Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
Directed by Robert Drew (uncredited)
1963/USA
ABC News/Drew Associates
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] Robert F. Kennedy – Attorney General of the United States: I’m not very much in favor of picking the governor up and moving him out of the way. I think it’d be much better if we develop some system if we had enough people to just push him aside.[/box]
Robert Drew was granted special access to President John F. Kennedy’s administration. This is one of several documentaries he made showing the inner workings of the White House. It centers in a confrontation Alabama Governor George Wallace provoked with the Federal Government over the admission of two African-American students to the University of Alabama. Although the federal court had ordered their admission and the university had in fact admitted them, Wallace said he would simply physically bar the door to their entry.
The documentary contains several fascinating strategy sessions in the White House along with straight-forward news style coverage of the events of the day. As it worked out the Alabama National Guard had to be nationalized before the governor backed down.
[box] This is not a sectional issue…. Nor is this a partisan issue…. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. — John F. Kennedy, Civil Rights Address, June 11, 1963[/box]
This is a now heart-wrenching look at a time when idealism prevailed in the White House. My favorite part, though, is George Wallace’s pathetic attempts at justifying his position. He explains that segregation benefits the Negro because otherwise how would he know which cafes were for him and which were for White people! Recommended if you are interested in the subject matter.
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