"WALLACE:" "Archie." "Make sure you come back now, you hear?" " You take care." " All right, buddy." "MAN [OVER RADIO]:" "Tom 6, Tom 6, accident." "No details." "County road, State Highway 31." "You forgetting a little something, Archie?" "This is Tom 6, Dispatch, ten-four." "Tom 17 to Tom 9, we got a family fight." "Both sound intoxicated." "Address 214 North Highway, 231." "Tom 17 en route to site." "WALLACE:" "Hey, hey!" "Wait, come back here now!" "Goddamn it, now." "I told that fella I didn't want Archie going out there to his mama's place in handcuffs." "Don't nobody listen to me?" "What you doing?" "I'm changing your tie." "Well, what's wrong with that one?" "Well, don't go with your suit." "And it is out of style." "Oh, yeah." "I'm marrying a goddamn fashion consultant." "Yeah, silk ties, Italian ties." " Yes, sir, wife of the governor of Alabama." " Mm-hm." "She's a real swanny gal." "More high-tone than the governor his own self." "Be still, honey." " Course, you know..." " Be still." "...the governor, he don't know." "He just a rough old country boy, now." "I want to see my husband looking sharp." "[MURMURING]" "[GIGGLING]" "What the hell you doing?" "You know what they told me before I married you?" "Cornelia is so fast, you're gonna have to put a governor on her." "It's about all I can do to just stay up with you, woman." "Yeah, you are pluperfect, hungry animal again." "[MOANING]" " Come on, that's enough, now." " Oh, hardly." "We are a starring duo, George, aren't we?" "Yeah." "Firecracker pair." "Ooh." "How you feeling now?" "Hmm?" "What you wanna do?" "Come on." "WALLACE:" "Well, well." "Wait a minute." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Oh, hey, wait." " Wait a minute, now." " No, no." " Cut that out now." " No, no." "Whoa." "Come on, cut that out." "Now, wait." " Yes, yes, yes." " No, no, no." "No, no, cut that out." "Oh, damn." "I gotta get on up there in Maryland." "I'll be ready before you are, governor." "I always am." "Yeah." "That is about the damn truth." "Now, you hurry up." "They can't wait all day, now." "[GROANING]" "Good Lord, girl, what are you gonna make of all this mess?" "You dust this every day, Eddie because Alabama loved this little girl." "We all still miss her." "JAMISON:" "This is everything." "Oh, thank you, Jamison." "Well, this is good for a start." "Miami paper." ""Wallace's political sun could reach highest point at the primaries tomorrow."" "Where's this thing in Maryland supposed to be at exactly?" "At a place called Laurels, big shopping center." "Oh, yeah, I know." "Jamison, how come you let that trooper put those damn handcuffs on Archie just to drive him out to his mama's?" "Goddamn, he been trustee here since the '50s." "Get on out there and put my bags in the car." " Morning." "RICKY:" "Morning, governor." " Morning, boys." "GERALD:" "Where the hell's Cornelia at?" " We're running behind here, you know." " She's still upstairs fixing herself." "She'll be along soon." "What kind of devil they calling me today, Ricky?" "Well, sort of a different kind now, governor." "Chicago paper here." ""Wallace could be a frontrunner for Democratic nomination at the primaries tomorrow."" "Heh, heh, heh." "Let me see that." "Give me the ketchup, Gerald." "Never made much difference to you what you're gobbling down." "Could be eggs, steak, peas." "Could be the end of your tie." "You're gonna put ketchup on it, ain't you?" "It's a little late for you to start worrying about dining etiquette, Odum." "Here, governor." "Listen to this Los Angeles paper." ""Wallace likely to win Maryland tomorrow." "Possible two other primaries could throw Democratic nomination into a turmoil."" "See what a good press secretary?" "Ricky sure can read those headlines." "MAN:" "Yeah." "Heh, heh." " Yeah, he a talented man." " Sure is." "Says here, governor, you a "pol...."" ""Poltergeist in the presidential campaign."" "Poltergeist?" "What's that supposed to mean exactly?" "You're supposed to be able to tell me, Odum." "That's why I made you president of that state college down there." "Gerald, heard you threw another shindig for your buddies at Jeff Davis Hotel the other night." "Lookie here, George" "Fifty-dollar-a-month walk-up law office downtown ain't got no more sense than to live like some millionaire goddamn Arab sheik out for everybody to see." "You're my little brother, but you gonna get me in trouble." "I'm running for president now." " Quit getting on me about that, because I-- WALLACE:" "Shut up." " Can I tell you what?" " Shut up." " Can I tell you what?" " Gerald, strain." "Hell." "Strain." "Lookie here, governor." " Even the Boston paper." "WALLACE:" "Let me see that." "ODUM:" "George, remember when we first started on this thing?" "It was like guerrilla raids up north back in '64." "Practically living off the land as we went." "Barely enough money to pay for a hotel room, man." "Lot of them hotels wouldn't even take us." "Figured we'd short-sheet them." "Gave off a hellacious ruction in places, Wisconsin, Cleveland." "Goddamn." "Yeah, but by God, wound up almost winning some of them primaries then." "People started saying, "Uh-oh." "Them yahoos are loose again."" "Yeah, we run again '68, what'd we get?" " Ten million votes." " Yeah, and after these primaries tomorrow governor, you just win Michigan and Maryland you be leading McGovern, Humphrey the whole darn load of them for the Democratic nomination as president of these United States." "GERALD:" "It's amazing." "Now, just think about it." "Them national political bigwigs and liberal press crowd." "We got them all crapping in their pants." "They all the time trying to call me a racist." "Hell what none of them understand yet race is why all those people out there come over to us." "Without me even having to say the word "race" people getting what I'm talking about." "Yeah, it'd be something, wouldn't it?" "We might actually haul off and win this goddamn thing." "You know where we are, Archie?" "The famous Edmund Pettus Bridge where Martin Luther King and his crowd got their asses kicked." "Did finally cross it, though." " Say what?" " Nothing." "Well, is there someone sitting back there beside you?" "Like somebody hadn't learned that long as George Corley Wallace is governor of Alabama everything is gonna stay just like it's always been." "Of course, always some a little slow to learn." "Those handcuffs too tight for you, Archie?" "No, sir." "They're just about right." "Go on in." "I'll wait for you here." "Uh-uh." "Just because you're a trustee, don't mean you ain't still a convicted murderer." "Anyhow, your family won't mind." "Your mother won't notice." "Thank you for saying a few words." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "[BAND PLAYING ROY ACUFF'S "WABASH CANNONBALL"]" "[SINGING]" "Jim, come over here, there's an opportunity...." "REPORTER:" "Excuse me, governor, People mag" "Life magazine." "Like to get some photographs, right here." " Governor George Wallace here." "REPORTER:" "Good, very nice." "Get in a little closer." "Very good." "WOMAN:" "I just love this music, don't you?" "Yeah, I do." "It's bluegrass." "REPORTER:" "Good, let me get one more." "All right, Jim, that's fine." "Thank you very much, thank you." "Everybody, everybody, thanks." "Everybody, he's here, y'all." "I give y'all" " For just a little while now, I want him back." "my husband and the next president of the United States, George C. Wallace." "[CROWD CLAPPING AND SHOUTING]" "MAN 1:" "Governor." "MAN 2:" "We're with you all the way." "WALLACE:" "Isn't she something?" "WOMAN 1:" "Yes, indeed." "What'd I marry, huh?" "WOMAN 2:" "We're counting on you!" "Thank y'all, a wonderful crowd." "We're glad to be back here in Maryland." "MAN 3:" "Amen to that." "I'm happy to see all our law enforcement folks out here with us today." "The court's now turning loose people who shoot and steal and kill." " People are getting sick of it." "WOMAN 4:" "That's right, that's right!" "MAN 5:" "We love you, governor." "We love you." "WALLACE:" "I tell you, when I'm your president I promise you, you'll be safe anywhere in this country of ours from anybody." "[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]" "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Listen, these here bigtime national politicians like George McGovern..." "[CROWD BOOING] ...and Richard Milhous "Tricky Dick" Nixon...." "[BOOING]" "They all complaining that we gonna hurt them." "But let me tell you something, I wanna hurt them because they been hurting us long enough." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "[GOSPEL MUSIC PLAYS OVER SPEAKERS]" "To them she was just another old, unimportant nigger woman." "Tended their children, cooked their meals, cleaned their laundry." "But not once, through all her life on this earth did they pay her any dignity at all as a human being." "All she was was our mama." "First Daddy." "A 65-year-old man trying to register to vote." "First real proud, free thing he ever did in his life." "Shot to death by them Klan Knight Riders." "Mama worked to death by white folks." "So they let you come out here once more now she's dead." "Tell her goodbye." "And you are grateful to Governor Wallace for that, ain't you?" "Oh, yeah." "Grateful." "But don't you know that's still slave thinking?" "Something else you ought to be feeling right now?" "I know what you're saying, Neal." "You can strike the blow." "I know." "I've always known." "CROWD:" "George, George, George...." "George, George, George...." "[CHANTING]" "WALLACE:" "I better shake some hands." " Better go out there." " Don't go out there, governor." " No, it's all right." "I'll take responsibility." "How are you?" "You got great crowd here today." "Oh, thanks." "How you doing over there?" "How are you?" "Hello, sweetie." "Thanks for coming out here today." "All right, all right." "Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for coming out today." "It's always good to be here." "Hi, darling." "Ricky, can't you do anything?" "Oh, no." "No, not when he's with people." "No, this is when he's really living." "Take a look at him." "Appreciate y'all being out here today." "[SHOUTING]" "George, George, George...." "Good to see you, good to see you." "Appreciate y'all being out here today." " Hey." "MAN:" "Way to go." "You boys think we're gonna get any votes up here?" "Put this on your network, you hear?" "Come on in here, Jim." "How are you?" "Thank you very much." "[SCREAMING]" "GUARD:" "Stay back!" "MAN 1:" "All right, we're gonna keep these people back." "MAN 2 [OVER BULLHORN]:" "Stand back." " I repeat, stand back!" " George, live." " Live." " I'm shot." "Honey, we're gonna go home now." "We're gonna go on back home now." " I'm in pain." "CORNELIA:" "It's gonna be okay." "It's gonna be all right." "Somebody get us out of here, please." "MAN 3:" "Everybody, move back." "CORNELIA:" "Somebody get us out of here!" "MAN 3:" "Give the governor some air." " Leave me with him." " I gotta be with him now!" " It's okay." "CORNELIA:" "Don't." "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "It's gonna be all right, honey." "I'm gonna take you home now." "We gonna go back home." "You're my whole life." "I don't know what I would do without you." "You stay with me." "Please hold on." "I love you so much." "[WOMAN LAUGHING]" "What?" "Oh, yeah, heh-heh-heh." "WOMAN 1:" "Come on inside." "WOMAN 2:" "Yeah." "WOMAN 3:" "Hello, George." "WOMAN 4:" "Hi." "WOMAN 3:" "Haven't seen you in a while." " George?" "Oh, come on, Lurleen." " Is this all right?" " It's astounding." "My goodness, I didn't know there was gonna be this many people." "Well, with Big Jim elected governor now, a lot more folks discovered they his friends." "[BAND PLAYING BLUEGRASS MUSIC]" "[CHATTERING]" "[LAUGHING]" "Hey, senator." "[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]" " Oh, yeah." " Right." "Today, yeah." "[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]" "Hey." " Come on." " Thank you, sir." "Excuse me." "Senator." "Excuse me." "Why, hi, George." "Hello, Velma." "Uh, this is my wife, Lurleen." " Hi." " Yes." "Well, how are you?" " Good." "ODUM:" "Hey, George." " Lurleen." "WALLACE:" "T.Y., how you doing?" "ODUM:" "Fine." " You know, uh, Velma." " Velma, sure." "WALLACE:" "You know." "Oh, come on over here a minute." "There's something I need to talk to you about." "MAN 1:" "Come on, take it." "MAN 2:" "Yes, ma'am, you gotta help out...." "LURLEEN:" "Who was that?" " Huh?" "Oh, that's just some secretary in the highway department, you know." "You know all of these people, George?" "Well, not all of them." "No, of course not." " Hey, Danny." " George, George." " Look at who showed up." " Goddamn, Billy Watson." " Oh, Billy, I'm so glad you're here." " Hi, Lurleen." " Lovely to see you." " Lurleen." "Decided to leave off running politics in Barbour County to come up to this hootenanny, huh?" "I ain't up here to party, Wallace." "Here to keep my eye on my investment." "Go on, you celebrate." "Don't forget where you're headed." "Yeah, well, you ain't ever gonna let me, Billy." "Where can you get a Coca-Cola in all this liquor drinking?" "Hey, hey, boy." "Here." " Goddamn, you ain't got no Cokes?" " I'll get you one right away, sir." " Leave it in the bottle, okay?" " Yes, sir." " Excuse us, gentlemen." " Excuse me." "All right." "There's a lot of stuff out tonight." "What you got, gland trouble or something?" "Damn if you wouldn't hump a woodpile if you thought there was a snake in there." "Well, look at that snake over there, heh-heh." "How's that little gal taking away your career that's been picking up steam here lately?" "Who?" "Lurleen?" "God help that little woman." "Oh, come on, she's happy enough." "She got the children, she got her fishing." "You know she loves to go fishing in that pond out there." "You know it, she no trouble." "WOMAN:" "Judge?" " Yeah." "I'd like you to meet this young lady over here, an admirer of yours." " Hi." " Hi." " What's your name?" " Lisa." "You all right, honey?" "Such a big crowd." "Well, you better get used to looking as beautiful as you do tonight, sweetheart." "Because your husband is on the climb to big things." "All right, here he comes, so we better batten down the hatch." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "Oh, yeah." "Oh, Johnny, I've known you from way back." "REPORTER:" "Hold on, Big Jim." "[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]" "WOMAN 1:" "We love you, governor." "The big galoot hisself." "I'll tell you, Big Jim's the greatest thing to come along since Andy Jackson." "Now, listen, you mean to go for governor, you better face some realities now." " Too liberal." "MAN 1:" "Congratulations, Big Jim." "Who's the little one?" "Well, that's his sister's girl." "It's another Folsom." "Why, she rides his shoulders like a princess already." "A princess?" "It's nothing that highfalutin if it's a Folsom." "See you later, baby." "MAN 1:" "You deserve it." " We got a lot to celebrate tonight, huh?" "WOMAN 2:" "That's right!" "MAN 2:" "You bet we do!" "WOMAN 3:" "This is it, Jim." "This is it." "That big mule's running this state." "Used to be that every four years, they'd pick out two candidates for governor." "And you could vote for one or you could vote for the other." "That was your God-given choice, ha-ha." "But Big Jim's changed that arrangement." "Yeah!" "[CROWD CHEERING AND WHISTLING]" "And none of this would've been happening if it wasn't for my friend and campaign manager, George Wallace!" "Come on up here, son." "It's your day too." " Oh, no." " Go on, go on." "Yes, sir." "A big hand for George." "Yes, sir." "BIG JIM:" "Now, me and George both know that the big mules and the got-rocks crowd are still trying to stop us by stirring up suspicion among the races the same as they always done." "But listen in." "Now, come up here, George." "Listen, all God's children, red, yellow, black, white they all just alike and all precious in the sight of the Lord." "And that's the way it's gonna stay in Alabama while I'm governor." "[WHOOPING AND SHOUTING]" "Yes, sir." "I call to everybody." "Y'all come, now." "Let's have a little of that music." " George looks good." " Yeah, George." " Yeah." " George looks great." "There you are, little woman." "Give us a kiss, huh?" "Oh, you're too good for any of us here." "Billy Watson?" " Political bishop of Barbour County." " Yeah, that's right." "I'm just loaning you George for a while." " Don't you be giving him any trouble." "BIG JIM:" "Don't you worry about that." "We were fighting the good fight a long time." " Ain't we, George?" "WALLACE:" "That's right." " Big Jim?" " Yes, ma'am." " She's such a beautiful girl." "BIG JIM:" "Thank you." " What's her name?" " Darling, sugar dumpling?" "I want you to remember this man's name right here, George Wallace." "Start remembering names for when you move into public life which you will, because you a Folsom." "Ain't that right, sugar dumpling?" "Yeah." "So remember, this is George Wallace, okay?" "George, I need to talk to you for a second." "Would you excuse us for a minute?" "John, you wanna help me here?" " Y'all excuse us a second?" "MAN 1:" "Good job, Big Jim." "Next stop, White House." "MAN 2:" "Make way, make way for Big Jim." "Folks, can we have this room for a few minutes?" " George and I need to talk." "Thank you." "WOMAN:" "Excuse me." "Lock the door on your way out." "Shut the door." "I swear, all this campaigning working up the crowds, is gonna ruin my voice." "Now, George...." "I've known you since you was that skinny little giblet-assed kid back in the legislature, in them chartreuse pants and cowboy shirts." "Oh, introducing about 80 bills a week trying to help out just everybody who had a pulse." "Some people was even calling you a dangerous left-wing radical." "Yeah, well, that's that country-club, high-hoi-polloi crowd." "They always giving us trouble, ain't they?" "I know, but what I'm saying is" "George, sit down here." "Sit down." "Now, it ain't too early to be talking about this because I know there's this law that says I can't succeed myself." "And I know that you gonna be wanting to run for governor then." "Now, when that time comes...." "George, look at me here, look at me." "When you make your go for governor I'm gonna be behind you 100 percent, all-out." "All right?" "Only thing is, I'm counting on you to still be battling for all those things we always been for." "Equal deal for the common folk just like you did back in the legislature." "Well, I ain't ever gonna be forgetting none of what we been for." "But I'm talking about the Negroes too, George, the Negroes too." "I know the weather out there's getting a little bit stormy but we got to keep holding on to what's right." "You hear me, George?" "Sure, you know...." "Hell, they just like everybody else." "You know, I always believed like you on the colored issue." "[SHOUTING AND DOOR OPENS]" " Oh, excuse me, governor." " Oh, yes, ma'am." "Hello." "Judge Wallace." "Here it is." " Congratulations, governor." " Oh, thank you kindly." "Oh, George, you really do remind me of my own self starting out." "[CHUCKLES]" "George, there's only one thing that sort of worries me is you believe in the common folk so much." "I mean, it's almost like you're in love with them, all right." "Well, this need of yours to be at one with the folks you might need a little bit too much." "See, it's almost like your connection to the folks is all you feel gives you any personal meaning." "Like it's all you really feel you are yourself." "Will of the people." "That's where everything comes from, don't it?" "Majority of folks ain't ever gonna wanna do anything that ain't right." "Oh, well, I don't know, George." "Sometimes they can go both ways." "See, they just like you and me." "They got goodness and meanness in them." "Angel and a demon." "A leader can't just be a reflection." "A leader got to encourage them sometimes to listen to that angel." "I only trust that you won't ever be scared to risk that connection to the people in order to do what's right." "Do you hear me, George?" "Well, Big Jim there ain't nobody stronger for you than me." "I don't have any doubts about you, George." "You gonna be a good one." "WALLACE:" "Here you go." " T.Y., don't let him drive, all right?" "MAN:" "That's it, Jim." "WALLACE:" "Here." " What's your name?" " Archie, sir." " Well, thank you, Archie." " You're welcome, sir." "You ought to get yourself one of these." "Lurleen, come on, let's go." "We gotta get back to Clayton now." "Come on." " Good night, George." " Good night, Billy." " What you doing over there with Billy?" " He's good to me." "Just one last second, George." "Hello, sweetheart." "I never did get your name, you know that?" " It's Cornelia." " Cornelia." "What a lovely name for such a lovely little girl." "Lurleen, come on." "Bye-bye, sweetheart." "Now, you be good, you hear?" "[DOOR BUZZES]" "CORNELIA:" "George, the surgeon said that everything went just fine, darling." "What are you feeling?" "Feeling nothing down here." "Just pain." "Y'all, the surgeon said that everything went just fine." " Who was that shot me?" " It was some fella named Bremer." " White, wasn't he?" " Yeah, but nobody" " He ain't nothing." " They've questioned him." "He'd been following you around for weeks." "He's a...." "You know yet how it's going?" " How's what?" " Maryland, Michigan." "Oh, yeah, I just heard." "You taking Michigan and Maryland." "Just like when you was talking in the kitchen yesterday." " You're leading them all now, sir." "CORNELIA:" "Oh, honey." "Honey, isn't that fantastic?" "Darling, you're wonderful." "[WALLACE GROANS]" "It's good news." "[WALLACE GROANS]" "Well, looks like we got ourselves an FDR candidate on our hands, huh?" "Ain't you kind of leapfrogging ahead of the situation we have here, Cornelia?" "My brother has just been shot, almost killed." "Yes, but he is alive." "And he's not gonna die." "That's the only thing that could ever stop that man." " He's stronger than any damn...." " It's all right, it's okay." " It's all right." "DOCTOR:" "Mrs. Wallace." "[WHIMPERING]" "I'm afraid you gentlemen will have to wait outside." "No, no, let them in." " I'm his brother, damn it." " Mrs. Wallace first." "GERALD:" "You hear me?" "I wanna see him." "ODUM:" "Come on, Gerald, easy." "Let's go back to the waiting room." "Nurse, could you give us a moment, please?" "Thanks." "Governor, I thought you'd wanna hear it all straight-out now, instead of...." "Yeah, how bad is it?" "You were shot five times." "Right arm, left shoulder, abdomen." "The problem is with the fifth bullet." "It penetrated the spinal column and severed a bundle of nerves." "As a result...." "[WALLACE GRUNTING]" "Do you wanna hear this now?" "Governor, I'm afraid you're not gonna be able to walk again." "Well, neither could FDR either." "He even went on" "DOCTOR:" "Just a minute, Mrs. Wallace." "I'm sorry." "Also, governor, you're not gonna be able to control bodily functions." "That means bladder and bowel." "I'm sorry." " Well, what about--?" "DOCTOR:" "Sex?" "[GROANING]" "All this pain, can't you do something about it?" "It's killing me here." "Of course." "But that's another thing, governor." "I'm afraid you're not gonna have another day without pain." "Well, I ain't accepting all of this yet." "Can you just give me another doctor?" "None of us mean to just accept it." "We're doing and are gonna continue to do everything we possibly can." "All right, go on." "I ain't out of this campaign yet, goddamn it." "Of course you're not." "It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than this to stop you." "That's goddamn right." "Well, there's hundreds of press downstairs." "I've gotta go down there and tell them something." "[GRUNTS]" "Well...." "You go tell them...." "Tell them you're still running full-force for president?" "Yeah." "You're only wounded in the abdomen." "Nothing's changed." "You're running just as strong as ever." "That's right." "God, I am so proud of you." "[GROANING]" "I just wish old Billy was here." "Old Billy." "Oh, goddamn." "This is it, Wallace." "You made it to the big leagues now." "Your first campaign for governor." "This is what we've been waiting for." "Since that Trailways bus brought you back from the war and dropped you off looking like a skinned rabbit." "Yeah, after getting here finally a little nervous, you know?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Of course you're nervous." "A racehorse is always nervous when it gets in the gate." "But the bugle's blowing now." "You go get running." "All right." "MAN:" "Hi, George." " Hi, Patsy, honey, how are you?" " Fine." " You still working at the beauty parlor?" "Good, you're coming to hear my speech, now, right?" "[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]" "WOMAN:" "You're gonna make a wonderful governor." "How are you?" "I saw your daddy the other day." "[ODUM SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY OVER MICROPHONE]" " Billy's your campaign manager, ain't he?" " No." "Billy's not my campaign manager." "You all are the only campaign managers I got." "I'll see you, Marvin." "Come hear my speech, now." "The fighting little judge, George Corley Wallace." "[CROWD CHEERING AND CLAPPING]" "You see how popular he is with the folks here." "Thank you." "Hey, how y'all doing?" "Etta Jane, you got so big." "How are you?" " It's a great day, y'all." " Yeah." " We all known each other all our lives." "MAN 1:" "We love you, George." "I grew up in this county." "My granddaddy, he planted most of these pecan trees around here." "In fact, while he was a doctor, he delivered a lot of y'all too." "[CLAPPING]" "Well, Lurleen and me been raising up our three children here." "And now, from this town of ours, out of Barbour County, as of today I am running for governor of this whole great state of Alabama." "[SHOUTING AND CLAPPING]" "Of course, the last four years, been Folsom up there in Montgomery but he can't run again this time." "So let me tell y'all what I'm gonna do when I get up there." "MAN 2:" "Tell us." " Your children gonna have free textbooks." "We're gonna build more schools and more junior colleges and trade schools too." "And nursing homes and medical clinics and TB hospitals and mental hospitals." "Gonna throw the public welfare program open to anybody needing it." "He's just getting started, Paul." " Just give him a second." " Yeah, yeah." "There's gonna be more for social security, more for the crippled children in this state." "All I been fighting for since y'all first sent me up to the legislature." "Doing for the people is what government's for, right?" "Yeah." "He's not just a liberal, he's worse than that." "Now, listen, this fellow over here wants to talk to you here in a second." "Soon as your brother gets through." "This is the Klan, and they can do your brother some good." "Well, that ain't me." "Whatever it takes to build you more roads and bridges, let them fuss." "You elect me, I'll borrow as many millions as I have to and I'll build y'all a bridge straight up in the air, if you want." "Tell them, George!" "That slick-haired national-press crowd up there in New York and Washington they started calling us Dogpatch folks down here." "Talking like me and you ain't got the sense to tie our shoes." "When I'm your governor, I'm gonna let them know that the people I represent are just as fine and cultured as anybody in this country." "I'm gonna make them respect us down here." "I'm gonna make y'all proud that you were raised right here in the great state of Alabama." "Thank you." "LURLEEN:" "It was a wonderful day, George." " Yeah." " A wonderful evening." "I love this place so much." "Yeah, well, we gonna be moving on soon, honey." "I think it went pretty good today, don't you?" "You know it did." "It always does with you." "Well, it always goes good." "I've got you helping me." "I want you to know that, here and now." "You got a way with the people of your own that I just" "Oh, it's suddenly like a dream, almost." "Only that we might be leaving everything here." "And for what, hm?" "Scares me a little." "Well, we going on to bigger and better things now." " George." " Yeah." " George, you remember-- WALLACE:" "Al Lingo." " Another Barbour County boy, heh-heh." "LURLEEN:" "Thank you, Susan." "For a short-term state trooper turned building-supplies salesman you sure been getting around a lot here lately." "I've been out here working for you on my own, judge." "In fact, uh, those fellas like to see you a minute, if you can." "Oh, George...." "Sorry, it's been such a long day." "Don't you think we should just--?" "T.Y., you wanna do me a favor and take Lurleen and the kids home?" " All right." " Honey...." "Come on, kids, I gotta do some business now." " George, I really think" " T.Y.'s gonna take you home now." " Bye, Daddy." " Bye, Daddy." "GIRL:" "Bye." "Lurleen, I'll be home in a while." "Go on, now." "AL:" "Judge, those fellas are with the Klan." " Why did I figure that?" "AL:" "But they're good old boys." "It won't hurt to listen to what they got to say." "The Klan's been rising up strong again all over the state, George." "All over the South for that matter." "You got" "Gerald, strain." "I know that." "You know, Wallace, I sort of got a feeling it might be better to have this particular chat in the back of my store." "Lingo, fetch your friends, meet us there in a few minutes." "All right." "Judge, all those things you was saying out there today didn't hear a single word about the real trouble now." "WALLACE:" "What's that?" " The nigger trouble." "That's the real test for any candidate running for anything in Alabama these days." "You need to let folks know you backing us in the war for white civilization, judge." "The fella you running against, John Patterson he got a little bit ahead of you on the nigger issue." "Here, listen to what he's saying." ""Patterson promises that as governor of Alabama he'll permit absolutely no mongrel-mixing of the races in any way, at any time, now or tomorrow." "His opponent declines to make that promise."" " Here." " You read what all he's saying." "Yeah, well, lookie here, boys." "As far as this particular issue is concerned, I'm for the same thing he is only we got to have decent order about it." " Now, we can't go raring off" " Judge, let's get one thing straight." "We talking about saving the white race by any means necessary." "Not about order and decency." "We just want you to keep it in mind, judge." "Be seeing you on down the road." "Thought you should hear that, judge." "Only trying to help you." "When you get up there to Montgomery, maybe you can find something for me to do." "Yeah, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there, Al." " That's fair enough." " All right." " Well, I'm going home." " Good night, gentlemen." " Good night." " Good night." "Billy, what's started breaking loose here all of a sudden?" "Hell, we grew up among colored folks." "We got along fine." "Yeah, but that was back when they was just happy-go-lucky niggers." "The government's set out to make us live with them." "Folks ain't gonna stand for that." "If you're hoping to whup Patterson you just got in the governor's race with, you better listen." "Those fellas don't represent hardly nobody but themselves." "They just like wolves running around on the edges of things." "I never did trust the Klan, anyhow." "Can't control them." "They close to wild." "They go upsetting everything with violence." "Yeah, but lots of folks coming to feel an awful lot like they do, Wallace." "People getting awful hot on this race thing." "And that's why you gotta cut loose from Big Jim." "Yeah, well...." "Hey, everybody's thinking Folsom appointed you as his political heir." "And that's the real trouble, George." "He's as liberal as he ever was on the nigger issue like he don't even realize what's begun happening." "Now there's this highfalutin young nigger preacher up there in Montgomery." "This Martin King Luther, whatever the hell his name is carrying on that bus boycott mess." "Race fever's just spreading all over the state now." "Yeah, but folks in Alabama, they don't want this Klan kind of ugliness." "They want it all worked out orderly." "Anyhow, it's just one of them hot winds that's gonna blow past." "Folks still care a heap more about an even chance to live decent." "Well, there's one thing I know it's the folks." "[THUNDER RUMBLING]" "[RAIN PATTERING]" "No way, he isn't." "Looking sort of hopeless." "Well, didn't help none, George." "You had to go on and openly denounce the Klan now." "Of course, it did get you the support of the ACLU, NAACP." "And all our Israelites here in the state." "BILLY:" "Only problem is, you let yourself get out of touch with everybody else in Alabama, George." "Klan might be just a bunch out there hooting on the fringe but I tried to tell you, times gotten tense." "You shouldn't have kept trying to be that nice, open-hearted young fella you was back there in the legislature." "You just didn't distance yourself enough from Big Jim." "There's whiffs of sulfur out there in the air now." "Can't be compromising, George." "Not these days." "Only way back now is, you gotta get back in grace with the people." "Bill, the only problem is" "Honey, I really am so sorry." "I just heard." "Well, maybe there's some good, huh?" "Maybe at least now we can head back home and live a normal life." "Goddamn it to hell, Lurleen!" "Normal life?" "That ain't life." "I just been hit like this you wanna start getting on me again about our home life." "That's all I need right now." "Excuse me here a minute." "Now, be sweet to her, George." "Honey, look, I only meant" "I've had it." "How do you think you can treat me?" "And you never even notice." " Now, look here, honey, I just" " No, I'm through." "Those strange women who keep showing up acting like they know you better than I do." " Like they know me." " Who you talking about?" " They ain't nothing" " Oh, don't." "It's not even that, anyway." "It's...." "You've hardly lived at home since we were married." "You've left your children almost half-orphans." "I don't want them growing up like that just because you did." "You know I already almost left you once because of this." "And you sent your...buddies in there to talk me out of it." "This time, it's enough." "So help me." "This time, I'm doing it." "I'm leaving you, George to the only thing you ever cared about, anyway." "Lurleen, God almighty, come on" "From the first, I knew you had some hunger, some need in you I didn't really understand." "But that would've been all right." "Only that thing, that need, it's made you forget who I am." "Forget us." "Look at me." "Remember when it was just us, George, and then the babies?" "You remember that time?" "We're your family, George." "Now it's money and power." "Power and money." "That's what counts?" "That's what you tell the kids." "You do." "You are no different than all them other wives." "What y'all always saying." "Same old scene." ""Why can't it be like it was?"" ""Why ain't you home more?"" "Well, it might be enough for you just living at home and for excitement, going out there fishing." "But it's not enough for me!" "It never will be enough for me!" "Oh, goddamn it." "Honey, honey, I'm sorry." "You just don't...." "No, you can't know." "After losing this vote today, it's like I'm just...." "Like I just disappeared or something." "Like I'm not worth nothing." "Nothing to nobody." "Nothing." "Not even to you." "George, you were always everything to me." "It's just that things got to change between us." "Some." "Maybe you could, uh, start traveling with me or something." "Maybe or something." "I've got to go pick up the children head back to Clayton." "Just hang on a little bit, honey." "Don't go off and leaving me now." "Don't stay up here too long." "Good night, everybody." " Good night, Lurleen." " Good night." "Sorry about that, boys." "Ain't the first time." "It's a...." "She's a good little gal." "She always comes around." "Lookie here now." "What y'all were saying I know now y'all been right about this race thing." "Everything's different now." "Big Jim just never caught on to that." "And the folks have turned their face against him." "And if I don't flat-out cut free of him, he's gonna take me on down with him." "No." "Me and Big Jim, we over with." "He was always wrong, anyhow." "Niggers hate whites." "Whites hate niggers." "Everybody's always known that deep down." "All right, boys." "I just let myself get out-niggered, but I'm never gonna get out-niggered again." "Today, I have stood where Jefferson Davis stood and took an oath to my people." "In this day, I feel a deep obligation to renew my pledges my covenants with you, the people of this great state." "General Robert E. Lee said that duty is the most sublime word in the English language." "WOMAN:" "Come on." "WALLACE:" "And I have come increasingly to realize what he meant." "And I shall do my duty to you." "God help me, I shall stand up for Alabama, as governor of our state." "You stand with me and we together can give courageous leadership to millions of people throughout this nation who look to the South for their hope in this fight to win and preserve our freedom and liberty so help me God." "[CHEERING]" "From this cradle of the Confederacy this very heart of the great Anglo-Saxon Southland today, we sound the drum of freedom." "Let us rise to the call of the freedom-loving blood that is in us." "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny." "And I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever." "[ON TV] --segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever." "MAN:" "Sworn in on this bitterly cold January day as Alabama's new governor George Corley Wallace...." "Oh, Cathy." "Try and get him to sleep early." "He's so tired." "I love you, sweetheart." "If you can, with all that noise downstairs." "Bye." "Do I look okay?" "Like a pluperfect queen." "Oh, nothing that fancy if it's a Wallace." "Well, then, Alabama governor's wife." "That's even better." "We've made it, haven't we, George?" "Yeah, I reckon we have." "This does look a lot like the governor's mansion to me." "No." "I mean, us." "I did hang on." "And you have gotten what you've always wanted." "And I did support you, because you've wanted it so much." "We've survived." "You and me." "We're celebrating more than your election tonight." "We're celebrating us." "I just hope you know though you're not gonna have much time to go out there fishing at that pond now." "Oh, yes, I will." "You're not taking that away from me, George Wallace." "Only place I know any peace." "Don't be nervous." "But I am." "Well don't be." "This is a little different than the first time you were here." "But you remember who you are now." "No, I'm still the 16-year-old girl behind the cosmetics counter of Kresge's dime store." "Hey, pretty girl." "My name's George Wallace." "And I wanna buy a bottle of hair oil." " Oh, yeah?" " Yeah, yeah." "I'm about to go into the Army, and...." "You wanna go to the picture show with me Saturday night?" "And I'm thinking you got the nicest dark eyes." "But you could stand to eat a little more." "You're so skinny." "You are such a pretty little thing." "I think I'm already falling slap in love with you, sweetie." "And I think...." "Well, now let's go on and live our life, Mrs. Wallace." "George, do you still--?" "MAN:" "Here they are, folks!" "[BAND PLAYING DANIEL EMMETT'S "DIXIE"]" "You go, George." "Yeah." "Ha!" "George!" "Looking good there, George." "George, you look like a million bucks!" "WOMAN:" "Congratulations, governor." "WALLACE:" "Now, you boys come see me about 9, you hear?" "We all used to be with Big Jim once, but I need y'all with me now." "MAN 1:" "All right." "WOMAN:" "Yes, I am." "MAN 2:" "We'll be there." "Where's my wife?" "She's seeing to the children, governor." " Can I get you something?" " Yeah." "Bring me a glass of buttermilk." "It's about time to turn in here." "Yes, sir." "[BILLY LAUGHING]" " Watson." " Yes, George?" "What's that you're drinking?" "Liquor drinking at the mansion's against the rules." "All right." "Well, the rules were made for niggers." "White trash." "Not for me and Odum." "Hey, what do you think of our new state police commander?" "Al...." "ALL:" "Lingo." "In all his finery." "I do appreciate it, governor." " Me and all the boys appreciate it." " Well, I'm counting on you, now." " You've got it." " All right." "Look, I'm gonna need y'all staying around me now." "Sort of my unofficial kitchen cabinet." "There's a lot we got to get going on right away." "It looks like that Martin Luther King's stirring up insurrection in Birmingham." "He's got all them nigger school kids involved in it now." "Ain't got no shame." "Don't worry." "I'll tend to his ass for you, governor." "Now, I always dreamed we'd have a chance like this back when it was Judge Wallace." "Yeah." "He's trying to test me." "That's what he's doing." "We're gonna settle his hash real fast." "Gonna need y'all in my office in the morning at 7:00." "Well, in that case, Wallace, I better be getting me a good night's sleep." "Night, governor." " George." " Good night." "I've seen you before, ain't I?" "It was Folsom's inaugural, wasn't it?" "Yes, sir." " What's your name again?" " Archie, sir." "Archie Weathers." "Been a trustee here how long?" "Since 1952." "Who'd you up and kill, Archie?" "A man." "He was messing with my wife." "Hmm." "And what were you doing before that?" "Just working or what?" " I was a fighter, sir." " That right?" "Any good?" "Won 16 and lost once." "Whew." "Ha." " Yeah?" " Yes, sir." "You know, I boxed once myself, Golden Gloves." "It was the Alabama bantamweight champion, yeah." "I guess all us fighters got hot tempers, huh?" "Yes, sir." "Let's see how good you are, Archie." " Governor, I have to clean up around here." " No, come on." "Just a second or two, huh?" "We'll go at it." "Just a little play sparring, you know." "Come on." "Come on." "Yeah, that's it." "Come on." "[GRUNTING]" "One time up in Birmingham, night of a high school boxing tournament I jumped in and saved this little colored boy." "I saw a couple of white roughnecks picking on him." "The only thing was, he broke my hand." "Lost my fight that night." "I'll tell you what." "You can help me get back in shape." "Count on you for that?" "Yes, sir." "Yeah." "Gotta be getting on to bed now." "Gotta get up early tomorrow." "Now is when the real stuff begins." "KING:" "We're on the move now." "CROWD:" "Yes, sir." "KING:" "Like an idea whose time has come." "CROWD:" "Yes, sir." "Not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us." "And all the world today knows that we are here." "We are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama, saying we ain't gonna let nobody turn us around." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "They started erupting again in Birmingham." "I want you to get there with your troopers and do what you gotta do." " I'll slap them under martial law." " Yes, sir." "Okay, boys." "Next stop, Birmingham." "MEN:" "Yeah." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "[DOGS BARKING]" "Martin Luther King and his group of pro-communists have instigated these demonstrations by lawless Negro mobs in Birmingham." "But the law-abiding citizens of both races there are fed up with this rioting and disruption led by so-called clergymen and their communist-inspired followers." "I am therefore sending 250 state troopers into that city supported by 500 other law officers of this state." "I will meet our enemies face to face." "I will not surrender!" "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Freedom now!" "Freedom now!" "[SCREAMING]" "OFFICER 1:" "Get back, I said." "OFFICER 2:" "Come here." "OFFICER 3:" "Watch your hands." "That's what I'm gonna need." "Three more squads of boys down here, because the niggers are running." "[SCREAMING]" "OFFICER 4:" "Bite him." " Get a hold of him." "MAN 1:" "Get off me." "OFFICER 5:" "I'll get him, I'll get him." "OFFICER 6:" "That way." "Come on, let's go." "MAN 2:" "Come on, come on." "MAN 3:" "Get away from me." "Get away from me." "Get away from me." "[GRUNTING]" "[CHATTERING]" "What's the real purpose of what you've been doing in Birmingham?" "Couldn't your defiance there spark a major escalation of racial violence..." " ...in this state and all over the South?" " No, I don't believe so." "No, not at all." "The action I took in Birmingham was to maintain law and order and to prevent violence." "Now, we have a system." "They use the water, they use the dogs, bitten only 22 people in 45 days." "Twenty-two Negros in 45 days been injured, and not a single one seriously." "Speaking more generally, governor seems like your lawmen here are especially fond of using cattle prods." "Yeah, that's correct." "That's right." "Electric cattle prods." "I would like to tell you that we have no apologies for using electric cattle prods for the simple reason they are harmless, and when you're having these demonstrations a cattle prod is a lot better than putting in tear gas and hitting people with nightsticks." "REPORTER 1:" "Governor." "You say you're only representing the will and feelings of the people of Alabama." "Do you mean to include the Negro community?" "Well, of course, the system under which we operate in this country the minority viewpoint is certainly considered but I'm expressing the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of the people in my state." "White people, you mean?" "They're the majority, yes, that's correct." "Now, look here." "Look at all the folks been writing me in here from all over." "Places like Montana Ohio, California, Michigan." "Idaho, even." "Now, look at all the folks I got in here." "REPORTER 2:" "Governor, you're moving into a confrontation with federal government over these two Negro students who have applied for admission to the University of Alabama." "Now, in this case, can you tell us what you could expect?" "Just what I promised in my campaign for governor." "Any attempts to integrate any schools in Alabama I shall stand in that schoolhouse door to resist that." "That's what I said, and that's what I meant." "REPORTER 1:" "You mean that literally?" "Y'all excuse me for just one minute?" "REPORTER 3:" "One more question." "REPORTER 4:" "One more question, governor." "REPORTER 3:" "Just one more question." "REPORTER 5:" "Mr. Wallace." "What's so urgent about a call from the attorney general?" " Richmond Flowers ain't ever" " No." "Attorney general of the United States." "Bobby Kennedy." "Says he needs to talk to you about this pending problem at the university." "You tell him the governor's busy with a press conference." "If he wants to call back later, the governor might be available." "Busy." "We ain't transacting this thing by phone to Washington." " No, sir." "MUNN:" "Sure." "Hold on just a minute." "He says he don't know why you won't talk to him." "[CHUCKLING]" "You just tell him I just plain don't want to, Odum." "You're gonna hurt his feelings." "Yeah, that's too bad, isn't it?" "George Wallace, standing in the schoolhouse door against the might and power of the federal government." "That'll make them sit up and take notice all over this country." "We gonna make them bring troops in this state." " Now we're talking." " You watch." "They're gonna have to put Alabama under military occupation." "We gonna set the stage on this one." "Bobby Kennedy wants to talk to me, he's gonna have to come down here." " Welcome to Alabama." "KENNEDY:" "Thank you." "Well, you know, his old man's a bootlegger." "He just running that...." " Gentlemen." " Thank you." "Governor." "Hello, Mr. Attorney General." "Hello." " Welcome to Alabama." " Thank you." "Archie." "This here's my handyman, Archie Weathers." "He's about the biggest fan y'all got down here." " Ain't that right, Archie?" " Yes, sir." "Hello." "This is Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach." " Pleasure to meet you." " Governor." "I've got a few fellows with me." "That's T.Y. Odum, one of my close advisors." "Hello, sir." "Ricky Brickle there, he's my press secretary." "Billy Watson, he's sort of my senior advisor." "Hello." "Well, governor, you've got quite a crowd outside too this morning." "Have we?" "Well, I don't know." "I came up the back way." "Y'all have a seat." " Mr. Attorney General, over here." " Thank you." " Mr. Katzenbach." " Nick." "Here, you'll recognize him." "We're taping this conversation." "Thought we might wanna save this for posterity." "Well, I don't know anybody who would wanna listen to it, governor." "Well, you know, people in this state feel like us talking to you folks who have so much charm and wit you gonna get us in a compromising position." "[SNICKERING]" "But we're glad to have you in Alabama and we feel like this is the courtesy capital of the nation." "So if you wanna pay a courtesy visit, we, uh...." "Well, this is the courtesy capital of the world." " Ain't that right?" " Yes, sir." " Sure is." " Yes, sir." "Well, terrific." "But I wonder if we might talk about the problem of integration we are perhaps facing at the university?" "I don't hear good." "Too many bombing missions over in Japan, there." "Integration of the university." "Oh, yeah." "You wanna discuss that?" "Well, you're here as my guests so...." "Do you think it would be horrifying, governor to have a Negro attend the university?" "I think it's horrifying for the federal courts and the central government to force upon the people that which they don't want." "Yes." "Y'all want a Coke?" "I might have one." " How about you?" " No, thank you." "Boys?" " Sure." "WALLACE:" "All right." "Archie, bring us four bottles of Coke." "Yes, sir." "Getting back to this what's gonna happen with this attempt to integrate the university." "Of course, now, you folks are the ones who will control that matter." "Because you have control of the troops." "Well, we do have a responsibility to ensure with all the force behind the government, that the orders of the court are followed." "I know that." "You're gonna use the force of the government." "Just like you did over there in Mississippi." "At old Miss, last fall, to get that James Meredith fella enrolled there." "Fact, what you're telling me, if necessary, you're gonna bring troops into Alabama too." " No, I did not say that, governor." " You didn't?" "You did say all the force of the federal government and all the force includes troops, don't it?" "Just like at old Miss, all those bayonets and all." "Well, I'm planning and hoping that won't be necessary, governor." "Maybe somebody here wants us to use" "You seem to, uh, want me to say that I'm going to use troops." "Well, you did say that you'd...." "You said that" "No, governor, you are the one talking about force." "WALLACE:" "Look." "Thank you." "We trying to do a lot of real things for the Negro people down here." "You know, give them jobs, education." "But all this agitation and all this business with Martin Luther King who's a phony and a fraud, marching and going to jail and all that." "They just living high on the hog, now." "[CHUCKLING]" "But now, if you could use your influence because the NAACP and all those other groups you know, they feel like you people are almost gods." "If you could just exert some influence to persuade those people to stop this integration movement, this business of marching." "For instance, if you could persuade these people trying to get into the University of Alabama to withdraw their applications, we" "Governor, that would be neither right nor possible." "Just to use our persuasive power on the other side, you're saying?" "Yes, that's right." "Because I'm not for you using persuasive power on us to integrate." "I'm against integration." "I just don't believe in social and educational mixing." "And I think I've made it clear that what's involved for us for President Kennedy, is the integrity and the orders of the court, governor." "[SIRENS WAILING]" " All set here, Al?" " We all set up here." "[CROWD SHOUTING AND CLAPPING]" "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "AL:" "Help us out a little bit now." "Governor of Alabama." "Help him out." "Come on." "Step back, now." "WALLACE:" "Morning, boys." "Yeah, I'm ready for this scrap, huh?" "Sir." "Like climbing in the ring again." "Only with the whole country watching." "[WALLACE CLEARS THROAT]" "Governor, I don't know what the purpose of this show is." "I'm here to see that the orders of the court are enforced." "I'm asking that you step aside and permit these students who want an education at a great" "Now, we don't need for you to make a speech, just make your statement." "I was making my statement." "I was in the process of making my statement." "I'm asking your unequivocal assurance that you will not bar these students." ""As governor of the state of Alabama, I, George C. Wallace deem it my solemn duty to stand before you and seeking to preserve and maintain the peace and dignity of this state and the individual freedoms of the citizens thereof do hereby denounce and forbid this illegal, unwarranted and force-induced intrusion upon the campus of the University of Alabama by the might of the central government."" "So, governor, I take it from your statement that you intend to stay in the doorway." " I stand by my statement." " You stand by your statement." "Governor, James Hood and Vivian Malone will register today." "And they will go to school here tomorrow." "You keep the press humming here." "They gonna have to federalize the Alabama National Guard now." "MAN:" "Detail, halt." "[CAMERAS CLICKING]" "[MOUTHING] Go on." "It is my sad duty to ask you to step aside under orders from the president of the United States." "If not for this unwarranted federalization of the National Guard I would be your commander in chief." "It is a bitter pill to swallow." "We shall now return to Montgomery to continue this constitutional fight." "[SIGHS]" "[ON TV] 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 eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public if he cannot send his children to the best public school available if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him if, in short, he 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." "John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his little brother, Bobby." "They just ain't caught on to what really happened over there today." "A couple of niggers got registered, but it don't matter." "Because I stood in the doorway against the full force of the federal government and millions of Americans stood with me." "The Kennedys, they got no idea how the common, ordinary folks all over this country really feel about this race-mixing question." "They start catching this mess up north and everywhere else, it's gonna Southernize the whole country out there." "Gonna make what's happening in Alabama seem like a Sunday school picnic." "George Corley Wallace sure enough got a lot to say about that." "Yeah, I think the time's come, Billy." "I'm going national." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "RICKY:" "Good evening." "It is my very great pleasure to present to you Governor George C. Wallace." "[BOOING]" "WOMAN 1:" "You're a bigot!" "MAN 1:" "Boo!" "Go back to the South!" "WOMAN 1:" "Go back home with all your crackers." "I accept the nomination." "MAN 2:" "You don't belong here!" "WOMAN 1:" "Where's your horn, George?" "I wanna say" " I wanna say that I'm very proud...." "WOMAN 2:" "You're a racist." "I'm very proud to be amongst all you very intelligent-looking folks up here at Harvard tonight." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Of course, I realize you all more genteel up here, more civilized." "Well, I do sense there might be some disagreements among us." "PEOPLE:" "Yeah!" "But I want us all to be in a good humor this evening, you hear?" "Fuck you, George Wallace." "[CHEERING AND WHISTLING]" "Now, didn't you ever learn any manners?" "You sound like you ain't had much raising." "Why don't you try using another four-letter word like W-O-R-K or S-O-A-P?" "Why don't you try those?" "You don't know those." "Actually, a lot of people been asking me here lately if I'm gonna be running for president in 1964." "If somebody like you can run for president I might run myself, as a revolutionary for president." "Well, now" " Well, now, between you and me both we might manage to kick out that crowd in Washington." "Maybe we should run on the same ticket." "MAN:" "I don't think so." "WOMAN 2:" "Hey, what would you call it, the Lynch Party?" "Yet they now forcing parents to bus their little children clear across town just so they can sit in a class with those from the opposite race." "We don't wanna hear your Southern racist demagoguery." "PEOPLE:" "Yeah!" "Then what all y'all doing here?" "Just wait, just wait." "But you wanna talk about this race matter a minute?" "PEOPLE:" "Yeah!" "All right, then." "It is well-known by now that I do not believe in social and educational mixing of the races." "But the liberal left-wing press has tried to make segregation synonymous with hatred." "It's a sin against human dignity." "Well, now, I believe that separation is good for our white citizens and our Negro citizens alike." "Did you bring your Birmingham dogs with you?" "Oh, my goodness, fella, you gone and made me lose my place here." "[SINGING] We shall overcome" "WALLACE:" "Of course people in the states with 1 percent Negro population and the rest white they can always talk about things in Alabama where you got 30 percent Negro population and the rest white." "Governor, we need to get out right now, for your personal safety." "[BOOING]" "Well, they tell me we got to leave y'all because we got little unrest developing outside." "I appreciate y'all coming out here tonight." "Thank you." "[SINGING]" "MAN 1:" "Yellow commie brats." "MAN 2:" "Throw their asses in jail!" "MAN 1:" "Shut up, you dumb brats." "MAN 3:" "Kick his ass!" " Yeah, you bunch of freaks!" "Get out of here, you commie punks!" "[GLASS BREAKING]" "Good God almighty, look what we done set off, even way up here." " Watch it, George." "MAN 3:" "Take him, take him!" "Give them hell, George!" "MAN 4:" "Come on, George." "[GRUNTING]" "God sakes alive, George." "Look what they're doing to our car." "OFFICER 1:" "Get down from there, you little...." "OFFICER 2:" "Get off there, you little...." " Damn you." "MAN 1:" "Get off there." " This way, sir." "Try to get by." " All right." "Get out of the way, now." "MAN 2:" "You nigger-loving little commie punks." " Get out of the way." " Ahh!" "Damn." "You left-wing pinko radical." "You should appreciate me for putting money in your riot treasury." "Sing, damn it, sing." "I'm too old to run." "I don't know the words." "Well, pretend, goddamn it." "[SINGING] We shall overcome" "RICKY:" "Take this back to the hotel." "I'll meet you there." "All right." "MAN 3:" "Get out of there." "BILLY:" "Come on." "GERALD:" "My shoulder." " Get in the car." "ODUM:" "Damnedest party I've ever...." "GERALD:" "Jesus." "[SIREN WAILING]" "All right, there you go." "Kiss my Alabama ass goodbye." "MAN 5:" "Move." "Stay back!" "Good Lord, I'm too old for this kind of wretch." "Sure are a lot of them Zulus." "They go right with all those hairy beatniks." "Damn ignorant, uncultured intellectuals." "I know that most of the American people feel the way I do." "Like those working fellas." "You see them?" "One kicked this professor four feet straight up in the air." "You see that?" "Tell you what, you're speaking for them now." "That's right, the real people." "That's who this all's really been for tonight, of course." "Why, down home, I tell you nigger comes up to you like they just been doing up here, he gonna get shot." "Get his head busted." "That's why we don't have none of this business at home." "They start this kind of riot, first one to throw something gets a bullet in the brain, that's all." "You walk over to the next one, you say, "All right, let's see you throw something."" "Let them see you shoot down a few of them." "You got it stopped." "Is that right?" "Liberals, all the time whining about compassion and mercy." "Hell, we got too much compassion and mercy in government already." "What we need is some meanness, right?" "Yeah, but keep on making your speech about big government telling everybody what schools their children gotta go to." "That's what a candidate for president ought to be saying right now." "They'll know what I'm talking about." "Ain't that right?" "MAN [ON TV]:" "The 16th Street Baptist Church has served as a major staging point for the recent series of civil-rights demonstrations here in Birmingham." "This Sunday morning, it was wrecked by a powerful dynamite bomb an explosion which killed four young Negro girls in a Sunday-school Bible class." "Mrs. Wallace watching TV?" "Yes, sir." "You want something to eat?" "Yeah, have Mary fix me up a tomato sandwich." "Yes, sir." "Scores of Sunday school children came running out of the church screaming some bleeding." "Police, firemen and emergency medical units...." "George." " Amid a rising sound of walls...." " It's terrible." "They and neighborhood residents began grappling through the wreckage searching for possible victims." "They soon found them." "After one rescue worker spotted...." "And we just got back from church ourselves." "hand, and the edge of a bloodied white dress." "The white dress shoe of one was found and identified by her grandfather." "All four girls had been dressed for this morning's special services entirely in white." "They had just heard their teacher deliver a lesson entitled, "The Love that Forgives."" "[PHONE RINGING]" "Police have been trying to contain the upheavals of protest and outrage that have since swept the Negro sections of Birmingham." "Archie." "hurled a barrage of stones at white people." "Archie!" "in cars flying Confederate battle flags." "Governor's." "It's Colonel Al Lingo, sir." "Yeah, I just got in." "What the hell happened?" "But a 16-year-old Negro boy was fatally hit in the back." "At least three fires have...." "Hang on a minute." "Peggy Sue, Bobbi Jo, you don't wanna watch this mess." "Go on up to your rooms or something." "Come on, come on, do as I say." "Let's go." " You wanna go with your sister?" " Let's go, come on." "racial warfare could now finally break open in this city." "President Kennedy interrupted a visit to Rhode Island to return to the White House for emergency discussions of the situation...." " Ain't you got something better to do?" " Yes, sir." "Everybody gawking, like...." "It's so awful." "full-scale investigation." "Police inspectors believe at least 15 sticks of dynamite were used in the bomb judging from its impact." "It left a sizable crater...." "You know I never wanted nothing like this." "All but one of the church's stained-glass windows were blown out." "The one remaining seems to have been damaged...." "Governor, the governor's at the back door." "What governor?" "Governor Folsom." "He's at the back door." "He said he need to talk to you for a minute." " Big Jim?" " Yes, sir." "At the back door?" "That's all I need right now." "Well, let him in, Archie, let him in." "Shut the door." "All right, now, what we gonna say was...." "Was obviously these nigger agitators themselves trying to rouse sympathy." "That's who done this thing." "Yeah." "All right, all right." "I gotta go." "As of yet, there has been no comment from Governor Wallace himself." "[CLINK]" "WALLACE:" "You out here?" " George." "Heh-heh." "Damn, Big Jim, what happened to you?" "I got a broke foot." "Lord have mercy." "Lot of great old rampaging times in this old place, wasn't there, George?" "But doctors made me quit drinking now." "What can I do for you?" "I hope it's all right for me to be here." "I don't wanna embarrass you." "That's the reason I came in through the back way." "Sure, governor, that's fine." "Always glad to see you." "It's them sons of bitches over there in the Department of Pensions." "I need a little more help, I'm about broke." "But they won't help me on." "They wouldn't give me potato chips if I was starving." "If they was hurting, I'd help them out." "That's why you come over here?" "Get your pension increased?" "Yeah." "Tell me how much more you need." "They already know." "I done told them sons of bitches." "Well, I'll see if I can't work something out somehow, you know that." "Thank you, George." "That, uh...?" " That all you wanted to see me about?" " Yeah, I won't bother you no more, George." "I sure appreciate it, though." "It's all right." "That's all right." "I guess you heard what happened up there in Birmingham this morning." "It was terrible, wasn't it?" "Oh, now, goddamn, George." "Didn't I tell you?" "You went ahead and done it anyway." "What the hell's the matter with you?" "You wasn't no race bigot back then." "What'd you do, chatter yourself into it?" " Look, Big Jim, I don't need" " George." "Me and you was populists together." "Times got ugly." "You got scared, you lose that connection to folks." "If you lose that, then you're nothing." "It's like it's all you feel gives you any personal meaning, huh?" "Like the terror of not being able to breathe." "Lookie here, now." "What you think you're doing, talking to me like that?" "George, I said I knew you because the need for the people was in me too." "Only I never go so desperate to stay politically alive, I'd let" "I mean, good God, they're four little girls in a Sunday school class!" "I knew you were coming in here about that." "What the hell you saying?" "That ain't nothing I done." " I'm as sick about it as you." " No, you ain't." "You let loose all them low dogs in people's necks." "You've let them out loose." "I could've done the same damn thing, probably still be governor." "I could've hung a nigger on every stump too." " That don't get you nothing in the long run." " Oh, yeah." "You're somebody be giving folks advice about the long run." "That's right, let loose them old dogs of hatred and violence and sooner or later, they're gonna turn on you, hit at you." "Mad dog don't differentiate, George." "You get devoured by what you yourself turn loose, that's what happens." "[GROANING]" " What's the matter?" " I ain't feeling so good." "I gotta go home." "George, I didn't mean to lose my temper in there." "I know, I know." "You're right, George, I'm sorry." "I ain't really been well lately." "They tell me they're gonna have to operate on my brain for something." "Yeah." "I know you ain't too well right now, but you'll be getting better before long." "George, I really do be needing some help." "It's all them damn bills." "Yeah, well, I'll look into it tomorrow." "Don't worry." "BIG JIM:" "Okay." "WALLACE:" "How'd you get over here?" "I got my new wife driving me, George." "She ain't much over 30 years old." "Found her in this county fair up yonder." "Oh, I still get my exercise every evening, don't you worry about that." "You like an old grizzly." "Why didn't you bring her in?" "Oh, she didn't wanna come in for some reason." "Well, George." "Sorry to bother you." "Hey, George." "Y'all come, now." "[CHILDREN LAUGHING]" "[GRUNTING]" "Darling, you have been getting so many calls, you wouldn't believe." "That's where you been?" "George McGovern called you personally a little while ago." "So did Hubert Humphrey." "Ah, see there?" "They know." "They know just because I been shot that don't mean there ain't still all those millions of folks out there voted for me." "That's right." "I showed them all." "Nixon too." "Those folks are out there." "I ain't out of this thing yet." "I'm going to that convention." "Miami Beach." "Of course you are, darling." "Ahh!" "Oh, now, goddamn it, George." "The doctors ain't said yet you can just go" "Oh, what do they know, anyway?" "They got no idea how far I've already come since I started out." "[KNOCKING ON DOOR]" "Excuse me, governor." "Mrs. Wallace." "I haven't seen those boys before." "Who are they?" "Just some troopers I'm taking with me up to New York tomorrow." "There's that speech I'm giving for you up at the Waldorf." "What speech?" "A very big group of very important businessmen." "And even some entertainment executives gonna be there." "I tell you, I'm going to that convention, Miami Beach." "I'm going." "And we're gonna make sure you do too, honey." "You're gonna make it." "You're gonna make it." "Right, Archie?" "Don't you think you should ease up, sir?" "Why don't you rest a little bit here?" "Don't wanna overdo it." "WALLACE:" "Damn." "ARCHIE:" "Don't wanna do too much." "I'm going to Miami." "[PANTING AND GRUNTING]" "Ahh!" "[GROANING]" "Damn pain." "It's burning." "It burns." "This, after I come this far." "MAN [ON TV]:" "What you're seeing is footage just into our station and unedited of the clash on this Sunday between civil-rights marchers and state law officers at the Pettus Bridge in Selma." "GERALD:" "Lookie here a second, George." "as part of Martin Luther King's campaign for voting rights." "Barricading their way were some 100 of Al Lingo's...." "It's kind of strange, think about it." "Just over yonder, there's Martin Luther King's old church that Dexter Avenue Baptist." "Within a hollering distance of here, and that's where he started this goddamn so-called civil-rights movement." "Yeah." "And this is where it's gonna be stopped." "nonviolent coordinating committee." "Lewis himself was struck down by a blow to the head in today's clash." "One Selma movement leader, Mrs. Ophelia" "Son of a bitch." "I didn't know it was gonna be turning out this big a showdown." "Never thought King's crowd would have the nerve for it." "Archie, bring me a cigar." "By the way, Archie." "Been meaning to tell you since I heard last night." "Mighty sorry about your daddy getting shot over there in Hayneville." "Just awful things happening now." "How a fine old man like him could get mixed up with these agitators, I can't...." "Just terrible." "You can go over there to his funeral if you want to." "Thank you, governor." "George, lookie here at what's happening." "MAN:" "Lingo's troopers were reinforced by a county sheriff...." "They ain't showing a whole lot of fear, are they?" "Archie." "Gerald, turn it up." "voting rights campaign of Selma has been accompanied of course by weeks of disturbance and violence in that city and the counties around, including now even some deaths." "This is, I believe, Colonel Lingo's second-in-command, Major John Cloud." "Lingo's exact whereabouts right now-- I don't know, I don't see." "CLOUD:" "Go home or go back to your church." "Troopers advance." "OFFICER 1:" "Stand clear." "WOMAN:" "Don't push." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "[SCREAMING]" "[SHOUTING AND THUDS ON TV]" "[GRUNTING]" "OFFICER 2:" "Get back there!" "[SCREAMING]" "OFFICER 3:" "Move it!" "MAN:" "I should say this is the first look at this footage for some of us here." "We are also told that the marchers were pursued on back into the Negro section of Selma." "The injured have been spilling into a hospital there over 50 at last report." "Holy smokes, George." "What's this gonna do to us?" "The injuries reportedly range from severe head lesions..." " Down, turn it down." " ...to broken teeth to fracture ribs." "Well, it's not gonna hurt us at all." "King's mob of agitators marched, and we turned them back." "It's a victory for us." "Of course, the editorial writers in big-city papers, they gonna be howling about "this is what's happening in George Wallace's Alabama."" "But the people gonna be saying, "That's right." "And he don't allow any of these wooly-bully agitators to take over the public highways and streets."" "It's gonna take a whole lot more than singing and revival preaching and whooping to stand against the will of the majority." "And the majority of folks in Alabama stand with George Wallace!" "[ON TV] We have the right to walk the highway." "We have the right to walk to Montgomery if our feet can get us there." "[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]" "KING:" "We must let the nation know, and we must let the world know." "I'm calling into federal service selected units of the Alabama National Guard." "And also we'll have available police units from the regular Army to help meet state responsibilities." "These forces should be adequate to assure the rights of American citizens pursuant to a federal court order to walk peaceably and safely without injury or loss of life from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama." "You still up, huh?" "I'm just reading my Bible, sir." "Get me a glass of buttermilk, Archie." "Yes, sir." "Can't seem to get to sleep." "Must be all that hullabaloo went on over there in Selma today." "Book of Judges, huh?" "What's in here?" "I was just flipping through." "Like I said, Archie, real sorry about your daddy." "I guess you know they arrested a couple of Klan fellas this evening." "You know, I never have trusted that bunch, though they tried to get close to me." "You know I don't hate colored folks, don't you, Archie?" "Yes, sir, governor." "I ever tell you about old Carlton McKinness?" "He's a old colored handyman around our place when I was growing up." "He must've been 80 years old." "Illiterate." "We loved him like one of our own family." "Old Carlton got it into his head one time that he wanted to live up there in Detroit with a daughter of his." "So we finally gave him a little money." "Wasn't long, though before he showed up again at our back door." "He said:" ""The way those folks live up there is something terrible."" "But...." "We were as glad to see him as he was to see us." "When he got too old to get around we'd take stuff down to him, to his little place." "And, like, every Christmas or so." "And I can still see old Carlton just trembling and laughing when we'd tote in those hams to him." "Old Carlton." "Made us mighty sad when he passed on." "We sure loved him." "He loved us too." "What's the matter?" "You all right?" "Oh, yeah." "Believe me, I know it's hard losing a daddy." "You better get on to bed now." "Yes, sir." "That, uh, Martin Luther King, you ever seen him preach, Archie?" "No, sir." "I never quite had the chance." "I've never seen him myself, actually." "I mean live, in person." "But the federal court's probably gonna let him make his march from Selma anyhow in the end." "Expect we'll both be seeing him out there on that capital lawn sooner or later." "Despite everything." "Seems like hardly any way to hold them back finally." "Well...." "See you in the morning." "Yes, sir." "KING:" "In the dusty roads and streets of this state." "MEN:" "Yes, sir." "KING:" "So I stand before you this afternoon with the conviction that segregation is on its deathbed in Alabama and the only thing uncertain about it is how costly the segregationists and Wallace will make the funeral." "all over Alabama that prevents a Negro from becoming a registered voter." "No, we will not allow Alabama to return to normalcy." " Because no lie can live forever." "MAN:" "Yes, sir." "How long?" "Not long." "Because you shall reap what you sow." "WOMAN:" "That's right." "KING:" "How long?" "Not long." "PEOPLE:" "Not long." "KING:" "Truth forever on the scaffold Wrong forever on the throne" "Yes, sir." "Yet that scaffold sways the future" "And, behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow" "Keeping watch above his own" "KING:" "How long?" "Not long." " You tell them." "KING:" "Because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." " How long?" "Not long." "Because:" "MEN:" "Not long." "KING:" "Mine eyes have seen the glory Of the coming of the Lord;" "He is trampling out the vintage Where the grapes of wrath are stored;" "[SINGING] I do believe" "We shall overcome someday" "WALLACE:" "All right." "How'd it all go up in Cleveland, governor?" "WALLACE:" "Hey, just like I figured." "That march of King's only made folks more for us." "Auditorium up there was plumb packed." "You'd just go to say something, and damn those folks would be out of those seats hollering." "You should've seen it." "Public works secretary needs you to call him as soon as you can." "That fella from Newsweek has called three times already." "American Legion has added a second appearance." "First one is sold out." "I scheduled a conference with the Alabama Women's League on Thursday morning at 10." "What's this?" "Captain Alexander sent that over this morning." "Look at that, boys." "How about that?" "We just put that right over here." " Get that Newsweek fella on the phone." "SECRETARY:" "Yes, sir." "Yeah, all these magazine writers they always calling me and asking me how I wanna be remembered by history." "History can take care of itself." "The governor of Alabama, he's just going on ahead." "Ain't you forgetting a little something, Wallace?" "You can't just go on ahead." "Not as governor, anyway." "Four-year term's all you get." "State constitution says you can't succeed yourself." " You remember that little technicality?" " We just gonna have to fix that." "After coming all this far, I gotta hold on to this public office to keep this national thing going." "Sort of my aircraft carrier for launching the whole thing." "I ain't governor, suddenly I'm in oblivion." "I ain't nothing." "Can't be running for president in '68 like that." "Now, I've been thinking what I'm gonna do is call an emergency session of the legislature." "Have them draw up a little amendment for the people to vote on, wiping that thing out of the constitution." "Well, now, Wallace, you may be going a little too far this" "Let me get this straight, now." "You wanna call an emergency session for a constitutional amendment so you can succeed yourself?" "Legislature's gonna be a little bit reluctant to go along with that one." "Yeah, well, the people won't be." "Goddamn, boys, what's the constitution, anyway?" "The people are the first source of power." "I sure as hell ain't letting a few pissant legislators get between me and the people on this." "Anybody opposing us I'll just damn well cut off state funds to every project in their counties." "Roads, colleges, clinics, everything I have to." "Governor, you're the one that put a lot of them things there in the first place." "Yeah, and I can damn well take them back too." " That's all getting a little rough, George." " Billy you don't seem to understand." "I'm gonna be running for president of the United States in 1968." "Here I got to waste some time now just fighting to stay alive." "[PHONE RINGS]" "And we got to go all-out to get this thing fixed fast." "Because I got a whole lot bigger fish to fry." "You see, it's about 2 centimeters by 4 centimeters, and as you can see...." " Well, you can see it in this one better." "No" " Jeff, Jeff, just...." "Yeah." "Sorry, George." "Now, I'm sure you remember when Lurleen gave birth to little Lee." "And we did a cesarean, and we found some growths, and, uh...." " Well, several pathologists examined them." " Yeah." " They just weren't sure" " They were wrong, Jeff." "No." "Listen to me, George." "They weren't wrong." " They just weren't sure, but now, in fact" " You're not telling me that...." "I am." "I am afraid that I am telling you that she has cancer." "And, well, we're gonna have to do a rather extensive" "Well, a hysterectomy, you know." "Damn it, George, if we'd have found that tumor in time" " It's just" " Well, she is gonna be just fine." "I know her." "Always been a tough little gal." "She'll whup this thing." " She know yet?" " No." "We gonna have to tell her, George." "All right, then." "I guess you better tell her, Jeff." "I mean, I couldn't." "Yeah, no, all right now." "All right, no, I understand, George." "You just wait right here." "MAN:" "Order." "[GAVEL BANGING]" "Ladies and gentlemen, please come to order." "I call for order." "Please respect that, folks." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Neither do you, sir." "Neither do you!" "MAN:" "Ladies and gentlemen, please listen to me." "I asked for order." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Citizens of Alabama I am here to ask the members of this body before you tonight do you trust the people to have the sense to decide whether a governor can succeed himself in this state or is it you're afraid to let the people vote on that?" "[CROWD CHEERING]" "So I challenge this body." "Send this amendment for letting the governor succeed himself." "Send it on to the people of Alabama to vote on." "Let the people speak." "CROWD:" "Wallace, Wallace, Wallace...." "Hi, honey." "Why, George, you came all the way out here?" "Figured this is where I'd find you." "Feeling some better?" "Just fine." "I decided to let them handle the state themselves for a while." "Seems what they set on anyway." "I am sorry you didn't get that amendment." "Maybe this time you were a little too overbearing, honey." "You know, make them feel bullied?" "They still have some pride too, you know." " Anyway, I don't mean to be" " You know that, uh, operation?" "It's gonna take care of everything." "Don't you worry about that." "What is it, George?" "You wanna ask me something, don't you?" "We need that office." "To keep on campaigning for president we got to have the name Wallace out there as governor." "I see." "You'll make just a dandy governor, honey." "I'm gonna be right there helping you all the way." " The power behind the throne." " Exactly." "Exactly." "We just come too far now to let all this" "No, George." "Only reason, it'll be because I love you." "We better be going, huh?" "You about through here?" "I guess I am." "LURLEEN: --and build more and better schools for your children and great parks for your families." "And I promise you, I will." "So I am happy to offer the voters of Alabama the opportunity for enjoying a continuation of the progress and honest government which has been so much in evidence during the administration of my husband." "With his wise counsel to call upon and God's help I pledge to you that we will continue to stand up for Alabama together." "And I shall do my duty to you with conviction." "And I shall make you a good governor." "MAN:" "We love you, Lurleen." "And now, may I, at this time, present to you the man who will be my number one assistant..." "[LAUGHING] ...my husband and your governor" "WOMAN 1:" "God bless you both!" "George C. Wallace." " Good crowd tonight, give them hell." " Oh, you know I will." " How you doing?" "Good job." " I'm gonna wait in the car." "No, no, stay here, honey." "It won't look good." "Billy, go on over and walk Lurleen to the car." "[CROWD CHEERING]" "Thank you." "How y'all doing?" "All right." " And I wanna let y'all in on something..." "WOMAN 2:" "What's that, George?" "...that I haven't told you yet." "And all you married folks will know what I'm talking about here." "My wife's been actually running that show up there in Montgomery anyway for the last three years." "She's just agreed to let me help her for the next four years, now." "Well, Billy, I guess I'm to be just one of the boys now, huh?" "[COUGHING]" "Are you all right?" " I been a little worried about you here lately." " Oh, hell, I'm getting along." " It's you that concerns me, Lurleen." " Oh." "Too many cigarettes." "Too much coffee." "I'm probably a hell of a one to talk, but I'm worried about you." "I'm fine." "I mean, aren't I?" "I never knew so many people in Alabama chewed tobacco." "Seems they all for me." " Yeah, they all kissed you too." " Heh." " Thank you." " No, you doing just fine, honey." "They say she's only making this race for the office so I can run...." "You know, this campaigning can take a hell of a lot out of anybody." "I promised George." "Well, I made that little varmint." "He knows I can unmake him." "I'm gonna talk to him about lightening up on you a little bit." "It wasn't supposed to involve you." "It's gone too far." "I don't like it a damn bit." "No, it's what I promised to do." "Least...." "Least it will be one way finally to be spending more time together." "Can't beat them, join them, huh, Billy?" "Would you mind shutting the door?" "I'm gonna try to rest a little bit." "Sure, little girl." "WALLACE:" "Anyhow, I'll let you all in on a little secret these bigtime national politicians, like Lyndon Johnson, Humphrey and Nixon they don't hang their pictures on the wall...." "LURLEEN:" "Today, the eyes of the nation are on Alabama because Alabama is making of herself an example of leadership and is contributing toward a strengthening of our nation." "Today, wherever you may be be proud to be called an Alabamian." "We have always taken pride in the great people we represent." "We have always endeavored to stand in the front ranks for you in defense of your philosophy." "It is because of our respect for the great people of Alabama and for their principles that we have often said that we see no reason why a man from Alabama would not make just as good a president as a man from New York." "PEOPLE:" "Yeah!" " Or California." "PEOPLE:" "Yeah!" " Or maybe a better one than from Texas." "Yeah!" "[PLAYING DANIEL EMMETT'S "DIXIE"]" "President Johnson's only encouraging these mass demonstrations." "And I tell you this." "I'll tell you this, when you elect me your president a bunch of anarchists wanna lie down in front of my automobile I'm gonna cure them of lying down in front of automobiles ever again." "I'll tell you that much." "When some street thugs go out and murder a bunch of people and burn down half a city the pseudo-intellectuals claim it's because they didn't get enough broccoli to eat when they were little boys." "Or didn't get any watermelon when they were 10 years old." "Common, ordinary folks in this country work hard save their money, teach their children to respect the law." "PEOPLE:" "That's right." "We people in the South feel it's gonna take the good people and the rest of the country all combined to force this country back to sanity." "WALLACE [OVER RADIO]:" "Because they all had enough of these hippies and beatniks, atheists civil-rights agitators, welfare cheats and anti-Vietnam rioters overrunning this government." "We're not going to allow hundreds of American servicemen to be killed every week in Southeast Asia." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "That's right." "Throw something else." "You're a real fella, throwing things." "You better throw them now because you're not gonna throw them after November 5th, I guarantee you that." "You may can chant here against us in Vietnam but if you lived in North Vietnam, you couldn't chant for this country over there I assure you of that." "And anybody stands up and waves a Vietcong flag and says they long for victory by the Vietcong and goes out raising blood and money for the Vietcong against our American servicemen over there then they ought to be drug by the hair on their heads before a grand jury and indicted for treason, because that's what they're guilty of." "[CROWD GASPING AND CHATTERING]" "RICKY:" "Could we clear the room, please, ladies and gentlemen?" "Officers, open the door there, let's get some air in here." "Please, just clear the room." "Look at me." "You were always first, Lurleen." "I know that, George." "Deep down here, you're always first, you know?" "Ever since I first walked into that dime store and saw that" "Shh." "And I've always known that deep down too, honey." "It's all right." "I do know you." "It's who I've always loved." "My blessing will always go with you, George." "Through whatever, it'll be all right." "[SNIFFLING]" "Oh, God." "Please, let me live." "I wanna live." "[WHIMPERS]" "But if I can't live please, give me the strength and faith to face whatever I have to face now." "Lurleen?" "[WHEEZING]" "Lurleen?" "[GROANING]" "Jeff." "Jeff." "Is she gone?" "I'm afraid so, George." "Say, that's who?" "Oh, her?" " She's just a friend I met, George." " Mm-hm." " What's her name?" " She a runner-up Miss Alabama." "Waterskiing champion at Cypress Gardens." "Country singer too." "Sang backup to Roy Acuff." "Don't say." "Been to Hollywood." "Got a divorce." "George, Lurleen, she been gone more than a year and a half now." "A man needs a woman, governor." "All these road bunnies not enough." "Get you into trouble real fast." "That is one hell of a splendid beast of a woman." "Mm-hm." "Hello, Gerald, T.Y." " Howdy." " Welcome aboard." "Here." "Let me help you dry off, sweetie." "Cold, huh?" "Heh, heh, heh." "Ahem." "This here's my brother, George." "Yes, of course." "Everybody knows him." "GERALD:" "Everybody." "[MOANING]" "Well, that feels awfully good, governor." "Why don't you turn around, then?" "We've met before, you know." "I was wearing a night gown?" "I met your wife Lurleen then too." "She said I had a lovely name and gave me a kiss." "Of course, I looked a lot taller than you at the time riding as I was on the shoulders of my uncle." "Son of a...." "Folsom." "You were riding on Big Jim's shoulders?" "You're Big Jim Folsom's niece?" "Mm-hm." "And my name?" " Cornelia." " Heh, heh, heh." "Yes." "Cornelia, yeah, that little girl?" "Well, I'll be damned." "But I've grown up now." "RICKY:" "Here she is, here she is." "Bring that camera over here now and get ready." "Cornelia, Cornelia, honey." "Cornelia, honey." "Tell the gentlemen what it's like to be at your first convention." "Oh, well, this is my first time at a national political convention as the wife of a candidate." "I believe I'm the only candidate's wife who's traveled with her husband to every single campaign stop." "It's all been very exciting." "[SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]" "Mr. Chairman, and delegates to the Democratic National Convention ladies and gentlemen." "I do appreciate this chance to address the convention tonight though I guess I've already spoke to one political rally too many this year." "[LAUGHING]" "[ON TV] But anyway, I'd like to point out that as a result of our campaign other politicians are beginning to say identically the same thing we been saying." "And you gonna be hearing even more in the years ahead, I guarantee you that." "[CROWD CLAPPING AND WHOOPING]" "The average citizen is sick and tired of their tax money going to every country from A to Z that spits in our face in the United Nations and actively aids our enemies in Vietnam." "[BOOING]" "And to wind up my brief remarks, ladies and gentlemen I just wanna say that I believe in quality of education." "I wanna see the American dream realized by everyone in this country but every poll shows that 75 to 85 percent of the American people are against the senseless, asinine busing of little school children to achieve racial balance throughout the United States." "[BOOING]" "I can tell you that any party that doesn't confront this issue and confront it in the right manner is going to be in jeopardy as far as success is concerned this coming November." "I'm here because I wanna help the Democratic Party." "[CLAPPING]" "I want it again to become the party of the average citizen in this country." "As it used to be." "And not the party of the intellectual, uh, pseudo-snobbery that has controlled it for so many years." "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen." "[CROWD CHEERING AND BOOING]" "CORNELIA:" "Are you sure you don't want any champagne?" "TROOPER 1:" "No." "TROOPER 1:" "What time you want us tomorrow?" "Ten." "TROOPER 2:" "Ten it is." " Cheers." "That'll be all for tonight." "TROOPER 1:" "Good night." " Good night." "[HUMMING]" "How come those two fellas all the time with you these days?" "Because I need protection." "I have to do a lot of traveling for you now." "Well...." "After that speech of mine tonight, I don't know how damn much it really matters." "Didn't seem to connect there." "Couldn't connect." "Honey, no, no." "You were great." "There's nothing left you need to prove." "They know who George Wallace is." "And you were there." "[PATSY CLINE'S "TRUE LOVE" PLAYS OVER RADIO]" "[HUMMING]" "And for actually making it here to give that speech we are gonna have our own celebration." "Just you and me." "Honey, what you doing?" "I'm dancing with you." "I can't dance." "Well, I'll dance you like this for both of us." "Honey, I want to but I can't...." "I missed you." "Hm?" " This ain't working, honey." " Yes, it can, honey." "Try to touch me." "Just touch me." "[MOANING AND PANTING]" "Ugh, ow!" "[GROANING]" "What's--?" "It's burning, honey." "Oh, the pain." "Okay." "It's okay, I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "It's all right." "It's" "It's all right." "Goddamn it." "Oh, it's like fire." "It's like fire, honey." " God, I'm sorry." " It's all right." "It's all right." "[CORNELIA CHUCKLING AND SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]" "Come here." "CORNELIA:" "Where's George?" "Hey, y'all, I'm home." "Eddie, you help with the rest of the bags back there in the trunk." "Come on." "Hurry up, now." "Where is he?" "Honey?" "Honey, I'm home." "Hurry up now, Eddie." "I got to be at TV station in an hour." "Oh, honey, there you are." "Leave those in the middle." "I'm gonna change quick." "EDDIE:" "Oh, excuse me, ma'am." "Shall I open it for you, Miss Cornelia?" "That's fine." "Oh, honey, if you just could've been with me in San Diego." "There were hundreds and hundreds at that dinner." "And I got up to speak and whoo!" "Lord, you've never heard so much cheering in your life." "I expect I have." "And next week, the correspondents' banquet in Washington." "And a publisher up in New York wants to talk about my doing a book." "I got a call from a record company about doing an album of country ballads." "You believe that?" "That's all you doing now." "You just running around on these TV shows and personal appearances." "You got your own starring role now." "Honey, it's all to help you." "You're running for president again in '76." "It's gonna be your best time ever." "You've just been elected governor again and all." "And so you got that base." "And you named a lot of blacks to state positions so they can't throw that old race thing at you again." "That'll be all, thank you." "Besides, George, people gonna forgive you for all that stuff back then, anyway." "They feel for you because you were shot." "It could turn out a political blessing, you know that?" "What the hell are you saying?" "You telling me this is a blessing?" "Goddamn you, woman!" "You" " Well, you just wanna keep riding me, don't you?" "Just riding me, riding me, even though I'm like this now." "Don't you feel anything for me anymore at all?" "I'm still your wife." "Yeah." "How you fitting your trooper boys into that?" "You're my husband." "I threw my body over you to protect you from death." "I want you out of the mansion." "What?" "Even taping my goddamn telephone calls." "Yeah, I did." "I did, because you have shut me out so completely it was the only way to find out if I still meant anything to you." "I want you gone from here." "And where am I supposed to go?" "I have made you my whole life." " I don't have anywhere else to go now." " Get out!" "But you don't understand the emotion of loyalty or Lurleen." " Lurleen and Uncle Jim." " You shut up." "You don't understand." "No, you don't" " You don't understand." " You don't understand." " Get out!" "[CORNELIA SHOUTS]" "You don't understand how I could still love you just because you can't." "I want you out of here!" "You won't let me keep loving you, because you can't trust that." "It's like you wish I were playing around." "Because that's something you can understand can trust and feel safe in." "And anger and fighting and hatred!" "Those old low mean fevers they've finally burned out everything else that was inside of you." "It's all you're left with now." "It's all you feel now." "You don't know what all I feel." "[CRYING]" "[CORNELIA MUMBLING]" "I have loved you so much, George." "[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]" "[HEARS GUNSHOTS]" "[HEARS CHILDREN LAUGHING]" "WALLACE:" "I didn't have nothing to do with that thing." "You know that, don't you, Archie?" "With what thing, governor?" "That church in Birmingham." "Wasn't nothing I did." "I grieved about it, like everyone else." "[DOORBELL BUZZING]" "[THUNDER RUMBLING AND RAIN PATTERING]" "[LOCK CLICKING]" "Ma'am." "I'm Governor Wallace." "Oh, I know who you are." "Is, uh, Big Jim in?" "I wanted to see him for a few minutes, if that's all right." "What about?" "I just need to talk to him for a minute or two, ma'am." "Wait out here." "[LOCK CLICKS]" "He doesn't wanna see you." "Doesn't want...?" "But, uh...." "I just wanna" "I got to talk to him, ma'am." "He said he's got nothing left to say to you anymore." "Well, can't--?" "Please, uh." "Please, just go on back in there and tell him I ain't the same now." " And I wanna tell him that" " He's finished." "It's all over." "No, no, wait, wait, wait." "Ca" " Can't--?" "You're, uh...." "You're his wife that was waiting out in the car that one time you came by the mansion, ain't you?" "Yes, I am." "You broke his heart, you bastard." "Come on, governor." "It's time to go home." "LURLEEN:" "Now it's money and power." "Power and money." "BIG JIM:" "George, I" "That's four little girls in Sunday school class." "Never gonna get out-niggered again." "tomorrow and segregation forever." "I will not surrender." "He don't allow any of these wooly-bully agitators to take over the public factories for us." "Stand with George Wallace." " It's not enough for me!" " Please let me live." "Anger and fighting and hatred!" "[GUNSHOTS]" "No." "[WOMAN SINGING]" "[CHOIR SINGING GOSPEL MUSIC]" "[CHOIR SINGING J. W. JOHNSON  J. R. JOHNSON'S "WERE YOU THERE"]" "[CROWD SINGING AND MURMURING]" "Reverend." "Would you give me permission to say a few words to your congregation?" "Yes." "I, uh...." "I don't hardly make many speeches anymore." "This could even be my last ever." "I don't know." "Lord could take me this very night." "Because the Bible says no man knoweth the hour." "So I didn't wanna wait any longer to do this." "Because this was Martin Luther King's church I wanna tell y'all this evening that I have learned what suffering means." "I've learned it in a way that I probably never would have if I hadn't been shot." "But if that's what it took well, I'm almost thankful for it." "Because as the hymn says:" ""I once was lost but now--"" "I hope. "--am found."" "Since I've been shot, I...." "I have been in pain." "I think I now understand the pain that I caused the people the black people of Alabama." "And the black people of the nation." "And...." "I'm sorry." "I was wrong." "And knowing that is hard for me to bear sometimes." "And for what I'm doing here tonight I'm finally turning to you all and I'm asking you" "Whether you will or not I'm asking you to forgive me." "MAN:" "Thank you for coming today, governor." "Thank you." "Sure appreciate it." "God bless." "Bless you." "Bless you." "[CHOIR SINGING JOHN NEWTON'S "AMAZING GRACE"]" "God bless you." "Heavenly peace." "You want me to leave the nightlight on again tonight, governor?" "No, you can cut it out." "Archie?" "Yes, sir?" "You been mighty good to me." "I wanna thank you." "Sure." "Good night." "You get some sleep now." "[ENGLISH SDH]"