1 00:00:01,380 --> 00:00:03,900 Viewers like you make this program possible. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:03,934 --> 00:00:06,006 Support your local PBS station. 4 00:00:06,178 --> 00:00:08,974 ♪ 5 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 6 00:00:15,601 --> 00:00:19,985 ♪ 7 00:00:20,020 --> 00:00:22,125 NARRATOR: In the fall of 1948, 8 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,990 a young African American lawyer and his wife 9 00:00:25,025 --> 00:00:28,131 crossed an ocean to begin a new job. 10 00:00:28,166 --> 00:00:32,791 Edward R. Dudley had just been named the United States Minister 11 00:00:32,825 --> 00:00:35,449 to the West African nation of Liberia. 12 00:00:37,899 --> 00:00:40,178 EDWARD R. DUDLEY: As the boat docked on that very bright morning, 13 00:00:40,212 --> 00:00:43,526 two of us were standing at the rail, 14 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,632 we saw thousands of people. 15 00:00:46,667 --> 00:00:49,152 It was rather an exhilarating experience. 16 00:00:49,187 --> 00:00:51,741 ♪ 17 00:00:51,775 --> 00:00:54,606 We could see the new frontiers opening up. 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,160 NARRATOR: It was a time of titanic struggles 19 00:00:57,195 --> 00:00:59,335 between competing ideologies: 20 00:00:59,369 --> 00:01:02,372 communism versus capitalism; 21 00:01:02,407 --> 00:01:04,064 white supremacy 22 00:01:04,098 --> 00:01:06,859 versus Black liberation; 23 00:01:06,894 --> 00:01:08,689 colonialism 24 00:01:08,723 --> 00:01:10,967 versus self-rule. 25 00:01:11,001 --> 00:01:14,039 A racially segregated United States 26 00:01:14,074 --> 00:01:15,937 was positioning itself as the leader 27 00:01:15,972 --> 00:01:18,492 of a mostly non-white world. 28 00:01:18,526 --> 00:01:19,838 [Castro speaking Spanish] 29 00:01:19,872 --> 00:01:21,460 ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER: It's difficult for us 30 00:01:21,495 --> 00:01:23,842 to fully conceptualize what it meant to be Black 31 00:01:23,876 --> 00:01:26,120 in spaces of government during that time period. 32 00:01:26,155 --> 00:01:29,744 Then to have to represent U.S. interests 33 00:01:29,779 --> 00:01:32,126 and help cultivate the narrative 34 00:01:32,161 --> 00:01:36,441 of U.S. democracy for non-U.S. publics. 35 00:01:36,475 --> 00:01:40,134 NARRATOR: In the decades to come, three Black diplomats... 36 00:01:40,169 --> 00:01:44,621 Edward R. Dudley, Terence Todman, and Carl Rowan... 37 00:01:44,656 --> 00:01:47,797 would challenge the foundations of American diplomacy 38 00:01:47,831 --> 00:01:49,350 and try to change the way 39 00:01:49,385 --> 00:01:52,353 America represented itself to the world. 40 00:01:52,388 --> 00:01:54,942 CARL ROWAN: Sure, we're going to be criticized. 41 00:01:54,976 --> 00:01:58,014 It's because we're talking about the things 42 00:01:58,048 --> 00:01:59,740 that the United States stands for, 43 00:01:59,774 --> 00:02:02,052 the things that the United States seeks to be. 44 00:02:04,365 --> 00:02:05,159 NARRATOR: They would challenge not only 45 00:02:05,194 --> 00:02:06,816 the State Department, 46 00:02:06,850 --> 00:02:09,267 but U.S. foreign policy itself. 47 00:02:09,301 --> 00:02:11,131 DUDLEY: Washington got accustomed 48 00:02:11,165 --> 00:02:14,237 to my taking strong independent stands 49 00:02:14,272 --> 00:02:18,276 because the United States had a revolution for our independence, 50 00:02:18,310 --> 00:02:22,418 and we should be supportive of independence. 51 00:02:22,452 --> 00:02:24,178 NARRATOR: These three diplomats 52 00:02:24,213 --> 00:02:26,905 would also challenge an unequal system 53 00:02:26,939 --> 00:02:28,424 that had long determined 54 00:02:28,458 --> 00:02:32,945 who should represent America overseas. 55 00:02:32,980 --> 00:02:34,499 DUDLEY: If one was an ambassador, 56 00:02:34,533 --> 00:02:36,604 there was a feeling that 57 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:40,746 this man was a true representative of a country. 58 00:02:40,781 --> 00:02:45,165 ANDERSON: For diplomats, you're fighting America 59 00:02:45,199 --> 00:02:48,582 so that it can live up to what it says it is, 60 00:02:48,616 --> 00:02:51,585 while you're also fighting for America. 61 00:02:51,619 --> 00:02:53,725 That is no easy walk. 62 00:02:57,384 --> 00:03:01,560 ♪ 63 00:03:06,151 --> 00:03:11,191 [applause] 64 00:03:11,225 --> 00:03:15,160 NARRATOR: On March 12, 1947, 65 00:03:15,195 --> 00:03:17,162 President Harry S. Truman articulated a policy 66 00:03:17,197 --> 00:03:21,097 that would come to be known as the Truman Doctrine. 67 00:03:21,131 --> 00:03:25,032 ♪ 68 00:03:25,066 --> 00:03:28,138 HARRY S. TRUMAN: At the present moment 69 00:03:28,173 --> 00:03:31,556 in world history, nearly every nation must choose 70 00:03:31,590 --> 00:03:34,075 between alternative ways of life. 71 00:03:34,110 --> 00:03:36,975 If we falter in our leadership, 72 00:03:37,009 --> 00:03:40,461 we may endanger the peace of the world, 73 00:03:40,496 --> 00:03:44,085 and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation. 74 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:48,158 NARRATOR: This was the cornerstone of American foreign policy 75 00:03:48,193 --> 00:03:50,954 in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, 76 00:03:50,989 --> 00:03:55,027 the idea that undemocratic regimes anywhere 77 00:03:55,062 --> 00:03:58,168 were a threat to freedom everywhere. 78 00:03:58,203 --> 00:04:01,206 Truman promised that the United States 79 00:04:01,241 --> 00:04:04,830 would do everything in its power to stop the spread of communism 80 00:04:04,865 --> 00:04:07,626 in any nation in the world. 81 00:04:07,661 --> 00:04:11,251 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Already an iron curtain had dropped around Poland, Hungary, 82 00:04:11,285 --> 00:04:14,978 Yugoslavia, Bulgaria... menace to the security 83 00:04:15,013 --> 00:04:17,809 and institutions of democratic government. 84 00:04:17,843 --> 00:04:20,018 This truly a war of ideas. 85 00:04:20,052 --> 00:04:21,399 NARRATOR: The post-war world 86 00:04:21,433 --> 00:04:24,264 was now a chessboard in a high-stakes match between 87 00:04:24,298 --> 00:04:26,507 democracy and communism. 88 00:04:26,542 --> 00:04:28,268 The United States 89 00:04:28,302 --> 00:04:30,442 and the Soviet Union battled 90 00:04:30,477 --> 00:04:31,478 to win the hearts and minds 91 00:04:31,512 --> 00:04:32,824 of neutral nations 92 00:04:32,858 --> 00:04:33,963 all over the globe. 93 00:04:33,997 --> 00:04:36,448 [man shouting indistinctly] 94 00:04:36,483 --> 00:04:38,381 ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH: In nations that are becoming 95 00:04:38,416 --> 00:04:39,762 independent, how do they 96 00:04:39,796 --> 00:04:43,938 maneuver in a world in which 97 00:04:43,973 --> 00:04:47,079 the U.S. and the Soviet Union have demanded 98 00:04:47,114 --> 00:04:50,945 that people choose sides? 99 00:04:50,980 --> 00:04:53,396 At the heart of the Cold War were struggles over narrative. 100 00:04:53,431 --> 00:04:55,433 ♪ 101 00:04:55,467 --> 00:04:59,575 The Achilles heel for the United States is its history 102 00:04:59,609 --> 00:05:02,060 of racialized violence, 103 00:05:02,094 --> 00:05:04,511 oppression, and injustice against 104 00:05:04,545 --> 00:05:06,098 people of color in the United States and elsewhere. 105 00:05:09,136 --> 00:05:11,241 MARY DUDZIAK: How the United States treated 106 00:05:11,276 --> 00:05:13,968 its own citizens mattered diplomatically 107 00:05:14,003 --> 00:05:16,177 in a way that it hadn't before. 108 00:05:16,212 --> 00:05:17,662 ♪ 109 00:05:17,696 --> 00:05:19,905 CAROL ANDERSON: Black veterans were coming back 110 00:05:19,940 --> 00:05:23,012 from the Second World War, and they were demanding 111 00:05:23,046 --> 00:05:25,842 the democracy that they had fought so hard for. 112 00:05:28,845 --> 00:05:31,986 There were a series of horrific lynchings in 1946. 113 00:05:34,334 --> 00:05:36,819 ♪ 114 00:05:36,853 --> 00:05:39,787 and Truman is just absolutely horrified. 115 00:05:42,307 --> 00:05:45,275 Truman understood that 116 00:05:45,310 --> 00:05:47,830 if the U.S. wanted the world to believe them 117 00:05:47,864 --> 00:05:51,143 when they said that they were offering a democracy 118 00:05:51,178 --> 00:05:54,354 that would benefit all, then they needed to show 119 00:05:54,388 --> 00:05:58,081 that they could offer that democracy at home. 120 00:05:58,116 --> 00:06:01,015 NARRATOR: In 1948, President Truman 121 00:06:01,050 --> 00:06:03,708 made a bold step: 122 00:06:03,742 --> 00:06:05,986 he issued executive orders to desegregate the military 123 00:06:06,020 --> 00:06:09,092 and the civil service. 124 00:06:09,127 --> 00:06:11,025 With a tough re-election looming, 125 00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:13,476 he looked to strengthen his ties 126 00:06:13,511 --> 00:06:15,823 to the African American community. 127 00:06:15,858 --> 00:06:19,482 When the post of Minister to Liberia became available, 128 00:06:19,517 --> 00:06:22,243 Truman's team asked Walter White, 129 00:06:22,278 --> 00:06:24,418 the head of the N.A.A.C.P., 130 00:06:24,453 --> 00:06:27,732 the nation's most influential civil rights organization, 131 00:06:27,766 --> 00:06:29,630 to recommend a candidate. 132 00:06:29,665 --> 00:06:34,739 White suggested a sharp N.A.A.C.P. lawyer, 133 00:06:34,773 --> 00:06:38,087 Edward R. Dudley. 134 00:06:38,121 --> 00:06:42,678 At 37, Edward Dudley of Roanoke, Virginia, 135 00:06:42,712 --> 00:06:45,405 had already had a storied career. 136 00:06:45,439 --> 00:06:47,441 ♪ 137 00:06:47,476 --> 00:06:49,443 DUDLEY: I was 23 years old. 138 00:06:49,478 --> 00:06:54,344 I came to New York, bright, fresh, full of vinegar. 139 00:06:54,379 --> 00:06:57,934 I applied for a job as an assistant stage manager 140 00:06:57,969 --> 00:07:00,420 at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. 141 00:07:00,454 --> 00:07:02,905 [cheers and applause] 142 00:07:02,939 --> 00:07:04,458 Orson Welles came to work with us 143 00:07:04,493 --> 00:07:05,942 and directed a Haitian Macbeth. 144 00:07:05,977 --> 00:07:08,358 Lay on, Macduff! 145 00:07:08,393 --> 00:07:10,913 And damn'd be he who first cries, "Hold, enough!" 146 00:07:10,947 --> 00:07:13,605 [stage fighting, yelling] 147 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,125 DUDLEY: I saw no real future in New York theaters. 148 00:07:16,159 --> 00:07:18,955 Stagehands were not permitted 149 00:07:18,990 --> 00:07:21,164 to work below 125th Street. 150 00:07:21,199 --> 00:07:22,994 ♪ 151 00:07:23,028 --> 00:07:25,790 So I decided to go to law school. 152 00:07:28,102 --> 00:07:31,243 NARRATOR: In 1943, Thurgood Marshall, 153 00:07:31,278 --> 00:07:34,454 the head of the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense Fund, 154 00:07:34,488 --> 00:07:36,939 hired Dudley to assist with his strategy 155 00:07:36,973 --> 00:07:39,769 of dismantling inequality one case at a time. 156 00:07:41,288 --> 00:07:42,738 For five years, 157 00:07:42,772 --> 00:07:44,843 the two men crossed the country, 158 00:07:44,878 --> 00:07:50,159 filing, and winning, anti-discrimination lawsuits. 159 00:07:50,193 --> 00:07:53,093 But now, President Truman was asking Edward Dudley 160 00:07:53,127 --> 00:07:56,924 to be the face of America in Liberia. 161 00:07:56,959 --> 00:07:58,685 ♪ 162 00:08:02,896 --> 00:08:05,174 DUDLEY: In Liberia, 163 00:08:05,208 --> 00:08:07,935 the staff at the legation welcomed us. 164 00:08:10,869 --> 00:08:12,940 Shortly thereafter, 165 00:08:12,975 --> 00:08:16,668 we engaged in the task of diplomacy. 166 00:08:17,945 --> 00:08:20,120 We get in touch 167 00:08:20,154 --> 00:08:22,640 with the other members of the diplomatic corps. 168 00:08:22,674 --> 00:08:26,471 There's a parade, view the troops. 169 00:08:26,506 --> 00:08:30,130 This is big diggins in small countries. 170 00:08:30,164 --> 00:08:32,270 And all of a sudden, 171 00:08:32,304 --> 00:08:34,341 you're catapulted into this kind of thing. 172 00:08:34,375 --> 00:08:35,756 And then you do the best you can. 173 00:08:37,586 --> 00:08:39,726 EDWARD DUDLEY, JR.: My father was a risk taker. 174 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,417 I was six when I first joined them 175 00:08:41,451 --> 00:08:43,902 in Liberia. 176 00:08:43,937 --> 00:08:45,628 My mother did most of the raising. 177 00:08:45,663 --> 00:08:47,734 [children speaking indistinctly] 178 00:08:47,768 --> 00:08:49,667 My father was the disciplinarian. 179 00:08:49,701 --> 00:08:52,635 He was a very confident man. 180 00:08:52,670 --> 00:08:54,154 ♪ 181 00:08:54,188 --> 00:08:57,122 NARRATOR: Like all political appointees, 182 00:08:57,157 --> 00:08:58,676 Dudley served at the pleasure of the president. 183 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,162 [cheering] 184 00:09:02,196 --> 00:09:05,199 With the 1948 presidential election 185 00:09:05,234 --> 00:09:06,925 only a few months away 186 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,101 and Truman trailing badly in the polls, 187 00:09:10,135 --> 00:09:13,207 Dudley believed his time in Liberia would be short-lived. 188 00:09:15,658 --> 00:09:19,110 DUDLEY: And we woke up and Harry Truman was the president. 189 00:09:19,144 --> 00:09:21,802 Rather than stay a few months in Africa, we stayed five years. 190 00:09:23,321 --> 00:09:25,150 NARRATOR: Dudley's staff included 191 00:09:25,185 --> 00:09:28,291 a small community of African American diplomats. 192 00:09:28,326 --> 00:09:31,709 Some had been in Liberia for years, 193 00:09:31,743 --> 00:09:35,091 and experienced more freedom there than they could have 194 00:09:35,126 --> 00:09:37,611 in the segregated United States. 195 00:09:37,646 --> 00:09:38,957 [croquet mallet thwacks ball] 196 00:09:38,992 --> 00:09:41,339 ♪ 197 00:09:41,373 --> 00:09:43,583 They shared a commitment 198 00:09:43,617 --> 00:09:46,309 to institution-building and felt pride in the knowledge 199 00:09:46,344 --> 00:09:51,073 that they were a part of a pivotal moment in history 200 00:09:51,107 --> 00:09:52,799 in a rapidly changing Africa. 201 00:09:56,457 --> 00:09:59,702 A vital American ally in World War II, 202 00:09:59,737 --> 00:10:03,257 Liberia had provided critical rubber supplies 203 00:10:03,292 --> 00:10:05,708 and the site for a military base. 204 00:10:05,743 --> 00:10:07,641 But now, American attention 205 00:10:07,676 --> 00:10:09,263 had shifted toward 206 00:10:09,298 --> 00:10:11,645 African countries on the brink of independence... 207 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,889 nations whose loyalties 208 00:10:13,923 --> 00:10:16,926 in the Cold War hung in the balance. 209 00:10:16,961 --> 00:10:20,654 Dudley faced a delicate task. 210 00:10:20,689 --> 00:10:22,760 BRENDA GAYLE PLUMMER: President Tubman felt 211 00:10:22,794 --> 00:10:27,316 Liberia was being neglected and is not getting 212 00:10:27,350 --> 00:10:30,906 the kind of foreign assistance that it deserved. 213 00:10:30,940 --> 00:10:33,909 So Dudley's representing the United States 214 00:10:33,943 --> 00:10:36,463 when that traditional relationship 215 00:10:36,497 --> 00:10:37,809 is beginning to shift. 216 00:10:39,673 --> 00:10:44,091 NARRATOR: To underscore Liberia's importance as an ally, 217 00:10:44,126 --> 00:10:45,506 the United States elevated the status 218 00:10:45,541 --> 00:10:46,991 of the American Legation 219 00:10:47,025 --> 00:10:50,891 to an Embassy... a shift that made Dudley a pioneer 220 00:10:50,926 --> 00:10:53,169 for Black diplomats. 221 00:10:55,793 --> 00:10:57,691 DUDLEY: I became the first ambassador 222 00:10:57,726 --> 00:11:00,729 of color from the United States. 223 00:11:00,763 --> 00:11:04,180 ♪ 224 00:11:04,215 --> 00:11:06,942 Ambassador, being the highest diplomatic rank in Liberia, 225 00:11:06,976 --> 00:11:10,117 this mantle fell upon my shoulders. 226 00:11:12,637 --> 00:11:14,466 MICHAEL KRENN: When he was raised to the ambassadorial level, 227 00:11:14,501 --> 00:11:16,814 he was not simply going to push papers 228 00:11:16,848 --> 00:11:18,988 and have photo ops, he wanted to do things 229 00:11:19,023 --> 00:11:20,990 in Liberia. 230 00:11:21,025 --> 00:11:25,098 ♪ 231 00:11:25,132 --> 00:11:28,584 There was heavy U.S. investment in the country. 232 00:11:28,618 --> 00:11:31,967 Firestone and other American companies that were there 233 00:11:32,001 --> 00:11:34,797 considered themselves almost as invaders 234 00:11:34,832 --> 00:11:36,281 that conquered pieces of land 235 00:11:36,316 --> 00:11:38,559 and used them as they wished. 236 00:11:38,594 --> 00:11:41,977 NARRATOR: Ambassador Dudley's task was to balance 237 00:11:42,011 --> 00:11:43,426 American interests 238 00:11:43,461 --> 00:11:46,222 with Liberian progress. 239 00:11:46,257 --> 00:11:50,054 The key was an initiative called Point Four. 240 00:11:50,088 --> 00:11:53,160 [newsreel music playing] 241 00:11:53,195 --> 00:11:54,334 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, 242 00:11:54,368 --> 00:11:57,268 Prime Minister of the Gold Coast, arrives in Liberia. 243 00:11:57,302 --> 00:11:58,890 A portion of his visit is spent surveying 244 00:11:58,925 --> 00:12:01,065 Point Four activity in Liberia. 245 00:12:01,099 --> 00:12:02,722 ♪ 246 00:12:02,756 --> 00:12:04,758 NARRATOR: Point Four was President Truman's ambitious 247 00:12:04,793 --> 00:12:07,657 international aid program. 248 00:12:07,692 --> 00:12:08,762 It sent American expertise, 249 00:12:08,797 --> 00:12:10,488 money, and supplies 250 00:12:10,522 --> 00:12:13,733 to developing nations, 251 00:12:13,767 --> 00:12:15,044 demonstrating the considerable benefits 252 00:12:15,079 --> 00:12:16,770 of being an American ally. 253 00:12:16,805 --> 00:12:18,599 ♪ 254 00:12:18,634 --> 00:12:20,774 DUDLEY, JR.: My father dove into this. 255 00:12:20,809 --> 00:12:22,983 We're going to help them with bridges, 256 00:12:23,018 --> 00:12:25,848 with roads, with health, education. 257 00:12:27,643 --> 00:12:29,127 My father could see 258 00:12:29,162 --> 00:12:32,821 the results and to see the change. 259 00:12:32,855 --> 00:12:35,340 ♪ 260 00:12:35,375 --> 00:12:38,343 ANDERSON: The significance of Edward Dudley 261 00:12:38,378 --> 00:12:41,484 being the first African American ambassador 262 00:12:41,519 --> 00:12:44,211 is huge. 263 00:12:44,246 --> 00:12:48,077 It is part of the struggle of the recognition of merit. 264 00:12:48,112 --> 00:12:53,151 NARRATOR: It had taken the United States 160 years. 265 00:12:53,186 --> 00:12:54,463 [bell clanging] 266 00:12:54,497 --> 00:12:57,742 The State Department was created in 1789. 267 00:12:57,777 --> 00:13:00,952 Its diplomats, appointed by presidents, 268 00:13:00,987 --> 00:13:04,714 had always been the face of America in foreign lands. 269 00:13:04,749 --> 00:13:08,477 Yet the State Department had a very limited vision 270 00:13:08,511 --> 00:13:12,722 of who should represent America to the world. 271 00:13:12,757 --> 00:13:15,656 KRENN: During Reconstruction, there were a few African Americans 272 00:13:15,691 --> 00:13:18,763 appointed as diplomats. 273 00:13:18,798 --> 00:13:20,869 In 1869, Ebenezer Bassett 274 00:13:20,903 --> 00:13:22,802 was the first African American diplomat. 275 00:13:22,836 --> 00:13:25,287 He was sent as a minister to Haiti. 276 00:13:25,321 --> 00:13:28,462 Frederick Douglass was appointed to that same position. 277 00:13:28,497 --> 00:13:30,223 So there were opportunities, 278 00:13:30,257 --> 00:13:34,848 but they were very, very small opportunities. 279 00:13:34,883 --> 00:13:38,818 PLUMMER: The State Department had the well-deserved reputation 280 00:13:38,852 --> 00:13:40,992 of being extremely elitist. 281 00:13:41,027 --> 00:13:45,652 It was the bailiwick of Boston Brahmins. 282 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,069 Pale, male, and Yale. 283 00:13:49,104 --> 00:13:51,209 ♪ 284 00:13:51,244 --> 00:13:52,901 NARRATOR: After World War I, 285 00:13:52,935 --> 00:13:54,799 Congress attempted to professionalize 286 00:13:54,834 --> 00:13:57,043 the diplomatic corps. 287 00:13:57,077 --> 00:14:00,494 KRENN: The Rogers Act, 1924, 288 00:14:00,529 --> 00:14:02,531 set up the Foreign Service exam that had to be taken 289 00:14:02,565 --> 00:14:03,981 by every candidate. 290 00:14:06,259 --> 00:14:07,916 It was supposed to set up a merit-based system. 291 00:14:07,950 --> 00:14:09,987 NARRATOR: The legislation seemed to be 292 00:14:10,021 --> 00:14:13,749 a revolution in the making. 293 00:14:13,783 --> 00:14:15,268 In theory, anyone who passed the rigorous test 294 00:14:15,302 --> 00:14:17,960 could join the Foreign Service. 295 00:14:17,995 --> 00:14:22,413 And in 1925, a law clerk named Clifton Wharton 296 00:14:22,447 --> 00:14:24,898 easily passed the written exam. 297 00:14:24,933 --> 00:14:29,282 KRENN: So there was this wide assumption that he was white. 298 00:14:29,316 --> 00:14:33,217 And then he came for the oral part of his exam, 299 00:14:33,251 --> 00:14:36,668 and was very hastily sent off to Liberia. 300 00:14:36,703 --> 00:14:37,911 They didn't even send him 301 00:14:37,946 --> 00:14:39,119 to the Foreign Service school for training. 302 00:14:39,154 --> 00:14:41,846 ♪ 303 00:14:41,881 --> 00:14:45,160 NARRATOR: Only four more African Americans were accepted 304 00:14:45,194 --> 00:14:50,475 into the diplomatic corps over the next 25 years. 305 00:14:50,510 --> 00:14:55,308 KRENN: The chairman of Foreign Service personnel, Joseph Grew, 306 00:14:55,342 --> 00:14:58,967 stated very clearly that African Americans, women, 307 00:14:59,001 --> 00:15:01,659 Jewish Americans would be quietly, 308 00:15:01,693 --> 00:15:04,455 but effectively, excluded. 309 00:15:04,489 --> 00:15:07,320 Even if they passed through the written exam, 310 00:15:07,354 --> 00:15:11,634 they would be shuffled away through the oral examination. 311 00:15:11,669 --> 00:15:14,810 MAN: As Foreign Service Officers, 312 00:15:14,844 --> 00:15:17,640 you are sample Americans, 313 00:15:17,675 --> 00:15:21,127 and many people abroad 314 00:15:21,161 --> 00:15:22,956 will think better or worse, 315 00:15:22,991 --> 00:15:26,235 of the United States because 316 00:15:26,270 --> 00:15:28,030 of what you do. 317 00:15:28,065 --> 00:15:30,377 [applause] 318 00:15:30,412 --> 00:15:34,554 ♪ 319 00:15:34,588 --> 00:15:36,659 DUDLEY: I used to come back to Washington, 320 00:15:36,694 --> 00:15:38,316 in a circle with nothing but white people, 321 00:15:38,351 --> 00:15:39,628 and I'd be introduced as 322 00:15:39,662 --> 00:15:43,735 ambassador to Liberia. 323 00:15:43,770 --> 00:15:45,461 And none of them would ever hear that 324 00:15:45,496 --> 00:15:47,394 because they would turn to me and ask me, 325 00:15:47,429 --> 00:15:51,502 "How do you like our country?" talking about America. 326 00:15:51,536 --> 00:15:54,056 The fact of the matter was, they could never conceive that 327 00:15:54,091 --> 00:15:55,747 a Black man could ever be an ambassador. 328 00:15:58,854 --> 00:16:01,995 ♪ 329 00:16:02,030 --> 00:16:05,102 NARRATOR: Dudley's sense of doing good work in Liberia 330 00:16:05,136 --> 00:16:08,243 was soon tempered by the reality for African American diplomats. 331 00:16:10,762 --> 00:16:14,456 He realized they were stuck in an international loop 332 00:16:14,490 --> 00:16:16,906 that was limiting their professional growth 333 00:16:16,941 --> 00:16:19,254 and their ability to advance. 334 00:16:22,153 --> 00:16:25,363 DUDLEY: In Liberia, the Black Foreign Service Officers 335 00:16:25,398 --> 00:16:28,263 had never had the opportunity of serving anywhere else 336 00:16:28,297 --> 00:16:30,644 in the world, despite the fact that 337 00:16:30,679 --> 00:16:32,922 it was a State Department policy 338 00:16:32,957 --> 00:16:35,753 to rotate officers every two years, 339 00:16:35,787 --> 00:16:39,239 none had ever gotten outside of a little triumvirate 340 00:16:39,274 --> 00:16:41,138 called Monrovia, 341 00:16:41,172 --> 00:16:42,415 Ponta Delgado, 342 00:16:42,449 --> 00:16:44,727 and Madagascar. 343 00:16:44,762 --> 00:16:47,040 And this had been going on for year 344 00:16:47,075 --> 00:16:49,318 after year, after year. 345 00:16:49,353 --> 00:16:51,320 ANDERSON: The State Department had 346 00:16:51,355 --> 00:16:52,528 what they called the Negro Circuit. 347 00:16:54,427 --> 00:16:57,119 They put them in places where there were already Black people. 348 00:16:59,570 --> 00:17:02,090 and Dudley looked at a system that had been in place 349 00:17:02,124 --> 00:17:06,232 for decades and said, "No." 350 00:17:06,266 --> 00:17:11,961 ♪ 351 00:17:15,482 --> 00:17:18,796 DUDLEY: We put together a memorandum documenting 352 00:17:18,830 --> 00:17:20,798 every Black in the Foreign Service 353 00:17:20,832 --> 00:17:23,214 over a long period of years. 354 00:17:23,249 --> 00:17:27,080 ♪ 355 00:17:27,115 --> 00:17:28,702 When they came into the service, 356 00:17:28,737 --> 00:17:30,359 how long they had been in, 357 00:17:30,394 --> 00:17:34,708 and the fact that they had never been transferred. 358 00:17:34,743 --> 00:17:36,848 We added a class of white Foreign Service Officers. 359 00:17:38,471 --> 00:17:39,989 In every instance, 360 00:17:40,024 --> 00:17:43,614 they had had four, five, and six transfers, 361 00:17:43,648 --> 00:17:44,994 and had been in different posts 362 00:17:45,029 --> 00:17:46,444 throughout the world. 363 00:17:46,479 --> 00:17:48,274 ♪ 364 00:17:48,308 --> 00:17:50,759 You had these Foreign Service Officers... 365 00:17:50,793 --> 00:17:53,279 well-trained, highly educated... 366 00:17:53,313 --> 00:17:57,214 being placed simply in the Negro Circuit. 367 00:17:57,248 --> 00:17:58,767 It makes it really hard 368 00:17:58,801 --> 00:18:01,804 to do the work of America when you know that you have been 369 00:18:01,839 --> 00:18:04,428 Jim Crowed by your own government. 370 00:18:04,462 --> 00:18:06,119 ♪ 371 00:18:06,154 --> 00:18:08,949 NARRATOR: The former lawyer quickly saw that the Negro Circuit 372 00:18:08,984 --> 00:18:13,609 directly violated the Foreign Service Act of 1946. 373 00:18:13,644 --> 00:18:16,095 It was a law whose central purpose 374 00:18:16,129 --> 00:18:17,234 was to make the Foreign Service 375 00:18:17,268 --> 00:18:19,926 stronger and more efficient. 376 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:22,791 But with Truman pushing for desegregation, 377 00:18:22,825 --> 00:18:24,965 the Act also stated a goal of 378 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,485 "eliminating conditions favorable 379 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,903 to inbred prejudice and caste spirit." 380 00:18:31,938 --> 00:18:35,597 DUDLEY: My entire background had been with the National Association 381 00:18:35,631 --> 00:18:37,702 for the Advancement of Colored People. 382 00:18:37,737 --> 00:18:39,911 And I knew exactly what to do. 383 00:18:41,982 --> 00:18:44,813 I asked for an audience with the Undersecretary of State, 384 00:18:44,847 --> 00:18:48,437 John Peurifoy, and sat in his office while he read it. 385 00:18:50,681 --> 00:18:52,821 And he was visibly disturbed, 386 00:18:52,855 --> 00:18:55,168 and asked me what I was going to do with it. 387 00:18:55,203 --> 00:18:58,102 I indicated that it was his responsibility 388 00:18:58,137 --> 00:19:01,174 to correct an unwholesome situation, 389 00:19:01,209 --> 00:19:05,109 but in my judgment, an illegal situation. 390 00:19:05,144 --> 00:19:10,563 Within six months, transfers came through 391 00:19:10,597 --> 00:19:11,874 and the number one Foreign Service Officer 392 00:19:11,909 --> 00:19:14,636 was sent to Paris, France. 393 00:19:14,670 --> 00:19:17,777 And this is the first time that a Black Foreign Service Officer 394 00:19:17,811 --> 00:19:19,917 had ever served in Europe. 395 00:19:19,951 --> 00:19:25,198 A second Foreign Service Officer was sent to Zurich, Switzerland. 396 00:19:25,233 --> 00:19:29,789 And a young lady of great talent was sent to Rome, Italy. 397 00:19:31,584 --> 00:19:34,587 [cheers and applause] 398 00:19:34,621 --> 00:19:39,143 NARRATOR: In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. 399 00:19:39,178 --> 00:19:43,699 Eisenhower was a war hero, not a career politician. 400 00:19:43,734 --> 00:19:47,047 Raised in Kansas, he came from a world 401 00:19:47,082 --> 00:19:50,361 where segregation was the law of the land. 402 00:19:50,396 --> 00:19:53,122 LENTZ-SMITH: His State Department 403 00:19:53,157 --> 00:19:58,438 is hostile, certainly, to decolonizing nations 404 00:19:58,473 --> 00:20:02,442 and uninterested in any kind of meaningful 405 00:20:02,477 --> 00:20:04,651 African American diplomatic service. 406 00:20:04,686 --> 00:20:06,653 ♪ 407 00:20:06,688 --> 00:20:08,828 NARRATOR: Eisenhower's election meant Dudley's time 408 00:20:08,862 --> 00:20:11,382 as ambassador was over. 409 00:20:11,417 --> 00:20:14,247 Before the new administration took office, 410 00:20:14,282 --> 00:20:16,974 Dudley officially documented his strong objection 411 00:20:17,008 --> 00:20:19,079 to maintaining the status quo 412 00:20:19,114 --> 00:20:20,978 in his resignation letter. 413 00:20:21,012 --> 00:20:24,430 He argued, "Black Foreign Service Officers 414 00:20:24,464 --> 00:20:28,710 must have equal opportunity for assignments worldwide." 415 00:20:28,744 --> 00:20:32,403 The Negro Circuit had to end. 416 00:20:34,750 --> 00:20:36,545 He made a Cold War argument 417 00:20:36,580 --> 00:20:40,066 that I'm not asking you just as a moral imperative. 418 00:20:40,100 --> 00:20:41,309 You've got to do good 419 00:20:41,343 --> 00:20:43,207 for these three-quarters of the world's people 420 00:20:43,242 --> 00:20:45,554 who are looking at America to see whether 421 00:20:45,589 --> 00:20:48,419 it will live up to its promise of democracy and freedom. 422 00:20:48,454 --> 00:20:51,595 And here's a way to do it. 423 00:20:51,629 --> 00:20:53,976 NARRATOR: In 1953, 424 00:20:54,011 --> 00:20:56,255 Dudley left the State Department, 425 00:20:56,289 --> 00:20:58,533 returning to the N.A.A.C.P. 426 00:20:58,567 --> 00:21:02,951 and the wider struggle for Civil Rights in America. 427 00:21:02,985 --> 00:21:06,092 ♪ 428 00:21:06,126 --> 00:21:08,163 In the early 1950s, 429 00:21:08,197 --> 00:21:11,822 the United States rode a wave of prosperity. 430 00:21:13,755 --> 00:21:15,688 But while the country was locked 431 00:21:15,722 --> 00:21:17,414 into a brutal war in Korea, 432 00:21:17,448 --> 00:21:19,278 the nation also agonized 433 00:21:19,312 --> 00:21:22,246 over the Soviet threat of nuclear devastation, 434 00:21:22,281 --> 00:21:24,110 [siren blaring] and a growing fear of communism 435 00:21:24,144 --> 00:21:26,388 within America. 436 00:21:26,423 --> 00:21:29,426 [plane engines droning] 437 00:21:29,460 --> 00:21:30,427 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Holidays, 438 00:21:30,461 --> 00:21:32,394 vacation time, we must be ready 439 00:21:32,429 --> 00:21:33,602 to do the right thing 440 00:21:33,637 --> 00:21:35,259 if the atomic bomb explodes. 441 00:21:35,294 --> 00:21:37,365 Duck and cover! 442 00:21:37,399 --> 00:21:40,540 [explosion] 443 00:21:40,575 --> 00:21:43,060 NARRATOR: Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin 444 00:21:43,094 --> 00:21:44,786 sensationally claimed 445 00:21:44,820 --> 00:21:47,789 that hundreds of communist spies had infiltrated 446 00:21:47,823 --> 00:21:50,136 the State Department. 447 00:21:50,170 --> 00:21:51,724 JOSEPH MCCARTHY: Plans have been discussed 448 00:21:51,758 --> 00:21:54,623 by the Soviet secret police to obtain blank 449 00:21:54,658 --> 00:21:57,799 American passports from communists 450 00:21:57,833 --> 00:22:01,630 employed in the State Department. 451 00:22:01,665 --> 00:22:04,806 NARRATOR: American government agencies 452 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,636 and showboating Congressmen 453 00:22:07,671 --> 00:22:10,708 falsely linked civil rights organizations with communism. 454 00:22:10,743 --> 00:22:12,917 For aspiring Black diplomats, 455 00:22:12,952 --> 00:22:15,299 this created yet another barrier 456 00:22:15,334 --> 00:22:18,440 to a career in the State Department. 457 00:22:18,475 --> 00:22:20,615 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles 458 00:22:20,649 --> 00:22:23,618 said none of these Negroes can get through with 459 00:22:23,652 --> 00:22:24,791 "lily white" clearance. 460 00:22:27,587 --> 00:22:30,418 ANDERSON: Think about what that is really saying. 461 00:22:30,452 --> 00:22:32,143 It's saying that 462 00:22:32,178 --> 00:22:37,390 Black folks can't be trusted with American democracy. 463 00:22:37,425 --> 00:22:40,738 So we can't have them in our mainline bureaucracies 464 00:22:40,773 --> 00:22:42,775 doing the work of America. 465 00:22:42,809 --> 00:22:44,570 ♪ 466 00:22:44,604 --> 00:22:48,332 NARRATOR: One ambitious young man refused to be deterred. 467 00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:52,785 In 1952, a 26-year-old from the U.S. Virgin Islands 468 00:22:52,819 --> 00:22:57,099 named Terence Todman passed a written federal service exam, 469 00:22:57,134 --> 00:23:00,309 and was offered a job at the State Department. 470 00:23:00,344 --> 00:23:02,277 But then he arrived 471 00:23:02,311 --> 00:23:05,280 for his first day of work. 472 00:23:05,314 --> 00:23:07,696 TERENCE TODMAN: The head of personnel said that 473 00:23:07,731 --> 00:23:11,907 we note your accent isn't a hundred percent American, 474 00:23:11,942 --> 00:23:13,806 and we can't afford to have anyone 475 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,153 in the Foreign Service who isn't 476 00:23:16,187 --> 00:23:19,087 immediately identifiable as American. 477 00:23:21,641 --> 00:23:26,128 JAMES DANDRIDGE: The accent wasn't the defining reason. 478 00:23:26,163 --> 00:23:28,510 That was the expressed reason. 479 00:23:28,545 --> 00:23:29,753 The real reason is you... 480 00:23:29,787 --> 00:23:32,065 you're Black. 481 00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:36,898 You are not really fully American. 482 00:23:39,176 --> 00:23:40,971 NARRATOR: But Todman persisted. 483 00:23:41,005 --> 00:23:45,285 He argued his case up the ladder to the head of the office. 484 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,736 TODMAN: Ambassador Whitman said, there's a great deal 485 00:23:47,771 --> 00:23:50,532 of work to be done in this office. 486 00:23:50,567 --> 00:23:54,433 We cannot afford to hire a "showpiece." 487 00:23:54,467 --> 00:23:59,127 I said, "Sir, if your job was a showpiece, I wouldn't want it. 488 00:23:59,161 --> 00:24:03,027 I think too highly of myself to take a job like that." 489 00:24:03,062 --> 00:24:05,478 And he said, "Okay, we'll take you on." 490 00:24:05,513 --> 00:24:10,897 ♪ 491 00:24:13,728 --> 00:24:16,109 DORIS TODMAN: Terence was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. 492 00:24:18,664 --> 00:24:23,047 Race was not an issue. 493 00:24:23,082 --> 00:24:24,773 Just being raised in the Virgin Islands, 494 00:24:24,808 --> 00:24:26,948 it sort of gave you a sense of who you are. 495 00:24:26,982 --> 00:24:28,605 ♪ 496 00:24:28,639 --> 00:24:31,746 He grew up very poor. 497 00:24:31,780 --> 00:24:34,127 We were in the same class. 498 00:24:34,162 --> 00:24:36,785 He's quite bossy, by the way. 499 00:24:36,820 --> 00:24:39,754 He was very, very smart. 500 00:24:39,788 --> 00:24:42,135 I remember my great-grandmother saying, 501 00:24:42,170 --> 00:24:45,173 "That young man, whoever he is, is going places." 502 00:24:46,968 --> 00:24:49,971 NARRATOR: In 1945, at age 19, 503 00:24:50,005 --> 00:24:51,455 Todman had been drafted 504 00:24:51,490 --> 00:24:54,527 into the Army. 505 00:24:54,562 --> 00:24:57,150 He took the officer's candidate exam in Spanish and English, 506 00:24:57,185 --> 00:24:58,876 and passed both. 507 00:24:58,911 --> 00:25:01,741 Then he was shipped out to Japan, 508 00:25:01,776 --> 00:25:03,950 where he discovered his calling. 509 00:25:06,228 --> 00:25:09,093 TODMAN: I learned to speak Japanese, 510 00:25:09,128 --> 00:25:11,717 and I spoke to my fellow officers 511 00:25:11,751 --> 00:25:14,133 and heard the misconceptions 512 00:25:14,167 --> 00:25:15,962 they had about the Japanese. 513 00:25:15,997 --> 00:25:21,554 And I would tell them what the Japanese were like. 514 00:25:21,589 --> 00:25:23,556 And speaking to the Japanese, 515 00:25:23,591 --> 00:25:25,869 the misconceptions they had about Americans 516 00:25:25,903 --> 00:25:29,044 [chuckling]: were so great, that I found myself 517 00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:30,252 telling the Japanese 518 00:25:30,287 --> 00:25:32,565 about Americans. 519 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,533 And I realized that a lot of difficulties arose 520 00:25:34,567 --> 00:25:39,296 from people not knowing about each other. 521 00:25:39,330 --> 00:25:41,885 And that became critical to my thinking 522 00:25:41,919 --> 00:25:43,887 about what I would do afterwards. 523 00:25:43,921 --> 00:25:47,235 This was the eye-opening experience 524 00:25:47,269 --> 00:25:50,928 that propelled his interests into Foreign Service. 525 00:25:50,963 --> 00:25:54,967 If he could be as successful 526 00:25:55,001 --> 00:25:57,728 as a communicator in the military, 527 00:25:57,763 --> 00:26:00,628 why not seek an opportunity 528 00:26:00,662 --> 00:26:03,216 to apply those skills as a diplomat? 529 00:26:03,251 --> 00:26:05,667 ♪ 530 00:26:05,702 --> 00:26:08,014 NARRATOR: Terence Todman began as a Foreign Service 531 00:26:08,049 --> 00:26:10,396 desk officer in Washington D.C., 532 00:26:10,430 --> 00:26:14,193 monitoring U.S. relations with three Asian nations. 533 00:26:14,227 --> 00:26:17,714 From the beginning, his colleagues didn't know 534 00:26:17,748 --> 00:26:20,199 what to make of his presence. 535 00:26:20,233 --> 00:26:23,927 TODMAN: When they came to speak to the Nepal desk officer, 536 00:26:23,961 --> 00:26:28,069 they'd walk in, see me behind a desk, 537 00:26:28,103 --> 00:26:30,450 and wonder, what are you doing there? 538 00:26:30,485 --> 00:26:33,764 There'd be real amazement, just to the idea 539 00:26:33,799 --> 00:26:38,113 of an African American in an officer position. 540 00:26:38,148 --> 00:26:42,842 DORIS TODMAN: Being a diplomatic wife was a full-time job. 541 00:26:42,877 --> 00:26:46,743 There was so much work dealing with three countries, 542 00:26:46,777 --> 00:26:50,367 India, Ceylon, and Nepal. 543 00:26:50,401 --> 00:26:53,301 He'd bring the newspapers home for me to read. 544 00:26:53,335 --> 00:26:55,579 I would underline 545 00:26:55,614 --> 00:26:57,477 what was important 546 00:26:57,512 --> 00:27:00,446 and give him a briefing. 547 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,932 I was a part of it. 548 00:27:03,967 --> 00:27:07,867 NARRATOR: Todman's first overseas assignment was India. 549 00:27:07,902 --> 00:27:10,387 But first, he had to take language training 550 00:27:10,421 --> 00:27:13,735 in Hindustani at the Foreign Service Institute. 551 00:27:13,770 --> 00:27:17,739 This was Virginia in 1957, 552 00:27:17,774 --> 00:27:19,845 where segregation was legal. 553 00:27:19,879 --> 00:27:24,056 TODMAN: My first day, the white officers 554 00:27:24,090 --> 00:27:27,128 went across the street into a restaurant. 555 00:27:29,958 --> 00:27:32,064 And I was not allowed to go there because 556 00:27:32,098 --> 00:27:36,413 Black Americans couldn't go into their restaurants. 557 00:27:36,447 --> 00:27:38,277 So I went to the State Department and said, 558 00:27:38,311 --> 00:27:40,210 "This can't go." 559 00:27:40,244 --> 00:27:42,419 State Department said, "These are Virginia laws, 560 00:27:42,453 --> 00:27:45,042 "a lot of people have come here 561 00:27:45,077 --> 00:27:46,699 and haven't said anything about it." 562 00:27:46,734 --> 00:27:48,736 And I said, "Well, I'm not other people, 563 00:27:48,770 --> 00:27:52,291 and you're doing something that's not right." 564 00:27:52,325 --> 00:27:55,639 DANDRIDGE: And he said to the Department of State, "You have a problem. 565 00:27:55,674 --> 00:27:57,054 "I don't have a problem. 566 00:27:57,089 --> 00:27:58,366 This is not about me." 567 00:27:58,400 --> 00:27:59,850 ♪ 568 00:27:59,885 --> 00:28:01,645 NARRATOR: Todman later said, 569 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:03,716 "I was considered a troublemaker, 570 00:28:03,751 --> 00:28:06,201 and that was all right." 571 00:28:06,236 --> 00:28:08,928 KRENN: Todman knew that institutional culture 572 00:28:08,963 --> 00:28:11,206 wasn't going to change on its own. 573 00:28:11,241 --> 00:28:13,381 It was going to change by being confronted, 574 00:28:13,415 --> 00:28:16,177 by being embarrassed. 575 00:28:16,211 --> 00:28:18,179 And he kept up such a firestorm of protest 576 00:28:18,213 --> 00:28:20,043 that eventually the Department of State 577 00:28:20,077 --> 00:28:23,736 rented half of the restaurant. 578 00:28:23,771 --> 00:28:26,843 There finally was a desegregated cafeteria 579 00:28:26,877 --> 00:28:30,570 for Foreign Service Officers. 580 00:28:30,605 --> 00:28:33,125 NARRATOR: While Terence Todman was confronting racism 581 00:28:33,159 --> 00:28:34,885 inside the State Department, 582 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,267 the U.S. government was confronting 583 00:28:37,301 --> 00:28:39,718 a Soviet information campaign focused on highlighting 584 00:28:39,752 --> 00:28:43,273 America's racial violence. 585 00:28:43,307 --> 00:28:45,516 A large part of the Cold War 586 00:28:45,551 --> 00:28:47,104 was a battle of public relations. 587 00:28:47,139 --> 00:28:51,764 Which side would be better at selling itself? 588 00:28:51,799 --> 00:28:54,111 [horns honking] 589 00:28:54,146 --> 00:28:57,252 To counter Soviet propaganda worldwide, 590 00:28:57,287 --> 00:29:01,532 Eisenhower created the United States Information Agency, 591 00:29:01,567 --> 00:29:05,951 the U.S.I.A. 592 00:29:05,985 --> 00:29:10,887 NICHOLAS CULL: As a one-stop shop for American foreign policy information, 593 00:29:10,921 --> 00:29:15,754 U.S.I.A. has an astonishing range of outlets. 594 00:29:15,788 --> 00:29:17,825 It had Voice of America radio. 595 00:29:17,859 --> 00:29:22,243 [speaking non-English languages] 596 00:29:22,277 --> 00:29:24,832 CULL: It had libraries. 597 00:29:24,866 --> 00:29:29,802 It gets U.S.I.A. material in front of millions of people 598 00:29:29,837 --> 00:29:32,840 and is a tremendous part of how 599 00:29:32,874 --> 00:29:35,256 the United States 600 00:29:35,290 --> 00:29:38,086 is perceived in the world. 601 00:29:38,121 --> 00:29:41,538 NARRATOR: The crucial audiences for the American message 602 00:29:41,572 --> 00:29:44,575 were countries that hadn't taken sides in the Cold War, 603 00:29:44,610 --> 00:29:47,578 the non-aligned nations. 604 00:29:47,613 --> 00:29:50,271 Terence Todman was sent to the most important 605 00:29:50,305 --> 00:29:55,172 neutral nation of all... India. 606 00:29:55,207 --> 00:29:57,796 BRENDA GAYLE PLUMMER: India had been one of the countries 607 00:29:57,830 --> 00:30:01,351 most critical of the United States' race relations. 608 00:30:01,385 --> 00:30:05,631 It was a country that was independent of the Soviets. 609 00:30:05,665 --> 00:30:08,807 It was a very influential country. 610 00:30:08,841 --> 00:30:12,603 Indian opinion was important. 611 00:30:12,638 --> 00:30:15,399 NARRATOR: As the Todman family looked to India 612 00:30:15,434 --> 00:30:17,574 for their first overseas posting, 613 00:30:17,608 --> 00:30:19,610 the eyes of the world were focused 614 00:30:19,645 --> 00:30:22,441 on Little Rock, Arkansas. 615 00:30:22,475 --> 00:30:25,375 ♪ 616 00:30:25,409 --> 00:30:28,343 [crowd clamoring] 617 00:30:28,378 --> 00:30:32,002 PLUMMER: One of the interesting aspects 618 00:30:32,037 --> 00:30:34,418 of the Civil Rights controversies 619 00:30:34,453 --> 00:30:35,626 of the late '50s was 620 00:30:35,661 --> 00:30:37,421 they were televised. 621 00:30:37,456 --> 00:30:39,458 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Little Rock, Arkansas. 622 00:30:39,492 --> 00:30:41,632 The white population are determined to prevent 623 00:30:41,667 --> 00:30:43,255 colored students from going to the school 624 00:30:43,289 --> 00:30:45,429 their own children attend. 625 00:30:45,464 --> 00:30:48,812 PLUMMER: This was one of the first times 626 00:30:48,847 --> 00:30:52,954 in U.S. history when racial violence 627 00:30:52,989 --> 00:30:55,508 could be seen all over the world. 628 00:30:57,372 --> 00:30:59,858 ANDERSON: You've got nine Black honor students, 629 00:30:59,892 --> 00:31:01,790 just trying to go to school, 630 00:31:01,825 --> 00:31:03,758 just trying to get an education. 631 00:31:03,792 --> 00:31:06,450 We see white mobs, angry mobs, 632 00:31:06,485 --> 00:31:08,901 trying to get at the kids. 633 00:31:08,936 --> 00:31:10,558 [crowd shouting] 634 00:31:13,733 --> 00:31:19,567 MARY DUDZIAK: The "Times of India" tracked it day by day. 635 00:31:19,601 --> 00:31:21,914 Race was undermining the ability 636 00:31:21,949 --> 00:31:25,711 of the United States to appeal to emerging new nations. 637 00:31:25,745 --> 00:31:27,747 And it raised questions... 638 00:31:27,782 --> 00:31:30,095 "Why should we be your ally when 639 00:31:30,129 --> 00:31:32,373 you treat people who look like me this way?" 640 00:31:34,547 --> 00:31:38,517 NARRATOR: The governor of Arkansas sent in the National Guard 641 00:31:38,551 --> 00:31:42,003 to block the Black students and keep the school segregated. 642 00:31:42,038 --> 00:31:45,006 For three weeks, the president 643 00:31:45,041 --> 00:31:49,045 of the United States did nothing at all. 644 00:31:49,079 --> 00:31:52,186 ANDERSON: The Soviets were all on top 645 00:31:52,220 --> 00:31:54,913 of the explosion at Little Rock. 646 00:31:56,984 --> 00:32:00,504 You see the frustration in the administration, 647 00:32:00,539 --> 00:32:03,645 in the State Department, calling it propaganda. 648 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,546 It is a way for them to strip it of its truth. 649 00:32:07,580 --> 00:32:09,548 It's not propaganda if it's true. 650 00:32:09,582 --> 00:32:12,965 Our enemies are gloating over this incident 651 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,521 and using it everywhere to misrepresent our whole nation. 652 00:32:17,556 --> 00:32:19,730 Little Rock will return 653 00:32:19,765 --> 00:32:24,597 to its normal habits of peace and order. 654 00:32:24,632 --> 00:32:26,737 Thus will be restored 655 00:32:26,772 --> 00:32:29,119 the image of America and of all its parts. 656 00:32:29,154 --> 00:32:30,845 [crowd clamoring] 657 00:32:30,879 --> 00:32:34,573 LENTZ-SMITH: Eisenhower deploys federal troops. 658 00:32:34,607 --> 00:32:36,747 He ultimately does it for these questions 659 00:32:36,782 --> 00:32:40,061 of American credibility in international coverage, 660 00:32:40,096 --> 00:32:42,719 not because it's the right thing to do. 661 00:32:45,135 --> 00:32:48,173 NARRATOR: As America continued to reveal its faults to the world, 662 00:32:48,207 --> 00:32:50,865 it was a frustrating time for Terence Todman 663 00:32:50,899 --> 00:32:53,626 to be a Foreign Service Officer abroad. 664 00:32:53,661 --> 00:32:55,732 "We were putting out a lot of information, 665 00:32:55,766 --> 00:32:57,458 which no one paid any attention to," 666 00:32:57,492 --> 00:32:59,011 he would later say. 667 00:32:59,046 --> 00:33:02,325 "If we assigned a couple of Black officers 668 00:33:02,359 --> 00:33:04,154 "to positions in those embassies, 669 00:33:04,189 --> 00:33:06,915 "their very presence, as Black Americans 670 00:33:06,950 --> 00:33:09,711 in official positions, would tell the story far better." 671 00:33:11,886 --> 00:33:14,268 And for Doris Todman, 672 00:33:14,302 --> 00:33:16,856 it was difficult to be overseas 673 00:33:16,891 --> 00:33:19,031 watching the Civil Rights struggle unfold 674 00:33:19,066 --> 00:33:22,207 half a world away. 675 00:33:22,241 --> 00:33:24,243 DORIS TODMAN: Well, I would say, "Why am I here? 676 00:33:24,278 --> 00:33:26,107 I should be out there marching," you know. 677 00:33:26,142 --> 00:33:29,214 And he said, "Look, we serve a purpose, too. 678 00:33:29,248 --> 00:33:32,044 We're showing what America could be." 679 00:33:34,081 --> 00:33:38,257 DANDRIDGE: He was concerned that we represent the truth 680 00:33:38,292 --> 00:33:42,917 and not painting over of American culture and society. 681 00:33:45,195 --> 00:33:47,094 He had a job to do, 682 00:33:47,128 --> 00:33:48,888 to represent the United States of America, 683 00:33:48,923 --> 00:33:51,098 the good, the bad, and the ugly. 684 00:33:51,132 --> 00:33:53,548 And if it was ugly, he said it's ugly. 685 00:33:53,583 --> 00:33:55,067 [crowd clamoring] 686 00:33:55,102 --> 00:33:57,414 NARRATOR: By the late 1950s, 687 00:33:57,449 --> 00:33:59,520 people throughout Asia and Africa 688 00:33:59,554 --> 00:34:01,522 were fighting for self-determination 689 00:34:01,556 --> 00:34:05,112 against colonial powers. 690 00:34:05,146 --> 00:34:07,735 But Eisenhower failed to see a connection between 691 00:34:07,769 --> 00:34:09,564 liberation movements in Africa 692 00:34:09,599 --> 00:34:13,051 and civil rights in America. 693 00:34:13,085 --> 00:34:15,674 He saw action against colonial governments 694 00:34:15,708 --> 00:34:18,918 as communist-inspired. 695 00:34:18,953 --> 00:34:21,921 LENTZ-SMITH: Deeply embedded in U.S. values 696 00:34:21,956 --> 00:34:25,373 in the 1950s was an understanding of 697 00:34:25,408 --> 00:34:28,583 white people at the top of a heap of worth 698 00:34:28,618 --> 00:34:31,207 and capability, and 699 00:34:31,241 --> 00:34:36,246 Black people, Asians, you know, Indigenous people 700 00:34:36,281 --> 00:34:37,765 controlling their own destinies, 701 00:34:37,799 --> 00:34:41,493 would mean chaos and upheaval, 702 00:34:41,527 --> 00:34:43,840 is deeply rooted in racialized understandings 703 00:34:43,874 --> 00:34:46,118 of who has the capacity for self-government. 704 00:34:46,153 --> 00:34:50,398 TODMAN: While serving on U.S. delegations, 705 00:34:50,433 --> 00:34:53,229 I noticed the United States going along 706 00:34:53,263 --> 00:34:57,129 with what the British and French were doing 707 00:34:57,164 --> 00:34:59,890 in dragging their feet and not keeping up to 708 00:34:59,925 --> 00:35:02,307 their sacred trust of bringing 709 00:35:02,341 --> 00:35:04,309 these countries to self-government. 710 00:35:04,343 --> 00:35:07,760 And I kept insisting that the U.S. policy 711 00:35:07,795 --> 00:35:10,522 should be in keeping with our own history 712 00:35:10,556 --> 00:35:12,317 and our own principles, 713 00:35:12,351 --> 00:35:15,768 and that we should not be going along 714 00:35:15,803 --> 00:35:18,185 with what these colonial powers were doing. 715 00:35:20,635 --> 00:35:22,189 KRENN: Todman represented 716 00:35:22,223 --> 00:35:24,018 the sort of young lions coming in, 717 00:35:24,052 --> 00:35:27,021 confronting this idea within the State Department 718 00:35:27,055 --> 00:35:30,542 that the real experts on Africa are the old colonialists. 719 00:35:30,576 --> 00:35:33,165 ♪ 720 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,100 NARRATOR: In 1960, liberation movements in Asia and Africa 721 00:35:37,135 --> 00:35:39,965 were transforming global politics. 722 00:35:39,999 --> 00:35:41,553 That year alone, 723 00:35:41,587 --> 00:35:44,038 17 African nations won 724 00:35:44,072 --> 00:35:47,110 their struggle for independence. 725 00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:51,356 Eisenhower left office in 1961, just as the movement 726 00:35:51,390 --> 00:35:55,153 for civil rights at home was growing stronger by the year. 727 00:36:01,711 --> 00:36:03,816 In his winning campaign, 728 00:36:03,851 --> 00:36:06,336 John F. Kennedy had promised to support 729 00:36:06,371 --> 00:36:10,685 both civil rights and African independence. 730 00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:13,343 KENNEDY: The great battleground for the defense and expansion 731 00:36:13,378 --> 00:36:17,209 of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe... 732 00:36:17,244 --> 00:36:20,247 Asia, Latin America, 733 00:36:20,281 --> 00:36:22,007 Africa, and the Middle East, 734 00:36:22,041 --> 00:36:24,561 the lands of the rising people. 735 00:36:26,908 --> 00:36:28,324 NARRATOR: But for all his rhetoric, 736 00:36:28,358 --> 00:36:29,773 the new president 737 00:36:29,808 --> 00:36:32,742 mainly focused on one problem... stopping the expansion 738 00:36:32,776 --> 00:36:35,607 of communist power. 739 00:36:35,641 --> 00:36:38,230 Now he looked for someone he could trust 740 00:36:38,265 --> 00:36:40,922 to communicate his policies to the world. 741 00:36:43,718 --> 00:36:46,100 Oh, New Year's Day of 1961, 742 00:36:46,134 --> 00:36:48,309 I was lying in bed in Pasadena waiting 743 00:36:48,344 --> 00:36:50,346 for the Rose Bowl game to start, 744 00:36:50,380 --> 00:36:53,107 when I got a telephone call asking if I'd come down 745 00:36:53,141 --> 00:36:57,007 to Washington as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. 746 00:36:57,042 --> 00:36:59,596 Wow, that must've been an exciting call. 747 00:36:59,631 --> 00:37:03,290 Well, it, uh... there were a lot of days 748 00:37:03,324 --> 00:37:05,015 during those four-and-a-half years 749 00:37:05,050 --> 00:37:07,501 when I wished I'd never gotten the call. 750 00:37:07,535 --> 00:37:08,640 [audience laughter] 751 00:37:10,814 --> 00:37:12,402 NARRATOR: By the time he received that call, 752 00:37:12,437 --> 00:37:16,717 Carl Rowan was already a nationally known journalist. 753 00:37:16,751 --> 00:37:19,409 During the 1960 campaign, 754 00:37:19,444 --> 00:37:21,722 he'd written a series of articles for 755 00:37:21,756 --> 00:37:23,413 a Republican-owned newspaper 756 00:37:23,448 --> 00:37:27,210 on Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy that Kennedy found 757 00:37:27,245 --> 00:37:29,661 surprisingly fair. 758 00:37:29,695 --> 00:37:32,388 Six months later, the new president offered 759 00:37:32,422 --> 00:37:35,425 the young journalist the job of Deputy Assistant 760 00:37:35,460 --> 00:37:39,049 Secretary of State for Public Affairs. 761 00:37:39,084 --> 00:37:41,880 Carl Rowan would communicate Kennedy's policies 762 00:37:41,914 --> 00:37:45,228 to journalists around the world. 763 00:37:45,263 --> 00:37:47,886 JEFFREY ROWAN: He wanted his voice to be heard. 764 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,371 He wanted a seat at the table 765 00:37:50,406 --> 00:37:51,959 in both domestic 766 00:37:51,993 --> 00:37:53,892 and international policy making. 767 00:37:53,926 --> 00:37:55,583 ♪ 768 00:37:55,618 --> 00:37:57,896 NARRATOR: The appointment made Rowan the highest-ranking 769 00:37:57,930 --> 00:38:01,071 African American official in the State Department. 770 00:38:01,106 --> 00:38:03,557 It was a remarkable accomplishment, 771 00:38:03,591 --> 00:38:06,180 especially for someone who'd grown up in a family 772 00:38:06,214 --> 00:38:09,425 of five in a small house with no electricity 773 00:38:09,459 --> 00:38:12,013 in McMinnville, Tennessee. 774 00:38:12,048 --> 00:38:15,534 ROWAN: His mother was a cleaner for houses 775 00:38:15,569 --> 00:38:19,711 and his dad really didn't bring in a consistent income. 776 00:38:19,745 --> 00:38:24,060 That led to squabbles between his parents. 777 00:38:24,094 --> 00:38:27,477 Those were very difficult times for him. 778 00:38:27,512 --> 00:38:29,237 NARRATOR: From the beginning, 779 00:38:29,272 --> 00:38:33,000 Carl Rowan was driven to succeed. 780 00:38:33,034 --> 00:38:36,279 He was valedictorian of his high school class, 781 00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:39,420 and went to Tennessee State University. 782 00:38:39,455 --> 00:38:43,286 Then he became one of the first African American officers 783 00:38:43,321 --> 00:38:46,082 in the history of the U.S. Navy. 784 00:38:46,116 --> 00:38:49,568 But when he came back home to Tennessee, 785 00:38:49,603 --> 00:38:51,846 he was still a second class citizen. 786 00:38:51,881 --> 00:38:56,092 ♪ 787 00:38:56,126 --> 00:38:58,025 He decided to become a journalist. 788 00:38:58,059 --> 00:39:02,961 He would tell the ugly truth about racism in the South. 789 00:39:02,995 --> 00:39:04,721 ROWAN: In 1948, I got a job with 790 00:39:04,756 --> 00:39:06,758 the "Minneapolis Tribune" 791 00:39:06,792 --> 00:39:09,899 at a time when very few daily newspapers 792 00:39:09,933 --> 00:39:12,660 were hiring Negroes as writers. 793 00:39:12,695 --> 00:39:14,490 In 1951, 794 00:39:14,524 --> 00:39:16,526 I suggested to the editors 795 00:39:16,561 --> 00:39:20,012 that we had a responsibility to tell the people 796 00:39:20,047 --> 00:39:22,083 of this state something about 797 00:39:22,118 --> 00:39:24,431 the Negro citizens of this nation. 798 00:39:24,465 --> 00:39:27,295 NARRATOR: The 18-part series called 799 00:39:27,330 --> 00:39:31,161 "How Far From Slavery?" was a sensation, 800 00:39:31,196 --> 00:39:33,750 and made Rowan's career. 801 00:39:33,785 --> 00:39:37,651 KRENN: Rowan portrayed the racial problems in a very specific way. 802 00:39:37,685 --> 00:39:41,206 That really all we're talking about are a few Southern states, 803 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:44,036 these holdouts, who don't really agree with 804 00:39:44,071 --> 00:39:47,177 the vast majority of Americans. 805 00:39:47,212 --> 00:39:50,077 ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER: He had a viewpoint that 806 00:39:50,111 --> 00:39:52,562 working class people, when given opportunity, 807 00:39:52,597 --> 00:39:54,564 can participate 808 00:39:54,599 --> 00:39:56,911 in ideals of American citizenship. 809 00:39:56,946 --> 00:39:59,051 ♪ 810 00:39:59,086 --> 00:40:01,882 NARRATOR: In 1954, Rowan took his idea 811 00:40:01,916 --> 00:40:04,885 of the American dream overseas to India, 812 00:40:04,919 --> 00:40:06,749 as part of a lecture series 813 00:40:06,783 --> 00:40:09,372 sponsored by the State Department. 814 00:40:09,407 --> 00:40:12,168 FRAZIER: Part of the agenda is for him to represent 815 00:40:12,202 --> 00:40:14,170 someone who has been able to uproot themselves 816 00:40:14,204 --> 00:40:15,861 from abject poverty. 817 00:40:15,896 --> 00:40:18,519 He's there to represent possibilities 818 00:40:18,554 --> 00:40:21,177 of life in the United States. 819 00:40:21,211 --> 00:40:26,009 It perpetuates the kind of dominant U.S. ethos 820 00:40:26,044 --> 00:40:30,945 of individualism, which completely negates 821 00:40:30,980 --> 00:40:33,569 the reality that Rowan was an anomaly. 822 00:40:33,603 --> 00:40:38,056 NARRATOR: One evening, an Indian journalist introduced Rowan 823 00:40:38,090 --> 00:40:41,646 as an "excellent propagandist for America," 824 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,890 saying, "We are all interested in how a man 825 00:40:44,925 --> 00:40:47,652 "with a Black skin, who has been unable to know 826 00:40:47,686 --> 00:40:52,450 freedom, can talk so learnedly about a free society." 827 00:40:52,484 --> 00:40:54,382 It was an uncomfortable moment, 828 00:40:54,417 --> 00:40:58,386 and it reconstructed Rowan's view of the world. 829 00:40:58,421 --> 00:41:01,251 KRENN: Rowan believed that these attacks were communist inspired. 830 00:41:01,286 --> 00:41:04,151 That's what he was facing... 831 00:41:04,185 --> 00:41:07,534 misconceptions, lies, distorted stories. 832 00:41:07,568 --> 00:41:10,813 NARRATOR: "I was not a State Department lackey," 833 00:41:10,847 --> 00:41:12,539 Rowan would later write. 834 00:41:12,573 --> 00:41:16,370 "I simply went from Darjeeling, to Patna, to Cuttack, 835 00:41:16,404 --> 00:41:20,270 "to Madras, saying good things about my country 836 00:41:20,305 --> 00:41:23,550 "because I believed that the society that had given me 837 00:41:23,584 --> 00:41:25,552 "a break was in the process of taking 838 00:41:25,586 --> 00:41:29,521 great strides toward racial justice." 839 00:41:29,556 --> 00:41:31,903 LENTZ-SMITH: The first word for him is "patriot." 840 00:41:31,937 --> 00:41:34,457 And that's a complicated thing for 841 00:41:34,492 --> 00:41:38,323 a Black man to be in the mid-1950s. 842 00:41:38,357 --> 00:41:42,638 So he is critical of the U.S., 843 00:41:42,672 --> 00:41:44,329 but he also sees promise, 844 00:41:44,363 --> 00:41:47,159 he believes that American democracy 845 00:41:47,194 --> 00:41:49,507 would be good for the world, 846 00:41:49,541 --> 00:41:52,544 and for decolonizing nations. 847 00:41:52,579 --> 00:41:56,721 ♪ 848 00:41:58,895 --> 00:42:00,932 NARRATOR: Rowan became friendly 849 00:42:00,966 --> 00:42:04,798 with Vice President Lyndon Johnson on a 1961 trip 850 00:42:04,832 --> 00:42:07,248 through Asia, including Vietnam, 851 00:42:07,283 --> 00:42:09,078 where the U.S. 852 00:42:09,112 --> 00:42:12,046 was already becoming entangled in a war. 853 00:42:12,081 --> 00:42:16,361 ♪ 854 00:42:16,395 --> 00:42:19,226 Their friendship fueled Rowan's ambition, 855 00:42:19,260 --> 00:42:22,436 but it led to frustration, as well. 856 00:42:22,470 --> 00:42:25,853 "I suppose it's natural that 857 00:42:25,888 --> 00:42:29,236 "anyone who travels with and advises a vice president 858 00:42:29,270 --> 00:42:32,273 would develop some sense of self-esteem," he later wrote. 859 00:42:32,308 --> 00:42:35,207 "I took on a sense of self-importance that 860 00:42:35,242 --> 00:42:37,589 "had nothing to do with reality. 861 00:42:37,624 --> 00:42:39,764 I forgot," he wrote, 862 00:42:39,798 --> 00:42:43,664 "that I was just another Negro." 863 00:42:43,699 --> 00:42:45,390 FRAZIER: He describes the State Department 864 00:42:45,424 --> 00:42:47,875 as a virtual plantation. 865 00:42:47,910 --> 00:42:51,085 It's very much a kind of white male culture. 866 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:56,159 And this is a space that he is forced to make sense of. 867 00:42:56,194 --> 00:42:58,886 He does push for more, you know, people of color, 868 00:42:58,921 --> 00:43:00,578 Black people, to be hired. 869 00:43:01,786 --> 00:43:03,097 ROWAN: The fact that I'd come in 870 00:43:03,132 --> 00:43:06,549 as the first deputy assistant secretary, 871 00:43:06,584 --> 00:43:08,827 we launched a mighty campaign 872 00:43:08,862 --> 00:43:10,691 to integrate the Foreign Service to the point 873 00:43:10,726 --> 00:43:13,211 that it looked reasonably like 874 00:43:13,245 --> 00:43:16,248 the population of the United States. 875 00:43:16,283 --> 00:43:20,011 NARRATOR: But the pace of change was slow. 876 00:43:20,045 --> 00:43:21,909 After two years, 877 00:43:21,944 --> 00:43:25,188 Rowan was ready to leave the department. 878 00:43:25,223 --> 00:43:28,813 Instead, Kennedy offered him an ambassadorship 879 00:43:28,847 --> 00:43:32,402 to Finland, and Rowan took it. 880 00:43:32,437 --> 00:43:37,097 AURELIA BRAZEAL: The currency of diplomacy is optimism. 881 00:43:37,131 --> 00:43:40,341 You have to be optimistic as a diplomat. 882 00:43:40,376 --> 00:43:44,000 And that leads to seeing issues as opportunities. 883 00:43:44,035 --> 00:43:47,038 ♪ 884 00:43:50,179 --> 00:43:51,663 REPORTER: And now you're here and we hope that you will 885 00:43:51,698 --> 00:43:53,803 like to stay here with us. 886 00:43:53,838 --> 00:43:55,494 I know we're going to enjoy it immensely. 887 00:43:55,529 --> 00:43:58,394 And we look forward to seeing all of this 888 00:43:58,428 --> 00:44:01,742 country and as many of Finland's people as possible. 889 00:44:04,020 --> 00:44:08,715 ROWAN: The Finns did magazine articles galore. 890 00:44:08,749 --> 00:44:11,994 I remember one in one of the big Finnish magazines, 891 00:44:12,028 --> 00:44:15,273 the most colorful ambassador in Finland. 892 00:44:15,307 --> 00:44:17,378 [laughs] 893 00:44:17,413 --> 00:44:22,245 They were talking about the unorthodox style 894 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:25,007 that I brought to the job, in the sense of traveling 895 00:44:25,041 --> 00:44:28,010 more than any American had before, 896 00:44:28,044 --> 00:44:30,702 and going out bowling with the Finnish people. 897 00:44:30,737 --> 00:44:34,085 ♪ 898 00:44:34,119 --> 00:44:36,812 JEFFREY ROWAN: People would walk up to us and stare, 899 00:44:36,846 --> 00:44:40,263 but it wasn't a kind of racist staring. 900 00:44:40,298 --> 00:44:42,507 They were just curious because they had never 901 00:44:42,541 --> 00:44:45,268 really seen people of color before. 902 00:44:45,303 --> 00:44:47,201 ♪ 903 00:44:47,236 --> 00:44:49,721 NARRATOR: For Rowan, being a Black ambassador 904 00:44:49,756 --> 00:44:51,861 in Finland had a subtext. 905 00:44:51,896 --> 00:44:55,140 He wrote, "I could belie the notion 906 00:44:55,175 --> 00:44:58,730 that my country was hopelessly racist." 907 00:44:58,765 --> 00:45:01,871 Rowan said, "My coming to Finland would 908 00:45:01,906 --> 00:45:04,425 "hasten the day when American Negroes are 909 00:45:04,460 --> 00:45:07,843 playing the role they ought to play in our Foreign Service." 910 00:45:07,877 --> 00:45:11,225 Finland was a critical country for 911 00:45:11,260 --> 00:45:12,917 a president preoccupied with 912 00:45:12,951 --> 00:45:16,334 drawing the line against Communism. 913 00:45:16,368 --> 00:45:19,544 The Soviet Union loomed large on Finland's border. 914 00:45:19,578 --> 00:45:21,995 Ambassador Rowan was now 915 00:45:22,029 --> 00:45:25,688 on the frontlines of the Cold War. 916 00:45:25,723 --> 00:45:27,828 KRENN: Finland was a hotspot. 917 00:45:27,863 --> 00:45:29,588 Finland was seen as sort of a nation 918 00:45:29,623 --> 00:45:31,521 on the fence in the Cold War. 919 00:45:31,556 --> 00:45:34,317 This was a nation we really had to curry their favor. 920 00:45:34,352 --> 00:45:36,734 We know the Soviets were also trying to curry their favor. 921 00:45:36,768 --> 00:45:40,047 [explosion] 922 00:45:40,082 --> 00:45:42,049 NARRATOR: The U.S. and the Soviet Union had enough 923 00:45:42,084 --> 00:45:46,088 nuclear weapons to destroy the other many times over. 924 00:45:46,122 --> 00:45:48,435 Kennedy urged the world's leaders to sign 925 00:45:48,469 --> 00:45:50,851 a partial test ban, and Kennedy's 926 00:45:50,886 --> 00:45:53,267 directive to Rowan was clear... 927 00:45:53,302 --> 00:45:56,236 persuade Finland's president, Urho Kekkonen, 928 00:45:56,270 --> 00:45:59,204 to support an international treaty. 929 00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:01,966 KENNEDY: Let us call a truce to terror. 930 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,314 The logical place to begin is a treaty 931 00:46:05,348 --> 00:46:08,489 assuring the end of nuclear tests 932 00:46:08,524 --> 00:46:12,321 of all kinds, in every environment. 933 00:46:12,355 --> 00:46:14,530 ♪ 934 00:46:14,564 --> 00:46:16,946 NARRATOR: Rowan succeeded in getting Kekkonen to join the effort. 935 00:46:19,362 --> 00:46:23,884 This was his greatest accomplishment as an ambassador. 936 00:46:23,919 --> 00:46:25,610 But his stay was cut short... 937 00:46:25,644 --> 00:46:28,751 on November 22, 1963. 938 00:46:36,103 --> 00:46:38,243 NEWSREEL NARRATOR: In winter's darkness, 939 00:46:38,278 --> 00:46:40,383 all men await the new president's guidance. 940 00:46:40,418 --> 00:46:44,525 His cabinet puts before him a Congress deadlocked in debate, 941 00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,666 the torment of a nation on the edge of racial clash. 942 00:46:47,701 --> 00:46:52,671 With steadying certainty, Lyndon Johnson takes over. 943 00:46:52,706 --> 00:46:55,605 NARRATOR: When Lyndon Johnson became president, 944 00:46:55,640 --> 00:47:00,162 he entered office with an ambitious civil rights agenda. 945 00:47:00,196 --> 00:47:02,889 The first step would be to appoint 946 00:47:02,923 --> 00:47:04,373 African Americans to high office. 947 00:47:04,407 --> 00:47:06,409 I, Carl T. Rowan, do solemnly swear... 948 00:47:06,444 --> 00:47:08,032 NARRATOR: He named Rowan the director 949 00:47:08,066 --> 00:47:10,828 of the United States Information Agency. 950 00:47:10,862 --> 00:47:12,588 That I will support... 951 00:47:12,622 --> 00:47:14,521 IRVIN HICKS JR: The fact that here is 952 00:47:14,555 --> 00:47:15,833 a very accomplished African American 953 00:47:15,867 --> 00:47:17,662 who has been put into this position 954 00:47:17,696 --> 00:47:19,837 and has the confidence 955 00:47:19,871 --> 00:47:22,184 of the president of the United States, 956 00:47:22,218 --> 00:47:23,426 it was a major fanfare 957 00:47:23,461 --> 00:47:24,772 as I was growing up 958 00:47:24,807 --> 00:47:27,051 in African American publications, 959 00:47:27,085 --> 00:47:29,985 because it was unprecedented. 960 00:47:30,019 --> 00:47:34,817 NARRATOR: But it wasn't easy to be head of the U.S.I.A. in the 1960s. 961 00:47:34,852 --> 00:47:38,234 America's racial unrest intensified, 962 00:47:38,269 --> 00:47:40,823 while the country spiraled deeper into 963 00:47:40,858 --> 00:47:44,585 what many viewed as an unjust war. 964 00:47:44,620 --> 00:47:49,832 It was Rowan's job to protect America's image overseas, 965 00:47:49,867 --> 00:47:52,731 a position that often put him at odds 966 00:47:52,766 --> 00:47:54,837 with civil rights leaders. 967 00:47:54,872 --> 00:47:58,082 ANDERSON: Carl Rowan, 968 00:47:58,116 --> 00:48:01,257 I would say, played it too close to the vest. 969 00:48:01,292 --> 00:48:04,467 There is an insurgency in the Black community. 970 00:48:04,502 --> 00:48:09,162 And so the kind of quiet, patient gradualism 971 00:48:09,196 --> 00:48:13,028 isn't playing to that insurgency. 972 00:48:15,168 --> 00:48:17,480 ♪ 973 00:48:17,515 --> 00:48:20,656 KRENN: It was a difficult time to be a representative of a country 974 00:48:20,690 --> 00:48:25,212 that still kept most of your fellow African Americans 975 00:48:25,247 --> 00:48:27,870 in second-class citizenship. 976 00:48:27,905 --> 00:48:31,701 Well, which United States do they represent? 977 00:48:31,736 --> 00:48:34,566 Do they represent the United States that 978 00:48:34,601 --> 00:48:36,223 they are supposed to represent, 979 00:48:36,258 --> 00:48:39,054 as the paragon of freedom, democracy, and justice, 980 00:48:39,088 --> 00:48:42,402 or do they represent the America which is 981 00:48:42,436 --> 00:48:44,024 a segregated, divided, 982 00:48:44,059 --> 00:48:48,201 and sometimes racially violent society? 983 00:48:48,235 --> 00:48:50,444 [shouting, clamoring] 984 00:48:53,723 --> 00:48:58,038 NARRATOR: As the debacle in Vietnam consumed LBJ, 985 00:48:58,073 --> 00:49:00,558 Rowan felt increasingly cut out 986 00:49:00,592 --> 00:49:03,423 of the decision-making process. 987 00:49:03,457 --> 00:49:08,255 His relationship with the president deteriorated. 988 00:49:08,290 --> 00:49:12,190 In 1965, Rowan resigned. 989 00:49:14,158 --> 00:49:16,850 BRAZEAL: There were people I knew who did resign. 990 00:49:16,884 --> 00:49:19,818 As a country, we lost their talent. 991 00:49:19,853 --> 00:49:24,168 We lost their thinking on policy issues. 992 00:49:24,202 --> 00:49:26,204 It's hard to quantify what you've lost, 993 00:49:26,239 --> 00:49:28,689 but you do lose that voice at the table. 994 00:49:31,451 --> 00:49:34,005 LENTZ-SMITH: It's easy to enter an institution 995 00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:36,145 and think you're going to change it. 996 00:49:36,180 --> 00:49:38,734 But if it's just you or just a few of you, 997 00:49:38,768 --> 00:49:41,047 how do you keep in mind the purpose that you entered with 998 00:49:41,081 --> 00:49:43,566 and how do you fulfill that purpose? 999 00:49:45,879 --> 00:49:47,570 NARRATOR: Both Carl Rowan 1000 00:49:47,605 --> 00:49:49,296 and Edward R. Dudley returned 1001 00:49:49,331 --> 00:49:52,575 to illustrious careers outside diplomacy. 1002 00:49:54,232 --> 00:49:56,890 [indistinct chatter, flashbulbs popping] 1003 00:49:56,924 --> 00:50:01,032 But Terence Todman dedicated his life to the Foreign Service. 1004 00:50:01,067 --> 00:50:04,725 In 1989, the State Department honored him 1005 00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:07,038 with the rank of Career Ambassador, 1006 00:50:07,073 --> 00:50:10,317 the first African American diplomat 1007 00:50:10,352 --> 00:50:12,526 to receive that distinction. 1008 00:50:12,561 --> 00:50:16,047 He served as an ambassador for 23 years, 1009 00:50:16,082 --> 00:50:18,636 learned six languages, 1010 00:50:18,670 --> 00:50:22,226 and held six ambassadorial positions. 1011 00:50:22,260 --> 00:50:24,400 HICKS: That means that on six occasions, 1012 00:50:24,435 --> 00:50:27,300 Ambassador Todman received Senate confirmation. 1013 00:50:27,334 --> 00:50:29,716 On six occasions, you had the confidence 1014 00:50:29,750 --> 00:50:31,718 of the president of the United States. 1015 00:50:31,752 --> 00:50:33,858 That is... that is highly unique. 1016 00:50:33,892 --> 00:50:35,653 ♪ 1017 00:50:35,687 --> 00:50:38,069 DORIS TODMAN: We felt we were proving a point 1018 00:50:38,104 --> 00:50:40,382 because we had penetrated 1019 00:50:40,416 --> 00:50:43,419 an impenetrable area 1020 00:50:43,454 --> 00:50:45,766 in America, in diplomacy. 1021 00:50:45,801 --> 00:50:48,631 We felt that was important. 1022 00:50:48,666 --> 00:50:52,325 KRENN: If we look at the late 1940s with Edward Dudley, 1023 00:50:52,359 --> 00:50:54,051 moving on through Terence Todman, 1024 00:50:54,085 --> 00:50:57,088 moving up to the career of Carl Rowan and beyond, 1025 00:50:57,123 --> 00:51:00,091 the question of progress, it's a difficult one. 1026 00:51:01,610 --> 00:51:03,094 Has there been progress? 1027 00:51:03,129 --> 00:51:04,820 There has been progress. 1028 00:51:04,854 --> 00:51:07,133 But it's been an uphill battle. 1029 00:51:07,167 --> 00:51:09,169 The folks who are in these bureaucracies, 1030 00:51:09,204 --> 00:51:12,138 which are often very hostile places, 1031 00:51:12,172 --> 00:51:16,003 slowly chipping away 1032 00:51:16,038 --> 00:51:19,041 at the structures of inequality, 1033 00:51:19,076 --> 00:51:21,561 the structures that suppress merit, 1034 00:51:21,595 --> 00:51:24,529 that just see your Blackness 1035 00:51:24,564 --> 00:51:27,118 and not your brilliance, 1036 00:51:27,153 --> 00:51:30,811 to have those folks quietly doing that work, 1037 00:51:30,846 --> 00:51:34,229 this is that kind of 1038 00:51:34,263 --> 00:51:38,716 institutional systemic work that creates change. 1039 00:51:38,819 --> 00:51:42,237 ♪ 1040 00:51:49,761 --> 00:51:53,110 ♪ 1041 00:52:13,613 --> 00:52:20,171 ♪ 1042 00:52:39,432 --> 00:52:42,435 ♪