Lawmakers October 20 1983
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Lawmakers 10/20/1983
Lawmakers October 20 1983
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Lawmakers October 20 1983
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Lawmakers October 20 1983
Title sequence
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Paul Duke, Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts. Topics on program: House Democrats vote to cut off funding to Nicaraguan Contras, Senate approves Martin Luther King Day as national holiday, the loss of two members of a Senate committee could hurt the Pentagon, and influence of Presidential election on Congressional actions.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Paul Duke introduces Linda Wertheimer with a report on the debate on Martin Luther King holiday was dragged through the mud by the efforts of Jesse Helms.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Jesse Helms (R - North Carolina) sitting on Capitol steps, He (Martin Luther King Jr.) attacked this country in the most vicious way during the Vietnam War. And Ho Chi Minh was categorized a hero in his book and that sort of thing. Now I can t get involved in the 22nd analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King particularly when I didn t know him, but Martin Luther King and Jesse Helms and the rest of us, have to stand on our own records. And that s all I m asking.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Shots of FBI files on Dr. Martin Luther King laid out on a desk.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Larry Straw, attorney for Jesse Helms, Well I think that there s definitely information contained in the documents that we have seen that cast a pall over his background. And in light of that I think it s highly improper to go ahead and pass legislation when you know other documents exist that could clear that question up, remove it one way or the other.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Shots of FBI files on Dr. Martin Luther King laid out on a desk.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D - New York) giving press conference, I ve just come from the Senate Floor where I spoke with as much conviction as any time since coming to this place about the obscenity of putting on the desks of United States Senators this packet of filth.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator John East (R - North Carolina) says (All Senator Helms attempted to do was to get the full record before the Senate.) Here in this case, Senator Moynihan, with all due respect to his great talents, refuses to read it and calls it obscene.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Lowell Weicker (R - Connecticut) I find his (Jesse Helms) point of view nauseating and abhorrent. But there it is. He s being honest about it.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Jim Sasser (D - Tennessee), What Senator Helms is doing for some of our older citizens and those who remember the days of the 40s and perhaps the 50s, I suspect the reawakens old memories and reinforces old images that they might have of Southern politicians who practiced what in some corners was termed racist politics.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Charles Mathias (R - Maryland) giving press conference, I don t think it affects the Republican Party. The majority leader, the Republican leader of the Senate, Senator Baker is strongly in favor of the bill. It s my bill, I m a Republican.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Larry Pressler (R - South Dakota) but as one who will vote against the holiday, I want to make it very emphatically clear that I admire Dr. King. I will support, and have supported, a Sunday holiday for him. And I disassociate myself with some of the implications about his character that have been raised.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Jim Sasser (D - Tennessee), I wish he (Jesse Helms) hadn t done it. I think it has violated the decorum of the Senate to some extent.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Charles Mathias (R - Maryland) It s demeaning to the Senate.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Edward Kennedy (Ted Kenned) (D - Massachusetts) and I think it s unworthy of the United States Senate that someone, many years after his death, would continue those allegations which are so completely unfounded.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Lowell Weicker (R - Connecticut) the bottom line of all of this is the impact the man (Martin Luther King Jr.) had on the United States of America.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
B/W news film, shows train arriving at station. African American Civil Rights leaders disembarking for the March on Washington.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
I Have A Dream speech requires clearances from the King Estate. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivering "I have a dream" speech. L/S of Washington Mall full of marchers, close shots of marchers listening to MLK.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Edward Kennedy (Ted Kennedy) (D - Massachusetts), (I think it's inappropriate to say the least, to even suggest that the hundreds of thousands of American men and women who gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963) in that magnificent testimony in which Martin Luther King spoke, were members of a Communist conspiracy.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
B/W film clip of black teenagers being sprayed with fire hoses by White police on Alabama street. Civil Rights Protest
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Police trying to break up a lunch counter sit in. Civil Rights Protest
Lawmakers October 20 1983
DO NOT USE Still photos of African American man standing under "Colored Only" sign at bus stop.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Coretta Scott King with Senator Howard Baker (R - Tennessee) and other Republicans. Senator Bob Dole (R - Kansas) with Coretta Scott King at microphones. Stevie Wonder standing in the background. Senator Bob Dole (R - Kansas), It was a very proud moment I know for Senator Mathias, myself, and Senator Baker to play a role in this very important legislation. We thank you very much, Mrs. King. Senator Edward Kennedy (Ted Kennedy) (D - Massachusetts), We re glad to have that Republican support. We hope we re going to get it on housing, economics, on social justice on the whole range African American onlookers cheer and laugh.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Jim Sasser (D - Tennessee), There are strong political overtones to making King s birthday - Dr. King s birthday - a holiday. But I think its politics in the best sense.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Senator Jesse Helms (R - North Carolina) giving press conference. It s been obvious from the very beginning that the steamroller was on and the atmosphere of intimidation, political harassment - and I don t exaggerate when I sat that - screaming and shouting and threats and that sort of thing. There never was any question about what was going to happen, but I thought the record ought to be made complete. I think a point has been made. I m satisfied.
Lawmakers October 20 1983
Linda Wertheimer closes out report. She comments that Jesse Helms has obviously decided not to seek the Black vote in North Carolina, and feels that battling with Liberals like Ted Kennedy will help him win conservative support. Paul Duke notes that Reagan was originally opposed to the bill. Wertheimer says that Reagan had to woo the Black vote both for himself and for his party. She gives this to the power of the Voting Rights Act. Discussion of other blocs who changed their initial stands, electoral power behind the decisions.