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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CARS HONKING HORNS

GUNSHOT

- PEOPLE SCREAMING
- GUNSHOTS

SIREN WAILING

CRYING

NURSE CRYING

INAUDIBLE WHISPERING

WHISPERS He's gone.

Lyndon.

Lyndon.

Wake up, honey.

We're about to land in Washington.

Okay.

Did you hear from Bobby?

JENKINS: He'll be waiting on the tarmac.

There will be reporters there, too.

You'll be expected to make a statement,
something short.

- Thank you.
- I wanna reach out to the leadership

as soon as we hit the ground.

I wanna talk to each and every one of them.

You call Rose Kennedy?

I did.

My Lord, what that woman has been through.

Your lipstick.

- What?
- Fix your lipstick.

Oh.

How did John Connally's surgery go?

Doctors are optimistic.

Ah.

Thank God for that.

Jackie?

She won't change her clothes.

Says she wants them to see
what they have done to Jack.

You see the way she stared at me
before I took the oath?

- She's upset, honey.
- We're all upset, Bird!

We're all upset.

Walter, a televised address
to both houses of Congress

as soon as it seems decent.

EXHALES

Where were you just now, Mr. President?

Accidental President.

That's what they'll say.

Well,

we'll have to change that next November.

BREATHES DEEPLY

INDISTINCT CHATTER

JOHNSON: I keep having this dream.

I'm back in the Hill
Country in the old days,

hiding down in the root cellar

while a Comanche war party searches
through the house just over my head,

hunting for me.

It's so dark down there, like a grave.

- MAN: The President of the United States!
- APPLAUSE

JOHNSON: For this terrible moment,

I wonder if I'm dead already

or buried alive.

Mr. President.

I piss myself like an idiot child
crouching in the dirt,

knowing it's only a matter of time now
before they find the trapdoor,

discover me,

haul me, screaming, up into the light,

where their knives gleam.

APPLAUSE CONTINUES

All I have,

I would have given gladly
not to be standing here today.

The greatest leader of our time
has been struck down

by the foulest deed of our time.

John F. Kennedy told his countrymen

that our national work would not be finished
in the life of this administration,

nor even perhaps in our own lifetime.

"But," he said,

"let us begin."

Today, I'd say to all my fellow Americans,

let us continue.

APPLAUSE

We have talked long enough
in this country about civil rights.

We have talked for 100 years or more.

It is time now to write the next
chapter in the books of law.

I urge you to enact President
Kennedy's civil rights bill into law,

so that we can eliminate from this nation

every trace of discrimination
that is based upon race or color.

- MAN: That's right!
- APPLAUSE

INDISTINCT CHATTER

You hear what that Negro
comedian Dick Gregory said about me?

"When Lyndon Johnson finished his speech,
20 million Negroes unpacked."

LAUGHS

That was a fine speech, Mr. President.

Dear to my heart, but I know some people
are wondering, "Did he really mean it?"

Well, you could tell that liberal crowd of
yours that I'm gonna out-Lincoln Lincoln.

But you need to get behind me

because you know
Dick Russell and the Dixiecrats

are gonna fight me tooth and nail
on this civil rights stuff.

Now, not too tight in the bunghole, Manny.

And give me some extra room
in my pockets there

for my stuff, my keys and my knife,

and leave me some slack for my nut sack.

- CHUCKLES
- Walter!

Walter, you let me know
the minute Dick Russell gets here

and get me Katharine Graham
from the Post, will you?

But timing is critical here, Hubert,
you understand me?

With the election only 11 months away...

If the Republicans are foolish
enough to nominate Barry Goldwater,

you'll beat him
with both hands tied behind your back.

Well, Goldwater is tougher than you think.

But first, I gotta win
the Democratic nomination.

Holy crap. What happened here?

You tell Lady Bird about this,
and she'll starve me for a month.

- Senator Russell.
- Oh. Yep, yep.

Give me one minute.

George Wallace is a nobody.

Well, it wasn't Wallace I'm thinking of.

You don't have to worry about Bobby.

Bobby Kennedy would just soon
cut my throat as smile at me.

You know how strongly I feel
about this civil rights bill.

If there's anything I can do...

Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind, Hubert.

Mr. President.

Senator Russell.

Ah. Uncle Dick. LAUGHS

Well, well, well.

- Mr. President.
- Ah. Lyndon, Lyndon, please.

No, sir. No, not anymore.

Wouldn't be respectful.

Well, in public, then,
but nothing else changes between us.

Now, hell, I owe everything I have
to your good wisdom and generosity,

and don't you think for a second
I'll ever forget it.

Well, you did throw me
for a bit of a loop last night.

A civil rights bill
with your election coming up?

For 100 years, the Democratic Party's
had a lock on the South.

It'd be a foolish thing to throw that away.

Oh, hell, Dick,
you know I got to throw Humphrey

and the rest of those liberals
a little bit of red meat now and again.

- Yes, but...
- Sir, Dr. Martin Luther King is on three.

Well, he can wait.

So last night was
just election-year politics or not?

Absolutely.

But I need you
to hold the South for me, Uncle Dick.

Party unity, it is gonna be critical.

Well, we can talk more about it

when Lady Bird and I have you
over for dinner on Thursday, as usual.

Oh. There's no need for that now.

Oh. Our Thursday dinners are sacred.

- Well...
- Hey, why don't you bring your swimsuit

and you could paddle your milk-white ass
around the White House pool before dinner?

BOTH CHUCKLE

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Thank you, Senator.

What the hell was she thinking?

Won't happen again, sir.

J. Edgar Hoover on four.

I mean no disrespect,
but take down that stuff over there.

- Edgar.
- Mr. President.

The FBI is here to assist
in any way we can.

Oh, hell, Edgar, you're more than
the head of the Bureau.

You're my brother.

Now, if the Bureau needs anything from me,
you just let me know.

Well, in light of
your announcement last night,

I think we should have a discussion
regarding Dr. King.

I recently acquired certain information
which is deeply troubling.

Uh... Edgar, Edgar, I hate to interrupt,

- but they're pulling me six ways from Sunday.
- MAN: Mr. President!

I'm interested in this,
and we'll talk soon, I promise.

If I could just...

Did King screw his sister or something?

That man's obsessed.

All right, Manny, let's
just get this over with.

What?

What is it?

Katharine Graham
of The Washington Post is on two.

- What?
- And Dr. King is still on three.

Look, I don't need to be reminded
of what I already know.

God damn it, you know, you're fired.

Go on, get the hell out of here.

Walter, get me another secretary
who knows what she's doing.

And one with a little meat on her bones,
for Christ's sake.

Not another one of these scrawny,
old Washington biddies.

Oh, God damn it, Manny.

Don't you have anything that doesn't
make me look like a dago undertaker?

PHONE BUZZING

I wanna thank you, Dr. King,
for your public expression of support.

Well, we were all very heartened
by your speech last night, Mr. President.

Well, it ain't gonna be easy.

- It's a difficult time.
- Yes, it is.

But, as you suggested,

the greatest tribute
we can pay to President Kennedy

is to enact his civil rights bill,
especially voting rights.

Yeah, well, you're preaching
to the choir there, Reverend.

Voting rights is the meat of the coconut,

and we're gonna pass that bill, as is,
without changing a word.

But, boy, I'm gonna have to have your help.

Well, you know you have it, sir.

Well, thank you, Martin. Thank you.

And listen, why don't you call
next time you're up here

and any suggestions you have,

- bring them in.
- Well, actually...

LINE DISCONNECTS

Just blowing smoke up my ass.

He called for a civil rights bill
in front of Congress, Martin.

Kennedy made promises, too, Stanley.

- He just never delivered.
- He's no George Wallace.

You sure? So deep in Russell's back pocket,
you'd think he was humping him.

SCOFFS He passed the '57 Civil Rights Act.

After he gutted it first.

That bill was like soup

made from the bones
of an emaciated chicken.

LEVISON: Martin, listen,
he's a Southern politician.

He's spent his entire life
trying to be president.

But he's there now.

For the first time,
he can do whatever he wants.

That's the question, isn't it?

What does Lyndon Johnson really want?

Well, whatever it is, 11 months from now,
he has to run for reelection.

Like Kennedy, he damn sure is
gonna need the Negro vote to win.

Amen.

LBJ wants our support.

Okay.

But this president is gonna have to
deliver a real civil rights bill.

And we're gonna hold
his feet to the fire until he does.

LEVISON: Damn right.
ABERNATHY: That's right.

LEVISON ON SPEAKER: 11 months
from now, he has to run for reelection.

Like Kennedy, he damn sure is
gonna need the Negro vote to win.

ABERNATHY: Amen.

HOOVER: Stanley Levison.

Why is this so-called
"Reverend" Martin Luther King

taking advice
from a well-known Communist agitator?

That's a very good question, sir.

Let's see who else King is meeting.

I want all his travel covered from now on.

- Get started.
- Yes, sir.

I will leave the goddamn Democratic Party
before I turn it over

to a bunch of Congolese savages.

Now, hold on a second, Strom.

This bill is just the
thin edge of the wedge.

You saw what King
and his bunch did in Birmingham.

Why, integrated buses
are just the beginning.

Now we gotta shop with them,
eat with them, work with them.

We have been oppressed and degraded
by black, slimy,

- unbearably stinking niggers.
- That's enough of that kind of talk.

That's exactly what they wanna hear,

so they can dismiss us all
as a bunch of redneck goons.

Thank you, Joles.

We have to be very careful
how we handle this.

The issue is not about race.

It's about the gravest possible assault
on the United States Constitution,

which we are fighting to defend.

The president is actively
gathering signatures

for a discharge petition to get the bill
out of my committee in the House.

And what do you expect him to do, Judge?

He's got to at least look
lively on civil rights.

When the time comes,
he's gonna do the right thing.

- He'll gut the bill?
- Yes. He knows who his friends are.

But if he gets the bill
out of my committee?

It still has to go through the House,
then out of Jim's committee

before it even gets to the Senate floor.

And none of this
can get in the way of party unity.

In this election,
we can have a lock on the Senate

and a lock on the House, and we can
elect a Southern Democrat president.

It's about time
the South rejoined the rest of the country.

EXHALES My friends, if we do our part,

Lyndon is gonna know
who to thank on November 4th.

And don't you worry about the president.

I know how to handle him.

Well, the mainstream of American politics

has carried you and me
down to the road to statism and socialism

and the destruction
of the Constitution of the United States.

And I am, for one, am already out
of the mainstream of American politics.

He sure gets people stirred up,
even in Milwaukee.

When we get to Atlantic City,
I will be the Democratic nominee.

But how damaged will you be?

Be plenty strong enough
for Goldwater in November.

What if Bobby smells blood
and decides to run at the last minute?

That little shit doesn't have
his brother's balls.

Still has his daddy's money.

You might win the nomination,
but if the party splits...

Oh, come on now, Dick.

All Wallace has to beat you with
is this damn civil rights bill,

and I don't, for the life of me, understand
why you are giving him this issue.

At this point,
I'm more worried about the liberals

than I am about the Dixiecrats.

We got to give them something
this time, Dick.

- You know that.
- You got to look like

you're giving them something.

All I'm saying is, don't work so hard
to get this bill out of the House.

I do what I can.

Now, Lyndon, you're gonna talk
poor Uncle Dick to death,

and here Zephyr's made his favorite dinner,

- and it's getting cold.
- Saved by the belle.

Bird, you look beautiful as always.

And you are a terrible liar as always.

- Politician's curse.
- LAUGHS

RUSSELL: So,
do you like being the First Lady?

LADY BIRD: Well, it's been an adjustment.

- RUSSELL: I can imagine.
- But I am enjoying it.

SIGHS

"Any jackass can kick a barn down,"

"but it takes a carpenter to build one."

You remember who told me that?

Sam Rayburn?

Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House.

Oh, I could've kissed his bald head.

Thank you.

God knows I've been kissing his ass
since the day I moved to Washington,

trying to get him to take notice of me.

SCOFFS

You know what Mr. Sam wanted?

- His greatest regret?
- No, sir.

A towheaded boy to take fishing.

LAUGHS

Well, I heard that,
and I did my damnedest to be that boy.

Suck-up? Yeah.

Brown-noser? Sure.

Kiss-ass? You bet. I heard them all.

Fuck you!

BOTH CHUCKLING

Everybody wants power, Walter.

Everybody.

And if they say they don't, they're lying.

Yes, sir.

But everybody thinks it ought to be given
out, free of charge, like Mardi Gras beads.

Especially to them because, of course,
they're gonna do good with it.

Nothing comes free.

Nothing.

Not even good.

Especially not good.

When the carpenter picks up his saw,
if wood could talk,

it would scream.

HUMPHREY: You cannot cut voting rights
out of the civil rights bill!

Well, you can't pass the civil
rights bill with it, not this year.

You told Dr. King you wanted this bill
passed without one word changed.

You don't go
and sell a horse by talking about it

being blind in one eye and got the heaves.

They're gonna think
you're just gutting the bill, sir.

Bullshit!

It's still a damn good bill.

Public housing, access,
school desegregation...

Don't you tell me

- that ain't nothing, God damn it!
- The liberal wing of the party

- will think you've betrayed them.
- Well, those are your people.

- It's your job to bring them around.
- My job?

Hell, yes. You're the great white hope
of liberals everywhere.

Well, if I'm anything like what you say,

it's because people know
I stand by my principles.

"Principles"? Shit.

This ain't about principles,
it's about votes!

You know, that's the problem
with you goddamn liberals.

You don't know how to fight.

- Mr. President...
- You say you're the leader of the liberal wing

of the Democratic Party?

- Then show me some goddamn leadership!
- Look out!

- I got no brakes!
- Look out!

- No brakes! Hold on!
- Jeez!

Hold on!

- What in...
- LAUGHING

My... What?

I thought I was a goner.

- This is watertight.
- Well, it's an amphibious car.

- It's a car and a boat.
- I have never seen such a thing.

I wish I had a photograph
of your face. Whoo!

- I've never.
- Oh.

Do you wanna know what the ugliest
sound in the world is, Hubert?

It's the tick-tick-tick of a clock.

All the men in my family die young.

I nearly died of that heart
attack 10 years ago.

- A terrible time.
- Yeah.

And I ain't got much time left.

You and me, we got till
the convention in August,

while the people
are still grieving Kennedy's death,

to get this bill passed.

Now, if we don't act now, this opportunity
to do something about civil rights

will just disappear forever.

- Now, are you in or are you out?
- Well, that...

Can you get the bill out
of the House Rules Committee?

Leave Judge Smith to me.

- And voting rights.
- Next year.

- No...
- No, no, you have my word.

Gonna be a very, very
difficult sell, Mr. President.

Oh. I know. I know.

That's why I want you
to be the floor manager of this bill.

Floor manager?

- I assumed that Majority Leader Mansfield...
- No, no!

Mike is a good man,

but, boy, I need someone more personable.

And people like you, Hubert.

Hell, even Dick Russell likes you.

- Well, I wouldn't go that far.
- No, he does!

He does.

CHUCKLES

You know I'm under a lot of pressure to
announce my running mate for the election.

Now, you show me

that you got the guts
to push this thing through,

and you make yourself
one very real candidate

to become my Vice President
of the United States

- of America.
- CHUCKLES

A step away from the White House.

And as we've seen,

anything can happen from there.

INSECTS CHIRPING

There's a barn owl out there
in the live oaks hunting mice.

Is Hubert on board?

Yeah. EXHALES

One heart attack in a lifetime is plenty,
thank you very much.

Why do I put up with you?

Because you would be lost without me.

King won't be so easy.

He won't trust me now,
and I can't say I blame him.

He doesn't know you yet.

If I keep King's support,
I risk losing Uncle Dick's.

I may have, in any case.

I always thought it would take
a Southern president

to drag the South out of the past.

Shit, they're not gonna thank me for it.

KING: You promised this country
a civil rights bill, Mr. President.

And the voting rights
component is critical.

Absolutely critical, and
we're gonna fix that.

Just not in this bill.

Right now, we're gonna take care

of segregation
in public accommodations first.

I got it. I'll get that, Manny. Thank you.

You know every year, my cook,
Zephyr Wright...

Oh.

Best damn chicken-fried steak
you ever put in your mouth.

Well, every year,
she and her husband drive my Packard

from Washington back down
to the ranch for me.

Well...

Now, Zephyr, she can't use
any restrooms on those highways

'cause they're all whites only.

She got to squat in a field
by the side of the road to pee like a dog.

Now, that's just not right,
and, by God, we're gonna fix that.

Well, nothing in this country will
ever change until Negroes can vote.

The next bill will be voting rights.

After President Kennedy's election,

Eisenhower had publicly declared

that his party had taken
the Negro vote for granted.

I would hate to see
the Democratic Party make the same mistake.

If you think Barry Goldwater's
a legitimate heir to Abraham Lincoln,

you should vote for him.

CHUCKLES

You know, civil rights isn't the only thing
I'm interested in, Dr. King.

We got people in this country
living in unbelievable poverty.

I know.

I grew up like that in the Hill Country.

CLICKS TONGUE

Picking cotton on my hands and knees,

harnessed like a mule to a road plow,

living off the bitter
charity of my neighbors.

But we're gonna change all that.

We're gonna declare a war on poverty.

A war on poverty?

That's right.

Now, I got all kinds
of federal programs in mind

on health, education, literacy, jobs,
you name it.

We're gonna change this country
top to bottom.

That sounds extraordinary.

LAUGHS There you go.

And I would very enthusiastically support
legislation to that effect.

But right now,

I need to be able to go back to my people
and tell them

that this president is committed
to civil rights,

and that this bill, even
without voting rights,

will still be a strong bill
with no further changes.

If I can't do that, I'll lose their faith.

And in their despair, I...

I don't know what'll happen.

Is that a threat?

I don't want riots any more than you do.

But,

in order to avoid that type of situation,

I need to be able to
deliver meaningful reform.

SIGHS

Okay.

Okay.

Now here's what I need.

The bill is stuck
in Judge Smith's Rules Committee,

and I need at least eight votes... Walter!
To pry it out.

Five Republicans and three Democrats.

Walter! Oh, good. All right, here.

Now, you get your people

in each one of these districts here,
your ministers,

your clergy, your union guys,
and what have you,

to lobby these House members
to release that bill.

And lobbying is just like
propositioning women, you know?

CHUCKLES

I knew this fellow once.

Ooh. He was a real ladies' man.

He got more pussy than you ever saw.

And I said to him, "What is your secret?"

And he said, "Well, I go into a bar",

"and I ask each woman
if she'd like to fool around."

I said, "Boy, you must've
got slapped a lot."

He said, "Oh, hell yeah."

"But I also got me a lot of yeses."

LAUGHS

Well, now,

we only need eight yeses

to get that bill
out of Judge Smith's committee.

All right.

All right.

He said he'd get it out of committee

and, by God, he did.

Hallelujah.

And all it cost us
was the voting rights section.

KING: The point is
we can work with this president.

Now he's asking for our further assistance
in lobbying Congress.

What do we have to lose?

Do we have to endorse
his candidacy as well?

KING: You still plan on voting Republican
this election, Bob?

ALL CHUCKLING

You know, Goldwater came out
against civil rights,

purely on constitutional
grounds, of course.

Yes, personally Goldwater deplores racism.

I just think asking for my vote while
denying me the right to vote is bullshit.

The bill still gives us a lot.

Unless he gives that away, too.

I have his word
there will be no more compromises.

His word? Are you serious?

I cannot support a bill
without voting rights.

I'm not asking you to.

I'm asking you to not work against it.

The president is planning new legislation
that will bring a huge federal intervention

to poverty, hunger, and jobs.

Think what that will do for our people.

- Forty acres and a mule.
- MOSES: That's right.

What if he's serious?

MOSES: Okay.

We will not campaign against the bill,

but we're not gonna sit
on our hands either.

What does the visionary Bob Moses propose?

Freedom Summer.

We are going to flood the state of Mississippi
with hundreds of student volunteers

- to educate and register Negro voters.
- ABERNATHY: You crazy.

- Mississippi?
- Not just Negro volunteers.

White students, too.

If just one of your white
volunteers gets hurt,

- you will do irreparable damage to the cause.
- ABERNATHY: That's right.

Whereas if one of our Negro volunteers
gets hurt, who gives a fuck?

There may be trouble,

but if it takes some white kid
getting smacked around

to shed a little light
on the darkness that is Mississippi,

- then why not?
- Because people will die in Mississippi!

- Roy, people are dying in Mississippi.
- Exactly. Exactly.

- We're not asking...
- All right, all right, calm down.

Nobody in here gonna do anything
they can't get behind.

But we should respond
to the elimination of voting rights,

and Freedom Summer
is the perfect way to do that.

At the same time, Roy, you are right.

The bill still does give us a lot.

No one in this room
has your legislative experience.

So clearly, you and the NAACP
should lead our lobbying efforts in D.C.

Mmm.

All right?

Yes, okay.

Gentlemen.

EXHALES

Lord have mercy.

One of these days,
Stokely and Wilkins gonna kill each other

right there in the middle of the room.

In that case, we should sell tickets,
so I can stop giving speeches.

LAUGHS

I know that's right.

First thing tomorrow,

let's reach out and get our membership
mobilized on this new campaign.

Yeah.

You need anything else?

I'm okay.

Good night, then.

DOOR OPENS

Give me a minute.

KING MOANS

WOMAN MOANING

LAUGHING

Whoo!

The sex-mad preacher. LAUGHS

His hypocrisy is disgusting.
The man is a flagrant adulterer.

Oh, my.

A Southern preacher who fucks his choir.
Who ever heard of that?

LAUGHS

Oh, Edgar,

if you arrested every politician

and every preacher
who ever strayed from the marital bed,

wouldn't be nobody in
politics or the pulpit.

His moral turpitude
is just the tip of the iceberg.

- Why, his Communist connections...
- Edgar,

far be it from me
to tell you how to do your job.

So keep an eye on him, sure,

but the House is about to vote
on my civil rights bill.

And this

is not helpful.

- You understand me?
- Yes, sir.

REPORTER ON TV:
As part of Freedom Summer,

the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee, or SNCC,

is recruiting and training black and white
college students from the North

and bussing them into Mississippi
to register black voters.

Police have confronted the activists,
leading to violent clashes.

MOSES: For two weeks, we've been training

to join other Freedom Summer organizers
in Mississippi.

But I cannot emphasize enough to you
the dangers you will face.

The federal government
will not protect you,

and the Mississippi government
will do everything it can to stop you.

If at any time you wish to quit,

you should do so, including now.

All right. Let's get started.

ALL SINGING Get on board

Children, children, get on board

Children, children, get on board

Children, children

Let's fight for freedom now

Get on board

Children, children, get on board

Children, children, get on board

INDISTINCT CHATTER

We will now call
the House of Representatives to order

to consider House Bill 736,

the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

- SMITH: OVER SPEAKER Mr. Speaker.
- Can you hear that?

This bill is nothing less
than an assault on the Constitution

by the federal government.

APPLAUSE

Who are we

to tell the owner of a cafe
who he can hire or who he can serve?

- CHEERING
- BOOING

Who are we to tell a state

that they may not pass segregation laws?

As a conservative Republican,

I believe that state authority
should not be needlessly usurped.

Hear, hear.

But I also believe
that the Constitution doesn't say

that whites alone shall
have our basic rights.

CHEERING

Didn't see that coming.

McCulloch is just playing
to the peanut gallery.

Well...

Are you, Lyndon?

Is this just still so much red meat
for Humphrey and his gang?

People aren't gonna stand
for Jim Crow anymore, Uncle Dick.

I'm not saying
the Negro hasn't been put upon.

He has been put upon most disgracefully.

But you can't rush these things.
Look at the mess in Mississippi

with all those agitators going down there,
getting in people's business.

Folks are gonna get hurt.

And whose fault would that be?

SMITH: Mr. Speaker,

I would like to introduce an amendment

that would exempt local businesses
in public accommodations.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

For instance, if you were a podiatrist
and had your office in a hotel.

MAN: Come on!

If I were cutting corns, I would wanna know

whose feet I was gonna have to
be monkeying around with.

- MAN: Boo!
- INDISTINCT CHATTER

Unbelievable.

I would want to know
whether they smelled good or bad.

MAN: God's honest truth.

Podiatrists, like other minorities,
got rights, too.

MAN 1: That's nonsense!
MAN 2: Yes, sir!

To force them to work

violates the 13th Amendment's prohibition
against slavery or involuntary servitude.

You know,
if that's the best the judge has to offer,

he should've lost his chairmanship
a long time ago.

- Lyndon.
- CORMAN: Mr. Speaker.

I, for one, am fed up with amendments

that suddenly or blatantly
defeat the purpose of this bill.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And to my esteemed colleague, Judge Smith,

if you're going to trim
the stinky, smelly white corns...

LAUGHTER

you're gonna have to do the same thing
to the black ones.

LAUGHING That's telling him.

My goodness, man.

Call for a vote, for God's sake.

McCORMACK:
With no more amendments to be offered,

the Speaker calls for a final vote
on House Bill 736.

- Abbitt.
- ABBITT: Nay.

Mr. Abbitt votes nay.

- Abele.
- ABELE: Yea.

Mr. Abele votes yea.

- Adair.
- ADAIR: Yea.

- Albert.
- ALBERT: Nay.

MAN: Mr. Andrews from Alabama.

- ANDREWS: Nay.
- Mr. Andrews votes nay.

Mr. Andrews from North Dakota.

- Yea.
- MAN: Mr. Andrews votes yea.

Two-hundred and ninety votes for

and 130 votes against.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The bill passes and will
now go to the Senate.

We got it, Walter. Thank you.

TURNS SPEAKER OFF

General Burnside thought
he'd crush Lee at Fredericksburg.

His overconfidence cost him his army.

And only three years later,
Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

Nobody's surrendering, Mr. President.

Thank you, Matthew. Most kind.

Mmm.

REPORTER ON TV: In St. Augustine, Florida,

Negro demonstrators were attacked today
by an estimated 500 angry whites

- when they broke through police lines.
- INDISTINCT TALKING

The conflict began
when 200 Negro demonstrators,

led by Andrew Young
and other civil rights leaders...

"Trust LBJ. He's one of us."

Is this the first time a civil rights bill
made it through the House?

So the bill goes to the Senate.
All right? So what?

How many civil rights bills
have you buried in the last 10 years?

One-hundred and twenty-one.

That graveyard of yours
got room for one more?

I'm digging a hole as we speak.

Well, all right, then.

If he does get it out of
committee, what then?

Then we filibuster it to death.

We stick together, we'll be fine.

Public opinion's already against this bill,
especially with those riots going on.

Time is on our side.

Thank you, gentlemen.

And I see no need why
we ought to sit idly by

and see a bill pass in the American Senate
called "a civil rights bill"

that will destroy individual liberty
and freedom in this country.

PEOPLE CHEERING ON TV

HUMPHREY: Wallace is running at 90%
with whites in eastern Maryland.

If he wins that primary,
the Senate will never pass the bill.

Wallace would be dead in the water
without these goddamn riots.

He is deliberately provocative.

King is supposed to control his people.

I put my entire political career
at risk for the Negroes,

and this is the thanks I get?

- Put more money into Maryland.
- Yeah,

beef up my schedule there.

Now, what's your plan to get our
bill out of Eastland's committee?

Discharge petition.

Oh, shit. Why, you don't have the votes.

No, but we're very close.

Close? "Close" don't make shit.

You don't have the goddamn votes.

HUMPHREY: Fine, what's your idea?

What? I can't hear a goddamn thing
you're saying, Humphrey.

Come on over here.

I said, what's your idea?

JOHNSON: Well, right now
it's all about the rules of the Senate.

And Dick Russell's been studying them
since he was sucking on his mama's titty.

Boy, I've seen him make a fool of you
liberals with some arcane rule of order

more times than I can remember.

Hold on.

Ah! Son of a...

LAUGHING

GRUNTS

TOILET FLUSHING

You know what?

There is a way that we can
completely bypass Eastland's committee

without a discharge petition.

And with a little luck,

Russell won't even see it coming.

RUSSELL: He did what?

MAN ON PHONE: I think the president just
put over the bill out of committee.

All right.

All right, keep Jim calm.

I'll handle this.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

JOHNSON: What do you think it is,
why it tastes a little different?

Well, it's the temperature she cooked...
Everything all right, Uncle Dick?

Just peachy.

Would you like some more gravy?

Oh, Lady Bird, it was delicious,
but I just couldn't possibly.

- No, thank you.
- JOHNSON: Hey, what about me?

Aren't you gonna offer me any more gravy?

Well, honey, I'd like to, but I can't.

Bird's got me on a diet.

Got Zephyr there in the kitchen
weighing my plates for every meal.

LAUGHING It's ridiculous.

Your wife just doesn't want you
to get too big for your britches.

An entirely understandable concern.

I think I'll see
how Zephyr's coming with that cobbler.

I just heard how you snuck that bill
through Jim's committee

with some bogus procedural point of order.

A perfectly legal maneuver, Uncle Dick.
Just like you taught me.

I also taught you something
about party loyalty.

Well, the party's changing.

This younger generation's not gonna
fall on their sword for segregation.

You think every Southerner is
gonna start dancing to your tune? Hmm?

Wallace almost won Maryland.

But he didn't.

Another riot and he will.
And there will be more riots.

We're gonna filibuster this bill.
It will never pass.

Are you so sure about that?

I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking you're gonna cut
a deal with Senator Dirksen.

You filibuster, what
choice do you leave me?

A Democratic president
ignoring his own party

and making a deal
with the Senate Minority Leader. Shameful!

Now, don't you get
all high and mighty with me.

You have been cutting deals

with those conservative Republicans
for years,

but now I can't cross the aisle?

Shit.

We don't have to fight, Dick.

Yes, we do.

I'm coming for you, Dick.

Now, I love you more than my own daddy.

But if you get in my way...

I'll crush you.

I regret that the president

has embraced the radical program
of the left-wing groups

that is erroneously called
"the civil rights bill".

It is still a vicious assault
on the Constitution.

And we in the Senate intend to fight
with our boots on to the last ditch.

Beginning today, we will
filibuster this bill.

Let the real war begin.

This ain't about the Constitution.

It's about those who got more
wanting to hang on to what they got

at the expense of those who got nothing.

- And feel good about it.
- Yeah.

But the way he frames it,
draping himself in the Stars and Stripes,

it's compelling.

I mean, what are you fighting for, darling,
in your heart?

That's what the people need to hear.

LAUGHS Look at that. Look at that.
Look at the size of his ears.

- PEOPLE LAUGHING
- You get that?

- LAUGHING
- CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING

Whoo-hoo!

Well, listen, I just wanna thank you all
for coming up here

and sharing some time with me.

I wanted to just respond
to what Senator Russell...

His decision,

unfortunate decision on
filibustering this bill.

It reminds me that when
I got out of college...

Now, the only job that I could get

was teaching first grade at this

beat-up, old elementary school
in Cotulla, Texas.

It was just a dusty, old border town
in the middle of nowhere.

Full of Mexican immigrants
who didn't have a pot to piss in.

But, God, did I love those kids of mine.

They'd show up hungry every morning

'cause most of them
hadn't had any breakfast.

But they were so on fire to learn.

It just made you feel good.

But there'd come a day

for each and every one of them when I
would see the light in their eyes die.

'Cause they had discovered
that the world hated them

just 'cause of the color of their skin.

Well, some folks tell me just to go slow.

They say the political risk is too high.

And to that, I say, well,

if a president can't do
what he knows is right,

then what's the presidency for?

- INDISTINCT ARGUING
- GAVEL STRIKING

Senator Dirksen's so-called amendments

are like putting a Band-Aid on a cancer.

I have a real amendment to offer.

This map shows the current concentration
of the Negro race in America.

I propose we resettle Southern Negroes
all over the country

until racial proportions are equalized
among the 50 states.

I favor inflicting on New
York and other cities

the same conditions
that will be inflicted by this bill

on the innocent people of Georgia.

- BOOING
- CHEERING

- Is the president caving in?
- SIGHS

I'd ask him myself,
but he's no longer returning my calls.

Absolutely not.

My people have made every painful sacrifice
that's been asked of them,

and the bill's still stuck.

Martin, I'm as frustrated as you are,

but lining up votes to break the
filibuster's a complicated process.

Dirksen's amendments will gut the bill.

Dirksen needs to look tough to his people.

The time for posturing is over.

It's time to act.

I've put all my credibility on the line

telling our young people
that this president can be trusted,

but they want results.

They're down in Mississippi right now

putting their lives at risk,

registering Negroes
for a vote they still don't have.

I want a good bill, too, Martin,

but you can't give people
blood tests for loyalty every 15 minutes.

The president will handle Everett Dirksen.

If this is what it takes to move the bill,

I will start a public fast to the death.

God, Martin, that's not necessary.

What choice do I have?

WOMAN: Right this way, Senator Dirksen.

Everett, what's this bullshit
about how I treat my dog?

- I'm sorry?
- My dog, Little Beagle Johnson.

Why are you being such a shitheel with
the press about me pulling on his ears?

Little son of a bitch loves
to have his ears pulled.

Hell, I thought you were running
the Senate Republicans, not the ASPCA.

Mr. President, I was just kidding

- with the press about that.
- Well, don't.

I'm a hell of a lot better
than you are with dogs.

Dogs and people.

BOTH CHUCKLING

I was hoping we could talk about...

About appointing William Macomber
as ambassador, I know.

- Well, yes, that among...
- Get this shot. Get this shot here.

There we go.

No, no, sit on over there.
It's more comfortable.

That among other things...

Well, we'll talk about all them things
in just a minute.

JOHNSON EXHALES

Now, look here, Everett,
we gotta get this civil rights bill passed.

- Yeah.
- The longer this filibuster goes,

the stronger Russell gets,

and the angrier
those Negroes on the street are.

Now, how many votes are we gonna get
from your people?

Well, that's what I wanted to
talk to you about, Mr. President.

- There are 40 amendments I'm proposing.
- Forty?

Well, my constituents
have a number of concerns.

Now, let's not bullshit
an old bullshitter here, Everett.

Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?

Well, I think we have to strike
equal employment altogether.

Mmm.

I could probably get my troops
to accept public accommodations.

But with, say, a year of voluntary
compliance before it becomes law.

Nope.

- No?
- No.

No?

There an echo in here?

The Southern filibuster cannot be defeated
without substantial changes.

But if you're willing to compromise,

I think that I could deliver the necessary
25 Republican votes for cloture.

No can do, Everett.

Now, look here,
either your people vote for this bill,

or you vote with the segregationists
and the country goes up in flames.

Now, we're making history here, Everett.

And you have to decide
how you want history to remember you.

As a great man,

a man who changed
the course of this country,

or somebody who just likes
to hear himself talk.

Congress is not alone
in contributing problems to the presidency.

Mr. Johnson has inherited
an armed clash in South Vietnam.

President Johnson must decide
whether to continue it in its present form,

to enlarge it, or seek a
negotiated settlement.

Our pilot the Communists shot down
over Laos, he's alive?

As far as we know.

Well, hell, everything we can do
to get him back home, Robert.

We'll talk more about
this business in Tonkin.

- Yes, sir.
- And, Walter, anything that McNamara needs,

- you make sure he gets it.
- Yes, sir.

- Is Humphrey still around?
- Hey, Daddy.

Hey, now, don't just run off.
Come give me a hug.

LUCI: All right.

CHUCKLES

- Grae.
- Mr. President.

Boy, oh, boy, look at you.

You're getting tall.

- No, I'm wearing heels.
- Are you?

LAUGHS

Uh...

Well, how you doing in school, Luci?

Good, good.

- That's good.
- Yeah.

- Sir, Senator Humphrey's here.
- All right.

- That's all right. Bye, Daddy.
- Bye.

The justice says Bob Moses
of the Freedom Summer project

has asked again for federal protection.

Things are getting pretty violent
in Mississippi.

The federal government
is not getting involved in this.

Now, you make damn sure
that the governor down there

understands that we expect him
to put a lid on his people.

Is Khrushchev still in Egypt?

Yes, sir, and the Soviets
had their first nuclear test

at their new site in Eastern Kazakh.

All right, talk to me, Hubert.

Well, the good news is
we've got a deal with Dirksen.

And what's the bad news?

We're two votes short.

ELEVATOR DINGS

Bill! LAUGHS

I was just thinking about you.
Go on, take a ride with me.

It's all right, boys.
I think I'm safe with Senator Fulbright.

I'll see you up on three.

Boy, oh, boy, look at you.

- How you feeling?
- Fine, fine.

Hey, listen, I need to talk to you
about something.

Uh-huh. Nice cufflinks, Mr. President.

Oh, you like these?

- Do you?
- I do.

Well, then they are yours.

No, no, that's really not necessary.

Well, I'd do anything for you, Bill.

Hey, you know that good old boy
you put down for the federal bench?

Boy, that's a pretty tough sell
for Humphrey's crowd,

but if you were to support
the civil rights bill,

they'll just grin and bear it.

Well, Mr. President,
I'm not sure my constituents would approve.

Well, I understand that,

but maybe you don't have to fight
quite as hard as you might otherwise.

I don't think...

Or maybe when the vote comes up,

you happen to be overseas
visiting our troops.

I'm sure Elizabeth would love Europe.

LAUGHS

You know she would. Like my wife.

Here, lookie here.

This is the seal of the presidency
of the United States.

There's only two cufflinks like this
in the entire world...

ELEVATOR DINGS

and you now own them both.

I want you to wear them
in good health, Bill.

And think about what I said, huh?

You look good, Bill.
I bet you dropped a few pounds, huh?

I'm gonna need another
set of those cufflinks.

What the hell?

Walter. Walter!

Walter!

- Gerri, where's Walter?
- Right here.

Why the hell is Senator Engle
suddenly off my list?

He's paralyzed
with a malignant brain tumor, sir.

- Recovering from surgery.
- Holy shit.

- Well, is he conscious?
- I don't know, sir.

Well, find out, God damn it.

If he's conscious, he can vote!

But I know my Bible.

And the Bible does not say
that we cannot choose our own neighbor.

The Bible does not say

that we cannot build a wall
betwixt ourselves and our neighbor.

JOHNSON: What I need
is some help on this cloture vote.

No? Well, I'll tell you
what protects a small state, Alan,

and it damn sure isn't a filibuster rule.

It's a strong president
who's in your corner.

What? Now where on Earth do you get that...

Well, I don't forget these things.
You understand me?

Son of a bitch. I thought I had him.

Now, for a man named Bible,

he sure doesn't have a handle
on the New Testament.

APPLAUSE

This bill will guarantee
the commercial destruction

of white people everywhere!

Senator Cannon, listen,

Carl Hayden and I are finally putting
together the Central Arizona Water Project.

And if Nevada wants any part of this,
I need your vote.

Yes, yes, yes,
I know how Alan Bible feels about it,

but I'm talking to you now,

combat veteran to combat veteran.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is a big damn decision,

but Democrats have to stick together here.

Listen, now... No, Howard, just...
Howard, listen to me, will you?

Just listen to me.

Now,

we both got tough election fights
ahead of us here.

You know I'm gonna be there for you
when it counts,

and can I count on you now?

Howard, you do the right thing here,

and you're gonna help yourself,
and you're gonna help your state,

and you're gonna help your country.

Will you vote for cloture?

Howard, you're a good man.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

- Sixty-seven votes! LAUGHS
- Congratulations.

Should we let Senator Dirksen
make the public announcement?

You think there's any way we can stop him?
LAUGHS

JOHNSON: We believe all men are entitled
to the blessings of liberty.

Yet millions are deprived
of those blessings.

Not because of their own failures,

but because of the color of their skin.

This cannot continue.

Our Constitution forbids it.

The principles of freedom forbid it.

And the law I will now sign forbids it.

Thank you,

and good day.

APPLAUSE

CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING

MAN: Reverend King.

HUMPHREY: We did it.

We got it done.

MAN: Congratulations.
HUMPHREY: Thank you.

There you go, Everett.

- Congratulations
- I appreciate it.

- Thank you, Mr. President.
- JOHNSON: Dr. King.

I need to see Dr. King, you hear.

- There you are.
- Here, Mr. President.

- It's for you, sir.
- It's an honor, Mr. President.

Likewise. Thank you.

- Hear, hear.
- APPLAUSE

SIGHS

I'm sorry, Dick.

No, you're not.

It's not personal. It's just politics.

It's the passing of an era.

Well, yes, it is.

It's the passing of a time
of etiquette, courtesy.

It's the passing of a time of principles
like party unity.

You know
what the old soldier said on parade?

"Hey, look, everybody's
out of step but me."

Maybe.

I am old, that's true,
and God knows I'm tired.

But the fellas coming up behind me
are utterly without principle of any kind,

and you'll see how you
like dealing with them.

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone.

I still need you, Dick.

I'm still here, Mr. President.

But the rest of Dixie?

I hope you haven't just killed
your election chances.

Congratulations, Mr. President,
on your glorious achievement.

The Democratic Party just lost the South
for the rest of my lifetime,

and maybe yours.

What the fuck are you so happy about?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

- MUSIC PLAYING
- REPORTER: Senator Goldwater's triumph

takes the leadership of his party
away from the eastern liberal block

and places it with the western conservatives
for the first time since 1936.

JOHNSON: Clausewitz said...

Marjorie.

"Politics is war by other means."

Bullshit.

- Politics is war, period.
- Congratulations, Daddy.

Thank you.

GOLDWATER ON TV: That moderation
in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Let me remind you also

that extremism in the defense of liberty
is no vice.

JOHNSON: You know
how you win a campaign?

By not losing it.

Good morning, Mr. President.

JOHNSON: I only lost one election
my whole life.

The son of a bitch stole it from me
in the final seconds

with a handful of fake votes,

and I will carry the pain of that with me
to my dying day.

But I'll tell you what.

Nobody will ever do me that way again.

GOLDWATER ON TV:
that every fiber of my being...

JOHNSON: It'll be some other way.

GOLDWATER: that nothing shall be lacking
from the struggle...

SIREN WAILING

INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO

Out of the car, boys.

What's the problem, Deputy Price?
I thought we were good.

Out of the car, Jew boy.

GUN COCKS

MAN: What you looking at, nigger?

- We've got a situation in Mississippi.
- JOHNSON: Yeah?

Three young men have gone missing.

Michael Schwerner, age 25,

Andrew Goodman, age 21,
and James Chaney, 21.

They were all working
the Freedom Summer project in Meridian.

Chaney's a local Negro,

but Schwerner and Goodman
were both out-of-state volunteers,

both white.

Well, the shit will hit the fan now.

Get me the governor of Mississippi.

They were investigating the burning
of a Negro church in Neshoba County.

They've been missing for 15 hours now.

Missing in Mississippi?

Son of a bitch.

PHONE BUZZES

Yeah. All right, put him through.

Governor, I'm calling
about those three boys.

You mean those three
professional agitators.

Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman.

Yeah, that come into our state
creating all kinds of problems.

Apparently,

a Deputy Price arrested them
yesterday afternoon.

For driving 35 miles over the speed limit.

- Really?
- Yes, sir.

So they held them for a couple hours.

Oh, see, now that's where it gets confusing

'cause when their friends
called the jail down there,

the deputy said he had never heard of them.

Well, I don't know anything about that.

Uh...

Price said he released them
at 10:00 that night.

And nobody's heard of them since.

This is clearly a publicity stunt.

Well, those boys are off hiding somewhere,

probably having themselves a good laugh.

And they're gonna come back in,

they're gonna claim
they were abused or something.

JOHNSON: Well, now I'd hate to have to send

a whole bunch of federal marshals
into your state.

STUTTERS

Well, no, you don't wanna do that.

Of course I don't.

You don't want the publicity, and I
sure as hell don't wanna stir up a mess

just eight weeks
before the Democratic Convention.

But there's a lot of
pressure to do something.

Now, if you'd rather,

I guess I can get a few FBI agents
to look into the thing.

FBI?

Well, it's a damn sight better

than the federal marshals
and the US Army, isn't it?

Well, yes, I guess that would.

Yeah, you know, I think you got
the right idea there, Governor.

Let this be Hoover's problem, not ours.

Hopefully, you're right
about the whole thing,

and these boys will turn up quick,
and we can all just relax.

Christ's sake, we got an election to win.

Hoover will just drag his feet.

Not if I light a fire under his ass.

Mr. President.

Uh, Edgar,

the governor of Mississippi wants the FBI
to look into these missing kids.

Well, I'd be happy to, Mr. President,
but there's a jurisdictional problem.

Well, I'm not gonna tell you
how to run your shop,

but the governor asked specifically
for the FBI to investigate.

I tried to put him off, but, well, I suppose
I could get some third party involved.

I know Senator Jim Eastland
wants Allen Dulles investigating.

CIA? Oh, no, Mr. President.

I don't think Dulles is a good idea.
This is very clearly an FBI matter.

Well, if you're sure.

I mean, the last thing I would want
is Dulles down there

acting like he was running the FBI as well.

I'll tell you what,
let's say Eastland is my problem.

I'll just deal with him.

You get your agents down there
to Neshoba County,

and you just wrap this
thing up quick, yeah?

When did you talk to Eastland
about Dulles going down there?

Oh, I made that part up.

The problem here is
there's three sovereignties involved.

There's the United States,
there's the state of Mississippi,

and then there's J. Edgar Hoover.

REPORTER: The burned-out station wagon
was discovered in the woods

20 miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi,

a small town in which Schwerner,
Goodman, and Chaney

had been arrested for speeding
during the day.

They were released late at night
by a deputy sheriff

and were last seen driving away
in the blue station wagon.

We have to assume
those young men are dead.

There were no bodies in the car they found.

Well, then they're probably on vacation,
huh, Mr. Wilkins.

I mean, I always set my car on fire
before taking a weekend off.

How many voters
have you actually registered?

- Twelve hundred, give or take.
- Mmm.

Five hundred beaten and arrested,
35 churches burned,

30 Negro homes and businesses dynamited
for 1,200 votes.

It's not just about the votes.

For the first time, black people
are building a new political party.

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party,
I heard.

Hold on. We tried to play by the rules
of the regular Democrat Party,

but they kept us out.

Fine. So we built our own Democrat Party,
but with a difference.

Open to everybody, white or Negro.

Well, don't you think
that America ought to have

at least one political
party that isn't racist?

It's a waste of time.

We send our delegates to the convention

where they challenge the legality

of the segregated Mississippi delegation
on national TV

and dare LBJ not to seat us.

CHUCKLING

Children playing with dynamite.

Are you so desperate for their approval

that you would sanction this mass suicide?

Those young men went down to Mississippi
and died

doing the work
the government hasn't been willing to do

for 100 years.

We've got to take a stand.

I grieve for those young men.

Don't use their funeral pyre
to burn what's left of the movement.

How can I help, Bob?

- Come to Mississippi.
- Don't be ridiculous.

Show the people that you are behind
the Mississippi Freedom...

You might as well paint a target on
his back and declare open season.

Martin, you have not been to Mississippi
in over a year.

ABERNATHY: He's been busy.

Death threats, jail, shot at.

- You don't own a monopoly over suffering.
- I never said that I did.

Let somebody else carry this one, Martin.

Please.

Of course I'll come.

JENKINS: FBI was acting on a tip
about a farm in rural Mississippi,

and they just found two bodies buried there
in an earthen dam.

JOHNSON: Jesus. Are they sure it's them?

Schwerner's draft card in his back pocket.
Goodman's body right below his.

It appears they had both been shot
once in the chest.

And they're still digging for Chaney.

God damn.

Bless those boys.

The minute McNamara gets here,
you send him in.

Gentlemen, we need to pick up
this conversation some other time.

I'm sorry.

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

It's obvious that this Deputy Price
was involved in that.

Probably the sheriff, too.

Oh, Lord.

Well, this whole mess is in my lap now.

If I don't charge these bastards,

then King yells
that I'm letting them get away with murder.

But if I do charge them,
then all the Southerners scream

about how I'm taking orders
from the Negroes,

and all this two weeks before the start
of the goddamn convention.

Mr. President, I'm sorry
to have to tell you,

but the word is Governor Wallace
has offered himself to Goldwater

as the Republican vice
presidential candidate.

That little weasel would sell his mother
to get a leg up.

And Strom Thurmond
is formally switching parties.

That motherfucker!

Is anybody gonna follow him?

- Well, I don't know.
- Well, find out.

You bet I will.

God damn it.

SIGHS

You see her on TV?

- Who?
- The...

The dead kid's wife, Schwerner.

Uh... Rita, Rita.

Wife. Widow, I mean.

- Christ.
- Terrible.

DOOR OPENS

Mr. President, we have word.

No, no. Come on.

Yeah. Sit there.

All right, Robert.

Captain Herrick of the USS Maddox
reports a potential sighting last night

of two possibly hostile unidentified
vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin.

And some somewhat
contradictory sonar evidence

of actual torpedo attack.

Uh...

"A potential sighting"?
What the hell's a potential sighting?

A visual sighting
not confirmed by mechanical means.

And this torpedo attack,
this actually happened?

Still awaiting confirmation.

Well, were any of our ships hit?

No, sir.

- Were there any explosions?
- No, sir.

Then how the hell do we know
we were attacked?

We don't, for sure.

We have contradictory sonar readings.

For God's sake, Robert.

Give me something I can work with here.

Officially, this is a
very delicate subject.

Oh, Humphrey can know.

Mr. President, the limited air strikes
you ordered pre-selected

- in case of another attack are good to go.
- Air strikes?

- Shall we order them in?
- Surely, this is a situation

about which we ought to be
more confident before we act.

There's no sense in pretending last
night's event didn't happen, not anymore.

- What do you mean?
- There's been a leak somewhere.

- Who? Who leaked it?
- We're tracking it down.

I want his fucking head in a basket!

The point is, the press
has got to it somehow.

God damn it.

Now there are domestic
considerations as well.

Yeah, Goldwater.

Don't retaliate,

he will play all the angles against you.

All this soft-on-military bullshit.

Christ, the Democrats
beat Hitler and T-oj-o.

What more do we have to do?

You want me to call in
the retaliatory strikes?

For an attack which may
or may not have happened?

Planes are ready to go on your command.

Mr. President, this puts you
in a terrible position.

- You are essentially going to have to lie.
- Mr. President!

Do it.

Yes, sir.

If it gets out, we'll pass it off
on our South Vietnamese allies.

- Mr. President...
- What, you think I like this?

Putting my ass in a sling

- this close to the election?
- Sir...

Or maybe you think Goldwater
ought to be president.

- Is that it?
- I never said that.

That maniac wants to lob an A-bomb

into the Kremlin's bathroom
and start World War III.

- You see how you like that.
- Mr. President, come on.

If Goldwater gets elected,
you can forget about poverty.

You can forget about civil rights.
Is that what you want?

Now, I'm trying to turn this country around
and prevent a major war!

Christ, why the hell did I ever
consider you for my vice president?

First sign of trouble, you cut and run.

I'm not running anywhere, Mr. President.

I'm standing right here beside you.

Precious cold comfort you are.

You know, Congress
is gonna back me on this.

It's election year.

I'll get them to pass
some kind of resolution

authorizing me full authority over there.

Then we can get back
to things that really matter.

DOOR OPENS

- JENKINS: Sir?
- What?

They found Chaney's body.

God damn it.

REPORTER: The bodies of the
three missing civil rights workers,

Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman,

were found in a grave
at the base of an earthen dam

outside of Philadelphia, Mississippi.

Their bodies were wrapped in plastic
bags numbered one, two, and three.

They were taken to the medical center
in Jackson for examination.

Far too small

Love so amazing

Love so divine

Demands my soul

My life

My all

ALL: Amen.

James Chaney gave his life

to make this country live up
to its forgotten promises

and unfulfilled ideals.

- WOMAN: Yes, he did.
- We all know

the terrible pain
you must be feeling in your hearts.

MAN: That's right.

But we will not live in despair.

MAN: No.

We will not surrender.

MAN: No.

We will continue

to respond to their violence
with love and forgiveness.

ALL: Amen.

As I stand here...

WOMAN: Who said that? Who said that?

I not only blame
the people who pulled the trigger

or dug the hole with their shovel.

I blame the state of Mississippi,

all the way on up to the people
in Washington for what happened.

- Now, that's enough of that!
- No.

It's all right.

Come on up here.

I'm sick and tired
of going to funerals for black men

who have been murdered by white men.

WOMAN: Yes.

- Are you?
- ALL: Yes!

Are you sick and tired
of this stuff like I am?

ALL: Yes!

I'm not feeling sad tonight, Dr. King.

I'm not feeling forgiveness.

WOMAN: Preach.

I've got vengeance in my heart!

And I'm asking you to feel angry with me.

- ALL: Yes.
- Are you angry?

ALL: Yes!

The white men who murdered James Chaney
are never gonna be punished!

MAN: That's right!

The best way to remember James Chaney

is to demand our rights.

If you go back home and take
what these white men are doing to us...

If you take it and don't
do something about it,

then God damn your souls!

Stand up!

INDISTINCT MURMURING

- We got to stand up in Meridian!
- Yeah!

We got to stand up in Jackson!

ALL: Stand up!

And when we get to Atlantic City,

- what are we going to do?
- ALL: Stand up!

- Stand up!
- ALL: Stand up!

- Stand up!
- ALL: Stand up!

- Stand up!
- ALL: Stand up!

ALL CHANTING Stand up! Stand up!

Stand up! Stand up!

Stand up! Stand up!

One man, one vote! One man, one vote!

One man, one vote!

One man, one vote! One man, one vote!

You must seat the MFDP.

- Martin, it's not that simple.
- Yes, it is.

Now, you don't understand
the depth of feeling among my people.

These murders, they've rocked the movement.

If the government does not
do what is right here,

nonviolence will no longer be an option.

REPORTER: You can see
a largely Negro delegation

from a Southern state appear here,

claiming to be an alternative delegation.

It's something I don't think has
happened in the Democratic Convention

perhaps since Reconstruction days.

And according to
the Freedom Democratic representatives,

Dr. Henry, who is their chairman,

Dr. Martin Luther King,
they are not going to accept any compromise

short of having some kind
of a vote in this convention.

Well, I'll certainly take that
under consideration, John.

REPORTER ON TV: this delegation
being seated, and the other...

John Connally, the governor of my own state,
just told me, "You seat those black buggers",

"not only will Texas quit,
but the whole South will walk out."

We might as well
kiss the whole goddamn election good-bye.

What the hell do you want?

The ballot in Alabama, sir,

apparently Governor Wallace
kept your name off it.

That little piece of shit.

- Can he do that?
- Of course he can.

Goldwater must be laughing his ass off.

And now they're just threatening to walk
out of the whole goddamn convention!

Son of a bitch.

Lyndon, why don't you take a break
from this for a while?

Oh, I'm fine, Bird.

Well, you certainly don't sound fine.

- When's the last time you ate anything?
- Go away, Bird.

You're giving me a goddamn headache.

Well, honey, I'm just worried.

Would you leave me alone?

Go on, get out of here!

Go on!

REPORTER ON TV:
watching over every aspect

and every detail in this process...

engaged by
the Mississippi delegation here tonight.

CRYING

KNOCK ON DOOR

LADY BIRD: Oh.

Thank you.

I feel so sorry for him.

I know.

Thank God he has you, Walter.

And you.

You think he's hard on me?

Well, he's hard on everybody,
especially himself.

People don't see that.

But I do.

I see everything.

His lady friends.

But I'm the one he chose. Hmm.

At the end of the day...

I'm the one he comes home to.

SIGHS

My money paid for his first campaign,
did you know that?

I had to face down my own daddy
over my inheritance to get it.

By God, it was the best investment
I ever made.

CHUCKLES SOFTLY

My lipstick okay?

You look beautiful.

No, I'm not.

But you make do with what you got.

And whatever happens, you don't quit.

REPORTER: CBS News correspondent
Mike Wallace here

at the ballroom of Convention Hall

where the credentials committee

of the Democratic National Party
are in session.

And now we are hearing

from the Freedom Democratic Party
representatives of Mississippi.

Just tell the credential committee
what happened in Mississippi, Miss Hamer.

CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING

On January 9th, 1963, I went to a meeting

to learn how to register
Negro voters in Mississippi.

On my way back,

I was arrested by the Winona police chief
and taken to the county jail.

After I was placed in a cell,

state highway patrolmen

ordered me to lay facedown
on the bunk bed, saying,

"You're gonna wish you was dead."

Now who the hell is this?

HUMPHREY: Fannie Lou Hamer,
a sharecropper's daughter.

Became one of the leaders of the MFDP.

For Christ's sake.

And then he ordered

two male Negro prisoners
to beat me with a blackjack.

The first prisoner
beat me till he was exhausted.

And then the patrolman
ordered the second Negro to beat me.

- This is awful.
- It sure as hell is.

She could stampede the liberals
into seating the MFDP,

and the South will storm out
of the convention in droves.

Walter!

Walter, you tell the press

we got a major announcement
in the Rose Garden.

- What's the announcement?
- Hell if I know!

Anything to turn off
those goddamn cameras in Atlantic City.

I began to scream.

And one white man hit me in my head
and told me to hush.

My dress had worked up high,
so I pulled it down.

And another white man walked over
and pulled it back up.

All this

on account of we wanna register to vote.

And if the Freedom Democratic Party
is not seated at this convention,

I question America.

Is this America?

The land of the free and
the home of the brave

where our lives be threatened daily

'cause we wanna live
as decent human beings.

All we're asking

- is fair representation of this...
- MAN: Hold on.

REPORTER ON TV: The president is going
to announce his address

at the White House in just a few moments.

ANNOUNCER: Please stand by for
the President of the United States.

Uh, howdy.

- First of all, I wanna thank y'all...
- I don't understand.

- What's going on?
- It appears, Miss Hamer,

we've been preempted by the President.

- I know a lot of people are...
- Come on.

Still wondering

who my vice presidential candidate will be.

And we'll make that decision very,
very soon, I promise you that.

I think now I can open it up,
and if you'd like to ask a few questions.

I need to know everything that King
and that Fannie Lou person and Bob Moses

and all those goddamn people
in the MFDP are talking about.

I want them under constant surveillance,
the whole bunch of them.

Mr. President, we don't have any warrant.

Well, that never stopped
you before, did it?

Now, I don't care what you do
or how you do it.

In fact, it's better if I don't know.

But everything you get,
you send it immediately to Walter.

- You understand?
- Yeah.

- Uncle Dick.
- You're up awful late, Mr. President.

You're gonna give yourself
another heart attack.

Well, if I do, it'll be the Dixiecrats
and Martin Luther King put me in my grave.

You hear of this public telegram of King's
demanding that I seat the MFDP?

The whole country will think

that Negroes have more power
in the Democratic Party

than the president has,
and the whole South will bolt.

I warned you about that.

You know what I think?

I think this is something that King cooked
up with Bobby Kennedy to embarrass me.

Now, listen, Kennedy is
gonna stab me in the back

and steal this nomination
at the last minute.

Mr. President, Robert Kennedy
has no interest whatsoever

in hurting you or helping Barry Goldwater.

Then the hell with them all.

I'm gonna go back home to my ranch
and the people who love me.

I never wanted to be president
in the first place.

Mr. President, forgive my frankness,
but you are speaking like a spoiled child.

You and I both know you're not serious.

Now take a tranquilizer, go to sleep.

Thank you.

I walked into the lion's den,
I argued fervently,

I used all the heartstrings I had.

I made no headway.

God damn it.

The least the MFDP might
be willing to accept

would be some actual votes
at the convention, a few votes.

Well, what did King say?

He's very supportive
of their leadership on this.

After everything I did for him,
he should've stood up for me!

Why didn't somebody stand up for me?

I stood up for you, Mr. President.

Somebody who matters.

Well, if you don't think
my loyalty is important...

Jesus, you are so thin-skinned.

Shit.

I depend on you, Hubert, you know that.

Christ's sake,
there's got to be a solution here.

Well, maybe we can get

one or two of the Mississippi regulars
to agree to step aside.

They claim they're sick or something.

All right.

You tell them that they can have
two voting delegates.

We'll call them "at large delegates."

But one of them has to be
that white minister of theirs.

Reverend Edwin King.

That's him, that's him.

That way,
it's one white man and only one Negro.

We'll integrate their delegation.

Who could argue with that, huh?

I'll see what I can do.

Well, don't "see" what you can do!

You do what I tell you to do.

Mr. President.

What you think of Hubert?

I think he's working as hard as he can.

Yeah.

He's nice.

Nice is what you call a gal with no tits,
no ass, and no personality.

Nice is for kissing babies.

There's no place for nice in a knife fight.

You get me Walter Reuther.

Mr. President, what a pleasant surprise.

JOHNSON: Well, Reuther,
I know how important

your golden boy Humphrey is to you

and the rest of organized labor.

But if this big delegate war comes off
and the South walks out of the convention,

he will have no future
in the Democratic Party, you hear me?

Yes, sir, but I really must...

Now, you need to tighten your leash

and bring King
and the MFDP in line or, by God,

Hubert Humphrey is never gonna be
my vice president or anything else!

- Sir, I...
- He won't be able to get elected dogcatcher,

and you won't have nobody in the
Senate to carry water for you.

Now you get yourself down to Atlantic City
and fix this mess, and I mean now!

Are you all right, sir?

I do not have the hide of a rhinoceros.

You know me, Walter.

I have a genuine desire to unite people,

but my own people in the South,
they're against me,

and the North is against me,
and the Negroes are against me,

and the press sure doesn't have
any damn affection for me.

It's not fair, sir, not
with all you've done.

I could drop dead tomorrow,

and there wouldn't be
10 people who'd shed a tear.

Ah, no. No, sir. That's not true, sir.

The hell it ain't.

People turn on you so fast.

When my daddy lost everything,

people who had been glad-handing him
just treated him like dog shit.

They humiliated him to his face,

in public.

And my mother...

EXHALES

The way she'd freeze him out.

That's what killed him.

You know what I think it is?

People think I want great power,

but what I want is great solace.

A little love.

That's all I want.

GRUNTING SOFTLY

COUGHS

You have that from us, sir.

From me.

Poor Marjorie must be wondering
where the hell you are.

- Oh, she understands.
- Jesus.

How many kids you got again?
What is it, five?

- Six.
- Six.

- Two girls and four boys.
- Phew!

Right, Catholic.

BOTH CHUCKLING

I always wanted a son.

Don't get me wrong, I love Luci and Lynda,

but a man wants a son.

I reckon you're as close
to that as I've got.

CHUCKLES SOFTLY

EXHALES

Walter, you'll be right outside?

Yes, sir.

REUTHER: Martin.

Mr. Reuther.

Didn't expect to see you here.

Well, neither did I.

I got a call from the president
with a generous helping of the Texas twist.

You've got to get the MFDP to compromise.

Well, what the president
offered was an insult.

These people have shed their blood...

Martin, your funding is on the line.

You've gotta get the MFDP on board,

or there will be no more
union money for the movement,

not a single goddamn dime.

You would sabotage
the entire civil rights movement over this?

No, you would.

The number of delegates at a convention,
who gives a shit?

- It's wrong.
- Look, there will be a final offer.

You get your people to accept it,

or you can take your tin cup
and your principles

out onto the street
and see how far that gets you.

- MUSIC PLAYING
- PEOPLE CHANTING

LBJ! LBJ! LBJ!

ANNOUNCER: Will the delegates
please be seated?

- What do we want?
- ALL: Freedom!

- When do we want it?
- Now!

- What do we want?
- ALL: Freedom!

- When do we want it?
- ALL: Now!

Which side are you on? Everybody, now

Which side are you on, Lord?

- Which side are you on? Everybody, now
- Which side are you on?

Martin. Just...

Which side are you on, Lord?

I want everyone to hear this.

I'm pleased to say that we've come up
with a mighty fine compromise.

The MFDP will get two voting delegates,
Aaron Henry and Edwin King.

And the Democratic Party
will adopt a formal rules change

to prohibit any segregated delegation
in the future.

This is a major victory.

Senator Humphrey,
God did not send us to Atlantic City

- for no two seats.
- MOSES: That's right.

When all of us is tired.

This is just like the
white plantation bosses

making all the decisions
for his black sharecroppers.

Hold on, Bob.

You've won your case
in the court of public opinion.

Now you've got your token representation.

- "Token"?
- Don't twist my words, Aaron.

What I am saying is
that there's a whole lot at stake here,

and this is a necessary
political compromise.

We are not here
to bring politics to our morality.

We are here
to bring our morality to our politics.

Dr. King, what do you think we ought to do?

If I were a Mississippi Negro,
been through what you've been through,

- I'd vote against it.
- Right.

But the solemn commitment

to end discrimination
in all future conventions

- is a mighty big victory...
- Yes, it is.

In which the MFDP can take real pride.

And as a Negro leader, I'm asking...

I want you to take this.

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, children

Wade in the water

God's a-gonna trouble the water

See that host all dressed in white?

Well done, Dr. King.

Solomon himself couldn't have
cut that baby in half any cleaner.

I may lose a battle, Bob,

I personally may not survive,
but I will win this war.

All the way with LBJ.

LBJ is not the second coming.

He's just like every other politician.

He'll do what it takes to get elected.

But I think he really wants civil rights.

Now, we've got a chance here, Bob.

A real chance.

Best chance in 100 years,
and I will not throw it away.

ANNOUNCER: Will the delegates
please be seated?

A workable compromise
regarding at large delegates

- from Mississippi has been reached.
- All right.

All right, that's it. We're leaving.
Come on.

And we urge the delegates here
to approve the recommendations

- of the credentials committee.
- Jim, what the hell's going on?

LBJ screwed us over.

He's seating the niggers.

You boys just stay here.
I'll figure this out.

REPORTER ON TV: The credentials committee
settled on a compromise

of two voting delegates for the MFDP,

but Mississippi and Alabama
rejected the deal and walked out.

If Georgia walks out next,

- the rest of the South will follow.
- Mr. President?

It's Governor Sanders of Georgia
on the phone.

What, it's Georgia?

What the hell does Carl want?

Alabama and Mississippi are walking out,
and Sanders says he might follow.

God damn it!

GRUNTS

Carl, what the hell is going on?

Mr. President, you can't give
these people two seats.

It's gonna look like the Negroes are
taking over the whole convention.

Oh, for Christ's sake,
it's one Negro and one white minister.

Now, it's the principle of the thing.

Me and my delegates
are about inches from walking out.

In fact, the whole South's about to bolt.

All right, now let's you and me
understand something here.

Those people
are Democrats just like you and me,

but those good old boys from Mississippi,
they locked them out.

Well, now they got locked out
because they're not registered to vote.

Because they wouldn't let them register!

They beat them and shot them
and lynched them.

Well, now you're tarring
a lot of people here, Mr. President.

No, Carl, Carl, you and I just can't
survive our modern political life

with these goddamn fellas down there
doing things the old way

and eating them Negroes
for breakfast every morning.

They got to quit that!

Mr. President, you need to remove
these so-called "delegates at large."

No, you listen to me!

You need to make up your mind
once and for all

what kind of Christian you are.

Are you a once-a-week fella,
or do you hold the Word in your heart?

And what kind of politician are you?

You just out for yourself,

or you wanna make a better life
for all the people of Georgia?

- Well, of course I...
- And what kind of man are you?

You got the balls to do
what you know is right,

or do you just slink away?

Now, what you don't get
to do is threaten me.

So if you're gonna walk out of the
convention, then you just do it right now!

But if not,

then I expect to see
your bright and shiny faces

wearing your big
"All the way with LBJ" hats tonight

when I take the stage.

Bird, go away and leave me be.

I can't do that, Lyndon.

I won't.

You're just like the rest of them.

You're all against me.

That is so not true.

- Oh, yeah?
- Look at me.

Look at me, Lyndon.

You are as brave a man
as FDR and Truman and Lincoln.

And there are many, many people
up there at that convention

and in this party

and in this nation who love you.

- And they are counting on you.
- I'm gonna resign.

- Let somebody else deal with this.
- You're not going to resign.

- Yes, I am!
- No, you are not!

When your great-grandmother
was hiding in the floorboards

while the Comanches were raiding her house,
did she flinch?

To step down now
would be wrong for your country.

Your friends would be frozen
with embarrassment,

and your enemies would jeer.

Those bastards would love to see me down.

And are you gonna give them that pleasure?

I don't think so.

That is not the man I married.

Sir, Governor Sanders was just on TV,

and the Georgia delegation's
not gonna walk out after all.

- What, Sanders backed down?
- Yes, sir, he did.

- So the South held?
- Yes, sir.

PEOPLE CHEERING

ANNOUNCER: The honorable
Lyndon B. Johnson

is nominated by acclamation

as our candidate to the office
of President of the United States,

and the honorable Hubert Horatio Humphrey
is our candidate for Vice President!

The dust has settled here in Atlantic City,

and President Johnson's Democratic Party
is one big, happy family.

- Hello there!
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

- Hubert.
- Mr. President.

You look a little down in the mouth
for being the next vice president.

It just feels different
than I thought it would.

JOHNSON: Oh, that. Well...

You get over that pretty quick.

ANNOUNCER: The American people
have no greater advocate and friend

than the man the Democratic Party
is proud to claim as our leader.

Now the man of the hour,
Lyndon Baines Johnson!

CROWD CHEERING

MUSIC PLAYING

We're down five points in Georgia,
six points in South Carolina,

eight points in Louisiana.

Hell, Goldwater is beating my ass
by 60% in Mississippi.

Now, he's getting on top!

Son of a bitch is turning it around!

Where the hell are the ideas?

Where the hell's the solutions?

Walter, I want you to change
my travel schedule.

Give me more time in the South,
especially Louisiana.

And put more money into

- our TV campaign down there.
- Yes, sir.

And as for the rest of you, what the
hell are you still standing here for?

Get out there and do something!

Come on.

Not you, Humphrey. Stay here.

You read this bullshit Wall Street Journal
exposé about my corruption?

Definitely planted by Goldwater.

Damn right it was.

Take a look at this. Huh?

That's disgusting.

Goldwater wants to get down into the mud,
by God, I could do that.

Listen here, I want you to pull together
a special group separate from the campaign

and hit him back with everything we got!

Mr. President, I don't think
sinking to their level is...

Oh, for God's sake, just do it.

Mr. President, you are ahead
in the polls in most of the country.

Yeah, and so was Nixon in '60.

And some people thought
he would've beat Jack

except for a whole bunch of dead people
voting in Chicago at the last minute.

It ain't over until it's over.

Eight, nine...

- Nine...
- MAN: eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one,

zero.

JOHNSON: These are the stakes

to make a world in which
all of God's children can live

or to go into the dark.

We must either love each other,

or we must die.

Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd.

The stakes are too high
for you to stay home.

I want you to run this right away.

It'll be controversial.
You'll get a lot of flak.

Then, we'll only have to run it once
and let the press do our work for us.

I wanna see it again.

CROWD CHEERING

Now, Barry Goldwater
says he's not a racist.

But the government can't legislate
what people feel in their hearts.

- That's right!
- And he's right.

The law can't make white folks love you.

But the law can prevent them
from lynching you.

Yes!

The law can prevent them
from denying you a job

and your child an education.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And the law can ensure
that you have the right to vote.

- Amen!
- Yes!

I'm not here today
to tell you fine people who to vote for.

But come election day,

let's be sure to send
the fine senator from Arizona

and his tender heart
back to the desert where he belongs.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Walter was arrested?

YMCA men's bathroom
by the D.C. Vice Squad.

The other man arrested
was an army staff sergeant.

No, no, no.

- This must be some kind of mistake.
- No, sir.

Apparently, Walter was arrested
under similar circumstances five years ago.

Now, why didn't I know that?

- HOOVER: None of us knew.
- CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING

This has Goldwater's
fingerprints all over it.

Goldwater will use this.

Goddamn, this close to the election,
it could be the whole ball of wax!

There doesn't appear to be
any security compromise at all.

There damn well better not be.

Your people said they vetted him.

I have it in writing
with your goddamn signature on it.

- There are some things you can't predict.
- That's your job, Edgar.

I will take care of this, Mr. President.

And why don't that make me feel any better?

You get a hold of Walter's
Air Force Reserve records.

Goldwater was his commanding officer.

With any luck, he signed off
on his fitness evaluations.

We get a hold of those,
and Goldwater won't be able to say shit!

Walter will resign immediately.

You see to it that his doctor
issues a statement.

Um, he was working too hard
and just snapped.

I've been working with
that man for 25 years

and not a clue.

How do you know when

somebody's...

Well, there's certain signs, mannerisms.

The way a man dresses or combs his hair.

Walks kind of funny.

EXHALES

Well, that's news to me.

I'm not questioning you.

I'm sure you'd know.

In your line of work, I mean.

LADY BIRD: Marjorie is just beside herself.

Can't believe it's true.

I can't believe it's true.

I am going to make
a public statement of support.

Absolutely not.

The First Lady can't be involved in this.

None of us can be involved.

Why, he's distraught, Lyndon.

He could injure himself.

That is not my problem.

What...

He is our friend.

He was our friend,
and then he stabbed me in the back.

What, are we just never
gonna see him again?

What, you think I like this?

Now Goldwater's killing me in the polls.

I loved Walter like a...

I'm holding this campaign together
with baling wire and spit.

And if you're not with me,
then you're against me.

I know why
you think you have to do this, darling.

But you're wrong. You do what you must.

But I will not abandon our friend.

Now if you'll excuse me,
I have speeches to deliver.

God damn it.

CAR ENGINE STARTS

REPORTER: In what is sure to be
a very controversial decision,

the winner of this year's
Nobel Prize for Peace

is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am deeply moved and humbled
by the decision of the Nobel Committee

who are devoted to the nonviolent pursuit

of those rights
to which every man and woman...

How will you want to acknowledge Dr. King?

I won't.

King knows where I stand.

I don't need to get on
the goddamn rooftops and shout it out.

Movement of many peoples

who are devoted to the nonviolent
pursuit of those rights...

I'm supposed to have psychic abilities

in order to protect the president
from deviants like Jenkins,

but when it comes to King,
apparently no warning is strong enough.

This award should be given
to the American civil rights...

Get me the sex tapes
of King with those women.

And a typewriter.

WOMAN MOANING

"King, you know you are a complete fraud"

"and a great liability
to all of us Negroes."

Sir, are you sure the president
will be comfortable with this?

Doesn't matter.

"King, you cannot believe in God."

"Clearly you don't believe
in any moral principles."

"You could have been our greatest leader,"

"but you turned out to be
nothing but a dissolute,"

"abnormal moral imbecile."

"You are a colossal fraud,
and an evil, vicious one at that,"

"and you had better kill yourself
before your filthy, fraudulent soul"

"is bared to the nation."

PEOPLE CHANTING Goldwater! Goldwater!

Goldwater! Goldwater!

Goldwater! Goldwater!

What the hell is wrong with these people?

It's a Democratic rally, for Christ's sake!

- Where's the governor?
- Left an hour ago.

Suddenly called out of town.

Cowardly son of a bitch.

I've had enough of this horseshit.

Let's get a move on. Move!

And now... Now let's give
a nice, warm New Orleans welcome

to the President of the United States!

CROWD BOOING

All right. All right!

You've had your say,
and now I'm gonna have mine.

My fellow Southerners, please.

I once got to know
this old senator from the South

who lamented to me

the condition of our beloved region.

The old senator
talked about how outside forces

divided and conquered
the people of the South

by appealing to their racial hatred.

I accept this award on behalf
of a civil rights movement

which is working to establish

a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

For only yesterday in Alabama,

our children, crying out for brotherhood,

were met with water hoses,
dogs, and even death.

Now, the old senator described

what a great future the South could have

if only we'd all work together.

Only yesterday in Mississippi,

young people seeking the right to vote

were brutalized and murdered.

And the old senator talked longingly

about going home one more time

and telling people the truth.

He said his poor state
hasn't heard the truth in 30 years.

All we ever hear at election time

is, "Nigger! Nigger! Nigger!"

Well, I'm not gonna let
them build up the hate.

I'm not gonna let them trick my people
by appealing to their prejudice.

I believe peoples everywhere

can have dignity, equality,

and freedom.

We have a new law of the land.

A civil rights law.

APPLAUSE

And I'm gonna enforce it

'cause it is the right thing to do!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

REPORTER: ABC News
continues its coverage of Election '64.

President Johnson,
though he's doing extremely well

in winning and carrying states,

has not yet reached
the position the polls gave him.

REPORTER 1: The figures have just come in.

Georgia, which has never
deserted the Democratic Party,

has gone for Senator Goldwater.

REPORTER 2: Senator Goldwater so far
is doing respectably in the South,

so we'll just have to wait
to judge his basic strategy.

REPORTER 3: The polls are closing right now
in New York State.

The New York Herald Tribune
put up the headline,

"Johnson Landslide."

INDISTINCT CHATTER

CBS poll profile analysis.

Lyndon Baines Johnson has been elected
President of the United States.

CHEERING

How about that? How about that?

- Isn't that something?
- Oh, my God!

- Where's Lady Bird?
- Right behind you, where I've always been.

Oh. Sixty million votes.

You're no accident, Mr. President.

LAUGHS

Mr. President, you've got a phone call
from Senator Russell.

- Well, all right!
- LAUGHS

Well, go on, go on, have some fun!

I'll be with you in a second.

- Uncle Dick.
- Congratulations, Mr. President.

Well, I'm just trying to do
what the old master taught me. CHUCKLES

You know none of this would've happened
without you, Uncle Dick, none of it.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

My apologies about Georgia.

Well, it was disappointing, yeah.

Georgia has never voted Republican before,
not once.

Not even during Reconstruction.

Well, they'll be back.

I sure wish you was here.

Listen, Uncle Dick,

you know we got a hell
of a lot of work ahead of us.

I'm counting on you, now.

I will give it all that I have, sir.

I know you will.

You enjoy your party, Mr. President.

I'll see you in Washington.

LINE DISCONNECTS

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Yeah.

My apologies.

From our ambassador in Saigon.

A green light for Mr. Johnson,
a stop light for Senator Goldwater,

and perhaps for the right wing conservative
control of the Republican Party.

These are the numbers.

In electoral votes, it is...

ABERNATHY:
96% of the Negro vote to Johnson.

They owe us big, Martin.

Now they gotta give us
that voting rights bill.

Well, LBJ is not gonna give us anything.

We've gotta take it.

And we're gonna start
a new campaign right away

in Alabama.

I am so glad that it's
finally over, aren't you?

"Over"?

It's just getting started.

- What are you doing out here by yourself?
- CHUCKLES

Everybody's waiting for you.
Come join the party.

Your party. Mmm.

In a minute.

JOHNSON:
You're goddamn right it's my party,

and I had to drag it into the light

kicking and screaming
every inch of the way.

'Cause this is how new things are born.

Bird and I lost three babies
before we had Lynda,

and I remember the moment
when they finally let me into the room

to see my first live child.

And there on the floor

you could still see the doctor's footprints
in my wife's blood.

"And I thought," Yeah, this is familiar.

"I know this."

But right now,
we're gonna party like there's no tomorrow

'cause there's no feeling in the world
half as good as winning.

CHEERING

But the sun will come up,

and the knives will come out,

and all these smiling faces
will be watching me,

waiting for that
one first moment of weakness.

And then they will gut me like a deer.

You okay, honey?

I'm fine, Bird.

JOHNSON: I'm great.

Hell, I'm president.

CHEERING

MUSIC PLAYING