The Butler Page #9

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Hey, Louis.

I didn't expect to hear

from you on my birthday.

You should feel

ashamed of yourself.

You're a grown-ass man calling

your mama, asking for money.

And guess what?

It's the butler's money.

It's Uncle Tom's money.

And he ain't giving

none out today.

Bye.

I got it.

You got the wrong house.

It's the wrong house.

Vietnam took my boy,

and I didn't understand why we

were there in the first place.

Your father still alive, Cecil?

No, sir.

My father died when I was a child.

Is there anything else that you

would like, Mr. President?

Yeah. Come sit.

Sit down, you know?

There's been a lot of talk

of me resigning and...

...things of that nature,

but I just want you to know

it's never gonna happen.

I'm gonna come out of this thing

stronger than ever.

Is there anything else

that you would like...

...Mr. President?

Louis is here, looking for you.

- Got everybody all worried.

- Well, I finished school.

I got my master's

in political science.

Hey! That's what I'm talking about.

Get that education.

There he is!

Well, I'm gonna let you all to it.

Ain't no need for that, Carter.

- Hey, Dad.

- Get out of here, Louis.

- Dad...

- I said leave.

Keep doing what you doing.

Thank you, Uncle Carter.

Why you do that? Huh?

That was wrong.

That boy's hurting, too. He's just

trying to get his act together.

He should be hurting, Carter.

Boy didn't even go

to his own brother's funeral.

He's full of sh*t is what he is.

He ain't doing nothing right.

He just got his master's!

What more you want him to do?

Every gray hair I have

is 'cause of that boy.

The years started to drift by,

but the pain in my heart

never went away.

Through it all,

Louis and I never spoke.

As we are a nation under God,

so I am sworn...

Half of our

oil is now imported...

It is a crisis that strikes

at the very hear':

and soul and spirit

of our national will.

- I feel one coming now.

- Not to worry.

Two of you,

stay home until you feel better.

OK, Barn, I'll stay.

But I ain't never gonna feel no better.

In our district alone,

we have nine percent unemployment.

In the country at large, 14 percent

are living below the poverty line.

Sixty percent of those

are either black or Hispanic.

Now, if I'm voted to Congress,

reducing those figures is gonna be

one of my primary objectives.

Yeah?

Oh, hey.

Thanks for getting back to me.

How much did he lose by?

Really?

All right, then.

I appreciate it.

No, he didn't win.

I think you should call him.

Right after Charlie passed,

Louis came over

and paid me a visit.

Hmm.

He found me on the kitchen floor.

I had passed out.

Drunk.

I'd gone to the bathroom

all over myself.

He's the one that cleaned me up.

And then he told me

I was the best mother

anybody could ever want.

I think, about now...

...he'd want to hear from his daddy.

I think you ought to call him.

Mm-hm.

Cecil?

Cecil?

Yes, sir, Mr. President.

You stay there, I'm coming to you.

I... have a...

...secret mission for you.

Yes, sir.

I like to send people

money when they write me

about their financial problems,

but my staff has been

trying to get me to stop.

You think you could

help me to keep this going?

Absolutely, Mr. President.

Well, I appreciate

your help with this.

And, please, don't tell Nancy.

Of course not.

- Morning, Cecil.

- Morning, Mr. Warner.

May I sit down?

I've been here

for over 20 years now.

For all that time,

the black help

has been paid a smaller salary

than the white help.

And I just don't think

that's right, Mr. Warner.

There are black housemen

who should be engineers by now.

They should've been promoted

years ago.

You think so?

I'm gonna have to be paid

the same as the white help,

or I'm gonna have to move on.

I guess you'll be moving on then.

I told the president

that you'd say that.

He told me to tell you

to take this up with him, personally.

Excuse me.

I'm not comfortable

with all the foreign policy hawks

surrounding Ronnie, Jim.

We need more moderates on his staff.

And a summit with the Russians.

Ronnie has to meet

with them face to face

if we're ever

going to thaw this ice.

- Cecil.

- Yes, Mrs. Reagan?

We will talk, Jim. Yes.

Yes, ma'am?

You're very popular around here.

Everyone says you're the man

that got them raises and promotions.

- I had no idea.

- I wish I could take credit for that.

I'd like to invite you

to the State Dinner next week.

- I'm gonna be there, Mrs. Reagan.

- No.

Not as a... Not as a butler, Cecil.

I'm inviting you as a guest.

But the president prefers

for me to serve him personally.

Don't you worry about, Ronnie.

I'll take care of that.

So we'll see you next week.

You and your wife.

My Wife?

It's... It's Gloria, yes?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Yes.

Hmm.

Here's the Entrance Hall.

Beautiful.

Can I get you a glass

of champagne, Mr. Gaines?

- Shut up.

- Right.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the President and First Lady

of the United States.

It was different sitting

at the table instead of serving it.

Real different.

I could see the two faces

the butlers wore to survive.

And I knew I'd lived my life

with those same two faces.

Gloria looked so happy,

but I didn't feel the same way.

I guess I wished we were there

for real instead of for show.

I think that's bon apptit, everybody.

You black mother...

I want to make myself clear

on this issue.

If Congress passes sanctions

against South Africa,

I will be forced to

veto those sanctions.

Well, Mr. President, we feel

that that would be a major mistake.

The brutal repression

of South African black citizens

makes this no longer

a foreign policy issue,

but a United States racial issue.

We're senators

from your own party.

That's why we feel so comfortable

in letting you know

that South Africa

is a human rights disaster.

Black people are

being beaten, tortured,

gunned down

in the middle of the street.

Americans see all this on TV,

they're horrified by apartheid.

I've made my decision.

Mr. President, your reputation

as a world leader is at stake.

United States of America needs to be

on the right side of history

on the race issue.

I say again.

If Congress passes this bill,

I Will veto it.

Period.

What? You reading now?

Get up and do the dishes

'fore I shoot your little ass.

Nothing seemed right to me

after that State Dinner.

Got all confused.

They had started writing books

about everything Louis

and his friends had done.

Louis was never a criminal.

He was a hero,

fighting to save

the soul of our country.

- Would you like a cookie?

- Thank you, sir.

- Cookies.

- Thank you.

Cookie?

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

Cookie?

I had always loved sewing.

But just felt different now.

I didn't know that an old man

could feel so lost.

That's how I felt.

That's how I felt.

Americans always turned

a blind eye to what we'd done

to our own.

We look out to the world

and judge.

We hear about

the concentration camps,

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