"[music] (orchestra: "Dixie")" "(no audible dialogue)" "(no audible dialogue)" "[music] (orchestra: "Battle Hymn of the Republic")" "MAN (narrating):" "Not in the 100 years since Abraham Lincoln had the power of the American presidency been completely committed to the equality of the Negro race in the United States." "Nor had it been on this day, June 10, 1963." "In the next 30 hours, John F. Kennedy will have to make a chain of decisions deeply affecting millions of Americans and the future of his own presidency." "His decisions will also affect the immediate actions of four people..." "George Wallace, governor of the state of Alabama, determined to defy a federal court order by personally blocking the entrance of two Negro students to the University of Alabama," "Robert Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States, responsible for enforcing the federal court order to gain admission of the two students," "Vivian Malone and James Hood," "Negro students determined to enter the university in spite of the governor's opposition." "Finally, a more far-reaching decision of historic consequence for the president is whether or not to commit the presidency, in a speech before the United States and the world, behind racial equality as a moral issue." "This is the account of a crisis, and the story behind a presidential commitment." "NARRATOR:" "McLean, Virginia, home of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy." "(chattering)" "RFK:" "One for Michael." "One for Ena." "One for Grandpa." "And one more for Michael because... (indistinct)" "All right." "One more for Michael." "You're out." "Gee." "And one for Ena." "Ena, Ena, Ena." " Okay, Joe." " And one for Grandpa." "He feels better." "(shouting)" "(Clapping)" "(phone rings)" "Hello?" "In view of Wallace's public statement now that he's gonna stand in the door in any case, perhaps it would be..." "NARRATOR:" "Montgomery, Alabama, the home of Governor George Wallace." "GIRL:" "Mm-mmm." "Mm-mmm!" "WOMAN:" "Be careful." "[music] (piano notes)" "(chattering)" " (girl shrieks)" " Hi, sweetie." "(chuckling)" "Yes." "You've been off, ain't ya?" "Huh?" "Mmm, I'm glad to see you." "I'm glad to see you." "Kiss me." "Give me one kiss." "Have you all looked around?" "The portraits." "Course that's William Lowndes Yancey there." "I read a profound statement he made the other day, that to live is not all of life, and to die is not all of death." "I'd rather live a short life of standing for principle than live a long life of compromise." "Of course that may not mean much to you folks, but when William C. Oates was the governor of this state, he was a real fighter." "He was at Gettysburg, and he lost an arm." "I hope we'll never see another war of any sort in the world, but, uh," "I think it does us good to reflect and draw on the courage of people who do fight and stand for what they believe in." "And there were brave folks on both sides of that combat." "There were just a lot more of them than there were of us." "(chattering)" "See you later." "Yeah, hurry up though now." "Quickly." "You sure have." "I'll see y'all." "Y'all look after the little teeny one." " All right." " Bye." "Bye." "Hi, fellas." "How y'all today?" "Those are convicts." "I'm getting too old to do this." "That's enough." "Fellas, good to see y'all." " Good morning." " Good morning." "How you feelin'?" "Hey, gentlemen." "How are y'all?" "This is a moral issue." "A moral issue comes from your heart in the first place." "If I thought it was sinful and irreligious and immoral to separate myself socially and educationally from Negro citizens, then I would commit a sin when I did so, I suppose." "But I..." "I believe that separation is good for the Negro citizen and the white citizen." " MAN:" "In their best interest." " And in their best interest." "And if I do something that my heart tells me is good for both groups, there's not anything that runs counter to any religion or any law of morality." "Uh, it's not sinful." "NARRATOR:" "The attorney general is head of the Department of Justice." "He is responsible for enforcing the federal court order for the entrance of the two students in the University of Alabama." "He's also responsible for working out a strategy for Alabama and for advising the president, who must make the final decisions." " WOMAN (on intercom):" "Yes, sir." " Susan, the meeting at the White House is not till 5:30, so..." " 5:30?" " Yeah." "So I wonder if we should move..." "Hello, General?" "Burke Marshall." "The attorney general wanted to talk to you." "Hey, uh, General?" "Uh, um..." "I told you you could try to develop a plan about what's gonna happen when General Graham gets there." "Now I'm not very much in favor of picking the governor up and moving him out of the way." "I think it would be much better if we could develop some system... you have enough people just to push him aside or something." "I don't want to pick the governor up very much." "Y'all probably have to tell me." "NARRATOR:" "The capitol of the state of Alabama." "Governor Wallace's staff is assembled to discuss his showdown with the federal government." "These are familiar surroundings." " Is that the old auditorium?" " No." "It's a beautiful university." "It's peaceful and serene, and it's gonna be peaceful and serene on Tuesday." "Tuesday and every other day." "That's right." "I just want you all to be sure that not one rock is thrown, or one brickbat, not one overt act of violence in any manner," "Tuesday or any day thereafter." "We're not going to let anybody desecrate this university." "Because we've got agitators and provocateurs who come from other... outside this state... who themselves will want to stir up some violence in order to, uh, hurt our cause." "MAN:" "And to further their cause." "And to further their cause." "Because they thrive and raise money on disorder." "And so you people who are working under me, I just want you to know that that's my orders." "We're going to keep the peace." "NARRATOR:" "Washington." "To manage his strategy on the scene in Alabama," "Robert Kennedy is sending his deputy attorney general," "Nicholas Katzenbach, to Tuscaloosa." "We're sending down, uh, two marshals." "One's already down there, Vandagriff, who's good." "We're sending down Haislip, who's one of the others." "They've both had experience." "They've been commanding marshals." "NARRATOR:" "Burke Marshall, an assistant attorney general to Robert Kennedy and head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division." "Well, I'm about to go over to the White House with the attorney general to discuss all this with the president." "Yeah, well..." "Listen, will you get over to..." "You're late." "Can you..." "Can you get..." "We're about half an hour..." "MAN:" "What are we gonna do?" "NARRATOR:" "The president has called Robert Kennedy to confer on Alabama and civil rights." "Across the United States, pressures are rising for the president to speak out for racial equality as a moral issue." "But a strong speech could cost the president Southern support for new civil rights legislation he would like to have." "JFK:" "Let's, uh, get started now." "NARRATOR:" "The president must decide whether or not to speak out anyway in a nationwide TV address." "MAN:" "The next question, which you can take up now if you want, Mr. President, is whether you're going to make a nationwide TV address." "Well, I didn't think so." "It just really depends on whether we have something on the university, then I would, but otherwise, I didn't think that we would at this point." "RFK:" "I think it'd be helpful." "I think it's a reason to do it." "I think you have to talk about the legislation and talk about employment and talk about education." "To do it for 15 minutes I think would alleviate a lot of problems." "Well, I suppose we could do it." "I don't think we want to do it in a half hour." "I think it would take away a lot of the problems that we're having at the present time." " Is it going to be helpful to legislate?" " You mean in the legislature?" "Is it going to be helpful to bring about enactment of this legislation?" "Yeah." "Because I think he's gonna come across reasonable and understanding and..." "He's gonna make a speech and nothings going to happen, I would presume." "But he's gonna introduce the legislation." "I think he can say that." "We're going to have some difficulties." "And then describe the fact that we're going to have problems during the summer." "We hope that the fact that we're making this kind of effort at the federal level, that Negroes would understand their responsibilities." " I don't..." " Legislative's gonna hurt much more..." "I think you get to the real nugget of this thing on the Hill, and that's when you may want to do this." "That's not gonna be till September or October or November." "I don't think you can get by now without having an address on television, at least during this period of time, giving some direction, having it in the hands of the president." "Anyway, we'll..." "Let's pass on now." "I think we're gonna..." "We're gonna get something ready anyway because it may be that tomorrow..." "We got a draft, which doesn't fit all these points, but it's something to work with." "And there's some pretty good sentences and paragraphs." "All right." "It will help us get ready anyway, because we may want to do it tomorrow." "Okay?" "NARRATOR:" "The president is still undecided, but the speech will be prepared." "The president is relying on Robert Kennedy to plan a strategy for gaining the admission of the two students." "Alabama is the last state still holding out against integration in its university system, and feelings on both sides are running high." "If the president has to order in troops, a carefully timed strategy might avoid the riots that marked the integration of the University of Mississippi at Oxford." "...and would, comma..." "WOMAN: ...and would, comma... (intercom buzzing) [music] (whistling)" " Yeah?" " WOMAN:" "General Abrams on three." "Hello?" "Oh." "Hello?" "Is this General Abrams?" "Oh, all right." "Hello?" "Hi, General." "NARRATOR:" "Army General Abrams is in Alabama to help plan any federal troop moves." "RFK:" "Remember at Oxford when the troops came in, people started throwing things at them, even though they were their own National Guard, and I just don't want to have..." "We nationalize this and that rouses everybody and then they start turning on the soldiers." "And then we have a big battle out even before we get on the campus." "With just a hundred men, it might..." "I just want to make sure nothing happens." "I got a map here in front of me." "Is this the university?" "Yeah." "Now I got Foster Auditorium." "Yeah." "University Avenue." "I got University Avenue." "NARRATOR:" "In Birmingham, another Robert Kennedy deputy, John Doar, briefs Vivian Malone and Jimmy Hood on the government's plan to enroll them at the university." "We will enter the campus on University Avenue right here where the "X" is, drive down to this corner, drive up 6th Street, come out in front of Foster Auditorium, park here and go up these steps." "And whatever meeting that's held with the governor will be held in this particular area." "And you should dress as if you were going to church, for example." "Modestly, neatly, or like you're going to school the first day." "Just..." "And you should remember that it's a very dignified, orderly procedure, and, uh, it won't take very long." "And Mr. Katzenbach will be there and I'll be there." "Undoubtedly the governor of the state will be there." "And we've got to see that the court order is enforced and that you people enjoy the fruits of the successful litigation that you've gone through." "And we're going to do that." "There's just no doubt about it." "Thanks very much coming." "Glad to see you." "NARRATOR:" "Vivian is the daughter of a retired maintenance man, one of eight children in the family." "Twenty years old, she has spent the last two at an all-Negro college." "Vivian's admittance has already been approved by the University of Alabama where student and business groups have been trying to prepare for peaceful integration." "Now, brought into the public eye by the governor's stand," "Vivian goes to offices of the NAACP to rehearse answers she may have to give to public questions about the Negro drive for equality." "The Negro has come a long way, but he still has a long way to go." "I think that's quite evident because of all the movements and protests and demonstrations that are going on throughout the country now." "You know, every time you read something..." "They're trying..." "They're not, um, willing to sit and wait" " and say, "Well, it's coming eventually."" " MAN:" "Right." "NARRATOR:" "With adviser Jack Greenberg," "Vivian discusses the governor's chances of preventing her admission to the university." "You said there's a possibility that we might not be enrolled tomorrow?" "Oh, yeah." "I think there's a good possibility." "I think if the governor starts some confusion, you'll be brought back." "Then they'll clean that place out, and the next time you go up, that'll be the end of it." " ...clear it up." " Oh, okay." "So that's it, right?" "And so if you come back, we'll see you tomorrow afternoon." "And if you don't, then we'll see you at the end of the semester." "Study hard." "And if you don't flunk out, we'll see you again." "NARRATOR:" "Vivian is already a cover subject for Newsweek magazine." "Now she's being photographed for Time." "MAN:" "Let's see that smile." "Think of the governor." "Nice smile." "We'll do a few more here." "Why do you want to go to the University of Alabama specifically, and not some other university?" "The school that I was previously attending became unaccredited in December of 1961." "And the University of Alabama is accredited." "Also, being a resident of the state, I feel that I'm entitled to an education in this state." "I've seen it happen myself." "Here in Alabama, no Negro is ever embarrassed." "He knows the cafes he goes to." "He knows the ones that the whites go to." "Uh, and that the United States government and the United States people are committed to it." "Uh, it's unfortunate that these pictures go abroad." "I don't think there's any question that it affects our position throughout the world." "But that's only a secondary reason for doing what we have to do." "The first reason is because it's the right thing to do." "And as President Kennedy has said, we're going to do this because it's the right thing to do." "(chattering)" "I'm for you 100% and 1,000%." "Always have been." "I haven't talked to a single person yet that condemns you." " And everybody's praying." " Well, I'm glad to hear that." "This is Miss Whiteman." "I saw you here about two months ago and had a little chat with you." "I just want to tell you we think you're wonderful and hope you'll be successful." "Thank you very much." "Where you all from?" " Uh, Alabama." " Alabama." "(laughter)" "Yeah." "Good old Blount County." "Hi, partner." "Glad to see you." " It's an honor to meet you." " Well, thank you." "We're proud of our governor and what you're doing for Alabama." "Thank you very much, dear." "Good-bye." "(together) Bye." "[music] For he's a jolly good fellow [music]" "What do you want to do most in life?" "Become the governor of the state of Alabama." "MALONE:" "You think it would change things any?" "Huh?" "No, no." "I just want to become the governor." "A man said the other day, "You give these Negroes an inch, they'll take a mile."" "I just don't know what in the world's gonna happen." "Hell's just poppin' all over the place." "So if you give me an inch and let me in your university, I'll become the governor." "That's what they're saying." "Sure, I love it." "Sure, I love the red, white and blue." "Yes." "Oh, Nick?" "Where's Nick, Sean?" "Hey, Nick?" "Oh, I talked to General Abrams about getting these people..." "I thought that we'd come up with a plan about how we're gonna handle the governor." "I don't like the idea of picking him up." "And perhaps you'd work that out with him as to pushing the governor aside, et cetera, and how many people would be..." "It is so fantastic in this day and time to even be trying to handle a governor of a sovereign state just like a..." "(clears throat) a common lawbreaker." "NARRATOR:" "According to the federal court order," "Governor Wallace would be breaking the law if he were to stand in the door and block the students." "Robert Kennedy has been trying to work out a strategy that would avoid jailing the governor or backing down in the face of his defiance." "The governor has indicated that he might back down if the federal government were to send in troops, a move the government will try to avoid unless a clear necessity is made apparent." "The attorney general is about to suggest his strategy to the president." "Its first step would be to prevent actual lawbreaking by the governor through a technicality, by keeping the students in a car while Nicholas Katzenbach confronts the governor." "Then if he still refuses," "Nick Katzenbach will say that we got this court order and we have to go through." "On a legal basis, he's made the test." "This matter should be determined in the courts." "It shouldn't be determined out here." "He's had his opportunity and should let them go through." "Otherwise we're gonna have to take other steps because these students are going to attend the University of Alabama." "Then if he still doesn't move, then we'll try to get by him." " Pushing?" " By pushing a little bit." "Just having somebody stand in front of him and try to walk through." "There are three doors." "We're gonna try to have somebody inside who will open up one of the other doors." "He can't cover all three doors." "And just have the girl and boy just try to go through another door." "Anyway, that's gonna be up to Nick Katzenbach as to how far we can go on that." "If he's able to keep the doors locked and actually keep them out, and if it's gonna require knocking him down, or some real forceful action, then they will pull away." "What we think then is that they'll go to their dormitories and say, "Well, we'll work out the registration sometime else."" " They'll go to their dormitories and..." " Have they got an assigned dormitory?" "NARRATOR:" "By going to dormitories, the students would remain on campus, and the federal government would not have retreated." "But having failed to pass a governor armed with his own state troopers and National Guard, the federal government would have to return for a second try armed with greater force." "The president could take over the governor's troops by nationalizing the Alabama Guard, but that could take another day, 24 hours, that would be an embarrassing delay for the federal government." "Mr. President, I think our being turned back by the governor, letting that situation exist throughout the country and the world for even 24 hours..." "JFK:" "All right." "Well, I don't mind..." "Let's go with the Guard." "Well, it's a step." "Because what we tried to do, of course, is to put it on his back completely, that we're trying to get this worked out." "Of course he called up the Guard, which means he might try to tie it back." "He continues to say that he's called up the Guard, which indicates that he thinks the situation is very critical." "After all, he call up the Guard." "I didn't." "They produced a situation which has necessitated calling up 600 Guardsmen." "And therefore to meet my response, be prepared for any situation, we are gonna federalize this Guard and so on and so forth." "Now, he may announce that in that case he won't be responsible for law and order." "But that could come any day." "That's the fact of the matter." "Then we would have the Guard ready, and then we would use them..." "Then you'd say to him that you would hope that none of this would be necessary, that he would stay at home, and in your judgment if he does stay at home, the local police department could handle it." "It might possibly avoid this problem of arrest." "The disadvantages of your calling up the Guard... (chattering)" "Let me just call Cy Vance and see if there's anything that we could do before 24 hours." "Hey, Cy, assuming that we get turned back at 10:30 tomorrow morning, their time, is there any way that you could get the Guard in there, the Tuscaloosa Guard in there by 4:00 that afternoon?" "NARRATOR:" "Unless Robert Kennedy can work out a faster way to nationalize the Guard, the president will have only two alternatives..." "Send in troops at the outset before a need for them could be publicly demonstrated, or else, wait until after being turned back and suffer a 24-hour delay at the hands of the governor." "RFK:" "Could you get them there by 4:00 that afternoon?" "So I would think that probably, unless we change, that probably the best thing to do would be to go as scheduled." "Just put up with the 24 hours between the nationalizing the Guard in that period..." "We can make a speech on television, taking other action which would indicate that we are not permitting him to get away with defiance." "It's inevitable that we're going to be successful." "So I would think that we'll go with that." "NARRATOR:" "State troopers." "The schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama." "Nearby, Nicholas Katzenbach is briefing federal marshals who will be guarding the students tomorrow." "If you're gonna have guns, it's gonna pretty hard not to..." "I'd rather not have them visible." "I think that's the problem." "And therefore I think..." "I don't think we need any armbands, because they..." "The word "marshal," since Oxford, is kind of a dirty word down here." "I hate to say it, but it is." "And if we can be unostentatious about what we do, we're in a much better position to afford protection to these people if it's needed." "And, uh, not that I want any shooting or anything of that kind, but if you're in an escort of that kind, you've got to take whatever force is necessary to protect the lives of those two students." "They're our responsibility." "NARRATOR: 11:00, the night before the confrontation, and Vivian is still concerned about what to do if the governor turns her back." "(chattering)" "If we aren't accepted, then we'll just come on back here." " I mean, we won't say anything to reporters." " No, no." "No, no, no." "We'll discuss..." "Particularly..." "Particularly if you're turned away, don't talk to reporters." "(chattering continues)" " Good night." " Good night." " Okay, good night." " Good luck." " See you tomorrow." " Okay, then." "NARRATOR:" "Early morning, the day of the confrontation." "General, uh, if the president signed that proclamation in another hour or so, whether you could get the Guard together by 10:30 your time..." "Ready and in place and under the proper direction by three hours later, which would be 10:30?" "Now, the problem... the biggest problem in this is General Graham." "Even if you notified General Graham now and got a plane there, you couldn't get him into Tuscaloosa in five hours?" "(exhales, coughs)" "Abrams here." "Uh, do you know where the attorney general called for?" "If I wanted to talk to him right now, would you know where to get ahold of him?" "Uh, all right." "Uh, would you do that?" "(phone rings)" "Hello?" "Uh, just a minute, Burke." "How you doing?" "Hello." "We're still considering what we ought to do this morning and whether or not we should call up the Guard and just have them already there." "Go in with you." "What do you think of that?" "He won't step aside under it in the first place." "He'll be carried off by soldiers." "And I think you ought to..." "Well, I have every indication he's not gonna step aside up there, and I have every indication he will dramatize to that group of reporters and that crowd the fact that he has been forcibly removed." "I don't see what the third alternative is." "The third alternative is the one that I indicated, Burke." "Uh, everybody else can see it." "That is, simply, that we just reduce the going-through-that-door to nothing." "And they start attending classes." "Now the governor cannot block all those classes." "You mean, and not bring the National Guard out at all?" "Ah..." "I mean, he won't put up with it, and it won't work in that sense." "The only danger with that plan that I see, and it's one that ought to be weighed, is that the governor's resentment at being made a fool of will be such that he will move way over to the segregationist side" "and make life much more difficult and more dangerous in the future." "Of course he might do that anyhow." "NARRATOR:" "Robert Kennedy has managed to reduce the time for getting the Guard to the campus to five hours, and maybe four." "Now he suggests a new plan... allow Katzenbach to be turned back by the governor." "Then nationalize the Guard fast enough to return for a second try that same afternoon." "Coming back..." "That he won't get any satisfactory answer coming back, nationalizing the guard, then coming back with them then." "Uh, now I don't know what he will do." "He may say, "Bring them up and find out."" "But I think that can be handled." "You can just say, "We're not making a stage production out of this."" ""Uh, and now is the time, and I want to know your intentions."" "Then the choice is with him." "RFK:" "You want to think about that for a few minutes?" "This is to have the confrontation with I and Macon and Peyton Norville, the students remaining in the car." "Saying I want to know what you're gonna do." "I would propose to take them to their dormitories, then have them talk to the troops." "Keep 'em on the campus." "So there's no retreat." "This is with you going down there and no federalization." "That's right." "Yeah." "Federalize." "Then you bring 'em." "Then we got about an hour." " Yeah." " We could probably do it in an hour." "I could take the students to their dormitory." "We can't get General Graham here in that time." "I would say two hours, and I stay on the campus." "Why should those students leave the campus?" " Why don't they go to their rooms?" " It's just a matter of" "If they could go to their rooms, that would be a good solution." "That way we haven't retreated anywhere because it's perfectly obvious to every one of those newspaper people that they're going to their rooms." "NARRATOR:" "Three of Robert Kennedy's children have stopped by to see their father." "ABRAMS:" "It does seem to me that it makes it clearer the basis for federalizing the troops." "I mean, I don't know the..." "I'm no legal man." "But just to a layman it makes it clear that federalization is necessary." "KATZENBACH:" "I think his unwillingness to state what he's going to do can be regarded..." "And I simply put that on him." "I'm gonna say, "If you will not assure me at this point that ..."" ""I..." "I'm required assurance from you at this point"" ""that you will stand aside and not defy this court order."" ""I can make no other assumption under these circumstances,"" ""if you fail to give me that assurance."" ""The ball is with you."" "What?" "(phone ringing)" "Line one." "Hello?" "Is General Abrams there with you?" "Yes, he is." "He was one second ago." "He likes it." "You want him back?" "I can put him on, Bob." "No, he says he likes this." "It makes clearer the basis that... of... of calling up the Guard and he thinks ifs a good scheme." "He prefers it." " Want to say hello to Kerry?" " Yeah!" " KERRY:" "Hi, Nick." " Hi, Kerry." "How are you, dear?" "What are you doing?" "Are you at..." "Are you at our house?" " What?" " Are you at our house?" "No, I'm not out at your house." "I'm way down in the southland." "Way down south." "And you know what the temperature is down here?" "The temperature down here is 98 degrees." "You tell your father that." " Tell him we're all going to get hardship pay." " (laughing)" " Got Kerry on here." " Kerry." "We're all going to get hardship today." " We're all going to get what?" " Hardship today." "(chuckles) Okay." "Say good-bye." " Ninety-eight degrees." " Say good-bye." "Good-bye." "Good-bye." "Hello?" "Listen, Nick, why don't we plan that?" "And, uh, uh... and, uh, I think..." "What do you think, Burke?" "I'll take the students on, I will leave them in the car and they will go to their dormitories thereafter." "And then the students will come back and register in the afternoon?" "Nick, now, what are you going to say to him again, now?" "I know." "You're gonna have to play it a little by ear." "But I wouldn't take..." "I wouldn't take him too s..." "I mean, almost dismiss him as being rather a second-rate figure for you." "He's wasting your time, he's wasting the student's time and he's caused a big scene up there." "You know, I'd have that sort of tone of voice." "Don't you think?" "Yeah." "All right." "Good luck." "You'll do well." "You know, it'll work well." "Okay, Nick." "Bye-bye." "(chattering)" " Bless your heart." "Bless your heart." " Thank you." "Bless your heart." "We're all with you." "Thank you very much, dear." "I appreciate y'all saying that." "Hi, sweetie." "Glad to see y'all." " We all love you." " I know you do." "Thank you very much." "I'm glad you all feel that way." "(chattering)" "(chattering)" "MAN (static):" "We 're getting a feedback here, but there is a large crowd of the press corps around him listening to this." "TV cameras." "The press are here in large numbers." "MAN:" "This is from the governor." "Yeah, but is he talking directly to the governor, Katzenbach?" "And I've come here to ask you now for an unequivocal assurance that you will permit these students, who, after all, merely want an education at a great university..." "Now you make your statement, but we don't need for you to make a speech." " You make your statement." " I will make my statement, Governor." "I was in the process of making my statement." "And I'm asking from you an unequivocal assurance that you will not bar entry to these students, to Vivian Malone and to James Hood, and that you will step aside peacefully and do your constitutional duty as governor..." "(man on radio, indistinct)" "Is he getting to talk to the governor?" "I have a statement to read." ""As governor and chief magistrate of the state of Alabama,"" ""I deem it to be my solemn obligation and duty to stand before you,"" ""representing the rights and sovereignty of this state and its peoples."" ""The unwelcomed, unwanted, unwarranted and force-induced intrusion"" ""upon the campus of the University of Alabama today"" ""of the might of the central government,"" ""offers frightful example of the oppression of the rights,"" ""privileges and sovereignty of this state"" ""by officers of the federal government."" "Somebody's got a car up in there." "I can hear it." ""Do hereby denounce and forbid this illegal and unwarranted action by the central government."" "Governor Wallace, I take it from that statement that, uh, you are going to stand in that door and that you are not going to carry out the orders of this court, that you are going to resist us from doing so." " Is that correct?" " I stand upon the statement." "You stand upon that statement." "Governor, I'm not interested in a show." "I don't know what the purpose of the show is." "I am interested in the orders of this court being enforced." "That is my only responsibility here." "I ask you once more." "The choice is yours." "There is no choice that the United States government has in this but to see that the lawful orders of its court are enforced." "MALE REPORTER:" "Governor George Wallace of Alabama has stood in the schoolhouse door." "He has refused to permit Nicholas Katzenbach," "Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and Marshal Peyton Norville escort the two Negro students and to sign up for summer classes." "Now Nicholas Katzenbach and Marshal Norville, flanking Vivian Malone, are walking down the street." "Apparently they are going to walk to another door of the schoolhouse." " (chattering)" " WOMAN:" "Where do we get by?" "MAN:" "You can't come this way." "We have now been informed that Vivian Malone is being escorted to a woman's dormitory here on the campus of the University of Alabama." "Vivian Malone is now out of our view, but the oar with Jimmy Hood is leaving the area of the auditorium, presumably to go to his dormitory." "Can we get hold of Mr. Katzenbach?" "Hold on." "They have to re..." "We can only talk to him through a relay." "We can hear him talk back..." "What I'd like to do is go ahead and issue the proclamation, nationalize the Guard and find out what..." " Sir, do you want to talk to Nick?" " Yeah." "Would you mind going back so I can have some communication?" " Tell us what happens when you go through?" " No." "Will you get back, please?" "How far?" "Okay, go ahead." "They can't hear it." "Ten-four." "The message is as follows..." "Washington intends to issue the executive order to federalize the troops." "Also, do you expect any problems?" "I do not presently expect any problems, but they are probably thinking." "Ten-four." "He is not expecting any trouble, but the people here think he is?" " That's not..." " What is that?" "His answer was that he was not expecting trouble, but people here think he is." "That's a complica..." "Can you get Nick on the phone?" "Why don't we just go ahead and do it?" "Because I want to find out what the governor said." "It's silly to..." " WOMAN:" "Got him on the line, on three." " Okay." "Hello?" "Oh, Nick?" "Now, did the governor say anything which would lead us not to issue this proclamation?" "NARRATOR:" "Nicholas Katzenbach has agreed that it is time for the president to sign the proclamation nationalizing the Guard." "Could I have the president, please?" "NARRATOR:" "A call to the president." "So will you issue the proclamation now and sign it?" "The executive order, yeah." "Right now?" "Okeydokey." "(shouting cadence)" "NARRATOR:" "The National Guard troops arrive by afternoon." "Yeah." "Bob wants to speak to you though." "Just a minute." "It's Nick." "Hey, Nick, I think we should for two reasons, uh, try to keep the students from being addressed by the governor." "One, to give him that platform, and two, to subject them to that... those insulting..." "(chattering)" "NARRATOR:" "General Graham, commander of the Alabama National Guard." "Governor Wallace was his commander." "Now the general confronts the governor as a representative of the federal government." "He's in command of 17,000 troops, 100 of which are on the campus." "Governor Wallace has stepped aside." "He's making his way away from the door." "The second confrontation is over." "Governor Wallace is walking out, getting into his car." "State troopers, his aides are getting into his car." "He is, as he said, going back to Montgomery, the state capital, to continue what he says is a fight" "he says he's winning." "So Governor George Wallace, second confrontation, has stepped aside." "WALLACE:" "I just hope that you'll come back to see us." " Come back to see us in Alabama." " Why don't you hold a press..." " I hope we'll have..." " Will you talk tonight in Montgomery?" "MALE REPORTER:" "The next step now will be, I would imagine, the arrival of the students." "Now here come the Negro students." "Here come the Negro students." "First..." "MAN:" "How do you feel, ma'am?" "NARRATOR:" "A call to the president." "Oh, you got it?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Yeah, well, I think that's good." "Yeah, I think it's fine." "Okay." "MAN:" "Now both Negro students are inside the building." "Both Negro students are inside Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama, where they will complete their re..." "That's right." "And-And-And-And..." "And the South this year... next year... will decide who the next president is." "Whoever the South votes for will be the president, 'cause you can't win without the South." "And you're going to see that the South is going to be against some folks." "Are you getting used to..." "But I think as soon as we could have that draft 'cause we might have some ideas and important speeches." "And Louis Martin I think should look at it." "Okay." "Bye." "He's gonna make that speech." "NARRATOR:" "He's going to make the speech." "The president has decided to make a major commitment tonight in an address to the nation, and only four hours remain in which to complete it." "JFK:" "I hope that every American will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents." "This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds." "It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened." "We are confronted primarily with a moral issue." "It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution." "The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated." "If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?" "Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?" "One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free." "They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice." "They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression." "And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free." "We face therefore a moral crisis as a country and a people." "It cannot be met by repressive police action." "It cannot be left to increase demonstrations in the streets." "It cannot be quieted by token moves or talk." "It is a time to act in the Congress, in your state and local legislative body, and above all, in all of our daily lives." "This is what we're talking about, and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for." "And in meeting it, I ask the support of all of our citizens." "Thank you very much." "Now the people we got, they just..." "We just had peace, but we got..." "We had peace, but we got troops." "No telling what we'd get if we had a little disorder." "(man cackling)" "Might get the United Nations down on top of us." "NARRATOR:" "Two days later, Negro Dave McGlathery enrolled at the University of Alabama campus in Huntsville, without escort or incident of any kind." "KATZENBACH:" "It went without a hitch." "He went completely unaccompanied, all the way from here to the..." "I don't see how they could have missed it, Bob." "He parked in the parking lot like other students." "Other students registered before him and after him." "And he walked in the same way that they did." "(chuckling) Yeah." "Okay." "Tonight, 7:30, huh?" "All right." "(chattering)" "NARRATOR:" "A final call to the president." "Yeah." "So I..." "You know, it was really good." "I think it was really good." "And I think it's well to have it behind us." "Okay."