1 00:00:01,233 --> 00:00:04,500 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:10,766 --> 00:00:14,100 ♪ ♪ 3 00:00:14,100 --> 00:00:16,266 NARRATOR: In the fall of 1948, 4 00:00:16,266 --> 00:00:18,933 a young African American lawyer and his wife 5 00:00:18,933 --> 00:00:22,133 crossed an ocean to begin a new job. 6 00:00:22,133 --> 00:00:26,800 Edward R. Dudley had just been named the United States Minister 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,933 to the West African nation of Liberia. 8 00:00:31,533 --> 00:00:34,300 EDWARD R. DUDLEY: As the boat docked on that very bright morning, 9 00:00:34,300 --> 00:00:37,600 two of us were standing at the rail, 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,600 we saw thousands of people. 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,300 It was rather an exhilarating experience. 12 00:00:43,300 --> 00:00:45,700 ♪ ♪ 13 00:00:45,700 --> 00:00:48,566 We could see the new frontiers opening up. 14 00:00:48,566 --> 00:00:51,333 NARRATOR: It was a time of titanic struggles 15 00:00:51,333 --> 00:00:53,466 between competing ideologies: 16 00:00:53,466 --> 00:00:56,500 communism versus capitalism; 17 00:00:56,500 --> 00:00:58,200 white supremacy 18 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,066 versus Black liberation; 19 00:01:01,066 --> 00:01:02,933 colonialism 20 00:01:02,933 --> 00:01:04,866 versus self-rule. 21 00:01:04,866 --> 00:01:07,933 A racially segregated United States 22 00:01:07,933 --> 00:01:10,100 was positioning itself as the leader 23 00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:12,566 of a mostly non-white world. 24 00:01:12,566 --> 00:01:13,766 (Castro speaking Spanish) 25 00:01:13,766 --> 00:01:15,466 ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER: It's difficult for us 26 00:01:15,466 --> 00:01:17,866 to fully conceptualize what it meant to be Black 27 00:01:17,866 --> 00:01:20,266 in spaces of government during that time period. 28 00:01:20,266 --> 00:01:23,833 Then to have to represent U.S. interests 29 00:01:23,833 --> 00:01:26,266 and help cultivate the narrative 30 00:01:26,266 --> 00:01:30,466 of U.S. democracy for non-U.S. publics. 31 00:01:30,466 --> 00:01:34,066 NARRATOR: In the decades to come, three Black diplomats-- 32 00:01:34,066 --> 00:01:38,633 Edward R. Dudley, Terence Todman, and Carl Rowan-- 33 00:01:38,633 --> 00:01:42,000 would challenge the foundations of American diplomacy 34 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,400 and try to change the way 35 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,166 America represented itself to the world. 36 00:01:46,166 --> 00:01:48,900 CARL ROWAN: Sure, we're going to be criticized. 37 00:01:48,900 --> 00:01:51,933 It's because we're talking about the things 38 00:01:51,933 --> 00:01:53,700 that the United States stands for, 39 00:01:53,700 --> 00:01:56,566 the things that the United States seeks to be. 40 00:01:58,133 --> 00:01:59,266 NARRATOR: They would challenge not only 41 00:01:59,266 --> 00:02:00,966 the State Department, 42 00:02:00,966 --> 00:02:03,433 but U.S. foreign policy itself. 43 00:02:03,433 --> 00:02:05,000 DUDLEY: Washington got accustomed 44 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,166 to my taking strong independent stands 45 00:02:08,166 --> 00:02:12,366 because the United States had a revolution for our independence, 46 00:02:12,366 --> 00:02:16,433 and we should be supportive of independence. 47 00:02:16,433 --> 00:02:18,100 NARRATOR: These three diplomats 48 00:02:18,100 --> 00:02:21,166 would also challenge an unequal system 49 00:02:21,166 --> 00:02:22,533 that had long determined 50 00:02:22,533 --> 00:02:26,900 who should represent America overseas. 51 00:02:26,900 --> 00:02:28,833 DUDLEY: If one was an ambassador, 52 00:02:28,833 --> 00:02:30,600 there was a feeling that 53 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,666 this man was a true representative of a country. 54 00:02:34,666 --> 00:02:39,300 ANDERSON: For diplomats, you're fighting America 55 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:42,566 so that it can live up to what it says it is, 56 00:02:42,566 --> 00:02:45,633 while you're also fighting for America. 57 00:02:45,633 --> 00:02:48,166 That is no easy walk. 58 00:02:56,500 --> 00:03:01,033 ♪ ♪ 59 00:03:05,366 --> 00:03:10,366 (applause) 60 00:03:10,366 --> 00:03:14,300 NARRATOR: On March 12, 1947, 61 00:03:14,300 --> 00:03:16,333 President Harry S. Truman articulated a policy 62 00:03:16,333 --> 00:03:20,266 that would come to be known as the Truman Doctrine. 63 00:03:20,266 --> 00:03:24,166 ♪ ♪ 64 00:03:24,166 --> 00:03:27,033 HARRY S. TRUMAN: At the present moment 65 00:03:27,033 --> 00:03:30,566 in world history, nearly every nation must choose 66 00:03:30,566 --> 00:03:33,266 between alternative ways of life. 67 00:03:33,266 --> 00:03:36,166 If we falter in our leadership, 68 00:03:36,166 --> 00:03:39,300 we may endanger the peace of the world, 69 00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:42,933 and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation. 70 00:03:42,933 --> 00:03:47,266 NARRATOR: This was the cornerstone of American foreign policy 71 00:03:47,266 --> 00:03:49,900 in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, 72 00:03:49,900 --> 00:03:53,966 the idea that undemocratic regimes anywhere 73 00:03:53,966 --> 00:03:57,266 were a threat to freedom everywhere. 74 00:03:57,266 --> 00:04:00,133 Truman promised that the United States 75 00:04:00,133 --> 00:04:03,866 would do everything in its power to stop the spread of communism 76 00:04:03,866 --> 00:04:06,466 in any nation in the world. 77 00:04:06,466 --> 00:04:10,300 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Already an iron curtain had dropped around Poland, Hungary, 78 00:04:10,300 --> 00:04:13,933 Yugoslavia, Bulgaria-- menace to the security 79 00:04:13,933 --> 00:04:17,066 and institutions of democratic government. 80 00:04:17,066 --> 00:04:18,933 This truly a war of ideas. 81 00:04:18,933 --> 00:04:20,266 NARRATOR: The post-war world 82 00:04:20,266 --> 00:04:23,400 was now a chessboard in a high-stakes match between 83 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:25,833 democracy and communism. 84 00:04:25,833 --> 00:04:27,400 The United States 85 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,566 and the Soviet Union battled 86 00:04:29,566 --> 00:04:30,766 to win the hearts and minds 87 00:04:30,766 --> 00:04:32,033 of neutral nations 88 00:04:32,033 --> 00:04:33,133 all over the globe. 89 00:04:33,133 --> 00:04:35,500 (man shouting indistinctly) 90 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:37,533 ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH: In nations that are becoming 91 00:04:37,533 --> 00:04:39,000 independent, how do they 92 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,166 maneuver in a world in which 93 00:04:43,166 --> 00:04:46,233 the U.S. and the Soviet Union have demanded 94 00:04:46,233 --> 00:04:49,933 that people choose sides? 95 00:04:49,933 --> 00:04:52,500 At the heart of the Cold War were struggles over narrative. 96 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:54,466 ♪ ♪ 97 00:04:54,466 --> 00:04:58,866 The Achilles heel for the United States is its history 98 00:04:58,866 --> 00:05:01,166 of racialized violence, 99 00:05:01,166 --> 00:05:03,333 oppression, and injustice against 100 00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:05,633 people of color in the United States and elsewhere. 101 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,100 MARY DUDZIAK: How the United States treated 102 00:05:10,100 --> 00:05:13,233 its own citizens mattered diplomatically 103 00:05:13,233 --> 00:05:15,333 in a way that it hadn't before. 104 00:05:15,333 --> 00:05:16,733 ♪ ♪ 105 00:05:16,733 --> 00:05:18,866 CAROL ANDERSON: Black veterans were coming back 106 00:05:18,866 --> 00:05:22,000 from the Second World War, and they were demanding 107 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,466 the democracy that they had fought so hard for. 108 00:05:27,866 --> 00:05:31,366 There were a series of horrific lynchings in 1946. 109 00:05:33,633 --> 00:05:35,766 ♪ ♪ 110 00:05:35,766 --> 00:05:39,200 and Truman is just absolutely horrified. 111 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,166 Truman understood that 112 00:05:44,166 --> 00:05:46,800 if the U.S. wanted the world to believe them 113 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:50,300 when they said that they were offering a democracy 114 00:05:50,300 --> 00:05:53,400 that would benefit all, then they needed to show 115 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,966 that they could offer that democracy at home. 116 00:05:56,966 --> 00:06:00,200 NARRATOR: In 1948, President Truman 117 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,700 made a bold step: 118 00:06:02,700 --> 00:06:05,233 he issued executive orders to desegregate the military 119 00:06:05,233 --> 00:06:08,233 and the civil service. 120 00:06:08,233 --> 00:06:10,233 With a tough re-election looming, 121 00:06:10,233 --> 00:06:12,566 he looked to strengthen his ties 122 00:06:12,566 --> 00:06:14,800 to the African American community. 123 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,533 When the post of Minister to Liberia became available, 124 00:06:18,533 --> 00:06:21,366 Truman's team asked Walter White, 125 00:06:21,366 --> 00:06:23,433 the head of the N.A.A.C.P., 126 00:06:23,433 --> 00:06:26,966 the nation's most influential civil rights organization, 127 00:06:26,966 --> 00:06:28,666 to recommend a candidate. 128 00:06:28,666 --> 00:06:33,966 White suggested a sharp N.A.A.C.P. lawyer, 129 00:06:33,966 --> 00:06:37,000 Edward R. Dudley. 130 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,700 At 37, Edward Dudley of Roanoke, Virginia, 131 00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:44,733 had already had a storied career. 132 00:06:44,733 --> 00:06:46,600 ♪ ♪ 133 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,600 DUDLEY: I was 23 years old. 134 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,200 I came to New York, bright, fresh, full of vinegar. 135 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,900 I applied for a job as an assistant stage manager 136 00:06:56,900 --> 00:06:59,466 at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. 137 00:06:59,466 --> 00:07:01,900 (cheers and applause) 138 00:07:01,900 --> 00:07:03,600 Orson Welles came to work with us 139 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:05,233 and directed a Haitian Macbeth. 140 00:07:05,233 --> 00:07:07,466 Lay on, Macduff! 141 00:07:07,466 --> 00:07:10,100 And damn'd be he who first cries, "Hold, enough!" 142 00:07:10,100 --> 00:07:12,566 (stage fighting, yelling) 143 00:07:12,566 --> 00:07:15,266 DUDLEY: I saw no real future in New York theaters. 144 00:07:15,266 --> 00:07:18,166 Stagehands were not permitted 145 00:07:18,166 --> 00:07:20,533 to work below 125th Street. 146 00:07:20,533 --> 00:07:21,933 ♪ ♪ 147 00:07:21,933 --> 00:07:25,433 So I decided to go to law school. 148 00:07:26,966 --> 00:07:30,100 NARRATOR: In 1943, Thurgood Marshall, 149 00:07:30,100 --> 00:07:33,533 the head of the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense Fund, 150 00:07:33,533 --> 00:07:35,933 hired Dudley to assist with his strategy 151 00:07:35,933 --> 00:07:39,400 of dismantling inequality one case at a time. 152 00:07:40,433 --> 00:07:42,000 For five years, 153 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,800 the two men crossed the country, 154 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:49,066 filing, and winning, anti-discrimination lawsuits. 155 00:07:49,066 --> 00:07:52,000 But now, President Truman was asking Edward Dudley 156 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,133 to be the face of America in Liberia. 157 00:07:56,133 --> 00:07:58,166 ♪ ♪ 158 00:08:02,066 --> 00:08:04,266 DUDLEY: In Liberia, 159 00:08:04,266 --> 00:08:07,533 the staff at the legation welcomed us. 160 00:08:10,066 --> 00:08:11,866 Shortly thereafter, 161 00:08:11,866 --> 00:08:16,133 we engaged in the task of diplomacy. 162 00:08:17,133 --> 00:08:19,033 We get in touch 163 00:08:19,033 --> 00:08:21,700 with the other members of the diplomatic corps. 164 00:08:21,700 --> 00:08:25,533 There's a parade, view the troops. 165 00:08:25,533 --> 00:08:29,300 This is big diggins in small countries. 166 00:08:29,300 --> 00:08:31,366 And all of a sudden, 167 00:08:31,366 --> 00:08:33,466 you're catapulted into this kind of thing. 168 00:08:33,466 --> 00:08:35,400 And then you do the best you can. 169 00:08:36,566 --> 00:08:38,766 EDWARD DUDLEY, JR.: My father was a risk taker. 170 00:08:38,766 --> 00:08:40,700 I was six when I first joined them 171 00:08:40,700 --> 00:08:43,066 in Liberia. 172 00:08:43,066 --> 00:08:44,733 My mother did most of the raising. 173 00:08:44,733 --> 00:08:46,700 (children speaking indistinctly) 174 00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:48,733 My father was the disciplinarian. 175 00:08:48,733 --> 00:08:51,900 He was a very confident man. 176 00:08:51,900 --> 00:08:53,066 ♪ ♪ 177 00:08:53,066 --> 00:08:56,033 NARRATOR: Like all political appointees, 178 00:08:56,033 --> 00:08:58,166 Dudley served at the pleasure of the president. 179 00:08:59,233 --> 00:09:01,300 (cheering) 180 00:09:01,300 --> 00:09:04,366 With the 1948 presidential election 181 00:09:04,366 --> 00:09:05,933 only a few months away 182 00:09:05,933 --> 00:09:09,000 and Truman trailing badly in the polls, 183 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,766 Dudley believed his time in Liberia would be short-lived. 184 00:09:14,433 --> 00:09:18,033 DUDLEY: And we woke up and Harry Truman was the president. 185 00:09:18,033 --> 00:09:21,433 Rather than stay a few months in Africa, we stayed five years. 186 00:09:22,366 --> 00:09:24,066 NARRATOR: Dudley's staff included 187 00:09:24,066 --> 00:09:27,400 a small community of African American diplomats. 188 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:30,700 Some had been in Liberia for years, 189 00:09:30,700 --> 00:09:34,300 and experienced more freedom there than they could have 190 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:36,666 in the segregated United States. 191 00:09:36,666 --> 00:09:38,166 (croquet mallet thwacks ball) 192 00:09:38,166 --> 00:09:40,500 ♪ ♪ 193 00:09:40,500 --> 00:09:42,566 They shared a commitment 194 00:09:42,566 --> 00:09:45,200 to institution-building and felt pride in the knowledge 195 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:50,233 that they were a part of a pivotal moment in history 196 00:09:50,233 --> 00:09:52,233 in a rapidly changing Africa. 197 00:09:55,466 --> 00:09:58,733 A vital American ally in World War II, 198 00:09:58,733 --> 00:10:02,333 Liberia had provided critical rubber supplies 199 00:10:02,333 --> 00:10:04,800 and the site for a military base. 200 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,966 But now, American attention 201 00:10:06,966 --> 00:10:08,200 had shifted toward 202 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:10,766 African countries on the brink of independence-- 203 00:10:10,766 --> 00:10:13,066 nations whose loyalties 204 00:10:13,066 --> 00:10:16,133 in the Cold War hung in the balance. 205 00:10:16,133 --> 00:10:19,666 Dudley faced a delicate task. 206 00:10:19,666 --> 00:10:21,733 BRENDA GAYLE PLUMMER: President Tubman felt 207 00:10:21,733 --> 00:10:26,433 Liberia was being neglected and is not getting 208 00:10:26,433 --> 00:10:29,900 the kind of foreign assistance that it deserved. 209 00:10:29,900 --> 00:10:32,866 So Dudley's representing the United States 210 00:10:32,866 --> 00:10:35,566 when that traditional relationship 211 00:10:35,566 --> 00:10:37,266 is beginning to shift. 212 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:43,200 NARRATOR: To underscore Liberia's importance as an ally, 213 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:44,633 the United States elevated the status 214 00:10:44,633 --> 00:10:45,966 of the American Legation 215 00:10:45,966 --> 00:10:50,100 to an Embassy-- a shift that made Dudley a pioneer 216 00:10:50,100 --> 00:10:52,733 for Black diplomats. 217 00:10:54,766 --> 00:10:56,966 DUDLEY: I became the first ambassador 218 00:10:56,966 --> 00:10:59,933 of color from the United States. 219 00:10:59,933 --> 00:11:03,100 ♪ ♪ 220 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:05,966 Ambassador, being the highest diplomatic rank in Liberia, 221 00:11:05,966 --> 00:11:09,700 this mantle fell upon my shoulders. 222 00:11:11,333 --> 00:11:13,600 MICHAEL KRENN: When he was raised to the ambassadorial level, 223 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,800 he was not simply going to push papers 224 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,200 and have photo ops, he wanted to do things 225 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,200 in Liberia. 226 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,066 ♪ ♪ 227 00:11:24,066 --> 00:11:27,366 There was heavy U.S. investment in the country. 228 00:11:27,366 --> 00:11:30,900 Firestone and other American companies that were there 229 00:11:30,900 --> 00:11:33,866 considered themselves almost as invaders 230 00:11:33,866 --> 00:11:35,433 that conquered pieces of land 231 00:11:35,433 --> 00:11:37,600 and used them as they wished. 232 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,200 NARRATOR: Ambassador Dudley's task was to balance 233 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:42,566 American interests 234 00:11:42,566 --> 00:11:45,300 with Liberian progress. 235 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:49,266 The key was an initiative called Point Four. 236 00:11:49,266 --> 00:11:52,066 (newsreel music playing) 237 00:11:52,066 --> 00:11:53,433 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, 238 00:11:53,433 --> 00:11:56,133 Prime Minister of the Gold Coast, arrives in Liberia. 239 00:11:56,133 --> 00:11:58,133 A portion of his visit is spent surveying 240 00:11:58,133 --> 00:12:00,266 Point Four activity in Liberia. 241 00:12:00,266 --> 00:12:01,666 ♪ ♪ 242 00:12:01,666 --> 00:12:04,000 NARRATOR: Point Four was President Truman's ambitious 243 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,966 international aid program. 244 00:12:06,966 --> 00:12:08,066 It sent American expertise, 245 00:12:08,066 --> 00:12:09,800 money, and supplies 246 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:12,700 to developing nations, 247 00:12:12,700 --> 00:12:14,233 demonstrating the considerable benefits 248 00:12:14,233 --> 00:12:16,033 of being an American ally. 249 00:12:16,033 --> 00:12:17,600 ♪ ♪ 250 00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:19,766 DUDLEY, JR.: My father dove into this. 251 00:12:19,766 --> 00:12:22,166 We're going to help them with bridges, 252 00:12:22,166 --> 00:12:25,300 with roads, with health, education. 253 00:12:26,866 --> 00:12:28,033 My father could see 254 00:12:28,033 --> 00:12:32,066 the results and to see the change. 255 00:12:32,066 --> 00:12:34,333 ♪ ♪ 256 00:12:34,333 --> 00:12:37,433 ANDERSON: The significance of Edward Dudley 257 00:12:37,433 --> 00:12:40,833 being the first African American ambassador 258 00:12:40,833 --> 00:12:43,100 is huge. 259 00:12:43,100 --> 00:12:46,933 It is part of the struggle of the recognition of merit. 260 00:12:46,933 --> 00:12:52,366 NARRATOR: It had taken the United States 160 years. 261 00:12:52,366 --> 00:12:53,500 (bell clanging) 262 00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:56,733 The State Department was created in 1789. 263 00:12:56,733 --> 00:12:59,866 Its diplomats, appointed by presidents, 264 00:12:59,866 --> 00:13:03,733 had always been the face of America in foreign lands. 265 00:13:03,733 --> 00:13:07,533 Yet the State Department had a very limited vision 266 00:13:07,533 --> 00:13:11,633 of who should represent America to the world. 267 00:13:11,633 --> 00:13:14,966 KRENN: During Reconstruction, there were a few African Americans 268 00:13:14,966 --> 00:13:18,000 appointed as diplomats. 269 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:19,833 In 1869, Ebenezer Bassett 270 00:13:19,833 --> 00:13:21,766 was the first African American diplomat. 271 00:13:21,766 --> 00:13:24,200 He was sent as a minister to Haiti. 272 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,566 Frederick Douglass was appointed to that same position. 273 00:13:27,566 --> 00:13:29,300 So there were opportunities, 274 00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:33,800 but they were very, very small opportunities. 275 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:38,033 PLUMMER: The State Department had the well-deserved reputation 276 00:13:38,033 --> 00:13:39,933 of being extremely elitist. 277 00:13:39,933 --> 00:13:45,100 It was the bailiwick of Boston Brahmins. 278 00:13:46,366 --> 00:13:48,266 Pale, male, and Yale. 279 00:13:48,266 --> 00:13:50,300 ♪ ♪ 280 00:13:50,300 --> 00:13:51,866 NARRATOR: After World War I, 281 00:13:51,866 --> 00:13:54,033 Congress attempted to professionalize 282 00:13:54,033 --> 00:13:56,166 the diplomatic corps. 283 00:13:56,166 --> 00:13:59,500 KRENN: The Rogers Act, 1924, 284 00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:01,833 set up the Foreign Service exam that had to be taken 285 00:14:01,833 --> 00:14:03,600 by every candidate. 286 00:14:05,166 --> 00:14:06,866 It was supposed to set up a merit-based system. 287 00:14:06,866 --> 00:14:09,200 NARRATOR: The legislation seemed to be 288 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:12,700 a revolution in the making. 289 00:14:12,700 --> 00:14:14,466 In theory, anyone who passed the rigorous test 290 00:14:14,466 --> 00:14:16,966 could join the Foreign Service. 291 00:14:16,966 --> 00:14:21,566 And in 1925, a law clerk named Clifton Wharton 292 00:14:21,566 --> 00:14:23,766 easily passed the written exam. 293 00:14:23,766 --> 00:14:28,366 KRENN: So there was this wide assumption that he was white. 294 00:14:28,366 --> 00:14:32,100 And then he came for the oral part of his exam, 295 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:35,733 and was very hastily sent off to Liberia. 296 00:14:35,733 --> 00:14:36,900 They didn't even send him 297 00:14:36,900 --> 00:14:38,300 to the Foreign Service school for training. 298 00:14:38,300 --> 00:14:40,766 ♪ ♪ 299 00:14:40,766 --> 00:14:44,300 NARRATOR: Only four more African Americans were accepted 300 00:14:44,300 --> 00:14:49,333 into the diplomatic corps over the next 25 years. 301 00:14:49,333 --> 00:14:54,433 KRENN: The chairman of Foreign Service personnel, Joseph Grew, 302 00:14:54,433 --> 00:14:57,966 stated very clearly that African Americans, women, 303 00:14:57,966 --> 00:15:00,733 Jewish Americans would be quietly, 304 00:15:00,733 --> 00:15:03,500 but effectively, excluded. 305 00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:06,266 Even if they passed through the written exam, 306 00:15:06,266 --> 00:15:10,700 they would be shuffled away through the oral examination. 307 00:15:10,700 --> 00:15:13,866 MAN: As Foreign Service Officers, 308 00:15:13,866 --> 00:15:16,733 you are sample Americans, 309 00:15:16,733 --> 00:15:20,333 and many people abroad 310 00:15:20,333 --> 00:15:22,200 will think better or worse, 311 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,433 of the United States because 312 00:15:25,433 --> 00:15:27,233 of what you do. 313 00:15:27,233 --> 00:15:29,500 (applause) 314 00:15:29,500 --> 00:15:33,533 ♪ ♪ 315 00:15:33,533 --> 00:15:35,700 DUDLEY: I used to come back to Washington, 316 00:15:35,700 --> 00:15:37,500 in a circle with nothing but white people, 317 00:15:37,500 --> 00:15:38,900 and I'd be introduced as 318 00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:42,700 ambassador to Liberia. 319 00:15:42,700 --> 00:15:44,500 And none of them would ever hear that 320 00:15:44,500 --> 00:15:46,433 because they would turn to me and ask me, 321 00:15:46,433 --> 00:15:50,333 "How do you like our country?" talking about America. 322 00:15:50,333 --> 00:15:53,200 The fact of the matter was, they could never conceive that 323 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:55,400 a Black man could ever be an ambassador. 324 00:15:58,066 --> 00:16:00,900 ♪ ♪ 325 00:16:00,900 --> 00:16:04,100 NARRATOR: Dudley's sense of doing good work in Liberia 326 00:16:04,100 --> 00:16:07,800 was soon tempered by the reality for African American diplomats. 327 00:16:09,733 --> 00:16:13,500 He realized they were stuck in an international loop 328 00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:16,100 that was limiting their professional growth 329 00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:18,800 and their ability to advance. 330 00:16:21,033 --> 00:16:24,466 DUDLEY: In Liberia, the Black Foreign Service Officers 331 00:16:24,466 --> 00:16:27,366 had never had the opportunity of serving anywhere else 332 00:16:27,366 --> 00:16:29,966 in the world, despite the fact that 333 00:16:29,966 --> 00:16:31,900 it was a State Department policy 334 00:16:31,900 --> 00:16:34,766 to rotate officers every two years, 335 00:16:34,766 --> 00:16:38,433 none had ever gotten outside of a little triumvirate 336 00:16:38,433 --> 00:16:40,333 called Monrovia, 337 00:16:40,333 --> 00:16:41,766 Ponta Delgado, 338 00:16:41,766 --> 00:16:43,733 and Madagascar. 339 00:16:43,733 --> 00:16:46,266 And this had been going on for year 340 00:16:46,266 --> 00:16:48,433 after year, after year. 341 00:16:48,433 --> 00:16:50,400 ANDERSON: The State Department had 342 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,033 what they called the Negro Circuit. 343 00:16:53,333 --> 00:16:56,700 They put them in places where there were already Black people. 344 00:16:58,633 --> 00:17:01,333 and Dudley looked at a system that had been in place 345 00:17:01,333 --> 00:17:05,633 for decades and said, "No." 346 00:17:05,633 --> 00:17:11,566 ♪ ♪ 347 00:17:14,466 --> 00:17:17,766 DUDLEY: We put together a memorandum documenting 348 00:17:17,766 --> 00:17:19,833 every Black in the Foreign Service 349 00:17:19,833 --> 00:17:22,600 over a long period of years. 350 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,300 ♪ ♪ 351 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:28,000 When they came into the service, 352 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,500 how long they had been in, 353 00:17:29,500 --> 00:17:33,766 and the fact that they had never been transferred. 354 00:17:33,766 --> 00:17:36,300 We added a class of white Foreign Service Officers. 355 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,233 In every instance, 356 00:17:39,233 --> 00:17:42,733 they had had four, five, and six transfers, 357 00:17:42,733 --> 00:17:44,200 and had been in different posts 358 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:45,766 throughout the world. 359 00:17:45,766 --> 00:17:47,366 ♪ ♪ 360 00:17:47,366 --> 00:17:49,833 You had these Foreign Service Officers-- 361 00:17:49,833 --> 00:17:52,366 well-trained, highly educated-- 362 00:17:52,366 --> 00:17:56,400 being placed simply in the Negro Circuit. 363 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:57,766 It makes it really hard 364 00:17:57,766 --> 00:18:00,833 to do the work of America when you know that you have been 365 00:18:00,833 --> 00:18:03,566 Jim Crowed by your own government. 366 00:18:03,566 --> 00:18:05,166 ♪ ♪ 367 00:18:05,166 --> 00:18:07,966 NARRATOR: The former lawyer quickly saw that the Negro Circuit 368 00:18:07,966 --> 00:18:12,733 directly violated the Foreign Service Act of 1946. 369 00:18:12,733 --> 00:18:15,333 It was a law whose central purpose 370 00:18:15,333 --> 00:18:16,400 was to make the Foreign Service 371 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:18,900 stronger and more efficient. 372 00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:22,033 But with Truman pushing for desegregation, 373 00:18:22,033 --> 00:18:24,133 the Act also stated a goal of 374 00:18:24,133 --> 00:18:26,533 "eliminating conditions favorable 375 00:18:26,533 --> 00:18:30,600 to inbred prejudice and caste spirit." 376 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,633 DUDLEY: My entire background had been with the National Association 377 00:18:34,633 --> 00:18:36,766 for the Advancement of Colored People. 378 00:18:36,766 --> 00:18:39,533 And I knew exactly what to do. 379 00:18:40,966 --> 00:18:43,800 I asked for an audience with the Undersecretary of State, 380 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,966 John Peurifoy, and sat in his office while he read it. 381 00:18:49,733 --> 00:18:51,800 And he was visibly disturbed, 382 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,300 and asked me what I was going to do with it. 383 00:18:54,300 --> 00:18:57,000 I indicated that it was his responsibility 384 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,033 to correct an unwholesome situation, 385 00:19:00,033 --> 00:19:04,033 but in my judgment, an illegal situation. 386 00:19:04,033 --> 00:19:09,633 Within six months, transfers came through 387 00:19:09,633 --> 00:19:11,100 and the number one Foreign Service Officer 388 00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:13,733 was sent to Paris, France. 389 00:19:13,733 --> 00:19:17,033 And this is the first time that a Black Foreign Service Officer 390 00:19:17,033 --> 00:19:18,933 had ever served in Europe. 391 00:19:18,933 --> 00:19:24,166 A second Foreign Service Officer was sent to Zurich, Switzerland. 392 00:19:24,166 --> 00:19:29,433 And a young lady of great talent was sent to Rome, Italy. 393 00:19:30,866 --> 00:19:33,333 (cheers and applause) 394 00:19:33,333 --> 00:19:38,300 NARRATOR: In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. 395 00:19:38,300 --> 00:19:42,700 Eisenhower was a war hero, not a career politician. 396 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:46,000 Raised in Kansas, he came from a world 397 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,500 where segregation was the law of the land. 398 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:52,066 LENTZ-SMITH: His State Department 399 00:19:52,066 --> 00:19:57,566 is hostile, certainly, to decolonizing nations 400 00:19:57,566 --> 00:20:01,533 and uninterested in any kind of meaningful 401 00:20:01,533 --> 00:20:03,933 African American diplomatic service. 402 00:20:03,933 --> 00:20:05,400 ♪ ♪ 403 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,100 NARRATOR: Eisenhower's election meant Dudley's time 404 00:20:08,100 --> 00:20:10,466 as ambassador was over. 405 00:20:10,466 --> 00:20:13,166 Before the new administration took office, 406 00:20:13,166 --> 00:20:16,200 Dudley officially documented his strong objection 407 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:18,266 to maintaining the status quo 408 00:20:18,266 --> 00:20:20,166 in his resignation letter. 409 00:20:20,166 --> 00:20:23,300 He argued, "Black Foreign Service Officers 410 00:20:23,300 --> 00:20:27,966 must have equal opportunity for assignments worldwide." 411 00:20:27,966 --> 00:20:31,933 The Negro Circuit had to end. 412 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,633 He made a Cold War argument 413 00:20:35,633 --> 00:20:39,266 that I'm not asking you just as a moral imperative. 414 00:20:39,266 --> 00:20:40,500 You've got to do good 415 00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:42,100 for these three-quarters of the world's people 416 00:20:42,100 --> 00:20:44,400 who are looking at America to see whether 417 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,566 it will live up to its promise of democracy and freedom. 418 00:20:47,566 --> 00:20:50,866 And here's a way to do it. 419 00:20:50,866 --> 00:20:52,933 NARRATOR: In 1953, 420 00:20:52,933 --> 00:20:55,400 Dudley left the State Department, 421 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,566 returning to the N.A.A.C.P. 422 00:20:57,566 --> 00:21:02,166 and the wider struggle for Civil Rights in America. 423 00:21:02,166 --> 00:21:05,333 ♪ ♪ 424 00:21:05,333 --> 00:21:07,333 In the early 1950s, 425 00:21:07,333 --> 00:21:11,466 the United States rode a wave of prosperity. 426 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,966 But while the country was locked 427 00:21:14,966 --> 00:21:16,600 into a brutal war in Korea, 428 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:18,200 the nation also agonized 429 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,400 over the Soviet threat of nuclear devastation, 430 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,333 (siren blaring) and a growing fear of communism 431 00:21:23,333 --> 00:21:25,566 within America. 432 00:21:25,566 --> 00:21:28,500 (plane engines droning) 433 00:21:28,500 --> 00:21:29,600 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Holidays, 434 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:31,533 vacation time, we must be ready 435 00:21:31,533 --> 00:21:32,700 to do the right thing 436 00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:34,433 if the atomic bomb explodes. 437 00:21:34,433 --> 00:21:36,700 Duck and cover! 438 00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:39,533 (explosion) 439 00:21:39,533 --> 00:21:42,233 NARRATOR: Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin 440 00:21:42,233 --> 00:21:43,833 sensationally claimed 441 00:21:43,833 --> 00:21:47,066 that hundreds of communist spies had infiltrated 442 00:21:47,066 --> 00:21:49,100 the State Department. 443 00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:50,766 JOSEPH MCCARTHY: Plans have been discussed 444 00:21:50,766 --> 00:21:53,700 by the Soviet secret police to obtain blank 445 00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:57,100 American passports from communists 446 00:21:57,100 --> 00:22:00,733 employed in the State Department. 447 00:22:00,733 --> 00:22:03,900 NARRATOR: American government agencies 448 00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:06,733 and showboating Congressmen 449 00:22:06,733 --> 00:22:09,800 falsely linked civil rights organizations with communism. 450 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,166 For aspiring Black diplomats, 451 00:22:12,166 --> 00:22:14,366 this created yet another barrier 452 00:22:14,366 --> 00:22:17,533 to a career in the State Department. 453 00:22:17,533 --> 00:22:19,666 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles 454 00:22:19,666 --> 00:22:22,766 said none of these Negroes can get through with 455 00:22:22,766 --> 00:22:24,466 "lily white" clearance. 456 00:22:26,533 --> 00:22:29,600 ANDERSON: Think about what that is really saying. 457 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,100 It's saying that 458 00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:36,266 Black folks can't be trusted with American democracy. 459 00:22:36,266 --> 00:22:39,833 So we can't have them in our mainline bureaucracies 460 00:22:39,833 --> 00:22:42,033 doing the work of America. 461 00:22:42,033 --> 00:22:43,500 ♪ ♪ 462 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:47,200 NARRATOR: One ambitious young man refused to be deterred. 463 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:51,800 In 1952, a 26-year-old from the U.S. Virgin Islands 464 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:56,066 named Terence Todman passed a written federal service exam, 465 00:22:56,066 --> 00:22:59,400 and was offered a job at the State Department. 466 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,433 But then he arrived 467 00:23:01,433 --> 00:23:04,500 for his first day of work. 468 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:06,766 TERENCE TODMAN: The head of personnel said that 469 00:23:06,766 --> 00:23:10,866 we note your accent isn't a hundred percent American, 470 00:23:10,866 --> 00:23:13,100 and we can't afford to have anyone 471 00:23:13,100 --> 00:23:15,266 in the Foreign Service who isn't 472 00:23:15,266 --> 00:23:18,666 immediately identifiable as American. 473 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,333 JAMES DANDRIDGE: The accent wasn't the defining reason. 474 00:23:25,333 --> 00:23:27,866 That was the expressed reason. 475 00:23:27,866 --> 00:23:29,066 The real reason is you... 476 00:23:29,066 --> 00:23:31,233 you're Black. 477 00:23:31,233 --> 00:23:36,333 You are not really fully American. 478 00:23:38,266 --> 00:23:39,966 NARRATOR: But Todman persisted. 479 00:23:39,966 --> 00:23:44,166 He argued his case up the ladder to the head of the office. 480 00:23:44,166 --> 00:23:46,766 TODMAN: Ambassador Whitman said, there's a great deal 481 00:23:46,766 --> 00:23:49,600 of work to be done in this office. 482 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,500 We cannot afford to hire a "showpiece." 483 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:58,066 I said, "Sir, if your job was a showpiece, I wouldn't want it. 484 00:23:58,066 --> 00:24:02,200 I think too highly of myself to take a job like that." 485 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,833 And he said, "Okay, we'll take you on." 486 00:24:04,833 --> 00:24:10,533 ♪ ♪ 487 00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:15,700 DORIS TODMAN: Terence was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. 488 00:24:17,733 --> 00:24:22,233 Race was not an issue. 489 00:24:22,233 --> 00:24:23,866 Just being raised in the Virgin Islands, 490 00:24:23,866 --> 00:24:26,166 it sort of gave you a sense of who you are. 491 00:24:26,166 --> 00:24:27,933 ♪ ♪ 492 00:24:27,933 --> 00:24:30,833 He grew up very poor. 493 00:24:30,833 --> 00:24:33,333 We were in the same class. 494 00:24:33,333 --> 00:24:36,100 He's quite bossy, by the way. 495 00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:38,833 He was very, very smart. 496 00:24:38,833 --> 00:24:41,300 I remember my great-grandmother saying, 497 00:24:41,300 --> 00:24:44,766 "That young man, whoever he is, is going places." 498 00:24:46,100 --> 00:24:49,233 NARRATOR: In 1945, at age 19, 499 00:24:49,233 --> 00:24:50,600 Todman had been drafted 500 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,400 into the Army. 501 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,366 He took the officer's candidate exam in Spanish and English, 502 00:24:56,366 --> 00:24:58,066 and passed both. 503 00:24:58,066 --> 00:25:01,066 Then he was shipped out to Japan, 504 00:25:01,066 --> 00:25:03,600 where he discovered his calling. 505 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,300 TODMAN: I learned to speak Japanese, 506 00:25:08,300 --> 00:25:11,000 and I spoke to my fellow officers 507 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,333 and heard the misconceptions 508 00:25:13,333 --> 00:25:14,933 they had about the Japanese. 509 00:25:14,933 --> 00:25:20,633 And I would tell them what the Japanese were like. 510 00:25:20,633 --> 00:25:22,600 And speaking to the Japanese, 511 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:24,766 the misconceptions they had about Americans 512 00:25:24,766 --> 00:25:28,233 (chuckling): were so great, that I found myself 513 00:25:28,233 --> 00:25:29,666 telling the Japanese 514 00:25:29,666 --> 00:25:31,666 about Americans. 515 00:25:31,666 --> 00:25:33,600 And I realized that a lot of difficulties arose 516 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:38,433 from people not knowing about each other. 517 00:25:38,433 --> 00:25:40,866 And that became critical to my thinking 518 00:25:40,866 --> 00:25:42,900 about what I would do afterwards. 519 00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:46,133 This was the eye-opening experience 520 00:25:46,133 --> 00:25:50,166 that propelled his interests into Foreign Service. 521 00:25:50,166 --> 00:25:53,966 If he could be as successful 522 00:25:53,966 --> 00:25:56,800 as a communicator in the military, 523 00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:59,600 why not seek an opportunity 524 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,400 to apply those skills as a diplomat? 525 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,666 ♪ ♪ 526 00:26:04,666 --> 00:26:07,266 NARRATOR: Terence Todman began as a Foreign Service 527 00:26:07,266 --> 00:26:09,466 desk officer in Washington D.C., 528 00:26:09,466 --> 00:26:13,300 monitoring U.S. relations with three Asian nations. 529 00:26:13,300 --> 00:26:16,800 From the beginning, his colleagues didn't know 530 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,100 what to make of his presence. 531 00:26:19,100 --> 00:26:23,133 TODMAN: When they came to speak to the Nepal desk officer, 532 00:26:23,133 --> 00:26:27,000 they'd walk in, see me behind a desk, 533 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,533 and wonder, what are you doing there? 534 00:26:29,533 --> 00:26:32,800 There'd be real amazement, just to the idea 535 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:37,033 of an African American in an officer position. 536 00:26:37,033 --> 00:26:41,833 DORIS TODMAN: Being a diplomatic wife was a full-time job. 537 00:26:41,833 --> 00:26:45,833 There was so much work dealing with three countries, 538 00:26:45,833 --> 00:26:49,233 India, Ceylon, and Nepal. 539 00:26:49,233 --> 00:26:52,466 He'd bring the newspapers home for me to read. 540 00:26:52,466 --> 00:26:54,666 I would underline 541 00:26:54,666 --> 00:26:56,633 what was important 542 00:26:56,633 --> 00:26:59,500 and give him a briefing. 543 00:26:59,500 --> 00:27:02,866 I was a part of it. 544 00:27:02,866 --> 00:27:06,833 NARRATOR: Todman's first overseas assignment was India. 545 00:27:06,833 --> 00:27:09,466 But first, he had to take language training 546 00:27:09,466 --> 00:27:12,833 in Hindustani at the Foreign Service Institute. 547 00:27:12,833 --> 00:27:16,833 This was Virginia in 1957, 548 00:27:16,833 --> 00:27:19,100 where segregation was legal. 549 00:27:19,100 --> 00:27:23,000 TODMAN: My first day, the white officers 550 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,733 went across the street into a restaurant. 551 00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:31,033 And I was not allowed to go there because 552 00:27:31,033 --> 00:27:35,500 Black Americans couldn't go into their restaurants. 553 00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:37,466 So I went to the State Department and said, 554 00:27:37,466 --> 00:27:39,100 "This can't go." 555 00:27:39,100 --> 00:27:41,533 State Department said, "These are Virginia laws, 556 00:27:41,533 --> 00:27:44,033 "a lot of people have come here 557 00:27:44,033 --> 00:27:45,733 and haven't said anything about it." 558 00:27:45,733 --> 00:27:47,800 And I said, "Well, I'm not other people, 559 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:51,133 and you're doing something that's not right." 560 00:27:51,133 --> 00:27:54,766 DANDRIDGE: And he said to the Department of State, "You have a problem. 561 00:27:54,766 --> 00:27:56,266 "I don't have a problem. 562 00:27:56,266 --> 00:27:57,700 This is not about me." 563 00:27:57,700 --> 00:27:58,833 ♪ ♪ 564 00:27:58,833 --> 00:28:00,700 NARRATOR: Todman later said, 565 00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:02,833 "I was considered a troublemaker, 566 00:28:02,833 --> 00:28:05,333 and that was all right." 567 00:28:05,333 --> 00:28:07,900 KRENN: Todman knew that institutional culture 568 00:28:07,900 --> 00:28:10,300 wasn't going to change on its own. 569 00:28:10,300 --> 00:28:12,533 It was going to change by being confronted, 570 00:28:12,533 --> 00:28:15,166 by being embarrassed. 571 00:28:15,166 --> 00:28:17,433 And he kept up such a firestorm of protest 572 00:28:17,433 --> 00:28:19,266 that eventually the Department of State 573 00:28:19,266 --> 00:28:22,766 rented half of the restaurant. 574 00:28:22,766 --> 00:28:25,900 There finally was a desegregated cafeteria 575 00:28:25,900 --> 00:28:29,333 for Foreign Service Officers. 576 00:28:29,333 --> 00:28:32,333 NARRATOR: While Terence Todman was confronting racism 577 00:28:32,333 --> 00:28:34,100 inside the State Department, 578 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:36,200 the U.S. government was confronting 579 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,000 a Soviet information campaign focused on highlighting 580 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,433 America's racial violence. 581 00:28:42,433 --> 00:28:44,566 A large part of the Cold War 582 00:28:44,566 --> 00:28:46,333 was a battle of public relations. 583 00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:51,100 Which side would be better at selling itself? 584 00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:53,133 (horns honking) 585 00:28:53,133 --> 00:28:56,166 To counter Soviet propaganda worldwide, 586 00:28:56,166 --> 00:29:00,866 Eisenhower created the United States Information Agency, 587 00:29:00,866 --> 00:29:04,966 the U.S.I.A. 588 00:29:04,966 --> 00:29:09,933 NICHOLAS CULL: As a one-stop shop for American foreign policy information, 589 00:29:09,933 --> 00:29:15,033 U.S.I.A. has an astonishing range of outlets. 590 00:29:15,033 --> 00:29:17,133 It had Voice of America radio. 591 00:29:17,133 --> 00:29:21,366 (speaking non-English languages) 592 00:29:21,366 --> 00:29:23,833 CULL: It had libraries. 593 00:29:23,833 --> 00:29:28,900 It gets U.S.I.A. material in front of millions of people 594 00:29:28,900 --> 00:29:32,100 and is a tremendous part of how 595 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,466 the United States 596 00:29:34,466 --> 00:29:37,000 is perceived in the world. 597 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,566 NARRATOR: The crucial audiences for the American message 598 00:29:40,566 --> 00:29:43,900 were countries that hadn't taken sides in the Cold War, 599 00:29:43,900 --> 00:29:46,633 the non-aligned nations. 600 00:29:46,633 --> 00:29:49,466 Terence Todman was sent to the most important 601 00:29:49,466 --> 00:29:54,066 neutral nation of all-- India. 602 00:29:54,066 --> 00:29:56,866 BRENDA GAYLE PLUMMER: India had been one of the countries 603 00:29:56,866 --> 00:30:00,500 most critical of the United States' race relations. 604 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:04,733 It was a country that was independent of the Soviets. 605 00:30:04,733 --> 00:30:07,866 It was a very influential country. 606 00:30:07,866 --> 00:30:11,566 Indian opinion was important. 607 00:30:11,566 --> 00:30:14,500 NARRATOR: As the Todman family looked to India 608 00:30:14,500 --> 00:30:16,600 for their first overseas posting, 609 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,933 the eyes of the world were focused 610 00:30:18,933 --> 00:30:21,800 on Little Rock, Arkansas. 611 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,533 ♪ ♪ 612 00:30:24,533 --> 00:30:27,466 (crowd clamoring) 613 00:30:27,466 --> 00:30:31,166 PLUMMER: One of the interesting aspects 614 00:30:31,166 --> 00:30:33,800 of the Civil Rights controversies 615 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:34,966 of the late '50s was 616 00:30:34,966 --> 00:30:36,566 they were televised. 617 00:30:36,566 --> 00:30:38,566 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Little Rock, Arkansas. 618 00:30:38,566 --> 00:30:40,666 The white population are determined to prevent 619 00:30:40,666 --> 00:30:42,433 colored students from going to the school 620 00:30:42,433 --> 00:30:44,566 their own children attend. 621 00:30:44,566 --> 00:30:47,833 PLUMMER: This was one of the first times 622 00:30:47,833 --> 00:30:52,166 in U.S. history when racial violence 623 00:30:52,166 --> 00:30:55,033 could be seen all over the world. 624 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,100 ANDERSON: You've got nine Black honor students, 625 00:30:59,100 --> 00:31:00,800 just trying to go to school, 626 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,766 just trying to get an education. 627 00:31:02,766 --> 00:31:05,666 We see white mobs, angry mobs, 628 00:31:05,666 --> 00:31:08,200 trying to get at the kids. 629 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,066 (crowd shouting) 630 00:31:12,700 --> 00:31:17,500 MARY DUDZIAK: The "Times of India" tracked it day by day. 631 00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:20,966 Race was undermining the ability 632 00:31:20,966 --> 00:31:24,966 of the United States to appeal to emerging new nations. 633 00:31:24,966 --> 00:31:26,866 And it raised questions-- 634 00:31:26,866 --> 00:31:29,100 "Why should we be your ally when 635 00:31:29,100 --> 00:31:31,933 you treat people who look like me this way?" 636 00:31:33,533 --> 00:31:37,600 NARRATOR: The governor of Arkansas sent in the National Guard 637 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:41,233 to block the Black students and keep the school segregated. 638 00:31:41,233 --> 00:31:43,966 For three weeks, the president 639 00:31:43,966 --> 00:31:48,200 of the United States did nothing at all. 640 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,400 ANDERSON: The Soviets were all on top 641 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,333 of the explosion at Little Rock. 642 00:31:55,966 --> 00:31:59,566 You see the frustration in the administration, 643 00:31:59,566 --> 00:32:02,700 in the State Department, calling it propaganda. 644 00:32:02,700 --> 00:32:06,600 It is a way for them to strip it of its truth. 645 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,633 It's not propaganda if it's true. 646 00:32:08,633 --> 00:32:11,933 Our enemies are gloating over this incident 647 00:32:11,933 --> 00:32:16,866 and using it everywhere to misrepresent our whole nation. 648 00:32:16,866 --> 00:32:18,733 Little Rock will return 649 00:32:18,733 --> 00:32:23,700 to its normal habits of peace and order. 650 00:32:23,700 --> 00:32:25,733 Thus will be restored 651 00:32:25,733 --> 00:32:28,333 the image of America and of all its parts. 652 00:32:28,333 --> 00:32:29,800 (crowd clamoring) 653 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,633 LENTZ-SMITH: Eisenhower deploys federal troops. 654 00:32:33,633 --> 00:32:35,800 He ultimately does it for these questions 655 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,266 of American credibility in international coverage, 656 00:32:39,266 --> 00:32:42,200 not because it's the right thing to do. 657 00:32:44,066 --> 00:32:47,100 NARRATOR: As America continued to reveal its faults to the world, 658 00:32:47,100 --> 00:32:50,100 it was a frustrating time for Terence Todman 659 00:32:50,100 --> 00:32:52,666 to be a Foreign Service Officer abroad. 660 00:32:52,666 --> 00:32:54,733 "We were putting out a lot of information, 661 00:32:54,733 --> 00:32:56,800 which no one paid any attention to," 662 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:58,200 he would later say. 663 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,433 "If we assigned a couple of Black officers 664 00:33:01,433 --> 00:33:03,333 "to positions in those embassies, 665 00:33:03,333 --> 00:33:05,966 "their very presence, as Black Americans 666 00:33:05,966 --> 00:33:09,400 in official positions, would tell the story far better." 667 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:13,500 And for Doris Todman, 668 00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:15,866 it was difficult to be overseas 669 00:33:15,866 --> 00:33:18,266 watching the Civil Rights struggle unfold 670 00:33:18,266 --> 00:33:21,100 half a world away. 671 00:33:21,100 --> 00:33:23,166 DORIS TODMAN: Well, I would say, "Why am I here? 672 00:33:23,166 --> 00:33:25,300 I should be out there marching," you know. 673 00:33:25,300 --> 00:33:28,333 And he said, "Look, we serve a purpose, too. 674 00:33:28,333 --> 00:33:31,666 We're showing what America could be." 675 00:33:32,933 --> 00:33:37,433 DANDRIDGE: He was concerned that we represent the truth 676 00:33:37,433 --> 00:33:42,566 and not painting over of American culture and society. 677 00:33:44,366 --> 00:33:46,100 He had a job to do, 678 00:33:46,100 --> 00:33:48,166 to represent the United States of America, 679 00:33:48,166 --> 00:33:50,066 the good, the bad, and the ugly. 680 00:33:50,066 --> 00:33:52,666 And if it was ugly, he said it's ugly. 681 00:33:52,666 --> 00:33:54,200 (crowd clamoring) 682 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,600 NARRATOR: By the late 1950s, 683 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,633 people throughout Asia and Africa 684 00:33:58,633 --> 00:34:00,933 were fighting for self-determination 685 00:34:00,933 --> 00:34:04,066 against colonial powers. 686 00:34:04,066 --> 00:34:06,833 But Eisenhower failed to see a connection between 687 00:34:06,833 --> 00:34:08,700 liberation movements in Africa 688 00:34:08,700 --> 00:34:12,200 and civil rights in America. 689 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,766 He saw action against colonial governments 690 00:34:14,766 --> 00:34:17,900 as communist-inspired. 691 00:34:17,900 --> 00:34:21,133 LENTZ-SMITH: Deeply embedded in U.S. values 692 00:34:21,133 --> 00:34:24,466 in the 1950s was an understanding of 693 00:34:24,466 --> 00:34:27,733 white people at the top of a heap of worth 694 00:34:27,733 --> 00:34:30,166 and capability, and 695 00:34:30,166 --> 00:34:35,466 Black people, Asians, you know, Indigenous people 696 00:34:35,466 --> 00:34:36,866 controlling their own destinies, 697 00:34:36,866 --> 00:34:40,566 would mean chaos and upheaval, 698 00:34:40,566 --> 00:34:42,866 is deeply rooted in racialized understandings 699 00:34:42,866 --> 00:34:45,033 of who has the capacity for self-government. 700 00:34:45,033 --> 00:34:49,500 TODMAN: While serving on U.S. delegations, 701 00:34:49,500 --> 00:34:52,366 I noticed the United States going along 702 00:34:52,366 --> 00:34:56,333 with what the British and French were doing 703 00:34:56,333 --> 00:34:59,166 in dragging their feet and not keeping up to 704 00:34:59,166 --> 00:35:01,466 their sacred trust of bringing 705 00:35:01,466 --> 00:35:03,433 these countries to self-government. 706 00:35:03,433 --> 00:35:06,766 And I kept insisting that the U.S. policy 707 00:35:06,766 --> 00:35:09,666 should be in keeping with our own history 708 00:35:09,666 --> 00:35:11,433 and our own principles, 709 00:35:11,433 --> 00:35:14,833 and that we should not be going along 710 00:35:14,833 --> 00:35:17,800 with what these colonial powers were doing. 711 00:35:19,766 --> 00:35:21,366 KRENN: Todman represented 712 00:35:21,366 --> 00:35:22,966 the sort of young lions coming in, 713 00:35:22,966 --> 00:35:26,000 confronting this idea within the State Department 714 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,866 that the real experts on Africa are the old colonialists. 715 00:35:29,866 --> 00:35:32,033 ♪ ♪ 716 00:35:32,033 --> 00:35:36,266 NARRATOR: In 1960, liberation movements in Asia and Africa 717 00:35:36,266 --> 00:35:39,233 were transforming global politics. 718 00:35:39,233 --> 00:35:40,866 That year alone, 719 00:35:40,866 --> 00:35:43,200 17 African nations won 720 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,100 their struggle for independence. 721 00:35:46,100 --> 00:35:50,266 Eisenhower left office in 1961, just as the movement 722 00:35:50,266 --> 00:35:54,766 for civil rights at home was growing stronger by the year. 723 00:36:01,033 --> 00:36:02,900 In his winning campaign, 724 00:36:02,900 --> 00:36:05,500 John F. Kennedy had promised to support 725 00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:09,666 both civil rights and African independence. 726 00:36:09,666 --> 00:36:12,233 KENNEDY: The great battleground for the defense and expansion 727 00:36:12,233 --> 00:36:16,400 of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe-- 728 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,466 Asia, Latin America, 729 00:36:19,466 --> 00:36:21,266 Africa, and the Middle East, 730 00:36:21,266 --> 00:36:24,100 the lands of the rising people. 731 00:36:25,933 --> 00:36:27,533 NARRATOR: But for all his rhetoric, 732 00:36:27,533 --> 00:36:28,833 the new president 733 00:36:28,833 --> 00:36:32,033 mainly focused on one problem-- stopping the expansion 734 00:36:32,033 --> 00:36:34,666 of communist power. 735 00:36:34,666 --> 00:36:37,366 Now he looked for someone he could trust 736 00:36:37,366 --> 00:36:40,566 to communicate his policies to the world. 737 00:36:42,766 --> 00:36:45,233 Oh, New Year's Day of 1961, 738 00:36:45,233 --> 00:36:47,533 I was lying in bed in Pasadena waiting 739 00:36:47,533 --> 00:36:49,300 for the Rose Bowl game to start, 740 00:36:49,300 --> 00:36:52,100 when I got a telephone call asking if I'd come down 741 00:36:52,100 --> 00:36:56,233 to Washington as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. 742 00:36:56,233 --> 00:36:58,666 Wow, that must've been an exciting call. 743 00:36:58,666 --> 00:37:02,466 Well, it, uh... there were a lot of days 744 00:37:02,466 --> 00:37:04,000 during those four-and-a-half years 745 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,833 when I wished I'd never gotten the call. 746 00:37:06,833 --> 00:37:08,166 (audience laughter) 747 00:37:09,733 --> 00:37:11,533 NARRATOR: By the time he received that call, 748 00:37:11,533 --> 00:37:16,033 Carl Rowan was already a nationally known journalist. 749 00:37:16,033 --> 00:37:18,600 During the 1960 campaign, 750 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,866 he'd written a series of articles for 751 00:37:20,866 --> 00:37:22,600 a Republican-owned newspaper 752 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:26,400 on Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy that Kennedy found 753 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:28,700 surprisingly fair. 754 00:37:28,700 --> 00:37:31,500 Six months later, the new president offered 755 00:37:31,500 --> 00:37:34,533 the young journalist the job of Deputy Assistant 756 00:37:34,533 --> 00:37:38,066 Secretary of State for Public Affairs. 757 00:37:38,066 --> 00:37:41,200 Carl Rowan would communicate Kennedy's policies 758 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,433 to journalists around the world. 759 00:37:44,433 --> 00:37:47,166 JEFFREY ROWAN: He wanted his voice to be heard. 760 00:37:47,166 --> 00:37:49,600 He wanted a seat at the table 761 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:51,266 in both domestic 762 00:37:51,266 --> 00:37:53,166 and international policy making. 763 00:37:53,166 --> 00:37:54,666 ♪ ♪ 764 00:37:54,666 --> 00:37:56,933 NARRATOR: The appointment made Rowan the highest-ranking 765 00:37:56,933 --> 00:38:00,266 African American official in the State Department. 766 00:38:00,266 --> 00:38:02,633 It was a remarkable accomplishment, 767 00:38:02,633 --> 00:38:05,400 especially for someone who'd grown up in a family 768 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,600 of five in a small house with no electricity 769 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,900 in McMinnville, Tennessee. 770 00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:14,400 ROWAN: His mother was a cleaner for houses 771 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,733 and his dad really didn't bring in a consistent income. 772 00:38:18,733 --> 00:38:23,066 That led to squabbles between his parents. 773 00:38:23,066 --> 00:38:26,566 Those were very difficult times for him. 774 00:38:26,566 --> 00:38:28,366 NARRATOR: From the beginning, 775 00:38:28,366 --> 00:38:31,966 Carl Rowan was driven to succeed. 776 00:38:31,966 --> 00:38:35,400 He was valedictorian of his high school class, 777 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,366 and went to Tennessee State University. 778 00:38:38,366 --> 00:38:42,500 Then he became one of the first African American officers 779 00:38:42,500 --> 00:38:45,033 in the history of the U.S. Navy. 780 00:38:45,033 --> 00:38:48,633 But when he came back home to Tennessee, 781 00:38:48,633 --> 00:38:51,100 he was still a second class citizen. 782 00:38:51,100 --> 00:38:55,233 ♪ ♪ 783 00:38:55,233 --> 00:38:57,000 He decided to become a journalist. 784 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,966 He would tell the ugly truth about racism in the South. 785 00:39:01,966 --> 00:39:04,033 ROWAN: In 1948, I got a job with 786 00:39:04,033 --> 00:39:05,933 the "Minneapolis Tribune" 787 00:39:05,933 --> 00:39:09,200 at a time when very few daily newspapers 788 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,033 were hiring Negroes as writers. 789 00:39:12,033 --> 00:39:13,866 In 1951, 790 00:39:13,866 --> 00:39:15,600 I suggested to the editors 791 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,233 that we had a responsibility to tell the people 792 00:39:19,233 --> 00:39:21,333 of this state something about 793 00:39:21,333 --> 00:39:23,600 the Negro citizens of this nation. 794 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:26,533 NARRATOR: The 18-part series called 795 00:39:26,533 --> 00:39:30,400 "How Far From Slavery?" was a sensation, 796 00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,766 and made Rowan's career. 797 00:39:32,766 --> 00:39:36,733 KRENN: Rowan portrayed the racial problems in a very specific way. 798 00:39:36,733 --> 00:39:40,366 That really all we're talking about are a few Southern states, 799 00:39:40,366 --> 00:39:43,300 these holdouts, who don't really agree with 800 00:39:43,300 --> 00:39:46,133 the vast majority of Americans. 801 00:39:46,133 --> 00:39:49,266 ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER: He had a viewpoint that 802 00:39:49,266 --> 00:39:51,933 working class people, when given opportunity, 803 00:39:51,933 --> 00:39:53,733 can participate 804 00:39:53,733 --> 00:39:56,166 in ideals of American citizenship. 805 00:39:56,166 --> 00:39:58,000 ♪ ♪ 806 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,900 NARRATOR: In 1954, Rowan took his idea 807 00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:04,166 of the American dream overseas to India, 808 00:40:04,166 --> 00:40:05,866 as part of a lecture series 809 00:40:05,866 --> 00:40:08,533 sponsored by the State Department. 810 00:40:08,533 --> 00:40:11,333 FRAZIER: Part of the agenda is for him to represent 811 00:40:11,333 --> 00:40:13,366 someone who has been able to uproot themselves 812 00:40:13,366 --> 00:40:15,100 from abject poverty. 813 00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:17,666 He's there to represent possibilities 814 00:40:17,666 --> 00:40:20,133 of life in the United States. 815 00:40:20,133 --> 00:40:25,200 It perpetuates the kind of dominant U.S. ethos 816 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,966 of individualism, which completely negates 817 00:40:29,966 --> 00:40:32,366 the reality that Rowan was an anomaly. 818 00:40:32,366 --> 00:40:37,066 NARRATOR: One evening, an Indian journalist introduced Rowan 819 00:40:37,066 --> 00:40:40,733 as an "excellent propagandist for America," 820 00:40:40,733 --> 00:40:43,900 saying, "We are all interested in how a man 821 00:40:43,900 --> 00:40:46,700 "with a Black skin, who has been unable to know 822 00:40:46,700 --> 00:40:51,633 freedom, can talk so learnedly about a free society." 823 00:40:51,633 --> 00:40:53,466 It was an uncomfortable moment, 824 00:40:53,466 --> 00:40:57,233 and it reconstructed Rowan's view of the world. 825 00:40:57,233 --> 00:41:00,433 KRENN: Rowan believed that these attacks were communist inspired. 826 00:41:00,433 --> 00:41:03,300 That's what he was facing-- 827 00:41:03,300 --> 00:41:06,566 misconceptions, lies, distorted stories. 828 00:41:06,566 --> 00:41:10,133 NARRATOR: "I was not a State Department lackey," 829 00:41:10,133 --> 00:41:11,666 Rowan would later write. 830 00:41:11,666 --> 00:41:15,533 "I simply went from Darjeeling, to Patna, to Cuttack, 831 00:41:15,533 --> 00:41:19,433 "to Madras, saying good things about my country 832 00:41:19,433 --> 00:41:22,666 "because I believed that the society that had given me 833 00:41:22,666 --> 00:41:24,666 "a break was in the process of taking 834 00:41:24,666 --> 00:41:28,300 great strides toward racial justice." 835 00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:31,100 LENTZ-SMITH: The first word for him is "patriot." 836 00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:33,533 And that's a complicated thing for 837 00:41:33,533 --> 00:41:37,500 a Black man to be in the mid-1950s. 838 00:41:37,500 --> 00:41:41,766 So he is critical of the U.S., 839 00:41:41,766 --> 00:41:43,466 but he also sees promise, 840 00:41:43,466 --> 00:41:46,366 he believes that American democracy 841 00:41:46,366 --> 00:41:48,633 would be good for the world, 842 00:41:48,633 --> 00:41:51,866 and for decolonizing nations. 843 00:41:51,866 --> 00:41:56,233 ♪ ♪ 844 00:41:58,066 --> 00:41:59,866 NARRATOR: Rowan became friendly 845 00:41:59,866 --> 00:42:03,933 with Vice President Lyndon Johnson on a 1961 trip 846 00:42:03,933 --> 00:42:06,666 through Asia, including Vietnam, 847 00:42:06,666 --> 00:42:08,033 where the U.S. 848 00:42:08,033 --> 00:42:11,300 was already becoming entangled in a war. 849 00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:15,533 ♪ ♪ 850 00:42:15,533 --> 00:42:18,400 Their friendship fueled Rowan's ambition, 851 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,600 but it led to frustration, as well. 852 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,900 "I suppose it's natural that 853 00:42:24,900 --> 00:42:28,233 "anyone who travels with and advises a vice president 854 00:42:28,233 --> 00:42:31,433 would develop some sense of self-esteem," he later wrote. 855 00:42:31,433 --> 00:42:34,333 "I took on a sense of self-importance that 856 00:42:34,333 --> 00:42:36,766 "had nothing to do with reality. 857 00:42:36,766 --> 00:42:39,133 I forgot," he wrote, 858 00:42:39,133 --> 00:42:42,766 "that I was just another Negro." 859 00:42:42,766 --> 00:42:44,600 FRAZIER: He describes the State Department 860 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:46,900 as a virtual plantation. 861 00:42:46,900 --> 00:42:50,066 It's very much a kind of white male culture. 862 00:42:50,066 --> 00:42:55,100 And this is a space that he is forced to make sense of. 863 00:42:55,100 --> 00:42:58,166 He does push for more, you know, people of color, 864 00:42:58,166 --> 00:43:00,133 Black people, to be hired. 865 00:43:00,933 --> 00:43:02,333 ROWAN: The fact that I'd come in 866 00:43:02,333 --> 00:43:05,733 as the first deputy assistant secretary, 867 00:43:05,733 --> 00:43:07,866 we launched a mighty campaign 868 00:43:07,866 --> 00:43:09,800 to integrate the Foreign Service to the point 869 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,333 that it looked reasonably like 870 00:43:12,333 --> 00:43:15,433 the population of the United States. 871 00:43:15,433 --> 00:43:19,300 NARRATOR: But the pace of change was slow. 872 00:43:19,300 --> 00:43:21,000 After two years, 873 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,166 Rowan was ready to leave the department. 874 00:43:24,166 --> 00:43:28,100 Instead, Kennedy offered him an ambassadorship 875 00:43:28,100 --> 00:43:31,500 to Finland, and Rowan took it. 876 00:43:31,500 --> 00:43:36,133 AURELIA BRAZEAL: The currency of diplomacy is optimism. 877 00:43:36,133 --> 00:43:39,500 You have to be optimistic as a diplomat. 878 00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:43,233 And that leads to seeing issues as opportunities. 879 00:43:43,233 --> 00:43:46,666 ♪ ♪ 880 00:43:49,066 --> 00:43:51,000 REPORTER: And now you're here and we hope that you will 881 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:52,900 like to stay here with us. 882 00:43:52,900 --> 00:43:54,566 I know we're going to enjoy it immensely. 883 00:43:54,566 --> 00:43:57,500 And we look forward to seeing all of this 884 00:43:57,500 --> 00:44:01,266 country and as many of Finland's people as possible. 885 00:44:02,933 --> 00:44:07,800 ROWAN: The Finns did magazine articles galore. 886 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:11,166 I remember one in one of the big Finnish magazines, 887 00:44:11,166 --> 00:44:14,500 the most colorful ambassador in Finland. 888 00:44:14,500 --> 00:44:16,466 (laughs) 889 00:44:16,466 --> 00:44:21,200 They were talking about the unorthodox style 890 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,000 that I brought to the job, in the sense of traveling 891 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,233 more than any American had before, 892 00:44:27,233 --> 00:44:30,033 and going out bowling with the Finnish people. 893 00:44:30,033 --> 00:44:33,033 ♪ ♪ 894 00:44:33,033 --> 00:44:35,833 JEFFREY ROWAN: People would walk up to us and stare, 895 00:44:35,833 --> 00:44:39,400 but it wasn't a kind of racist staring. 896 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,600 They were just curious because they had never 897 00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:44,666 really seen people of color before. 898 00:44:44,666 --> 00:44:46,300 ♪ ♪ 899 00:44:46,300 --> 00:44:48,833 NARRATOR: For Rowan, being a Black ambassador 900 00:44:48,833 --> 00:44:50,900 in Finland had a subtext. 901 00:44:50,900 --> 00:44:54,100 He wrote, "I could belie the notion 902 00:44:54,100 --> 00:44:57,800 that my country was hopelessly racist." 903 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,900 Rowan said, "My coming to Finland would 904 00:45:00,900 --> 00:45:03,333 "hasten the day when American Negroes are 905 00:45:03,333 --> 00:45:07,066 playing the role they ought to play in our Foreign Service." 906 00:45:07,066 --> 00:45:10,433 Finland was a critical country for 907 00:45:10,433 --> 00:45:12,166 a president preoccupied with 908 00:45:12,166 --> 00:45:15,266 drawing the line against Communism. 909 00:45:15,266 --> 00:45:18,900 The Soviet Union loomed large on Finland's border. 910 00:45:18,900 --> 00:45:21,000 Ambassador Rowan was now 911 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,733 on the frontlines of the Cold War. 912 00:45:24,733 --> 00:45:27,166 KRENN: Finland was a hotspot. 913 00:45:27,166 --> 00:45:28,966 Finland was seen as sort of a nation 914 00:45:28,966 --> 00:45:30,600 on the fence in the Cold War. 915 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,233 This was a nation we really had to curry their favor. 916 00:45:33,233 --> 00:45:36,033 We know the Soviets were also trying to curry their favor. 917 00:45:36,033 --> 00:45:39,033 (explosion) 918 00:45:39,033 --> 00:45:41,033 NARRATOR: The U.S. and the Soviet Union had enough 919 00:45:41,033 --> 00:45:45,300 nuclear weapons to destroy the other many times over. 920 00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:47,533 Kennedy urged the world's leaders to sign 921 00:45:47,533 --> 00:45:50,133 a partial test ban, and Kennedy's 922 00:45:50,133 --> 00:45:52,200 directive to Rowan was clear-- 923 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:55,400 persuade Finland's president, Urho Kekkonen, 924 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,400 to support an international treaty. 925 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,000 KENNEDY: Let us call a truce to terror. 926 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:04,533 The logical place to begin is a treaty 927 00:46:04,533 --> 00:46:07,566 assuring the end of nuclear tests 928 00:46:07,566 --> 00:46:11,500 of all kinds, in every environment. 929 00:46:11,500 --> 00:46:13,333 ♪ ♪ 930 00:46:13,333 --> 00:46:16,633 NARRATOR: Rowan succeeded in getting Kekkonen to join the effort. 931 00:46:18,466 --> 00:46:23,166 This was his greatest accomplishment as an ambassador. 932 00:46:23,166 --> 00:46:24,933 But his stay was cut short-- 933 00:46:24,933 --> 00:46:28,433 on November 22, 1963. 934 00:46:35,266 --> 00:46:37,200 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: In winter's darkness, 935 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,500 all men await the new president's guidance. 936 00:46:39,500 --> 00:46:43,633 His cabinet puts before him a Congress deadlocked in debate, 937 00:46:43,633 --> 00:46:46,700 the torment of a nation on the edge of racial clash. 938 00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:51,633 With steadying certainty, Lyndon Johnson takes over. 939 00:46:51,633 --> 00:46:54,666 NARRATOR: When Lyndon Johnson became president, 940 00:46:54,666 --> 00:46:59,266 he entered office with an ambitious civil rights agenda. 941 00:46:59,266 --> 00:47:01,966 The first step would be to appoint 942 00:47:01,966 --> 00:47:03,500 African Americans to high office. 943 00:47:03,500 --> 00:47:05,600 I, Carl T. Rowan, do solemnly swear... 944 00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,233 NARRATOR: He named Rowan the director 945 00:47:07,233 --> 00:47:10,100 of the United States Information Agency. 946 00:47:10,100 --> 00:47:11,700 That I will support... 947 00:47:11,700 --> 00:47:13,700 IRVIN HICKS JR: The fact that here is 948 00:47:13,700 --> 00:47:15,133 a very accomplished African American 949 00:47:15,133 --> 00:47:16,966 who has been put into this position 950 00:47:16,966 --> 00:47:18,866 and has the confidence 951 00:47:18,866 --> 00:47:21,400 of the president of the United States, 952 00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:22,800 it was a major fanfare 953 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:24,066 as I was growing up 954 00:47:24,066 --> 00:47:26,333 in African American publications, 955 00:47:26,333 --> 00:47:28,900 because it was unprecedented. 956 00:47:28,900 --> 00:47:33,866 NARRATOR: But it wasn't easy to be head of the U.S.I.A. in the 1960s. 957 00:47:33,866 --> 00:47:37,400 America's racial unrest intensified, 958 00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,066 while the country spiraled deeper into 959 00:47:40,066 --> 00:47:43,666 what many viewed as an unjust war. 960 00:47:43,666 --> 00:47:48,866 It was Rowan's job to protect America's image overseas, 961 00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:52,033 a position that often put him at odds 962 00:47:52,033 --> 00:47:54,033 with civil rights leaders. 963 00:47:54,033 --> 00:47:57,133 ANDERSON: Carl Rowan, 964 00:47:57,133 --> 00:48:00,433 I would say, played it too close to the vest. 965 00:48:00,433 --> 00:48:03,633 There is an insurgency in the Black community. 966 00:48:03,633 --> 00:48:08,333 And so the kind of quiet, patient gradualism 967 00:48:08,333 --> 00:48:12,700 isn't playing to that insurgency. 968 00:48:14,566 --> 00:48:16,300 ♪ ♪ 969 00:48:16,300 --> 00:48:19,733 KRENN: It was a difficult time to be a representative of a country 970 00:48:19,733 --> 00:48:24,433 that still kept most of your fellow African Americans 971 00:48:24,433 --> 00:48:26,866 in second-class citizenship. 972 00:48:26,866 --> 00:48:30,733 Well, which United States do they represent? 973 00:48:30,733 --> 00:48:33,733 Do they represent the United States that 974 00:48:33,733 --> 00:48:35,200 they are supposed to represent, 975 00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:38,066 as the paragon of freedom, democracy, and justice, 976 00:48:38,066 --> 00:48:41,600 or do they represent the America which is 977 00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:43,266 a segregated, divided, 978 00:48:43,266 --> 00:48:47,433 and sometimes racially violent society? 979 00:48:47,433 --> 00:48:50,033 (shouting, clamoring) 980 00:48:52,700 --> 00:48:57,233 NARRATOR: As the debacle in Vietnam consumed LBJ, 981 00:48:57,233 --> 00:48:59,666 Rowan felt increasingly cut out 982 00:48:59,666 --> 00:49:02,333 of the decision-making process. 983 00:49:02,333 --> 00:49:07,500 His relationship with the president deteriorated. 984 00:49:07,500 --> 00:49:11,800 In 1965, Rowan resigned. 985 00:49:13,066 --> 00:49:15,866 BRAZEAL: There were people I knew who did resign. 986 00:49:15,866 --> 00:49:18,833 As a country, we lost their talent. 987 00:49:18,833 --> 00:49:23,133 We lost their thinking on policy issues. 988 00:49:23,133 --> 00:49:25,366 It's hard to quantify what you've lost, 989 00:49:25,366 --> 00:49:28,400 but you do lose that voice at the table. 990 00:49:30,466 --> 00:49:33,000 LENTZ-SMITH: It's easy to enter an institution 991 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,166 and think you're going to change it. 992 00:49:35,166 --> 00:49:37,766 But if it's just you or just a few of you, 993 00:49:37,766 --> 00:49:40,233 how do you keep in mind the purpose that you entered with 994 00:49:40,233 --> 00:49:43,100 and how do you fulfill that purpose? 995 00:49:45,166 --> 00:49:46,933 NARRATOR: Both Carl Rowan 996 00:49:46,933 --> 00:49:48,433 and Edward R. Dudley returned 997 00:49:48,433 --> 00:49:52,133 to illustrious careers outside diplomacy. 998 00:49:53,366 --> 00:49:55,933 (indistinct chatter, flashbulbs popping) 999 00:49:55,933 --> 00:50:00,266 But Terence Todman dedicated his life to the Foreign Service. 1000 00:50:00,266 --> 00:50:04,066 In 1989, the State Department honored him 1001 00:50:04,066 --> 00:50:06,266 with the rank of Career Ambassador, 1002 00:50:06,266 --> 00:50:09,500 the first African American diplomat 1003 00:50:09,500 --> 00:50:11,666 to receive that distinction. 1004 00:50:11,666 --> 00:50:15,333 He served as an ambassador for 23 years, 1005 00:50:15,333 --> 00:50:17,733 learned six languages, 1006 00:50:17,733 --> 00:50:21,366 and held six ambassadorial positions. 1007 00:50:21,366 --> 00:50:23,533 HICKS: That means that on six occasions, 1008 00:50:23,533 --> 00:50:26,433 Ambassador Todman received Senate confirmation. 1009 00:50:26,433 --> 00:50:28,800 On six occasions, you had the confidence 1010 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:30,866 of the president of the United States. 1011 00:50:30,866 --> 00:50:33,133 That is-- that is highly unique. 1012 00:50:33,133 --> 00:50:34,733 ♪ ♪ 1013 00:50:34,733 --> 00:50:37,333 DORIS TODMAN: We felt we were proving a point 1014 00:50:37,333 --> 00:50:39,766 because we had penetrated 1015 00:50:39,766 --> 00:50:42,600 an impenetrable area 1016 00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,066 in America, in diplomacy. 1017 00:50:45,066 --> 00:50:47,433 We felt that was important. 1018 00:50:47,433 --> 00:50:51,500 KRENN: If we look at the late 1940s with Edward Dudley, 1019 00:50:51,500 --> 00:50:53,066 moving on through Terence Todman, 1020 00:50:53,066 --> 00:50:56,066 moving up to the career of Carl Rowan and beyond, 1021 00:50:56,066 --> 00:50:59,700 the question of progress, it's a difficult one. 1022 00:51:00,966 --> 00:51:02,400 Has there been progress? 1023 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:03,966 There has been progress. 1024 00:51:03,966 --> 00:51:06,333 But it's been an uphill battle. 1025 00:51:06,333 --> 00:51:08,366 The folks who are in these bureaucracies, 1026 00:51:08,366 --> 00:51:11,366 which are often very hostile places, 1027 00:51:11,366 --> 00:51:15,266 slowly chipping away 1028 00:51:15,266 --> 00:51:18,033 at the structures of inequality, 1029 00:51:18,033 --> 00:51:20,933 the structures that suppress merit, 1030 00:51:20,933 --> 00:51:23,733 that just see your Blackness 1031 00:51:23,733 --> 00:51:26,133 and not your brilliance, 1032 00:51:26,133 --> 00:51:30,100 to have those folks quietly doing that work, 1033 00:51:30,100 --> 00:51:33,200 this is that kind of 1034 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:37,700 institutional systemic work that creates change. 1035 00:51:37,700 --> 00:51:41,366 ♪ ♪ 1036 00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,833 ♪ ♪ 1037 00:51:46,833 --> 00:51:49,333 ANNOUNCER: Next time, she shot to stardom... 1038 00:51:49,333 --> 00:51:50,766 MAN: She never missed. 1039 00:51:50,766 --> 00:51:52,366 ANNOUNCER: ...and became an American icon. 1040 00:51:52,366 --> 00:51:54,566 WOMAN: There's never been anybody like Annie Oakley. 1041 00:51:54,566 --> 00:51:57,700 WOMAN: This sweet person, but with this big-bang gun. 1042 00:51:57,700 --> 00:51:59,100 (gun fires) 1043 00:51:59,100 --> 00:52:00,566 ANNOUNCER: But at the height of her popularity, 1044 00:52:00,566 --> 00:52:03,933 scandal threatened to bring her down. 1045 00:52:03,933 --> 00:52:07,633 "Annie Oakley," next time on "American Experience." 1046 00:52:07,633 --> 00:52:11,700 Made possible in part by Liberty Mutual Insurance. 1047 00:52:21,166 --> 00:52:25,533 ♪ ♪ 1048 00:52:30,766 --> 00:52:35,600 ♪ ♪