All the Way Page #2

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...

Just blowing smoke up my ass.

He called for a civil rights bill

in front of Congress, Martin.

King:
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.

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.

L.B.J. 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.

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 n*ggers.

- 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.

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.

Russell:
He sure gets

people stirred up,

even in Milwaukee.

Johnson:
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 sh*t 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.

Lady Bird:
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.

Oh, and you are

a terrible liar as always.

Politician's curse.

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.

"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.

You know what Mr. Sam wanted?

- His greatest regret?

- No, sir.

A towheaded boy to take fishing.

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.

F*** you!

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

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