Original subtitles

April the 4th, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, America's deep south.

One minute past six.

A man is standing on the balcony of his motel room, when suddenly, a shot rings

out.

One of the world's most outspoken civil rights campaigns.

A man who champions millions of black Americans has been targeted by an

assassin.

But why?

April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee, 6 .15 p .m.

U .S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King is rushed to hospital after

being shot.

He's badly wounded.

At the time, King is a tiring figure, known throughout the world for his

inspired direction of the U .S. civil rights movement.

But in his high -profile fight to win more rights for America's black

especially in the deep south, King has also earned the undying hatred of a

of violent white extremists who despise him and all he stands for.

They see him as a threat to their way of life.

They want him out of the way.

But would they go so far as trying to get him killed?

April 3rd, 1968, Atlanta, mid -morning.

King flies to Memphis and checks into the Lorraine Motel.

He's come to lend his support to a group of black city sanitation workers.

He's been behind them since February, when they went on strike demanding

pay and conditions.

Now King is determined to get them a good deal.

That evening, King heads for the Mason Temple, where he gives a typically

powerful, yet strangely prophetic address.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place.

But I'm not concerned about that now.

I just want to do God's will.

And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain.

And I've looked over.

And I've seen the promised land.

It will become one of King's most famous speeches, but it sounds almost as if

he'd received a death threat.

The son of a preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia,

January the 15th, 1929.

By the time he's 24, King is himself a preacher, working at a Baptist church in

Montgomery, Alabama.

Two years later, Montgomery would become known throughout the world when, on

December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42 -year -old black seamstress, refuses to give

up her seat on a bus to a white man.

Under what are known at the time as Jim Crow laws, she's arrested, charged, and

eventually fined $10 with $4 costs.

This case causes outrage, not just in the southern states, but throughout the

country's entire black community.

And in Montgomery itself, King decides that his people have been pushed around

enough. The Rosa Parks incident being the latest in a long line of similar

humiliations and violence.

He organizes what becomes known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

It will last 13 months, during which time black people steadfastly refuse to

the city's buses.

The issue is finally resolved on December 13th, 1956, when the U .S.

Court rules that Alabama state and local policy on segregation is unlawful.

Seven days later, King takes a ride on a bus, sitting at the front in seats

previously reserved for whites only.

By now, he's a national figure. A firm believer in non -violence, he spearheads

the country's rapidly growing civil rights movement under the umbrella of

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, more commonly known as the

A passionate and powerful orator, he works ceaselessly and tirelessly on

of the black community.

Meanwhile, as King's stature steadily increases, A man is sitting out a prison

term in Leavenworth, Kansas.

James Earl Ray, an habitual criminal, has been in and out of various prisons

most of his adult life, since being discharged from the U .S. Army in

1948 for what was described as ineptness and lack of adaptability for military

service.

However, the Army gave him something.

It taught him how to use a rifle.

Ray's life could scarcely be more different from that of King.

But one day in the future, they will come together in dramatic circumstances.

While America's black community might regard Martin Luther King as a hero,

are others who see him as a dangerous man.

In 1961, Convinced that the civil rights movement is being infiltrated by

communists, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover gives orders to tap King's phones and

keep close tabs on him wherever he goes.

The surveillance would continue for the next six years.

But nothing can stop King's growing influence and the massive impact he

U .S. society.

August 28, 1963, Washington, D .C.

King leads a march through the nation's capital calling for jobs and freedom.

Earlier, President John F. Kennedy had opposed the march, thinking it would

impact negatively on civil rights legislation.

But in the end, he's persuaded to let it go ahead.

Despite Kennedy's earlier misgivings, the march, involving around 250 ,000

people, passes off without incident.

And that evening, King, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, delivers

an address which electrifies the nation.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia,

sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be

able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream.

My four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be

judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I

a dream today.

The speech consolidates King's already tiring stature. Even President

Kennedy, shortly to be assassinated himself,

congratulates him.

But there are those, particularly FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who, alarmed

King's success, wished to discredit him.

July 2nd, 1964, the White House, Washington, D .C.

Martin Luther King arrives to witness an historic event.

The new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, signs the groundbreaking Civil Rights

At a stroke, racial segregation is outlawed throughout the U .S.

This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our

communities and our states, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate

the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country.

But a great many southern diehards regard the act, and King's part in it,

ultimate betrayal.

They bitterly resent the emancipation of black Americans, just as their

forefathers resented the final abolition of slavery just a hundred years

earlier.

Slaves have played a vital role in the country's economy since the mid -18th

century. particularly in the South, where they toiled in the cotton and

fields.

But in 1865, the American Civil War put paid to all that, as the North, led by

President Abraham Lincoln, defeated the forces of the South and did away with

slavery.

Black Americans continued to work in the fields and elsewhere, but now as free

men and women.

Outraged at this reversal, a short time later, a group of white supremacists

found the Ku Klux Klan, an organization totally dedicated to the violent

suppression of black Americans.

By the early 1960s, the Klan had faded into virtual obscurity, but the

resentment of the supremacists remained the same.

Now they're faced with the unpalatable fact that the Civil Rights Act makes

black Americans their equals in the eyes of the law.

And the one person they blame above all others, Martin Luther King.

He now encounters growing hostility and violence wherever he goes.

His life is in constant danger as tension mounts.

December 10th, 1964, Norway.

King's considerable achievements are, however, recognized elsewhere when he's

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

April 23rd, 1967, Missouri.

A man escapes from the state penitentiary in Jefferson City after

years of a 20 -year sentence for robbing a grocery store.

It's James Earl Ray, and this time he's determined not to get caught, travelling

first to Chicago and then on to Montreal, Canada.

A few months later, he's back in the US, crisscrossing the country before ending

up in Memphis.

April the 4th, 1968, Memphis.

James Earl Ray, giving his name as John Willard, checks into a boarding house on

South Main Street.

The Lorraine Motel, Memphis, early evening.

Martin Luther King is standing alone on the balcony of his room while his

companions gather inside.

Little does he know he's being observed by a man intent on killing him.

Suddenly a shot rings out and King collapses.

The Reverend Samuel Kiles recalls the tragic event.

And when I looked around, all I could see was the lower half of Dr. King's

because it threw him back beyond this point.

And when I looked, I just saw his leg, his foot was on the rail.

He was lying in this position.

And I distinctly remember, looking at him. I don't think I touched him. I

at him.

And I remember, sort of like you get a just complete look in one moment.

And I remember the necktie, the knot of his tie had been severed, just cut and

was laying open.

There was a tremendous wound right here where the bullet went in.

King arrived at St. Joseph's Hospital within 15 minutes of the shooting.

Meanwhile, police race to the Lorraine.

A team of medics get to work on King, but there's nothing they can do to save

him. He's just too badly wounded and dies less than an hour later.

Now police swarm all over the Lorraine motel and the surrounding area.

It's apparent that King has been shot with a rifle from the boarding house

overlooking the motel.

The killer fired from a bathroom.

The window is jammed open, and there are footprints in the bath.

A woman reports that she'd seen a man running from the boarding house shortly

after 6 p .m.

He discards a bulky package in the nearby shop doorway, jumps into a white

Mustang, and speeds off.

The package contains a number of items.

including two cans of beer, a pair of binoculars, ammunition,

various tools, including a hammer, a portable radio,

and a Remington 760 Game Master rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.

The rifle is traced to a gun shop in Birmingham, Alabama, where it's said to

have been bought six days earlier by a man calling himself Harvey Lohmeyer.

However, fingerprints taken from the gun belong to a 40 -year -old escaped

convict, James Earl Ray.

He is now America's most wanted man.

April 4th, 1968, Memphis.

As news of King's death is announced, a riot breaks out.

The violence soon spreads across 40 U .S. cities.

Looters take advantage of the worsening situation.

As the night wears on, 4 ,000 National Guardsmen are drafted into Memphis to

back up the hard -pressed police, who by now have lost control.

A dust -to -dawn curfew is ordered in an attempt to ward off further

disturbances.

April 5th, Washington, D .C.

President Lyndon B. Johnson makes a plea for calm.

I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence that has struck

Dr. King.

Johnson is only too aware that unless the country is to tear itself apart, the

killer must be caught, and caught quickly.

Now, as police launch one of the greatest manhunts in US history, A $100

reward is posted for the capture and conviction of King's assassin.

Meanwhile, Ray has driven flat out to Atlanta, where he abandoned her.

From there, he makes his way to Toronto, Canada.

April the 8th, 1968, Memphis.

Grief -stricken mourners file past King's open coffin.

Under strict security, King's body is then flown to his hometown, Atlanta.

April the 9th, 1968, Atlanta.

As King's funeral takes place, some of the mourners bitterly remember the civil

rights leader's pragmatic views on assassination.

I'm realistic enough to know that I can meet a violent end. I live every day

under the threat of death.

And I have no illusions about it. There are enough sick people in the world for

me to come to a violent end, just as other leaders have come to a violent

But I don't have any fear about it. You can't function if you just go around day

in and day out fearing death.

May the 7th, 1968, Heathrow Airport, London.

James Earl Ray arrives from Toronto.

Later the same day, he flies to Lisbon, Portugal.

Ten days later, Ray returns to London and rents a room in Earl's Court.

June the 8th, 1968, Heathrow Airport, London.

Once again, Ray is on the move.

But as he checks in for a flight to Belgium, he's recognized by an alert

official.

He's arrested and charged with carrying a false passport and firearm without a

certificate.

Following a lengthy legal process, Ray is extradited to the U .S. and held in a

special cell to await trial.

March the 10th, 1969, Memphis.

Among scenes of unprecedented security, Ray finally appears in court, where he's

charged with the murder of Martin Luther King.

In order to avoid a possible death sentence, Ray admits killing King, says

one else was involved, and is sentenced to 99 years in prison.

He's defended by legendary Texan lawyer Percy Foreman.

I didn't persuade James Earl Ray to plead guilty.

James Earl Ray wanted to live in preference to death, and he thought he

would be executed.

And if he were executed, he couldn't escape.

But if he went to the penitentiary, he felt that he could escape.

However, three days later, Ray retracts his admission of guilt.

Now he claims he's innocent after all, and demands a new trial.

But no one listens to him.

And there the matter rests, until nine years later, when, in August 1978, Ray

appears before the U .S. House Select Committee on Assassinations.

In protesting his innocence, he now claims he'd been set up by a Mexican gun

-running gang and that he'd been nowhere near the scene of the crime.

Instead, he'd been downtown at a Memphis garage getting a tire fixed.

He then panicked at the police activity and made off.

He knew that if he was questioned, there was a strong chance his true identity

as an escaped convict would be revealed.

The committee is unimpressed.

However, its members were inclined to agree he hadn't acted alone.

They believe he'd been put up to the assassination by a group of right -wing

extremists who wanted rid of King.

Meanwhile, despite continuing civil rights lobbying to release them, the

Committee investigative files on the killing are sealed until 2029.

For years after his death, King's widow, Coretta, continues to push for answers.

to make it clear that I am not interested in any form of retribution or

punishment of anyone.

I just want to get the truth.

Now there's open talk of a government cover -up.

And, as one of King's former colleagues, the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, later

recalled, no one was above suspicion.

I think he was gotten rid of by a conspiracy.

The evil forces of this nation in high places, the

FBI under Hoover, who hated Dr. King, and

these forces decided that Dr. King had gone

too far because he was organizing the Poor People's Campaign.

He was bringing black.

and white, brown, red, and yellow people all together.

And that was too powerful for the American

scene to endure.

And according to author and historian Professor Christopher Andrew, racial

harmony in the U .S. is also the last thing Russia's intelligence and security

agency, the KGB, wanted.

What they wanted was race war in the United States.

So in the mid -1960s, they start developing this whole series of active

to discredit Martin Luther King. It's quite a sophisticated theme.

What they're going to do is plant stories in the African press which

Martin Luther King as an Uncle Tom and which produce bogus evidence that he's

actually in the play of President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

What changes their mind, of course, is that their immense relief, Martin Luther

King is assassinated in 1968, greeted with whoops of joy in the centre, you

know, because the one man who could prevent the long hot summers becoming

and hotter is out of the way. So now he becomes a martyr to sinister right -wing

racist conspiracies.

April 23, 1998, Brushy Mountain Penitentiary, Tennessee.

James Earl Ray dies from liver disease, age 70.

He maintains his innocence of King's assassination until the very end.

Four months later, as the rumors about a high -level cover -up refuse to lie

down, the U .S. Justice Department opens a review of the case.

In June 2000, after examining all the available evidence, The U .S. Justice

Department concludes, in a 138 -page report, that there was no conspiracy

to answer.

In their opinion, Ray had acted alone.

There was never any question of him having been framed.

However, as the report concludes, questions and speculation may always

the assassination of Dr. King and other national tragedies.

In other words, the whole truth behind King's death and Ray's part in it will

probably never be revealed.

There is no doubt that while he was alive, Martin Luther King inspired a

generation of black Americans.

But when civil rights passed into law in

1964... King's role as a radical racial reformer became less relevant.

However, he will always be remembered and revered by black Americans as the

who changed their lives forever, and in doing so, lost his own.