
I've put all my
credibility on the line
telling our young people that
this president can be trusted,
but they want results.
They're down
in Mississippi right now
putting their lives at risk,
registering Negroes for a
vote they still don't have.
I want a good bill, too, Martin,
but you can't
give people blood tests
for loyalty every 15 minutes.
The president will handle
Everett Dirksen.
If this is what it takes
to move the bill,
I will start
a public fast to the death.
God, Martin,
that's not necessary.
What choice do I have?
- - Woman: Right this way,
Senator Dirksen.
Everett, what's this bullshit
about how I treat my dog?
- I'm sorry?
- My dog, Little Beagle Johnson.
Why are you being such a
shithead with the press
about me pulling on his ears?
Little son of a bitch loves
to have his ears pulled.
Hell, I thought you were running the
Senate Republicans, not the ASPCA.
Mr. President, I was just kidding
with the press about that.
Well, don't. I'm a hell of a lot
better than you are with dogs.
Dogs and people.
I was hoping
we could talk about...
About appointing William
Macomber as ambassador, I know.
- Is that among...
- Get this shot. Get this shot here.
Johnson: There we go.
No, no, sit on over there.
- It's more comfortable.
- That among other things?
Well, we'll talk about all
them things in just a minute.
Now, look here, Everett,
we gotta get this
civil rights bill passed.
- Yeah.
- The longer this filibuster goes,
the stronger Russell gets
and the angrier those
Negroes on the street are.
Uh-huh.
Now, how many votes are we
gonna get from your people?
Well, that's what I wanted to
talk to you about, Mr. President.
There are 40 amendments
I'm proposing.
40?
Well, my constituents
have a number of concerns.
Oh, now, let's not bullshit an
old bullshitter here, Everett.
Let's just cut
to the chase, shall we?
Well, I think we have to strike
equal employment altogether.
Hmm.
I could probably get my troops
to accept public accommodations,
but with, say, um,
a year of voluntary compliance
before it becomes law.
Nope.
- No?
- No.
No?
Is there an echo in here?
The Southern filibuster
cannot be defeated
without substantial changes.
But if you're willing to compromise,
I think that I can deliver
the necessary 25 Republican
votes for cloture.
No can do, Everett.
Now, look here,
either your people
vote for this bill
or you vote
with the segregationists
and the country
goes up in flames.
Now, we're making
history here, Everett,
and you have to decide
how you want history
to remember you...
As a great man,
a man who changed
the course of this country,
or somebody who just likes
to hear himself talk.
Congress is not alone
in contributing problems
to the presidency.
Mr. Johnson has inherited
an armed clash in South Vietnam.
President Johnson must decide
whether to continue it
in its present form,
to enlarge it, or seek
a negotiated settlement.
Our pilot the Communists
shot down over Laos,
- he's alive?
- As far as we know.
Well, everything we can do to
get him back home, Robert.
We'll talk more about
this business in Tonkin.
- Yes, sir.
- And, Walter, anything that McNamara needs,
- you make sure he gets it.
- Yes, sir.
- Is Humphrey still around?
- Hey, Daddy!
Hey, now, don't...
Don't just run off.
- Come give me a hug.
- All right.
- Grae.
- Mr. President.
Boy, oh, boy, look at you.
- You're getting tall.
- Oh, no, I'm wearing heels.
Are you?
Well, uh,
how are you doing
in school, Luci?
Good, good.
That's good.
Yeah.
Sir, um,
Senator Humphrey's here.
- All right.
- That's all right.
- Bye, Daddy.
- Bye.
The justice says Bob Moses
of the Freedom Summer project
has asked again
for federal protection.
Things are getting pretty
violent in Mississippi.
The federal government is not
getting involved in this.
Now, you make damn sure
that the governor down there
understands that we expect him
to put a lid on his people.
Is Khrushchev still in Egypt?
Yes, sir, and the Soviets
had their first nuclear test
at their new site
in Eastern Kazakh.
Oh. All right,
talk to me, Hubert.
Well, the good news is we've
got a deal with Dirksen.
And what's the bad news?
We're two votes short.
Bill!
I was just thinking about you.
Go on, take a ride with me.
It's all right, boys. I think I'm
safe with Senator Fulbright.
I'll see you up on three.
Boy, oh, boy, look at you.
- How you feeling?
- Oh, fine, fine.
- Hey, listen, I need to talk to you about something.
- Uh-huh.
Nice cuff links, Mr. President.
Oh, you like these?
- Do you?
- I do.
Well, then they are yours.
No, no, that's really
not necessary.
Well, I'd do anything
for you, Bill.
Hey, you know that good old boy
you put down
for the federal bench?
Boy, that's a pretty tough
sell for Humphrey's crowd,
but if you were to support
the civil rights bill,
they'll just grin and bear it.
Well, Mr. President, I'm not sure
my constituents would approve.
Well, I understand that,
but maybe you don't
have to fight
quite as hard
as you might otherwise.
- I don't think...
- Or maybe when the vote comes up,
you happen to be overseas
visiting our troops.
I'm sure Elizabeth
would love Europe.
You know she would.
Like my wife.
Here, lookie here.
This is the seal of the
presidency of the United States.
There's only two cuff links
like this in the entire world
and you now own them both.
I want you to wear them
in good health, Bill.
And think about
what I said, huh?
You look good, Bill. I bet you
dropped a few pounds, huh?
I'm gonna need another set
of those cuff links.
What the hell?
Walter.
Walter!
- - Walter! Gerri,
where's Walter?
Right here.
Why the hell is Senator
Engle suddenly off my list?
He's paralyzed with a
malignant brain tumor, sir.
- Recovering from surgery.
- Holy shit.
- Well, is he conscious?
- I don't know, sir.
Well, find out, God damn it.
If he's conscious, he can vote!
But I know my Bible.
And the Bible does not say that we
cannot choose our own neighbor.
The Bible does not say
that we cannot build a wall
betwixt ourselves
and our neighbor.
Johnson: What I need is some
help on this cloture vote.
No? Well, I'll tell you
what protects
a small state, Alan,
and it damn sure
isn't a filibuster rule.
It's a strong president
who's in your corner.
What... now where...
Where on Earth
do you get that...
Well, I don't forget
these things.
You understand me?
Son of a bitch.
I thought I had him.
Now, for a man named Bible,
he sure doesn't have a handle
on the New Testament.
This bill will guarantee
the commercial destruction
of white people everywhere!
Senator Cannon,
listen, Carl Hayden and I
are finally putting together the
Central Arizona Water Project.
And if Nevada wants
any part of this,
I need your vote.
Yes, yes, yes,
I know how Alan Bible
feels about it,
but I'm talking to you now,
combat veteran
to combat veteran.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is a big damn decision,
but Democrats have
to stick together here.
Listen... no, now...
No, Howard, just...
Howard, listen to me, will you?
Just listen to me.
Now, we both got
tough election fights
ahead of us here.
You know I'm gonna be there
for you when it counts
and can I count on you now?
Howard, you do
the right thing here
and you're gonna help yourself
and you're gonna help your state
and you're gonna help
your country.
Will you vote for cloture?
Howard, you're a good man.
Thank you! Bye-bye.
- 67 votes!
- Congratulations.
Should we let Senator Dirksen
make the public announcement?
You think there's any way
we can stop him?
Johnson: We believe all men
are entitled
to the blessings of liberty.
Yet millions
are deprived of those blessings,
not because
of their own failures,
but because of the color
of their skin.
This cannot continue.
Our Constitution forbids it.
The principles
of freedom forbid it.
And the law I will
now sign forbids it.
Thank you
and good day.
Man: Reverend King.
Humphrey: We did it. We did it.
We got it done.
- Man: Congratulations.
- Humphrey: Thank you.
There you go, Everett.
I appreciate it.
- Thank you, Mr. President.
- Johnson: Dr. King.
I need to see
Dr. King, you hear.
- There you are.
- Here, Mr. President.
- It's for you, sir.
- It's an honor, Mr. President.
Likewise. Thank you.
Man: Hear, hear.
- I'm sorry, Dick.
- No, you're not.
It's not personal.
It's just politics.
It's the passing of an era.
Well, yes, it is.
It's the passing of a time
of etiquette, courtesy.
It's the passing
of a time of principles,
like party unity.
You know what the old
soldier said on parade?
"Hey, look, everybody's
out of step but me."
Maybe.
I am old, that's true,
and God knows I'm tired.
But the fellas
coming up behind me
are utterly without
principle of any kind
and you'll see how you like
dealing with them.
You're gonna miss me
when I'm gone.
I still need you, Dick.
I'm still here, Mr. President.
But the rest of Dixie?
I hope you haven't just killed
your election chances.
Congratulations, Mr. President,
on your glorious achievement.
The Democratic Party
just lost the South
for the rest of my lifetime
and maybe yours.
What the fuck
are you so happy about?
- - Reporter: Senator
Goldwater's triumph
takes the leadership of his party
away from the eastern liberal block
and places it with
the western conservatives
for the first time since 1936.
- Woman: L.B.!
- Johnson's voice: Clausewitz said...
Marjorie.
Politics is war by other means.
Bullshit.
- Politics is war, period.
- Congratulations, Daddy.
Thank you.
Goldwater: that moderation
and the pursuit of justice
is no virtue.
Let me remind you also
that extremism
in the defense of liberty
is no vice.
Johnson's voice: You know
how you win a campaign?
By not losing it.
Good morning, Mr. President.
Johnson's voice: I only lost
one election my whole life.
The son of a bitch
stole it from me
in the final seconds with
a handful of fake votes,
and I will carry
the pain of that with me
to my dying day.
But I'll tell you what.
Nobody will ever
do me that way again.
Goldwater: that every
fiber of my being...
It'll be some other way.
Goldwater: that nothing shall
be lacking from the struggle...
Out of the car, boys.
What's the problem,
Deputy Price?
I thought we were good.
Out of the car, Jew boy.
Man: What you
looking at, nigger?
We've got a situation
in Mississippi.
- Johnson: Yeah?
- Three young men have gone missing.
Michael Schwerner, age 25,
Andrew Goodman, age 21,
and James Chaney, 21.
They were all working the Freedom
Summer project in Meridian.
Chaney's a local Negro,
but Schwerner and Goodman were
both out-of-state volunteers,
both white.
Well, the shit
will hit the fan now.
Get me the governor
of Mississippi.
They were investigating
the burning
of a Negro church
in Neshoba County.
They've been missing
for 15 hours now.
Missing in Mississippi?
Son of a bitch.
Yeah. All right,
put him through.
- - Governor, I'm calling
about those three boys.
You mean those three
professional agitators.
Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman.
Yeah, that come into our state
creating all kinds of problems.
Apparently, a Deputy Price
arrested them
yesterday afternoon.
For driving 35 miles
over the speed limit.
- Really?
- Yes, sir.
So they held them
for a couple hours.
Oh, see, now that's
where it gets confusing
'cause when their friends
called the jail down there,
the deputy said
he had never heard of them.
Well, I don't know
anything about that.
Uh, Price said
he released them
at 10:00 that night.
And nobody's
heard of them since.
This is clearly
a publicity stunt.
Well, those boys
are off hiding somewhere
probably having themselves
a good laugh,
and they're gonna come back in,
they're gonna claim they were
abused or something.
Well, now, I'd hate
to have to send
a whole bunch of federal
marshals into your state.
Uh, well, no,
you don't wanna do that.
Of course I don't.
You don't want the publicity
and I sure as hell
don't wanna stir up a mess
just eight weeks before
the Democratic Convention.
But there's a lot of
pressure to do something.
Now, if you'd rather,
I guess I can get a few FBI
agents to look into the thing.
FBI?
Well, it's a damn sight better
than the federal marshals
and the US Army, isn't it?
Well, yes, I guess it would.
Yeah, you know, I think
you got the right idea
there, Governor.
Let this be Hoover's
problem, not ours.
Hopefully, you're right
about the whole thing
and these boys will turn up quick
and we can all just relax.
Christ's sakes,
we got an election to win.
Hoover will just drag his feet.
No, not if I light
a fire under his ass.
- Mr. President.
- Edgar,
the governor of Mississippi
wants the FBI to look
into these missing kids.
Well, I'd be happy to,
Mr. President,
but there's
a jurisdictional problem.
Well, I'm not gonna tell you
how to run your shop,
but, uh, the governor
asked specifically
for the FBI to investigate.
I tried to put him off,
but, uh, well, I suppose
I can get
some third party involved.
I know Senator Jim Eastland
wants Allen Dulles
investigating.
CIA? Oh, no, Mr. President,
I don't think Dulles
is a good idea.
This is very clearly
an FBI matter.
Well, if you're sure.
I mean, the last thing
I would want
is Dulles down there acting like
he was running the FBI as well.
I'll tell you what, let's
say Eastland is my problem.
I'll just deal with him.
You get your agents down there
to Neshoba County
and you just wrap this
thing up quick, you hear?
When did you talk to Eastland
about Dulles going down there?
Oh, I made that part up.
The problem here is there's
three sovereignties involved.
There's the United States,
there's the state
of Mississippi,
and then there's
J. Edgar Hoover.
Reporter: The burned-out station
wagon was discovered in the woods
20 miles from Philadelphia,
Mississippi,
a small town in which
Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney
had been arrested for speeding
during the day.
They were released late at
night by a deputy sheriff
and were last seen driving away
in the blue station wagon.
- We have to assume those young men are dead.
- Wilkins: Mm-hmm.
There were no bodies
in the car they found.
Oh, well, then they're probably
on vacation, huh, Mr. Wilkins?
I mean, I always
set my car on fire
before taking a weekend off.
How many voters
have you actually registered?
- 1,200, give or take.
- Hmm.
500 beaten and arrested,
35 churches burned,
30 Negro homes and businesses
dynamited for 1,200 votes.
It's not just about the votes.
For the first time, black people are
building a new political party.
- The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, I heard.
- Carmichael: Hold on.
We tried to play by the rules
of the regular Democrat
Party, but they kept us out.
Fine. So we built our own Democrat
Party, but with a difference.
Open to everybody,
white or Negro.
Well, don't you think that America ought
to have at least one political party
- that isn't racist?
- It's a waste of time.
We send our delegates
to the convention
where they challenge
the legality
of the segregated Mississippi
delegation on national TV
- and dare L.B.J.
- not to seat us.
Children playing with dynamite.
Are you so desperate
for their approval
that you would sanction
this mass suicide?
Those young men
went down to Mississippi
and died doing the work the
government hasn't been willing to do
for a hundred years.
We've got to take a stand.
I grieve for those young men.
Don't use their funeral pyre
to burn what's left
of the movement.
How can I help, Bob?
- Come to Mississippi.
- Don't be ridiculous.
Show the people that you are
behind the Mississippi Freedom...
You might as well
paint a target on his back
and declare open season.
Martin, you have not
been to Mississippi
- in over a year.
- Abernathy: He's been busy.
Death threats, jail, shot at.
You don't own a monopoly
over suffering...
And I never said that I did.
Let somebody else
carry this one, Martin.
Please.
Of course I'll come.
Jenkins: FBI was acting on a tip
about a farm in rural Mississippi
and they just found two bodies
buried there in an earthen dam.
Jesus. Are they sure it's them?
Schwerner's draft card
in his back pocket.
Goodman's body right below his.
It appears they had both
been shot once in the chest.
And they're
still digging for Chaney.
God damn.
Bless those boys.
The minute McNamara
gets here, you send him in.
Gentlemen, we need to pick up this
conversation some other time.
I'm sorry.
It's obvious that
this Deputy Price
was involved in that.
Probably the sheriff, too.
Oh, Lord.
- Well, this whole mess
is in my lap now.
If I don't charge
these bastards,
then King yells and I'm letting
them get away with murder.
But if I do charge them,
then all the Southerners scream
about how I'm taking orders
from the Negroes,
and all this two weeks before the
start of the goddamn convention.
Mr. President, I'm sorry
to have to tell you,
but the word is Governor Wallace
has offered himself to Goldwater
as the Republican vice
presidential candidate.
That little weasel
would sell his mother
to get a leg up.
And Strom Thurmond
is formally switching parties.
That motherfucker!
Is anybody gonna follow him?
- Well, I don't know.
- Well, find out.
- You bet I will.
- God damn it.
You see her on TV?
- Who?
- Oh, the...
The dead kid's wife, Schwerner.
Uh, Rita, Rita.
Wife. Widow, I mean.
Christ.
Terrible.
- - Mr. President, we have word.
No, no. Come on.
Yeah. Sit there.
All right, Robert.
Captain Herrick
of the USS Maddox
reports a potential
sighting last night
of two possibly hostile unidentified
vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin
and some somewhat
contradictory sonar evidence
of actual torpedo attack.
Wh... a potential sighting?
What the hell's
a potential sighting?
A visual sighting not confirmed
by mechanical means.
And this torpedo attack,
this actually happened?
Still awaiting confirmation.
Well, were any of our ships hit?
No, sir.
- Were there any explosions?
- No, sir.
Then how the hell do we know
we were attacked?
We don't, for sure.
We have contradictory
sonar readings.
For God's sakes, Robert.
Give me something
I could work with here.
Officially, this is
a very delicate subject.
Oh, Humphrey can know.
Mr. President,
the limited air strikes
you ordered preselected
- in case of another attack are good to go.
- Air strikes?
- Shall we order them in?
- Surely, this is a situation
about which we ought to be
more confident before we act.
There's no sense in pretending last
night's event didn't happen, not anymore.
- What do you mean?
- There's been a leak somewhere.
- Who? Who leaked it?
- We're tracking it down.
I want his fucking head
in a basket!
The point is the press
has got to it somehow.
God damn it!
Now there are domestic
considerations as well.
Yeah, Goldwater.
Don't retaliate.
He will play all the
angles against you.
All this "soft on
military" bullshit.
Christ, the Democrats
beat Hitler and Tojo.
What more do we have to do?
You want me to call in
the retaliatory strikes?
For an attack which may
or may not have happened?
Planes are ready to go
on your command.
Mr. President, this puts you
in a terrible position.
- You are essentially going to have to lie.
- Mr. President!
- Do it.
- Yes, sir.
If it gets out,
we'll pass it off on
our South Vietnamese allies.
- Mr. President...
- What, you think I like this?!
Putting my ass in a sling
this close to the election?
- Sir...
- Or maybe you think Goldwater ought to be president.
- Is that it?
- I never said that.
That maniac wants
to lob an A-bomb
into the Kremlin's bathroom
and start World War III.
- You see how you like that.
- Mr. President, come on.
If Goldwater gets elected,
you can forget about poverty.
You can forget about civil rights.
Is that what you want?
Now, I'm trying
to turn this country around
and prevent a major war!
Christ, why the hell
did I ever consider you
for my vice president?
First sign of trouble,
you cut and run.
I'm not running anywhere,
Mr. President.
I'm standing
right here beside you.
Precious cold comfort you are.
You know, Congress
is gonna back me on this.
It's election year.
I'll get them to pass
some kind of resolution
authorizing me
full authority over there.
Then we can get back
to things that really matter.
- Jenkins: Sir?
- What?
They found Chaney's body.
God damn it.
Reporter: The bodies of the three
missing civil rights workers...
- Schwerner,
Chaney, and Goodman...
were found in a grave
at the base of an earthen dam
outside of Philadelphia,
Mississippi.
Their bodies were wrapped in plastic
bags numbered one, two, and three.
They were taken to the medical
center in Jackson for examination.
...far too small...
Love so amazing
Love so divine
Demands my soul
My life
My all.
All: Amen.
James Chaney gave his life
to make this country live up
to its forgotten promises
and unfulfilled ideals.
- Woman: Yes, he did.
- We all know
the terrible pain you must
be feeling in your hearts.
Man: That's right.
But we will not live in despair.
- Congregation: No.
- We will not surrender.
- Congregation: No.
- We will continue
to respond to their violence
with love and forgiveness.
Congregation: Amen.
As I stand here...
Woman: Who said that?
Who said that?
I not only blame
the people
who pulled the trigger
or dug the hole with the shovel.
I blame the state
of Mississippi...
all the way on up
to the people in Washington
for what happened.
- Now, that's enough of that!
- No.
It's all right.
Come on up here.
I'm sick and tired
of going to funerals
for black men
- who have been murdered by white men.
- Congregation: Yes.
- Are you?
- Congregation: Yes!
Are you sick and tired
of this stuff like I am?
Congregation: Yes!
I'm not feeling sad
tonight, Dr. King.
I'm not feeling forgiveness.
Woman: Preach.
I've got vengeance in my heart.
And I'm asking you
to feel angry with me.
- Congregation: Yes.
- Are you angry?
- Yes!
- The white men who murdered James Chaney
are never gonna be punished.
Congregation: That's right.
The best way
to remember James Chaney
is to demand our rights.
If you go back home and take
what these white men
are doing to us...
if you take it and don't
do something about it,
then God damn your souls!
Stand up!
We got to stand up in Meridian!
- Congregation: Yeah!
- We got to stand up in Jackson!
Congregation: Stand up!
And when we get
to Atlantic City,
- what are we going to do?
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
- Stand up!
Stand up! Stand up!
Stand up! Stand up!
Stand up! Stand up!
One man, one vote!
One man, one vote!
You must seat the MFDP.
- Martin, it's... it's not that simple.
- Yes, it is.
Now, you don't understand the
depth of feeling among my people.
These murders, they've
rocked the movement.
If the government does not
do what is right here,
nonviolence will no longer
be an option.
Reporter: You can see a
largely Negro delegation
from a Southern state
appear here
claiming to be
an alternative delegation.
It's something I don't think has
happened in the Democratic Convention
perhaps since
Reconstruction days.
And according to the Freedom
Democratic representatives,
Dr. Henry, who is
their chairman,
Dr. Martin Luther King, they are
not going to accept any compromise
short of having some kind
of a vote in this convention.
Well, I'll certainly take that
under consideration, John.
Reporter: this delegation being
seated, and the other...
John Connally, the
governor of my own state,
just told me, "You seat
those black buggers,
not only will Texas quit,
but the whole South
will walk out."
We might as well kiss the whole
goddamn election good-bye.
What the hell do you want?
The ballot in Alabama, sir,
apparently, Governor Wallace
kept your name off it.
That little piece of shit.
- Can he do that?
- Of course he can.
Goldwater must be
laughing his ass off.
And now they're just threatening
to walk out of the whole
goddamn convention!
- Son of a bitch.
- Lyndon,
why don't you take a break
from this for a while?
Oh, I'm fine, Bird.
Well, you certainly
don't sound fine.
- When's the last time you ate anything?
- Go away, Bird.
You're giving me
a goddamn headache.
Well, honey, I'm just worried.
Would you leave me alone?!
Go on, get out of here!
- Go on!
- Reporter: watching over every aspect
and every detail
in this process...
Reporter 2: engaged by the
Mississippi delegation here tonight.
Oh.
Thank you.
Oh.
I feel so sorry for him.
I know.
Thank God he has you, Walter.
And you.
You think he's hard on me?
Well, he's hard on everybody,
especially himself.
People don't see that.
But I do.
I see everything.
His lady friends.
But I'm the one he chose, huh?
At the end of the day.
I'm the one he comes home to.
My money paid for his first
campaign, did you know that?
I had to face down my own daddy
over my inheritance to get it.
By God,
it was the best investment
I ever made.
My lipstick okay?
You look beautiful.
No, I'm not.
But you make do
with what you got.
And whatever happens,
you don't quit.
Reporter: CBS News correspondent
Mike Wallace here
at the ballroom
of Convention Hall
where the credentials committee
of the Democratic National
Party are in session.
And now we are hearing
from the Freedom Democratic Party
representatives of Mississippi.
Just tell the credential
committee what happened
in Mississippi, Miss Hamer.
On January 9th, 1963,
I went to a meeting
to learn how to register
Negro voters in Mississippi.
On my way back,
I was arrested
by the Winona police chief
and taken to the county jail.
After I was placed in a cell,
state highway patrolmen
ordered me to lay facedown
on the bunk bed saying...
"You're gonna wish
you was dead."
Now who the hell is this?
Humphrey: Fannie Lou Hamer,
a sharecropper's daughter.
Became one of the
leaders of the MFDP.
For Christ's sakes.
And then he ordered...
two male Negro prisoners
to beat me with a blackjack.
The first prisoner
beat me till he was exhausted.
And then a patrolman ordered
the second Negro to beat me.
- This is awful.
- It sure as hell is.
She could stampede the liberals
into seating the MFDP
and the South will storm out
of the convention in droves.
Walter!
Walter, you tell the press
we got a major announcement
in the Rose Garden.
- What's the announcement?
- Hell if I know!
Anything to turn off those goddamn
cameras in Atlantic City.
I began to scream...
and one white man
hit me in my head
and told me to hush.
My dress had worked up high,
so I pulled it down.
And another white man
walked over
and pulled it back up.
All this...
on account of we wanna register
to vote.
And if the Freedom
Democratic Party
is not seated
at this convention,
I question America.
Is this America?
The land of the free
and the home of the brave
where our lives
be threatened daily
'cause we wanna live
as decent human beings.
All we're asking
is fair representation
of this...
The president is going
to announce his address
at the White House
in just a few moments.
Announcer: Please stand by for the
President of the United States.
Uh, howdy.
- First of all, I wanna thank y'all...
- I don't understand.
- What's going on?
- It appears, Miss Hamer,
we've been preempted
by the president.
- I know a lot of people are...
- Come on.
Still wondering
who my vice presidential
candidate
will be.
And we'll make that decision
very, very soon,
I promise you that.
I think now I can open it up
and if you'd like to ask
a few questions, uh...
I need to know
everything that King
and that Fannie Lou person
and Bob Moses
and all those goddamn people
in the MFDP are talking about.
I want them under constant
surveillance, the whole bunch of them.
Mr. President, we don't
have any warrant.
Well, that never stopped
you before, did it?
Now, I don't care what you do
or how you do it.
In fact, it's better
if I don't know.
But everything you get, you
send it immediately to Walter.
- You understand?
- Yeah.
- Uncle Dick.
- You're up awful late, Mr. President.
You're gonna give yourself
another heart attack.
Well, if I do,
it'll be the Dixiecrats
and Martin Luther King
put me in my grave.
You hear of this
public telegram of King's
demanding that I seat the MFDP?
The whole country will think
that Negroes have more power
in the Democratic Party
than the president has,
and the whole South will bolt.
I warned you about that.
You know what I think?
I think this is something
that King cooked up
with Bobby Kennedy
to embarrass me.
Now, listen, Kennedy is
gonna stab me in the back
and steal this nomination
at the last minute.
Mr. President, Robert Kennedy
has no interest whatsoever
in hurting you
or helping Barry Goldwater.
Then the hell with them all.
I'm gonna go back home
to my ranch
and the people who love me.
I never wanted to be president
in the first place.
Mr. President,
forgive my frankness,
but you are speaking
like a spoiled child.
You and I both know
you're not serious.
Now take a tranquilizer,
go to sleep.
Thank you.
I walked into the lion's
den, I argued fervently,
I used all
the heartstrings I had.
I made no headway.
God damn it.
The least the MFDP
might be willing to accept
would be some actual votes
at the convention, a few votes.
Well, what did King say?
He's very supportive
of their leadership on this.
After everything I did for him,
he should've stood up for me!
Why didn't somebody
stand up for me?
I stood up for you,
Mr. President.
Somebody who matters.
Well, if you don't think
my loyalty is important...
Jesus, you are so thin-skinned.
Shit.
I depend on you, Hubert,
you know that.
Christ's sakes, there's got
to be a solution here.
Well, maybe we can get
one or two of the Mississippi
regulars to agree to step aside.
They claim
they're sick or something.
All right.
You tell them that they can have
two voting delegates.
We'll... we'll call them,
uh, at large delegates.
- But one of them has to be that white minister of theirs.
- Reverend Edwin King.
That's him, that's him.
That way, it's one white
man and only one Negro.
We'll integrate
their delegation.
Who can argue with that, huh?
I'll see what I can do.
Well, don't see what you can do!
You do what I tell you to do.
Mr. President.
What you think of Hubert?
I think he's working
as hard as he can.
Yeah.
He's nice.
Nice is what you call
a gal with no tits,
no ass, and no personality.
Nice is for kissing babies.
There's no place for nice
in a knife fight.
You get me Walter Reuther.
Mr. President,
what a pleasant surprise.
Johnson: Well, Reuther,
I know how important
your golden boy Humphrey
is to you
and the rest of organized labor.
But if this
big delegate war comes off
and the South walks out
of the convention,
he will have no future
in the Democratic Party,
you hear me?
Yes, sir, but I...
I really must...
Now, you need
to tighten your leash
and bring King and the
MFDP in line or by God,
Hubert Humphrey
is never gonna be
my vice president
or anything else!
- Sir, I...
- He won't be able to get elected dogcatcher
and you won't have nobody in the
Senate to carry water for you.
Now you get yourself down
to Atlantic City
and fix this mess,
and I mean now!
Are you all right, sir?
I do not have the hide
of a rhinoceros.
You know me, Walter.
I have a genuine desire
to unite people,
but my own people in the South,
they're against me and the...
The North is against me and
the Negroes are against me
and the press sure doesn't have
any damn affection for me.
It's not fair, sir,
not with all you've done.
I could drop dead tomorrow
and there wouldn't be 10
people who'd shed a tear.
Oh, no. No, sir.
That's not true, sir.
Oh, the hell it ain't.
People turn on you so fast.
When my daddy lost everything...
people who had been
glad-handing him,
they just treated him
like dog shit.
They humiliated him
to his face...
in public.
And my mother...
the way she'd freeze him out.
That's what killed him.
You know what I think it is?
People think
I want great power...
but what I want
is great solace.
A little love.
That's all I want.
You have that from us, sir.
From me.
Poor Marjorie must be wondering
where the hell you are.
- Oh, she understands.
- Jesus.
How many kids you got again?
What is it, five?
- Six.
- Six.
Two girls and four boys.
Right, Catholic.
I always wanted a son.
Don't get me wrong,
I... I love Luci
and Lynda, but...
a man wants a son.
I reckon...
you're as close to that
as I've got.
Oh, Walter,
you'll be right outside?
Yes, sir.
Reuther: Martin.
Mr. Reuther.
Didn't expect to see you here.
Well, neither did I.
I got a call from the president
with a generous helping
of the Texas twist.
You've got to get
the MFDP to compromise.
Well, what the president
offered was an insult.
These people have shed
their blood...
Martin, your funding
is on the line.
You've gotta get
the MFDP on board
or there will be no more
union money for the movement,
not a single goddamn dime.
You would sabotage the entire
civil rights movement over this?
No, you would.
The number of delegates at a
convention, who gives a shit?
- It's wrong.
- Look, there will be a final offer.
You get your people to accept it
or you can take your tin cup
and your principles
out onto the street and see
how far that gets you.
L.B.J.! L.B.J.!
Announcer: Will the
delegates please be seated?
- What do we want?
- Freedom!
- When do we want it?
- Now!
- What do we want?
- Freedom!
- When do we want it?
- Now!
Which side are you on?
Everybody, now
All: Which side
are you on, Lord?
Hamer: Which side are you on?
Everybody, now
- Martin. Just... - Which
side are you on, Lord?
- Which side are you on?
- I want everyone to hear this.
I'm pleased to say that we've come
up with a mighty fine compromise.
The MFDP will get
two voting delegates...
Aaron Henry and Edwin King.
And the Democratic Party will
adopt a formal rules change
to prohibit any segregated
delegation in the future.
This is a major victory.
Senator Humphrey, God did not
send us to Atlantic City
- for no two seats.
- Moses: That's right.
When all of us is tired.
This is just like
the white plantation bosses
making all the decisions
for his black sharecroppers.
Hold on, Bob.
You've won your case
in the court of public opinion.
Now you've got
your token representation.
- Token?!
- Don't twist my words, Aaron.
What I am saying is that there's
a whole lot at stake here
and this is a necessary
political compromise.
We are not here to bring
politics to our morality.
We are here to bring our
morality to our politics.
Dr. King, what do you
think we ought to do?
Which side are you on?
If I were a Mississippi Negro,
been through
what you've been through,
- I'd vote against it.
- Moses: Right.
But the solemn commitment
to end discrimination
in all future conventions
- is a mighty big victory...
- Yes, it is.
In which the MFDP
can take real pride.
And as a Negro leader,
I'm asking...
I want you to take this.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's a-gonna trouble
the water
See that host
all dressed in white?
Well done, Dr. King.
Solomon himself
couldn't have cut that
baby in half any cleaner.
I may lose a battle, Bob,
I personally may not survive,
but I will win this war.
All the way with L.B.J.
L.B.J. is not the second coming.
He's just like
every other politician.
He'll do what it takes
to get elected.
But I think he really
wants civil rights.
Now, we've got
a chance here, Bob.
A real chance.
Best chance in a hundred years
and I will not throw it away.
Announcer: Will the
delegates please be seated?
A workable compromise
regarding at large delegates
- from Mississippi has been reached.
- All right.
All right, that's it.
We're leaving. Come on.
And we urge the delegates here
to approve the recommendations
- of the credentials committee.
- Jim, what the hell's going on?
L.B.J. screwed us over.
He's seating the niggers.
You boys just stay here.
I'll figure this out.
Reporter: The credentials
committee settled on a compromise
of two voting delegates
for the MFDP,
but Mississippi and Alabama
rejected the deal and walked out.
If Georgia walks out next,
- the rest of the South will follow.
- Mr. President?
It's Governor Sanders
of Georgia on the phone.
What, it's Georgia?
What the hell does Carl want?
Alabama and Mississippi
are walking out
and Sanders says
he might follow.
God damn it!
Carl, what the hell is going on?
Mr. President, you can't give
these people two seats.
It's gonna look like the Negroes are
taking over the whole convention.
Oh, for Christ's sakes,
it's one Negro
and one white minister.
Now, it's the principle
of the thing.
Me and my delegates are about
inches from walking out.
In fact, the whole
South's about to bolt.
All right, now let's you and me
understand something here.
Those people are Democrats
just like you and me,
but those good old boys from
Mississippi, they locked them out.
Well, now, they got locked out
because they're
not registered to vote.
Because they wouldn't
let them register!
They beat them and shot them
and lynched them.
Well, now, you're tarring a lot
of people here, Mr. President.
No, Carl, Carl, you and I
just can't survive
our modern political life with
these goddamn fellas down there
doing things the old way and eating them
Negroes for breakfast every morning.
They got to quit that!
Mr. President,
you need to remove
these so-called
delegates at large.
No, you listen to me!
You need to make up your mind
once and for all
what... what kind
of Christian you are.
Are you a once-a-week fella
or do you hold the Word
in your heart?
And what kind
of politician are you?
You just out for yourself
or you wanna make a better life
for all the people of Georgia?
- Well, of course I...
- And what kind of man are you?
You got the balls to do
what you know is right
or do you just slink away?
Now, what you don't get to do
is threaten me.
So if you're gonna walk out
of the convention,
then you just do it right now!
But if not,
then I expect to see
your bright and shiny faces
wearing your big "All the way
with L.B.J." hats tonight
when I take the stage.
Bird, go away and leave me be.
I can't do that, Lyndon.
I won't.
You're just like
the rest of them.
You're all against me.
That is so not true.
- Oh, yeah?
- Look at me.
Look at me, Lyndon.
You are as brave a man
as FDR and Truman and Lincoln.
And there are many, many people
up there at that convention
and in this party
and in this nation who love you.
- And they are counting on you.
- I'm gonna resign.
- Let somebody else deal with this.
- You're not going to resign.
- Yes, I am!
- No, you are not!
- When your great-grandmother...
- Oh!
Was hiding in the floorboards
while the Comanches
were raiding her house,
did she flinch?
To step down now would be
wrong for your country.
Your friends would be
frozen with embarrassment
and your enemies would jeer.
Those bastards would love
to see me down.
And are you gonna
give them that pleasure?
I don't think so.
That is not the man I married.
Sir, Governor Sanders
was just on TV
and the Georgia delegation's
not gonna walk out after all.
- What, Sanders backed down?
- Yes, sir, he did.
- So the South held?
- Yes, sir.
- - Announcer: The Honorable
Lyndon B. Johnson
is nominated by acclamation
as our candidate to the office
of President
of the United States
and the Honorable
Hubert Horatio Humphrey
is our candidate
for Vice President!
The dust has settled
here in Atlantic City
and President Johnson's
Democratic Party
is one big, happy family.
Hello there!
- Hubert.
- Mr. President.
You look a little down
in the mouth
for being the next
vice president.
It just feels different
than I thought it would.
Oh, that. Well...
you get over that pretty quick.
Announcer: The American people have
no greater advocate and friend
than the man
the Democratic Party
is proud to claim as our leader.
Now the man of the hour,
Lyndon Baines Johnson!
The skies above
are clear again
Let us sing a song
of cheer again
Happy days are here again.
We're down five points
in Georgia,
six points in South Carolina,
eight points in Louisiana.
Hell, Goldwater
is beating my ass
by 60% in Mississippi.
Now, he's getting on top!
Son of a bitch
is turning it around!
Where the hell are the ideas?
Where the hell's the solutions?
Walter, I want you to change
my travel schedule.
Give me more time in the
South, especially Louisiana.
- And put more money into our TV campaign down there.
- Yes, sir.
And as for the rest of you, what the
hell are you still standing here for?
Get out there and do something!
Come on.
Not you, Humphrey. Stay here.
You read this bullshit "Wall Street
Journal" expos about my corruption?
Definitely planted by Goldwater.
Damn right it was.
Take a look at this.
- Huh?
- That's disgusting.
Goldwater wants
to get down into the mud,
by God, I could do that.
Listen here, I want you
to pull together
a special group
separate from the campaign
and hit him back
with everything we got!
Mr. President, I don't think
sinking to their level is...
Oh, for God's sake, just do it.
Mr. President, you are ahead in
the polls in most of the country.
Yeah, and so was Nixon in '60.
And some people thought
he would've beat Jack
except for a whole bunch
of dead people
voting in Chicago
at the last minute.
It ain't over until it's over.
Eight, nine...
- Nine...
- Man: eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one,
zero.
Johnson's voice:
These are the stakes
to make a world in which
all of God's children can live
or to go into the dark.
We must either love each other
or we must die.
Announcer: Vote for President
Johnson on November 3rd.
The stakes are too high
for you to stay home.
I want you to run this
right away.
It'll be controversial.
You'll get a lot of flak.
Then we'll only have
to run it once,
then let the press
do our work for us.
I wanna see it again.
Now, Barry Goldwater says
he's not a racist.
But the government
can't legislate
what people feel
in their hearts.
- Woman: That's right!
- King: And he's right.
The law can't make
white folks love you.
But the law can prevent them
from lynching you.
The law can prevent them
from denying you a job
and your child an education.
And the law can ensure that
you have the right to vote.
- Amen!
- Yes!
I'm not here today to tell you
fine people who to vote for.
But come election day,
let's be sure to send the
fine senator from Arizona
and his tender heart back to
the desert where he belongs.
Walter...
was arrested?
YMCA men's bathroom
by the DC Vice Squad.
The other man arrested
was an army staff sergeant.
No, no, no, no.
This must be
some kind of mistake.
Hoover: No, sir.
Apparently, Walter was arrested
under similar circumstances
five years ago.
Now, why didn't I know that?
Hoover: None of us knew.
This has Goldwater's
fingerprints all over it.
Goldwater will use this.
God damn, this close
to the election,
it could be
the whole ball of wax!
There doesn't appear to be
any security compromise at all.
There damn well better not be.
Your people said
they vetted him.
I have it in writing with
your goddamn signature on it.
- There are some things you can't predict.
- That's your job, Edgar.
I will take care of this,
Mr. President.
And why don't that
make me feel any better?
You get a hold of Walter's
Air Force Reserve records.
Goldwater was
his commanding officer.
With any luck, he signed off
on his fitness evaluations.
We get a hold of those and Goldwater
won't be able to say shit!
Walter will resign immediately.
You see to it that his doctor
issues a statement.
Um, he was working too hard
and just snapped.
I've been working
with that man for 25 years...
and not a clue.
How do you know when...
somebody's...?
Well, there's certain signs,
mannerisms.
The way a man dresses
or combs his hair.
Walks kind of funny.
Huh, well...
that's news to me.
I'm not questioning you.
I'm sure you'd know.
In your line of work, I mean.
Marjorie is just beside herself.
Can't believe it's true.
I can't believe it's true.
I am going to make a public
statement of support.
Absolutely not.
The First Lady
can't be involved in this.
None of us can be involved.
Why, he's distraught, Lyndon.
He could injure himself.
That is not my problem.
What...
He is our friend.
He was our friend
and then he stabbed me
in the back.
What, are we just never
gonna see him again?
What, you think I like this?
Now Goldwater's
killing me in the polls.
I loved Walter like a s...
I'm holding
this campaign together
with baling wire and spit.
And if you're not with me,
then you're against me.
I know why you think you
have to do this, darling.
But you're wrong.
You do what you must.
But I will not
abandon our friend.
Now if you'll excuse me,
I have speeches to deliver.
God damn it.
- - Announcer: In what
is sure to be
a very controversial decision,
the winner of this year's
Nobel Prize for Peace
is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am deeply moved and humbled
by the decision
of the Nobel Committee
who are devoted
to the nonviolent pursuit
of those rights to which
every man and woman...
How will you want
to acknowledge Dr. King?
I won't.
King knows where I stand.
I don't need to get
on the goddamn rooftops
- and shout it out.
- King: movement of many peoples
who are devoted to the nonviolent
pursuit of those rights...
I'm supposed to have
psychic abilities
in order to protect the president
from deviants like Jenkins,
but when it comes to King, apparently
no warning is strong enough.
This award should be given to
the American civil rights...
Get me the sex tapes
of King with those women.
And a typewriter.
Hoover: "King"...
"you know you are
a complete fraud
and a great liability
to all of us Negroes."
Sir, are you sure the president
will be comfortable with this?
Doesn't matter.
"King, you cannot
believe in God.
Clearly, you don't believe
in any moral principles.
You could have been
our greatest leader,
but you turned out to be
nothing but a dissolute,
abnormal moral imbecile.
You are a colossal fraud
and an evil, vicious one at that
and you had better kill yourself
before your filthy,
fraudulent soul
is bared to the nation."
Goldwater! Goldwater!
Goldwater! Goldwater!
Goldwater! Goldwater!
What in the hell is wrong
with these people?
It's a Democratic rally,
for Christ's sake!
- Where's the governor?
- Left an hour ago.
Suddenly called out of town.
Cowardly son of a bitch.
I've had enough
of this horseshit.
Let's get a move on. Move!
And now... Now let's give
a nice, warm New Orleans welcome
to the President
of the United States.
All right. All right!
You've had your say
and now I'm gonna have mine.
My fellow...
My fellow Southerners,
please.
I... I once got to know
this old senator from the South
who lamented to me
the... the condition
of our beloved region.
The old senator
talked about how outside forces
divided and conquered
the people of the South
by appealing
to their racial hatred.
I accept this award on behalf
of a civil rights movement
which is working to establish
a reign of freedom
and a rule of justice.
For only yesterday in Alabama,
our children, crying out
for brotherhood,
were met with water hoses,
dogs, and even death.
Now, the old senator described
what a great future
the South could have
if only we'd all work together.
Only yesterday in Mississippi
young people seeking
the right to vote
were brutalized and murdered.
And the old senator
talked longingly...
about going home one more time
and telling people the truth.
He said his poor state
hasn't heard the truth
in 30 years.
- - All we ever hear
at election time
is "Nigger! Nigger! Nigger!"
Well, I'm not gonna let them
build up the hate.
I'm not gonna let them
trick my people
by appealing to their prejudice.
I believe peoples everywhere
can have dignity, equality,
and freedom.
We have a new law of the land.
A civil rights law.
And I'm gonna enforce it
'cause it is
the right thing to do.
Announcer: ABC News continues
its coverage of Election '64.
Reporter: President Johnson,
though he's doing extremely well
in winning and carrying states,
has not yet reached the
position the polls gave him.
Reporter 2: The figures
have just come in.
Georgia, which has never
deserted the Democratic Party,
has gone for Senator Goldwater.
Reporter: Senator Goldwater so far
is doing respectably in the South,
so we'll just have to wait
to judge his basic strategy.
- - The polls are closing
right now in New York State.
The "New York Herald Tribune"
put up the headline
"Johnson Landslide."
CBS poll profile analysis.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
has been elected
- President
of the United States.
How about that, huh?
How about that?
Isn't that something?
- Where's Lady Bird?
- Right behind you where I've always been.
Oh, 60 million votes.
Oh, you're no accident,
Mr. President.
Mr. President,
you've got a phone call
from Senator Russell.
Well, all right!
Well, go on, go on,
have some fun!
I'll be with you in a second.
- Uncle Dick.
- Congratulations, Mr. President.
Well, I'm just trying to do
what the old master taught me.
You know none of this
would've happened
without you, Uncle Dick,
none of it.
Thank you, sir. Thank you.
My apologies about Georgia.
Well, it was
disappointing, yeah.
Georgia has never
voted Republican before,
not once.
Not even during Reconstruction.
Well, they'll be back.
I sure wish you was here.
Listen, Uncle Dick,
you know we got a hell
of a lot of work ahead of us.
I-I'm counting on you, now.
I will give it
all that I have, sir.
I know you will.
You enjoy your party,
Mr. President.
I'll see you in Washington.
Congratulations, Mr. President.
Yeah.
My apologies.
From our ambassador in Saigon.
A green light for Mr. Johnson,
a stop light
for Senator Goldwater
and perhaps for the right wing
conservative control
of the Republican Party.
These are the numbers.
In electoral votes, it is...
96% of the Negro vote
to Johnson.
They owe us big, Martin.
Now they gotta give us
that voting rights bill.
Well, L.B.J. is not
gonna give us anything.
We've gotta take it.
And we're gonna start
a new campaign right away
in Alabama.
I am so glad that it's
finally over, aren't you?
Over?
It's just getting started.
Oh, what are you doing
out here by yourself?
Everybody's waiting for you.
Come join the party.
Your party, hmm?
In a minute.
Johnson's voice: You're
goddamn right it's my party
and I had to drag it
into the light
kicking and screaming
every inch of the way.
'Cause this is
how new things are born.
Bird and I lost three babies
before we had Lynda,
and I remember the moment
when they finally
let me into the room
to see my first live child.
And there on the floor
you could still see
the doctor's footprints
in my wife's blood.
And I thought, "Yeah,
this is familiar.
I know this."
But right now, we're gonna
party like there's no tomorrow
'cause there's no feeling
in the world
half as good as winning.
But the sun will come up
and the knives will come out
and all these smiling faces
will be watching me,
waiting for that one
first moment of weakness.
And then they will
gut me like a deer.
You okay, honey?
I'm fine, Bird.
Johnson's voice: I'm great.
Hell, I'm president.
Happy days are here again
The skies above
are clear again
Let us sing a song
of cheer again
Happy days are here again.
Oh, give me land,
lots of land
Under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the
wide-open country that I love
Don't fence me in
Let me be by myself
in the evening breeze
Listen to the murmur
of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever,
but I ask you, please
Don't fence me in
Just turn me loose
Let me straddle
my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my cayuse
Let me wander over yonder
Till I see
the mountains rise
I want to ride to the ridge
Where the West commences
Gaze at the moon
till I lose my senses
Can't look at hobbles
and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in.
- No segregation
No segregation
No segregation
Over me, over me
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord
And be free, and be
Nothing but freedom!
Nothing but freedom
Nothing but freedom
Nothing but freedom
Over me, over me
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord
And be free, and be
No more dogs
No more dogs
No more dogs
No more dogs
- Biting me! - Over me
Biting me
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord
And be free, and be
No more shooting
No more shooting
No more shooting
No more shooting
Over me, over me
And before I'll be a slave
I'll be buried in my grave
And go home to my Lord
And be free, and be
No more mourning
No more mourning
No more mourning
No more mourning
Over me, over me