Original subtitles

Archie.

Make sure you come back now, you hear?

-You take care. -All right, buddy.

Tom 6, Tom 6, accident. No details.

County road, State Highway 3 1.

You forgetting a little something, Archie?

This is Tom 6, Dispatch, ten-four.

Tom 1 7 to Tom 9, we got a family fight.

Both sound intoxicated.

Address 2 1 4 North Highway, 23 1.

Tom 1 7 en route to site.

Hey, hey!

Wait, come back here now!

Goddamn it, now.

l told that fella l didn't want Archie going out there...

...to his mama's place in handcuffs.

Don't nobody listen to me?

What you doing?

l'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.

l'm marrying a goddamn fashion consultant.

Yeah, silk ties, ltalian 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.

l want to see my husband looking sharp.

What the hell you doing?

You know what they told me before l married you?

Cornelia is so fast, you're gonna have to put a governor on her.

lt's about all l can do to just stay up with you, woman.

Yeah, you are pluperfect, hungry animal again.

-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.

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.

l gotta get on up there in Maryland.

l'll be ready before you are, governor.

l always am.

Yeah.

That is about the damn truth.

Now, you hurry up.

They can't wait all day, now.

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.

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, l 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. Morning, governor.

-Morning, boys. 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?

lt'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.

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 l 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.

l'm running for president now.

-Quit getting on me about that, because l-- Shut up.

-Can l tell you what? -Shut up.

-Can l tell you what? -Gerald, strain.

Hell.

Strain.

Lookie here, governor.

-Even the Boston paper. Let me see that.

George, remember when we first started on this thing?

lt 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.

lt'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 l'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. l'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.

Jim, come over here, there's an opportunity....

Excuse me, governor, People mag--

Life magazine. Like to get some photographs, right here.

-Governor George Wallace here. Good, very nice.

Get in a little closer. Very good.

l just love this music, don't you?

Yeah, l do. lt's bluegrass.

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.

l give y'all-- For just a little while now, l want him back.

--my husband and the next president of the United States, George C. Wallace.

Governor.

We're with you all the way.

lsn't she something?

Yes, indeed.

What'd l marry, huh?

We're counting on you!

Thank y'all, a wonderful crowd. We're glad to be back here in Maryland.

Amen to that.

l'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. That's right, that's right!

We love you, governor. We love you.

l tell you, when l'm your president...

...l promise you, you'll be safe anywhere in this country of ours from anybody.

Listen, these here bigtime national politicians...

...like George McGovern...

...and Richard Milhous ''Tricky Dick'' Nixon....

They all complaining that we gonna hurt them.

But let me tell you something, l wanna hurt them...

...because they been hurting us long enough.

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?

l know what you're saying, Neal.

You can strike the blow.

l know.

l've always known.

George, George, George....

George, George, George....

l better shake some hands. -Better go out there.

-Don't go out there, governor. -No, it's all right. l'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.

lt'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.

George, George, George....

Good to see you, good to see you. Appreciate y'all being out here today.

-Hey. 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.

Stay back!

All right, we're gonna keep these people back.

Stand back.

-l repeat, stand back! -George, live.

-Live. -l'm shot.

Honey, we're gonna go home now.

We're gonna go on back home now.

-l'm in pain. lt's gonna be okay.

lt's gonna be all right. Somebody get us out of here, please.

Everybody, move back. Somebody get us out of here!

Give the governor some air. -Leave me with him.

-l gotta be with him now! -lt's okay.

Don't. What are you doing? What are you doing?

lt's gonna be all right, honey.

l'm gonna take you home now.

We gonna go back home.

You're my whole life.

l don't know what l would do without you.

You stay with me. Please hold on.

l love you so much.

What? Oh, yeah, heh-heh-heh.

Come on inside. Yeah.

Hello, George. Hi.

Haven't seen you in a while. -George?

Oh, come on, Lurleen.

-ls this all right? -lt's astounding.

My goodness, l 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.

Hey, senator.

-Oh, yeah. -Right.

Today, yeah.

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. Hey, George.

-Lurleen. T.Y., how you doing?

Fine. -You know, uh, Velma.

-Velma, sure. You know.

Oh, come on over here a minute.

There's something l need to talk to you about.

Come on, take it.

Yes, ma'am, you gotta help out....

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, l'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?

l 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? -l'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.

Judge? -Yeah.

l'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.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, Johnny, l've known you from way back.

Hold on, Big Jim.

We love you, governor.

The big galoot hisself.

l'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. Congratulations, Big Jim.

Who's the little one?

Well, that's his sister's girl. lt's another Folsom.

Why, she rides his shoulders like a princess already.

A princess?

lt's nothing that highfalutin if it's a Folsom.

See you later, baby.

You deserve it. -We got a lot to celebrate tonight, huh?

That's right! You bet we do!

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!

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. lt's your day too.

-Oh, no. -Go on, go on.

Yes, sir. A big hand for George.

Yes, sir.

BlG JlM: 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 l'm governor.

Yes, sir.

l 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.

l'm just loaning you George for a while.

-Don't you be giving him any trouble. Don't you worry about that.

We were fighting the good fight a long time.

-Ain't we, George? That's right.

-Big Jim? -Yes, ma'am.

-She's such a beautiful girl. Thank you.

-What's her name? -Darling, sugar dumpling?

l 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, l 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? Good job, Big Jim.

Next stop, White House.

Make way, make way for Big Jim.

Folks, can we have this room for a few minutes?

-George and l need to talk. Thank you. Excuse me.

Lock the door on your way out. Shut the door.

l swear, all this campaigning...

...working up the crowds, is gonna ruin my voice.

Now, George....

l'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?

l know, but what l'm saying is--

George, sit down here. Sit down.

Now, it ain't too early to be talking about this...

...because l know there's this law that says l can't succeed myself.

And l 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...

...l'm gonna be behind you 1 00 percent, all-out.

All right?

Only thing is, l'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, l ain't ever gonna be forgetting none of what we been for.

But l'm talking about the Negroes too, George, the Negroes too.

l 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, l always believed like you on the colored issue.

-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.

George, there's only one thing that sort of worries me...

...is you believe in the common folk so much.

l 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, l 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.

l 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.

l don't have any doubts about you, George.

You gonna be a good one.

Here you go.

-T.Y., don't let him drive, all right? That's it, Jim.

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.

l never did get your name, you know that?

-lt'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?

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? -lt 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, l just heard. You taking Michigan and Maryland.

Just like when you was talking in the kitchen yesterday.

-You're leading them all now, sir. Oh, honey.

Honey, isn't that fantastic? Darling, you're wonderful.

lt's good news.

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.... -lt's all right, it's okay.

-lt's all right. Mrs. Wallace.

l'm afraid you gentlemen will have to wait outside.

No, no, let them in.

-l'm his brother, damn it. -Mrs. Wallace first.

GERALD: You hear me? l 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, l 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.

lt penetrated the spinal column and severed a bundle of nerves.

As a result....

Do you wanna hear this now?

Governor, l'm afraid you're not gonna be able to walk again.

Well, neither could FDR either. He even went on--

Just a minute, Mrs. Wallace. l'm sorry.

Also, governor, you're not gonna be able to control bodily functions.

That means bladder and bowel.

l'm sorry.

-Well, what about--? Sex?

All this pain, can't you do something about it? lt's killing me here.

Of course.

But that's another thing, governor.

l'm afraid you're not gonna have another day without pain.

Well, l 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.

l ain't out of this campaign yet, goddamn it.

Of course you're not.

lt'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.

l've gotta go down there and tell them something.

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, l am so proud of you.

l 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.

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?

You're gonna make a wonderful governor.

How are you? l saw your daddy the other day.

-Billy's your campaign manager, ain't he? -No.

Billy's not my campaign manager.

You all are the only campaign managers l got.

l'll see you, Marvin. Come hear my speech, now.

The fighting little judge, George Corley Wallace.

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?

-lt's a great day, y'all. -Yeah.

-We all known each other all our lives. We love you, George.

l grew up in this county.

My granddaddy, he planted most of these pecan trees around here.

ln fact, while he was a doctor, he delivered a lot of y'all too.

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...

...l am running for governor of this whole great state of Alabama.

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 l'm gonna do when l get up there.

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 l 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, l'll borrow as many millions as l have to...

...and l'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 l'm your governor, l'm gonna let them know...

...that the people l represent are just as fine and cultured...

...as anybody in this country.

l'm gonna make them respect us down here.

l'm gonna make y'all proud...

...that you were raised right here in the great state of Alabama.

Thank you.

lt was a wonderful day, George.

-Yeah. -A wonderful evening.

l love this place so much.

Yeah, well, we gonna be moving on soon, honey.

l think it went pretty good today, don't you?

You know it did. lt always does with you.

Well, it always goes good. l've got you helping me.

l want you to know that, here and now.

You got a way with the people of your own that l 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-- Al Lingo.

-Another Barbour County boy, heh-heh. Thank you, Susan.

For a short-term state trooper turned building-supplies salesman...

...you sure been getting around a lot here lately.

l've been out here working for you on my own, judge.

ln 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, l gotta do some business now.

-George, l really think-- -T.Y.'s gonna take you home now.

-Bye, Daddy. -Bye, Daddy.

GlRL: Bye.

Lurleen, l'll be home in a while. Go on, now.

AL: Judge, those fellas are with the Klan. -Why did l figure that?

But they're good old boys.

lt 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. l know that.

You know, Wallace, l 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.

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, l'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, l'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. lf 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.

l 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 l know...

...it's the folks.

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 lsraelites here in the state.

BlLLY: 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 l 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, l really am so sorry.

l 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.

l just been hit like this...

...you wanna start getting on me again about our home life.

That's all l need right now.

Excuse me here a minute.

Now, be sweet to her, George.

Honey, look, l only meant--

l've had it.

How do you think you can treat me?

And you never even notice.

-Now, look here, honey, l just-- -No, l'm through.

Those strange women who keep showing up...

...acting like they know you better than l do.

-Like they know me. -Who you talking about?

-They ain't nothing-- -Oh, don't.

lt's not even that, anyway.

lt's....

You've hardly lived at home since we were married.

You've left your children almost half-orphans.

l don't want them growing up like that just because you did.

You know l 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, l'm doing it.

l'm leaving you, George...

...to the only thing you ever cared about, anyway.

Lurleen, God almighty, come on--

From the first, l knew you had some hunger, some need in you l didn't really understand.

But that would've been all right.

Only that thing, that need, it's made you forget who l 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!

lt never will be enough for me!

Oh, goddamn it.

Honey, honey, l'm sorry.

You just don't....

No, you can't know.

After losing this vote today, it's like l'm just....

Like l just disappeared or something.

Like l'm not worth nothing.

Nothing to nobody.

Nothing.

Not even to you.

George, you were always everything to me.

lt's just that things got to change between us.

Some.

Maybe you could, uh, start traveling with me or something.

Maybe or something.

l'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.

lt's a....

She's a good little gal.

She always comes around.

Lookie here now.

What y'all were saying...

...l 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 l 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.

l just let myself get out-niggered, but l'm never gonna get out-niggered again.

Today, l have stood where Jefferson Davis stood...

...and took an oath to my people.

ln this day, l 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.

Come on.

And l have come increasingly to realize what he meant.

And l shall do my duty to you.

God help me, l 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.

...CHEERlNG...

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.

ln the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth...

...l draw the line in the dust...

...and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny.

And l say segregation now, segregation tomorrow...

...and segregation forever.

--segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.

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.

l love you, sweetheart. lf you can, with all that noise downstairs.

Bye.

Do l 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, l reckon we have.

This does look a lot like the governor's mansion to me.

No.

l mean, us.

l did hang on.

And you have gotten what you've always wanted.

And l 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.

l just hope you know though...

...you're not gonna have much time to go out there fishing at that pond now.

Oh, yes, l will.

You're not taking that away from me, George Wallace.

Only place l know any peace.

Don't be nervous.

But l 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, l'm still the 1 6-year-old girl behind the cosmetics counter...

...of Kresge's dime store.

Hey, pretty girl.

My name's George Wallace.

And l wanna buy a bottle of hair oil.

-Oh, yeah? -Yeah, yeah.

l'm about to go into the Army, and....

You wanna go to the picture show with me Saturday night?

And l'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.

l think l'm already falling slap in love with you, sweetie.

And l think....

Well, now...

...let's go on and live our life, Mrs. Wallace.

George, do you still--?

Here they are, folks!

You go, George. Yeah.

Ha!

George! Looking good there, George.

George, you look like a million bucks!

Congratulations, governor.

Now, you boys come see me about 9, you hear?

We all used to be with Big Jim once, but l need y'all with me now.

All right. Yes, l am.

We'll be there.

Where's my wife?

She's seeing to the children, governor.

-Can l get you something? -Yeah. Bring me a glass of buttermilk.

lt's about time to turn in here.

Yes, sir.

-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.

ln all his finery.

l do appreciate it, governor.

-Me and all the boys appreciate it. -Well, l'm counting on you, now.

-You've got it. -All right.

Look, l'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.

lt 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.

l'll tend to his ass for you, governor.

Now, l 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, l better be getting me a good night's sleep.

Night, governor.

-George. -Good night.

l've seen you before, ain't l?

lt 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 1 952.

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?

-l was a fighter, sir. -That right?

Any good?

Won 1 6 and lost once.

Whew. Ha.

-Yeah? -Yes, sir.

You know, l boxed once myself, Golden Gloves.

lt was the Alabama bantamweight champion, yeah.

l guess all us fighters got hot tempers, huh?

Yes, sir.

Let's see how good you are, Archie.

-Governor, l 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.

One time up in Birmingham, night of a high school boxing tournament...

...l jumped in and saved this little colored boy.

l saw a couple of white roughnecks picking on him.

The only thing was, he broke my hand.

Lost my fight that night.

l'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.

KlNG: We're on the move now. Yes, sir.

KlNG: Like an idea whose time has come. 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.

They started erupting again in Birmingham.

l want you to get there with your troopers and do what you gotta do.

-l'll slap them under martial law. -Yes, sir.

Okay, boys. Next stop, Birmingham.

Yeah.

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.

l am therefore sending 250 state troopers into that city...

...supported by 500 other law officers of this state.

l will meet our enemies face to face.

l will not surrender!

Freedom now! Freedom now!

Get back, l said.

Come here.

Watch your hands.

That's what l'm gonna need.

Three more squads of boys down here, because the niggers are running.

Bite him.

-Get a hold of him. Get off me.

l'll get him, l'll get him.

That way. Come on, let's go.

Come on, come on.

Get away from me. Get away from me. Get away from me.

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, l don't believe so. No, not at all.

The action l 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.

l 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.

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 l'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.

ldaho, even.

Now, look at all the folks l got in here.

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 l promised in my campaign for governor.

Any attempts to integrate any schools in Alabama...

...l shall stand in that schoolhouse door to resist that.

That's what l said, and that's what l meant.

You mean that literally?

Y'all excuse me for just one minute?

One more question. One more question, governor.

Just one more question. 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.

lf he wants to call back later, the governor might be available.

Busy.

We ain't transacting this thing by phone to Washington.

-No, sir. Sure.

Hold on just a minute.

He says he don't know why you won't talk to him.

You just tell him l 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. 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.

l'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, l don't know. l 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, l 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.

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 l wonder if we might talk about the problem of integration...

...we are perhaps facing at the university?

l don't hear good.

Too many bombing missions over in Japan, there.

lntegration 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?

l 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?

l might have one.

-How about you? -No, thank you.

Boys?

-Sure. 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.

l 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, l 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, l'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 l'm going to use troops.

Well, you did say that you'd....

You said that--

No, governor, you are the one talking about force.

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.

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.

lf 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 l'm not for you using persuasive power on us to integrate.

l'm against integration.

l just don't believe in social and educational mixing.

And l think l've made it clear that what's involved for us...

...for President Kennedy, is the integrity and the orders of the court, governor.

-All set here, Al? -We all set up here.

Help us out a little bit now.

Governor of Alabama. Help him out.

Come on. Step back, now.

Morning, boys.

Yeah, l'm ready for this scrap, huh?

Sir.

Like climbing in the ring again.

Only with the whole country watching.

Governor, l don't know what the purpose of this show is.

l'm here to see that the orders of the court are enforced.

l'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.

l was making my statement. l was in the process of making my statement.

l'm asking your unequivocal assurance that you will not bar these students.

''As governor of the state of Alabama, l, 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, l take it from your statement that you intend to stay in the doorway.

-l 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.

Detail, halt.

Go on.

lt is my sad duty to ask you to step aside...

...under orders from the president of the United States.

lf not for this unwarranted federalization of the National Guard...

...l would be your commander in chief.

lt is a bitter pill to swallow.

We shall now return to Montgomery...

...to continue this constitutional fight.

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 l 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, l think the time's come, Billy.

l'm going national.

Good evening. lt is my very great pleasure to present to you...

...Governor George C. Wallace.

You're a bigot!

Boo! Go back to the South!

Go back home with all your crackers.

l accept the nomination.

You don't belong here!

Where's your horn, George?

l wanna say-- l wanna say that l'm very proud....

You're a racist.

l'm very proud to be amongst all you very intelligent-looking folks...

...up here at Harvard tonight.

Of course, l realize you all more genteel up here, more civilized.

Well, l do sense there might be some disagreements among us.

Yeah!

But l want us all to be in a good humor this evening, you hear?

Fuck you, George Wallace.

...CHEERlNG AND WHlSTLlNG...

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 l'm gonna be running for president in 1 964.

lf somebody like you can run for president...

...l 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.

l 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.

Yeah!

Then what all y'all doing here?

Just wait, just wait.

But you wanna talk about this race matter a minute?

Yeah!

All right, then.

lt is well-known by now...

...that l 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.

lt's a sin against human dignity.

Well, now, l 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.

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.

Well, they tell me we got to leave y'all...

...because we got little unrest developing outside.

l appreciate y'all coming out here tonight. Thank you.

Yellow commie brats.

Throw their asses in jail!

Shut up, you dumb brats.

Kick his ass! -Yeah, you bunch of freaks!

Get out of here, you commie punks!

Good God almighty, look what we done set off, even way up here.

-Watch it, George. Take him, take him!

Give them hell, George!

Come on, George.

God sakes alive, George. Look what they're doing to our car.

Get down from there, you little....

Get off there, you little.... -Damn you.

Get off there.

-This way, sir. Try to get by. -All right.

Get out of the way, now.

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. l'm too old to run.

l don't know the words.

Well, pretend, goddamn it.

We shall overcome

Take this back to the hotel. l'll meet you there.

All right.

Get out of there.

Come on. My shoulder.

-Get in the car. Damnedest party l've ever....

Jesus.

All right, there you go.

Kiss my Alabama ass goodbye.

Move.

Stay back!

Good Lord, l'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.

l know that most of the American people feel the way l 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, l 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.

ls 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 l'm talking about.

Ain't that right?

The 1 6th 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 wails.... -lt'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. ""

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.

lt's Colonel Al Lingo, sir.

Yeah, l just got in. What the hell happened?

But a 1 6-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 l 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....

lt's so awful.

--full-scale investigation.

Police inspectors believe at least 1 5 sticks of dynamite were used in the bomb...

...judging from its impact.

It left a sizable crater....

You know l 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 l 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. l gotta go.

As of yet, there has been no comment from Governor Wallace himself.

You out here? -George. Heh-heh.

Damn, Big Jim, what happened to you?

l 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 l do for you?

l hope it's all right for me to be here. l don't wanna embarrass you.

That's the reason l came in through the back way.

Sure, governor, that's fine. Always glad to see you.

lt's them sons of bitches over there in the Department of Pensions.

l need a little more help, l'm about broke. But they won't help me on.

They wouldn't give me potato chips if l was starving.

lf they was hurting, l'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. l done told them sons of bitches.

Well, l'll see if l can't work something out somehow, you know that.

Thank you, George.

That, uh...?

-That all you wanted to see me about? -Yeah, l won't bother you no more, George.

l sure appreciate it, though.

lt's all right. That's all right.

l guess you heard what happened up there in Birmingham this morning.

lt was terrible, wasn't it?

Oh, now, goddamn, George. Didn't l 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, l don't need-- -George.

Me and you was populists together.

Times got ugly. You got scared, you lose that connection to folks.

lf you lose that, then you're nothing.

lt'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, l said l knew you...

...because the need for the people was in me too.

Only l never go so desperate to stay politically alive, l'd let--

l mean, good God, they're four little girls in a Sunday school class!

l knew you were coming in here about that.

What the hell you saying?

That ain't nothing l done.

-l'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.

l could've done the same damn thing, probably still be governor.

l 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.

-What's the matter? -l ain't feeling so good.

l gotta go home.

George, l didn't mean to lose my temper in there.

l know, l know. You're right, George, l'm sorry.

l ain't really been well lately.

They tell me they're gonna have to operate on my brain for something.

Yeah.

l know you ain't too well right now, but you'll be getting better before long.

George, l really do be needing some help.

lt's all them damn bills.

Yeah, well, l'll look into it tomorrow. Don't worry.

Okay.

How'd you get over here?

l got my new wife driving me, George.

She ain't much over 30 years old.

Found her in this county fair up yonder.

Oh, l 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.

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 l been shot...

...that don't mean there ain't still all those millions of folks out there voted for me.

That's right.

l showed them all.

Nixon too.

Those folks are out there.

l ain't out of this thing yet.

l'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 l've already come since l started out.

Excuse me, governor. Mrs. Wallace.

l haven't seen those boys before. Who are they?

Just some troopers l'm taking with me up to New York tomorrow.

There's that speech l'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.

l tell you, l'm going to that convention, Miami Beach.

l'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.

Damn.

Don't wanna do too much.

l'm going to Miami.

Ahh!

Damn pain.

lt's burning.

lt burns.

This, after l come this far.

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.

Lookie here a second, George.

--as part of Martin Luther King's campaign for voting rights.

Barricading their way were some 1 00 of Al Lingo's....

lt'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.

l 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 l 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, l 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.

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.

Go home or go back to your church.

Troopers advance.

Stand clear.

Don't push.

Get back there!

Move it!

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.

lt'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.''

lt'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.

KlNG: 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?

l'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?

l was just flipping through.

Like l said, Archie, real sorry about your daddy.

l guess you know they arrested a couple of Klan fellas this evening.