LIGHTS down on Hoover/Deloach. SPOT on LBJ in Oval Office on phone. SPOT on Senator Eastland on phone.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND This whole thing has gotten outta hand now!
LBJ Well, you got no one to blame but yourself, Senator Eastland. Have the Mississippi Regulars come to this convention as traitors to the Party, or are they gonna support the nominee?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND “Traitors to the Party”? Lotta my folks feel like Strom Thurmond and George Wallace, that the Democratic Party is pushin’ them out.
LBJ Oh, come on, we both know how those delegates of yours were selected. Not a black face in the bunch. How’s that gonna look on National Television?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND How’s it gonna look when all those good white folks you so easily disparage walk out?
LBJ You threatenin’ me?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND I’m just sayin’ feelin’s are runnin’ high . . .
LBJ . . . look, at the end of the day, we all got to find us some kind of compromise here.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND I don’t know. Those MFDP people are just backwoods people, you can’t reason with them.
LBJ Well, here’s what I’m thinkin’. They can be seated in the Convention . . . (over Eastland’s objections) . . . but they don’t get a vote, alright, no actual vote. In return, the Regular delegates, your people, sign a Loyalty Oath to support the nominee.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND A Loyalty Oath? What kinda Socialist crap is that?
LBJ Just a public statement of intention to support the nominee would do, even if they knew they were gonna support Goldwater.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND To be perfectly frank, Mr. President, the Mississippi Party nearly endorsed Goldwater already.
LBJ Is that so?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND I’m just sayin’.
LBJ Boy howdie, poor ole Mississippi is making it impossible for me to help my friends. You know, Jim, I get grief all the time from Northern liberals sayin’, “How come we gotta pay Mississippi farmers NOT to plant?” Mebbe they’re right. Since I’m not gonna carry Mississippi anyway maybe I oughta cut your goddamn six million dollar cotton subsidies! How much of that do you receive on your plantation down there in Sunflower County?
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND Hold on, hold on . . .
LBJ I’m just sayin’.
SENATOR JIM EASTLAND Tell you what, lemme talk to the delegates, see what I can do.
LBJ You do that. And get back to me with some good news. Soon. (LBJ hangs up) Walter! I need to talk to Uncle Dick but first get me Wallace on the phone. Time to deal with that pissant.
SPOT DOWN on LBJ/Walter/Eastland.
SPOT UP on Wallace and his aide, TRAMMEL. Governor’s Mansion, Alabama . . .
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE What did Goldwater say about his visit to Alabama? Did you tell him what I can do for him here?
SEYMORE TRAMMEL (pained) He said, well, I was told quite firmly, that Goldwater would prefer you to be out of the state when he arrives.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Son of a bitch. Goddamn son of a bitch.
SEYMORE TRAMMEL It’s just politics, George.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE You think I don’t know that?! You think I don’t understand “Politics!” When he wanted me to drop outta the race, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, but as soon as I did, he rolled me over and threw my clothes at me like I was a fifty-cent whore and he couldn’t wait to wash my stink off. He’s not the first to underestimate me. By God!
A flustered Lurleen runs in.
LURLEEN WALLACE George! It’s the President on the phone!
Wallace smiles at Trammel.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Guess the mountain has come to Mohammed.
SPOT on LBJ.
Mr. President. How’s your big party up there in Atlantic City?
LBJ Cut the crap, George. How come my name isn’t on the voting ballot in Alabama? Apparently the only names on there are Goldwater supporters and folks committed to your candidacy which you ended a month ago.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Well, Mr. President, that’s just one of those unfortunate things. An error in the registrar’s office.
LBJ Then you need to fix that.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE I wish I could but I can’t.
LBJ You tellin’ me that you don’t have control of your own state bureaucracy? Way I hear it, from Mobile County to Jackson County can’t a mule fart without your permission.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE (enjoying himself) Now, Mr. President, you’re gettin’ me all mixed up with the Lord, and sparrows falling, and whatnot.
LBJ If you think helpin’ to elect a whole buncha Republican legislators in Alabama is gonna help you, you musta got knocked around in the ring too much in your boxing days when you was a chicken weight.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Bantam. I was a bantam weight.
LBJ Don’t seem to me that Goldwater is acting all that grateful to you, is he? Turned you down flat is what I hear and won’t even be seen in public with you. Now, look, we had our differences, you got in some good licks but you lost and it’s time to put that aside. Come November 4th there’s only gonna be one winner and you’re gonna want to be on my team. I know your people pride themselves on their long memory but I’m gonna tell you somethin’, George, it ain’t nothin’ to my memory. I don’t ever forget.
GOVERNOR GEORGE WALLACE Like an elephant, you mean?
LBJ I mean, “Governor,” that in one more year your term is up and under Alabama law, you can’t run for a third term. Who’s gonna have you, George? Not the Party of Lincoln; Goldwater made that clear. Not any of those Democrats you screwed over. Whatcha gonna do?
LIGHTS out on George/Lurleen/Trammel. LBJ hangs up and turns to Jenkins.
I think he actually enjoys being the turd in the crystal punch bowl.
WALTER JENKINS I have Senator Russell for you on Two.
LBJ picks up the phone and punches a button.
LBJ Uncle Dick.
SPOT up on Senator Russell on phone.
SENATOR RUSSELL You’re up awful late, Mr. President.
LBJ They’re all ganging up on me, Dick.
SENATOR RUSSELL You’re gonna give yourself another heart attack.
LBJ Well, if I do, it’ll be George Wallace and Martin Luther King puts me in my grave. You hear about this public telegram of King’s demanding 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!
SENATOR RUSSELL I warned you about that.
LBJ (confiding) I tell you what I really think. I think this is somethin’ King cooked up with Bobby Kennedy to embarrass me. Kennedy is trying to stab me in the back and steal the nomination at the last minute.
SENATOR RUSSELL Mr. President, Robert Kennedy has no interest, whatsoever, in hurtin’ you or helpin’ Barry Goldwater.
LBJ To hell with’em all. I’m gonna go back to my ranch and the people who love me. I never wanted to be President in the first place!
SENATOR RUSSELL (irritated) Mr. President, forgive my frankness, but you are speakin’ like a child, and a spoiled child at that! You and I both know you’re not serious. Now take a tranquilizer and get yourself some sleep!
Russell hangs up. SPOT down on Russell.
LBJ He hung up on me. The son of a bitch hung up on me!
SPOT down on LBJ. SPOT on MLK.
MLK Dear Mr. President. STOP. Why does seating the Mississippi Freedom Party matter so much? STOP. For all the disenfranchised millions of this earth, those in Mississippi and Alabama, or behind the Iron Curtain or suffering the Apartheid of South Africa—recognition of the Freedom Party would say to them that, yes, somewhere in this world there is a nation that cares about justice! STOP. Conscience demands that you pu
blicly join us in seating the Freedom Party delegates! STOP. Yours sincerely, Dr. Martin Luther King. STOP.
SPOT UP on Pageant Hotel Room, Atlantic City. Humphrey, Stokely, King, Abernathy, Moses, Fannie, and other MFDP delegates.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Alright, a lot of good people have spent a lot of time and energy working this out. The plan is to seat everybody, all sixty-eight of your people, as Honorary Delegates!
FANNIE LOU HAMER “Honorary?”
AARON HENRY What does that mean?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY It means, Mr. Henry, that you wouldn’t vote but you would have all the other rights and privileges of any other delegate.
RALPH ABERNATHY No votes!?
Howls of protest.
AARON HENRY The MFDP can accept no less than equal votes at the convention.
BOB MOSES The time has come for Negroes to speak for Negroes; for Negroes to represent Negroes.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I have to disagree with you, Bob! If your position is true, then representative democracy is not real and this cannot be a society in which we all live in peace as brothers.
MLK Integration and enfranchisement are not mutually exclusive. This is not what we talked about, Senator.
AARON HENRY After everything we have been through, the MFDP has earned the right to be seated.
FANNIE LOU HAMER As full delegates.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I don’t disagree. In principle. You all know what kind of man I am. I came out in 1948 for civil rights, I’ve worked all my life for civil rights, and I will be able to do a lot more, a voting rights bill, if I’m the Vice President but if we’re not able to see reason together here, the President has made it very clear that’s not going to happen. (beat) And who will he pick instead? Well, it will certainly be someone a lot less sympathetic to the Cause.
FANNIE LOU HAMER Senator Humphrey, you’re a good man, and you know what’s right. The trouble is, you’re afraid to do what you know is right. How can you think your bein’ Vice President is more important than 400,000 Black people’s lives?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Mrs. Hamer, I never said that.
FANNIE LOU HAMER No, sir, but that’s what you mean.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL You’re tryin’ to get the Freedom party to sell out!
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY No, I’m trying to get the most supportive president since Abraham Lincoln re-elected!
LIGHTS down on Pageant Hotel and UP on LBJ/Jenkins. LBJ is wearing pants, socks, t-shirt, and a bathrobe. He looks increasingly haggard. Humphrey moves into their light.
I walked into the Lion’s den. I argued fervently, I used all the heartstrings I had, and I made no headway. The least I think they might accept—would be giving them some actual votes. A few votes.
LBJ What did King say?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY He was mostly quiet.
LBJ After everything I did for him? He shoulda stood up for me! Why didn’t somebody stand up for me?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I stood up for you, Mr. President.
LBJ Somebody who matters.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Well, if you don’t think my loyalty is important . . .
LBJ . . . Jesus, you are so thin-skinned. I depend on you, Hubert, you know that. Christ, there’s got to be a solution here. OK, maybe we could get one or two of the Mississippi regulars to agree to step aside; they claim they’re sick or somethin’, so nobody thinks we pressured anybody.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Would Eastland go for that?
LBJ Jim has become a tad more helpful since I stepped on his pecker. Alright, you tell ’em 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.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Reverend Edwin King?
LBJ Yeah, him. That way it’s one white man and only one nigra. We’ll integrate their delegation. Who can argue with that?
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I’ll see what I can do.
LBJ Don’t “see what you can do.” Do what I tell you to do.
Humphrey nods and leaves. LBJ turns to Walter.
We need to light a fire under Hubert. Where is Walter Reuther right now? I need to talk to him.
Walter begins dialing.
WALTER JENKINS Detroit. The UAW is negotiating a new contract with Ford.
LBJ What do you think of Hubert?
WALTER JENKINS (diplomatically) I think he’s working as hard as he can.
LBJ He’s nice. Nice is what you call a gal with no tits, no ass, and no personality. Nice is for kissin’ babies; there’s no place for “nice” in a knife fight.
WALTER JENKINS Mr. Reuther? The President would like a word with you.
SPOT UP on REUTHER on phone in Detroit.
WALTER REUTHER Mr. President? What a pleasant surprise. I thought you’d be all busy writing your acceptance speech and . . .
LBJ (interrupting) 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? You need to tighten your leash and bring King and the MFDP in line, or by God, Hubert H. Humphrey is never gonna be my Vice President, or anything else!
WALTER REUTHER (shocked) . . . Mr. President . . .
LBJ When I’m done with him, he won’t be able to get elected dog catcher and you’ll have nobody in the Senate to carry water for you. You need to get yourself down to Atlantic City and fix this mess and I mean now!
LBJ hangs up. SPOT on Reuther out.
WALTER JENKINS (concerned) Are you alright, sir?
LBJ I do not have the hide of a rhinoceros. People think I have no feelings but they’re wrong.
WALTER JENKINS Yes, sir.
LBJ You know me, Walter. I have a genuine desire to unite people but my own people in the South are 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.
WALTER JENKINS It’s not fair, sir, not with all you’ve done.
LBJ It sure as hell isn’t. Year after year, you pour your heart’s blood into Public Service, your own kids don’t know you, and for what? I could drop dead tomorrow and there wouldn’t be ten people who’d shed a tear.
LBJ sits on the bed.
WALTER JENKINS That’s not true, sir.
LBJ The hell it ain’t. People turn on you so fast. When my daddy lost everything, people who’d been glad-handing him treated him like dog shit. Humiliated him to his face in public. And my mother, the way she would 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.
WALTER JENKINS You have that from us, sir. From me.
LBJ smiles at Walter and crawls into bed.
LBJ I bet poor Marjorie is wonderin’ where the hell you are.
Walter turns off a light.
WALTER JENKINS Oh, she understands.
LBJ How many kids you got again? Five?
WALTER JENKINS Six. Two girls and four boys.
LBJ Right, Catholic. I always wanted to have 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.
Walter stops and stares at him, deeply touched. He reaches over and removes LBJ’s glasses.
WALTER JENKINS I’ll be right next door, sir, if you need me.
Walter leaves. SPOT down on LBJ. SPOT UP on Reuther and King, Hotel, Atlantic City.
MLK Mr. Reuther? Didn’t expect to see you here.
WALTER REUTHER Neither did I. Had a phone call from the President with a generous helping of the old Texas Twist. You’
ve got to get the MFDP to compromise.
MLK What the President has offered is a joke; an insult. These people have shed their blood to get here and . . .
WALTER REUTHER . . . Your funding is on the line. Get the MFDP to get on board or there’ll be no more Union money for the Movement. Not a single goddamn dime.
MLK Are you serious?
WALTER REUTHER Fuck, yes.
MLK You would sabotage the entire civil rights movement over this?
WALTER REUTHER No, you would. In the great scheme of things, what difference does it really make, Martin? The number of delegates at a convention? Who cares!
MLK It’s wrong.
WALTER REUTHER Well, you can go home and feel really righteous while all the progress we’ve made comes to a complete stop, or you can make the sensible play here and see integration become the law of the land. There will be one more offer. A final offer. Get your people to accept it, Martin, or take your tin cup and your principles out onto the street and see how far that gets you.
Reuther leaves. SPOT expands to include Humphrey and the rest of the MFDP leadership: Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer, Edwin King, etc.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY I’m pleased to say, 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.
Stokely steps into the next room, where a TV is playing.
This is a major victory!
FANNIE LOU HAMER Senator Humphrey, God did not send us to Atlantic City for no two seats when all of us is tired.
AARON HENRY That’s right.
BOB MOSES This is just like the white plantation boss making all the decisions for his black sharecroppers.
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Now, let’s just hold on, Bob. You’ve won your case in the court of public opinion and now you’ve got your token representation . . .
AARON HENRY “Token!”
SENATOR HUBERT HUMPHREY Don’t twist my words! What I’m saying is, there is a whole lot at stake here and this is a necessary political compromise.
BOB MOSES We’re not here to bring politics to our morality; we’re here to bring morality to our politics.
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