WRC-TV, Channel 4, Washington.
The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.
Good morning. This is today. It's Tuesday, May 16th. I'm Frank McGee, and here are the
headlines. Alabama Governor George Wallace is holding his own after surgery. A 21-year-old
Milwaukee man has been arrested as his assailant. Primaries are being conducted today in Maryland
and in Michigan. And those headlines explain in a way why the Today Show is split up this
morning. Barbara Walters is in Detroit to cover the primary in Michigan and the Michigan
story. And I have moved from Detroit to Washington for our coverage of the shooting of George
Wallace, a shooting that has shocked and outraged the nation and has at least temporarily curtailed
a political race in which Governor Wallace was a strong runner. For an up-to-the-minute
report on the condition of Governor Wallace, we switch now to NBC News correspondent Gordon
Graham at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The last medical report on Governor Wallace was issued five hours ago. At that time, his
condition was listed as still serious but stable. An attending physician, Dr. Joseph
Shano, said the governor was hit by four bullets, all on the right side. Two of those shots
apparently entered his abdominal cavity, and one of them remains lodged near his spinal
column. The governor is paralyzed from the waist down. Dr. Shano says it will be 48 hours
before it can be determined whether that condition is permanent. The governor's press aide, Billy
Joe Camps, says Mrs. Cornelia Wallace remained with the governor in the recovery room throughout
the night, and she is encouraged by the doctor's report and is very optimistic about her husband's
chances for a full recovery.
Regarding Governor Wallace's future political plans, well, Mr. Camps said the campaign effort
will continue with Mrs. Wallace picking up her husband's share of the campaign load.
Mrs. Wallace passed word that they will be at the Democratic Convention in Miami, and
she has every confidence that George Wallace will be elected to the White House in November.
The next medical bulletin is scheduled for one hour from now, and we'll have a report.
This is Gordon Graham, Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, Maryland. Now back to Frank
McGee in Washington.
Ironically, Wallace was gunned down in Maryland, the state where, eight years ago, he made
a strong showing in his first competition in Democratic national politics. Wallace was
on a campaign stop in the town of Laurel, not far from Washington, mingling with the
shopping center crowd when the shooting occurred. The bullets hit the governor in the stomach,
the right arm, and near the spine. Wallace lurched and then crumpled to the ground, bleeding
profusely but lying quietly, as his wife, Cornelia, blood-streaking her yellow dress, bent over
him. Wallace was carried to a hospital where the bullets were removed from the arm and
stomach. A third bullet remains lodged dangerously near the spine. It is that bullet which,
doctors fear, poses a threat of paralysis. Three other persons were wounded in the shooting,
Alabama State Trooper E.C. Dotherd, Secret Service agent Nick Zarvos, and Dora Thompson,
a Wallace campaign worker. None is in serious condition. Only seconds after the shooting,
police and bodyguards pounced on a blonde 21-year-old man, Arthur Bremer of Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, who all smiles had been standing near the front of the platform when Wallace
descended to shake hands. Here's the way the shooting looked.
Wallace, though he frequently does not, stepped into the crowd at the end of his speech in
response to audience pleas of, come on, George, shake my hand.
Then the gunfire. George Wallace, seriously wounded.
Arthur Bremer, pummeled, knocked to the ground, and held by police.
How about I get these people back? Get these people back. Come on.
Ladies and gentlemen, get back. Are you working against him?
You people that are for him, help get this crowd back out of the way.
Move!
Arthur Bremer, as he stood in a crowd, would not have aroused the suspicion of anyone.
To NBC News cameraman Charles Fekety, who took these pictures at an earlier Wallace rally,
Bremer appeared as just another rather nice-looking young man, there to listen and occasionally applaud George Wallace.
There was nothing suspicious in his manner, or certainly his dress. He seemed young, middle-class conservatism itself.
Right down to the reassuring jacket button, which in keeping with the spirit of most Wallace rallies,
urged the onlooker to stand up for America.
Certainly one question now is what happens to the Wallace campaign,
and the answer at the moment seems to be that the campaign will continue,
although George Wallace will, of necessity, drastically curtail his personal campaigning.
His aides insist that his effort to capture the Democratic presidential nomination will continue.
Well, what kind of a man is Arthur Bremer? That's an easy enough question to answer,
but it may prove, or to ask, but it may prove quite difficult to answer.
Newsmen, however, have spoken with Bremer's father and with his brother,
and in just a moment we will have a report from NBC News correspondent John Palmer in Chicago.
This is Today on NBC.
Imperial March
Except for John Wilkes Booth, who was an extrovert actor, those men who physically attacked public
figures have on the whole been obscure, rather shy men.
The gunshots that propelled them into notoriety also set off a sudden and furious search into
their past.
Today, that is the case with a young man from Milwaukee named Arthur Bremer, who is charged
with trying to kill George Wallace.
Here now, a report from NBC News correspondent John Palmer in Chicago.
Arthur H. Bremer, the man accused of shooting Governor Wallace, is described by his friends
in Milwaukee as a lonely, quiet person who never talked very much about politics.
Until they were informed last night that he'd been arrested, members of his family did not
even know that Arthur Bremer had left the city and had gone to Maryland.
The 21-year-old suspect lived alone in a three-room apartment on Milwaukee's west side.
He was last seen here about a month ago.
Federal agents who visited the apartment last night found a box of.38 caliber cartridges,
a gun catalog, and a Confederate flag.
They also found newspaper clippings, one of them relating the frustrations of newsmen trying
to get past security guards to reach presidential candidates.
A neighbor said at one time Bremer had a Wallace campaign sticker on the door of his apartment.
Bremer's 18-year-old brother Roger said he could not think of any reason why Arthur would
want to harm Governor Wallace.
I don't know, we never knew much about him.
I never talked to him.
He's accused of shooting Governor Wallace in Laurel, Maryland this afternoon.
Do you know what he would be doing there?
I don't know.
What's your reaction to that?
I don't know, I never thought he'd...
I didn't think he was even out of town, you know.
Do you have a gun?
Not that you know of?
No.
Play with guns or anything?
No, I don't know.
I used to go hunting and stuff, you know, but he never touched a gun.
In the kitchen of the family home on Milwaukee's south side, Bremer's father William, a Milwaukee
truck driver, and another brother Theodore talked with reporters.
Arthur wouldn't shoot a squirrel or wouldn't shoot nothing.
He wouldn't shoot anything.
He'd have a gun.
Did he have a quick temper?
Well, he could fly off the handle if you but...
Average like anybody else.
Like anybody else.
I would bring my three children over here and they'd be playing around with them and
clowning around.
He'd play around and clown around with them and have a good time.
There's no explanation for... if it was him, his behavior and what had happened.
There's no explanation we can give at all.
I really hope that...
William Brunner said he was stunned when he first heard of his son's arrest.
He said, God knows, we hope he isn't connected with this, but the father said if he is involved,
he must have been awfully sick.
School officials in Milwaukee say Arthur Bremer was a poor student.
After he left the family home last year and moved out of his apartment, Bremer worked
as a janitor.
Students, neighbors, and acquaintances offer a portrait of a young man who kept his opinions
to himself.
In the words of Bremer's younger brother, nobody could talk to him.
We never knew very much about him.
John Palmer, NBC News, Chicago.
For other news, we switch now to New York and Frank Blair.
Good morning, everyone.
The U.S. command in Saigon said today that American bombers had cut the main fuel pipeline
between Hanoi and the demilitarized zone.
The announcement said all pumping stations on the line had been destroyed.
It said the line had been capable of carrying more than 1,100 tons of fuel a day.
American fighter bombers were also reported to have destroyed North Vietnam's air defense
headquarters on the southern edge of Hanoi.
There was only minor ground fighting, and American sources said the enemy was apparently
trying to consolidate its positions before resuming its offensive.
U.S. spokesmen said it will be at least another 30 days before anyone can assess the effects
of American air attacks on the enemy offensive.
The main weapons used in this new war is the 500-pound bomb.
Air force, Navy, and Marines are flying up to 300 missions a day over the north and nearly
as many in the south.
Another key weapon in the American arsenal is the rocket.
There are many types.
These are phosphorus rockets used to mark targets for the pilots.
Other kinds are used to hit troop concentrations if the enemy makes the mistake of being caught
out in the open.
The men who fly these planes are the front-line fighters for the United States today.
They carry the war to North Vietnam and pound enemy positions in the south in an effort
to take pressure off the South Vietnamese on the ground.
In spite of all this effort, the North Vietnamese still manage to get supplies through.
It is just not possible to knock out every truck and convoy heading south or to silence
every artillery position shelling South Vietnamese bases.
Pass from the air can slow the enemy down, but if he is to be stopped, it will have to
be done by the troops on the ground.
Rex Ellis, NBC News, Da Nang, South Vietnam.
Price of gold rose to a record high this morning on the London market, equivalent to $54.50
an ounce.
The current wave of gold buying began after President Nixon announced that North Vietnam's
harbors were being mined.
The mayor of Saigon, Colonel Don Ken-Yu, announced this morning that police will strictly enforce
a law against men wearing long hair.
He said long hair is contrary to the spirit of vigilance required to confront the enemy
offensive.
Vice President Agnew arrived in Bangkok today for the three-day visit, which had not been
announced in advance.
The vice president had been in Tokyo for ceremonies at which Okinawa was returned to Japanese
rule.
There have been reports that he may also stop off in Saigon before returning home.
More violence in Northern Ireland during the night, an explosion wrecked a tavern in a Protestant
neighborhood in Belfast, injuring 17 persons.
Gangs of young Protestants then went on a rampage, battling Catholics until British troops separated
them.
We'll have reactions from presidential candidate Senators McGovern and Humphrey in just two
minutes and we'll have the weather at the half hour.
This is today on NBC.
The shooting of Governor George Wallace drew expressions of shock, sympathy, and outrage
from Wallace's leading rivals in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination,
Senator George McGovern and Senator Hubert Humphrey.
This is an act of violence which is deplorable.
Any act of violence in this country only adds to the tensions and the troubles of our nation.
What we need now more than any time in our history is a spirit of reconciliation and
quite obviously an act of violence even by one that may involve only a few is a very
sad and tragic event.
I can't help but think that the future of our country is terribly endangered by this
kind of senseless violence.
If men and women seeking high office have to be exposed to this kind of senseless, shocking
attack then it represents an attack on everything that this nation holds dear and of value.
We're canceling all of our campaign activities, returning to Washington.
We're taking our television, radio advertising, and all campaign activities out of circulation
until further notice.
John Connolly, wounded when President Kennedy was shot to death in Texas, said, it's just
unbelievable.
It's tragic.
It makes you want to weep that things like that could happen in this country.
As I said earlier, Barbara Walters is in Detroit covering the Michigan primary and last night
she talked with some Michigan voters about the shooting of Governor George Wallace.
Here's a report.
Barbara?
This is the first primary that Michigan has had in 44 years.
The downtown streets of Detroit, a city where the black population is just under 50 percent,
is not exactly packed with people after dark.
As a matter of fact, most of the streets seem completely deserted.
Last night was calm and quiet, but we found an all-night drug store.
We by no means talk with a wide enough range of citizens to describe them as a cross-section
of the state, but we got some strong reactions and here's a sampling of them.
First, I don't like Governor Walters.
I was kind of happy, but after I thought about it, I don't feel anybody should be shot or
killed for the way they think.
You know, and like I wouldn't want anybody else to win the election just because he was
killed or assassinated.
Think it's going to change anyone's vote here?
I think it's going to make him win, I think, a few more voters.
It's a bad, a bad situation when you can't go out and talk with, you know, what you believe
and not get shot for it.
I wasn't surprised because I felt that sooner or later Wallace was going to meet with some
type of violence because, you see, Wallace, he's off with his people, you see, but it's
ironic that one of his own people, you know, ripped him off.
Well, I didn't think he should get shot because he's nice and whoever did it was wrong.
My feelings are that it just seems that when people have their own convictions and they're
running for office and they feel very strongly about it, it just seems that there's always
some group around that ready to mow them down.
This happened to the Kennedys.
I think it's a sad state of affairs in our country when the man who wants to run for
president is killed.
We're a very violent country and I just hope that this isn't a reflection on the whole
country as a whole.
Sir, I wonder if you can tell me how you felt today.
You've been selling the papers with the front page story about Governor Wallace.
What was your feeling when you heard about it?
I'd like to hang the person that shot him.
Why?
Because any fool that does that is out of his own mind.
Are you going to vote in the primary?
Yes, ma'am.
Can you tell us who you're going to vote for?
Wallace.
Is this going to change your vote in any way?
No, it's not going to change my vote at all, but I really feel bad.
I just couldn't get over it.
I was so shocked.
But really, it's not going to change my vote at all.
Were you planning?
Can you tell me to vote for Governor Wallace?
No, I was not.
And you're going to stick with whoever the man was that you were originally going to
vote for?
Right.
Well, no, it's not going to change my vote because I wasn't going to vote for Wallace
anyway, but in all respect to the man himself.
I feel that if a man's going to run for what he believes in and be truthful and then what
he believes in, then you've got to respect him.
But in the same sense, our society, the way it's built up, to shoot a man or to kill
a man for what he believes in is wrong.
What was your feeling when you heard that he had been shot?
Well, it was bad.
He'd see everybody get shot.
You know, it's awful bad.
You know what I mean?
He'd hurt anybody.
When Kenny got shot and the cane got shot and Robert Kennedy and all them.
It was bad.
You know what I mean?
I didn't see anybody get shot like that.
We'll be back after this station break.
CNBC news coverage of the Michigan and Maryland primaries tonight.
It's the skinny look this summer.
Not this one.
This is the skinny look with new skinful sandals from Kenny's shoes.
A whole bevy of skinnies that are barely there so your feet can run around almost naked,
daytime, nighttime, anytime.
Kenny's skinnies for a skinnier than thou look, even if you're not.
Good morning.
Partly cloudy today in Washington.
Chance of a thundershower this afternoon.
High today about 75.
Right now it's 56 degrees.
Doctors are keeping a close watch on the condition of Governor George Wallace.
He remains on the critical list from four bullet wounds he suffered at the hands of
a would-be assassin after a political rally yesterday in Laurel, Maryland.
Three other persons were wounded.
One eyewitness to the shooting tells what he saw.
He was laying here and the lady, I think she got shot in the leg.
She was laying right over here, right behind him.
And they were the only two laying down.
And this lady, she got shot too.
She was behind him.
She could call one of the stray bullets.
But he took his shirt off.
One of these campaign guys come over and he just unbuttoned his shirt and he was trying
to stop the blood that was in.
He says, they didn't get me.
He says, I'm going to make it.
Doctors at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Springs say one bullet is lodged against the government
governor's spine and that he is paralyzed from the waist down.
However, they say it is too early to tell if the paralysis is permanent.
This is News 4 Washington Today with Don Doak.
The bridge, one of man's mightiest creations.
It takes years to build a big one and it serves for generations.
Who builds these giants?
United States Steel does.
We're involved.
In fact, over the past 70 years, our American Bridge Division has built the majority of
America's big bridges.
A bridge like this may call for over 28,000 tons of steel and hundreds of rugged bridgemen
to connect it all together.
It can take a fleet of many special vessels, barges, tugboats, scows, and floating cranes
before the last piece of steel finally goes into place.
Building a bridge is quite a job, but the job they do for you is even bigger.
We're helping build America's bridges.
At United States Steel, we're involved.
A man from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 21-year-old Arthur Bremer is charged with shooting Governor
Wallace and a secret serviceman.
Bremer is being held under $200,000 bond in Baltimore following his appearance before
a U.S. magistrate.
The shooting occurred at a campaign stop at a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland.
The agent, Nicholas Zarvos, underwent surgery for a bullet wound in the neck.
He is listed as in good condition.
Alabama State Police Captain E.C.
Dotherd also was hit.
He was treated for a flesh wound and released from the hospital.
A Wallace campaign worker, Dora Thompson, suffered a leg wound and is listed in satisfactory
condition.
The Alabama governor, the senators Humphrey and McGovern are considered the main contenders
among 11 Democratic candidates on the Maryland ballot for today's primary.
At stake are 53 delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The 48 local delegates must cast their first two convention ballots for the candidates
who win in their congressional district.
A scheduled Wallace rally at Annapolis last night turned into a prayer meeting for the
wounded governor of Alabama.
Wallace Senator James Allen led the prayer with the words, Lord, we thank thee for Governor
Wallace.
Mr. Humphrey cut short his campaigning in Maryland after the shooting yesterday and
drove to the hospital in Silver Spring.
Another Maryland contender, as we mentioned, Senator McGovern, also called off his campaigning
from the Michigan primary and returned to Washington.
The weather outlook for Washington and vicinity, partly cloudy today and tonight with a chance
of an afternoon thunderstorm, high today in the mid-70s, low tonight in the middle 50s,
tomorrow fair, high in the mid-70s, the chance of rain 40 percent today and 20 percent tonight
and tomorrow.
Winds today westerly about 10 miles per hour.
Right now winds are out of the south southwest at six miles an hour, the relative humidity
93 percent, and the present temperature in Washington 56 degrees.
This is Don Doak in a moment back to today in New York.
More news for Washington today with Don Doak at 825.
After shampoos, combing doesn't always come easy, but you can spray away snarls and tangles
with hair sunu.
It's fast, fun, easy to do.
To get the knots out of every head in the house, try the one step, spray on, no rinse,
green rinse, hair sunu.
Good morning again, we're in Washington for another half hour of our special report on
the Today program of the shooting of Alabama Governor George Wallace yesterday afternoon.
Governor Wallace was shot four times after a campaign speech in Laurel, Maryland, and
a windup of that state's primary, which is being conducted today.
Wallace underwent five hours of surgery at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, actually
a suburb of Washington, D.C.
For a late report on the governor's condition, here is Gordon Graham at the hospital.
At this hour, recovery for Alabama Governor George Wallace is a matter of degree.
At two o'clock this morning, doctors issued a bulletin saying that after five hours in
surgery, the Governor Wallace condition was still serious, but all of his vital life signs
were stable.
One of the four bullets which struck the governor is still lodged near his spinal column, and
he is paralyzed from the waist down.
We'll have another bulletin in about 30 minutes, and we'll have a report.
Gordon Graham, NBC News at Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Twenty-one-year-old Arthur Bremer of Milwaukee, who allegedly shot Wallace, was immediately
seized by police and is being held in Baltimore, charged with intent to murder.
We'll be back with more details and a discussion of this story later in the program.
First, here with the rest of the news is Frank Blair in New York.
Good morning, everyone.
The U.S. Command said this morning that a full week of sustained air raids against North
Vietnam wrecked the country's air defense headquarters near Hanoi, where earlier intelligence
reports had said Russian advisors and technicians worked.
The main pipelines applying oil to Hanoi's troops in the DMZ and South Vietnam was also
knocked out during a series of 2,000 air strikes.
According to the American command, the raids also cut more than 70 rail and road supply
lines carrying equipment to North Vietnamese troops.
In the ground war, North Vietnamese troops and tanks attacked Khon Thum for the second
straight day.
American B-52s dropped more than 700 tons of bombs around the city, trying to disrupt
the enemy attack.
The United Press International reported this morning from Washington that the United States
is sending another aircraft carrier, the Ticonderoga, to South Vietnamese waters.
It would bring the total number of carriers operating in the area to seven.
In Paris, the Communist delegation to the Vietnam peace talks formally requested resumption
of the negotiations, which were called off by the United States on May the 4th.
The price of gold jumped by more than a dollar announced this morning on the London Exchange,
hitting a record high of $54.50 an ounce.
The increased demand for gold, along with a weakening of the U.S. dollar, began after
President Nixon announced the mining of North Vietnamese ports more than a week ago.
Vice President Agnew, who had been in Tokyo for the ceremonies turning Okinawa over to
Japanese rule, made an unscheduled side trip to Bangkok this morning.
General said he would be there for three days for conferences with Thailand's leaders.
A bomb went off in a tavern in the Protestant section of Belfast during the night, injuring
at least 17 persons.
Protestant youths, angered by the bombing, went on a window-breaking violent rampage
for several hours afterwards, clashing with Catholic gangs in a battle that had to be
broken up by British soldiers.
That's the news, weather in a moment, time is 34 after the hour.
We're going to show you what looks like an ordinary tire, but it's not.
This one is in a class by itself.
Watch.
I want you to get a good look at that tire and tell me how many miles are on it.
Okay?
How about 35,000?
Okay.
What would you say if I told you there's over 70,000 miles on that tire?
It's hard to believe.
I don't believe it.
It's hard to believe.
That's as many miles as I got on my car and I've had a third set on there.
We asked people to tell us how many miles were on this Sears steel belted radial.
25,000.
And hardly anybody even came close.
How much?
About 38,000.
The same tire on the same car was driven over 70,000 miles in a supervised mileage test.
Sears steel belted radial, the proven radial.
You know, the mileage you get depends on how you drive.
Wow.
It seems impossible you get 70,000 miles on a tire like that.
Sears steel belted radial.
Only at Sears.
Severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening from southeastern Oklahoma into western Arkansas
and northwest Louisiana to all of Texas except for the northwest and southern sections.
Northern New England will have more rain today.
Scattered showers and thundershowers are due across New York and Pennsylvania into Ohio,
eastern West Virginia and Maryland.
The southeast will be fair and mild but with thundershowers in Florida.
The Midwest and Mississippi Valley area will be fair and warm.
In the plains, strong warming trend with 80 and 90 degree readings for this afternoon.
The plateau and mountain states will be fair and very warm with temperatures in the 80s.
It'll be hot in the southwest with more 100s for the deserts.
Cooler weather continues to move across the northwestern states with showers from the
coast to southern Idaho.
And the temperature map for this afternoon shows a great wedge of much above normal 80
and 90 degree temperatures building up in the central half of the nation.
The northeast and the northwest will be nearer seasonable levels with 60s and 70s.
Time is 36 after the hour.
And now a word from CURAD, the bandage with a new kind of stick.
That's the bandage, the one that you probably buy.
Here's the other bandage, CURAD.
I'm wearing CURAD all over to show how well they stick.
See CURAD has an improved adhesive that resists water, even perspiration.
Look, CURAD's improved adhesive really sticks and stays stuck.
Also, CURAD is the only bandage with the outless TELFA pad.
See?
Outless pad, better sticking adhesive.
Try CURAD, the other bandage.
You'll stick with it.
And for man-sized cuts and scrapes, use outless TELFA adhesive pads with the same better sticking
adhesive.
Good bandages, TELFA adhesive pads, both outless, both stick and stay stuck.
We have some late baseball scores in the National League.
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 2-1.
In the American League, the Oakland Athletics defeated the California Angels also by 2-1.
Athletics pitcher Denny McLean was sent to the Miners yesterday.
The 28-year-old right-hander has been hit hard recently, and so it's on to Birmingham
of the Southern League for McLean and his $75,000 contract.
McLean won 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, the peak year of his career and the
year the Tigers won the World Series.
The New York Nets even the American Basketball Association Championship last night by beating
the Indiana Pacers 110-105 at Uniondale, New York.
Both teams have won two games each in the best of seven series.
Game five will be played Thursday night in Indiana.
Jim Malloy, the race driver injured Sunday while trying to qualify for the Indianapolis
500, remained unconscious through the night.
Early today, his condition was still listed as critical.
The 36-year-old Malloy suffered broken legs and hips, a broken arm, and second-degree
burns on his face, hands, and back when his car crashed into a wall.
Time is 39 after the hour.
Now to Washington, and here is Frank McGee.
In Governor Wallace's home state of Alabama, the full impact of his shooting is being felt.
With a report of some of the reactions in Alabama to the assassination attempt, here
is Kenley Jones at station WSFA in Montgomery.
The shock in this May was felt more deeply in Alabama probably than anywhere else.
In Montgomery, about 500 Wallace supporters and government officials held a prayer meeting
on the steps of the state capitol.
Governor Wallace's personal pastor led the invocation.
Let us pray.
Our gracious Father, we are thankful that in a time and hour like this we can turn to
Thee, and the faith that we have held so long now will hold us.
Among those taking part was Lieutenant Governor Jerry Beasley, the man who would become Governor
if Wallace were unable to serve out his term.
Our Lord, please be with Governor Wallace and his family tonight during this trying
time and unite all people in this country and make it safe once again for our public
office holders to live more and more lives in safety for themselves and their families.
Most of the speakers took a religious tone rather than a political one.
An exception was Gordon Tucker, a field director for the Citizens Council of Alabama.
The council no longer uses the word white in its title.
Because in this tragic event we find embodied what the governor has tried to point out to
the American electorate for almost these ten years.
We have come to a tragic state in this nation when we find ballots being substituted for
ballots.
And this is apparently what is being attempted.
This is not some South American banana republic.
This is America, I would hope.
There were no blacks in the crowd on the Capitol steps, but several black leaders across the
state denounced the assassination attempt.
But I condemn the shooting of Governor Wallace because he is a human, he is a man, the governor
of our state and we respect him as that because the people elected him.
If the people hadn't have wanted him, he wouldn't have been elected.
So he's my governor as well as he is the others.
So I'm saying to the family of Governor Wallace, you have our prayers, you have our sympathy.
We as a Negro race cannot rejoice at nobody's downfall.
One of his crusades in Birmingham.
In an interview with station WAPI, he too denounced the shooting and he called for a
return to law and order.
And I think the Supreme Court is going to have to re-evaluate our laws and strengthen
our laws to do something about skyjacking, hijacking and the crime that is sweeping this
country.
We are involved in an orgy and a pornography of crime in America.
It's got to be stopped or we're going to have anarchy on our hands.
Governor Wallace called me yesterday on the phone and said that he was thinking about
us, praying for our crusade here in his home state of Alabama and that he would be here
to attend the crusade toward the end of the week.
And we were looking forward to his coming.
And now an assassination attempt has been made on him and with millions of Americans
both black and white.
We join in shock but also in prayers that God will help restore him to health and prayers
for his family.
The realization of what has happened is just beginning to sink in here and a lot of questions
are still unanswered.
What will happen to the Wallace campaign now?
His workers say they will carry on and no doubt a lot of them will.
But George Wallace was his own ignition spark in his campaign for the presidency and without
him a lot of the fire will be gone.
Kenley Jones, NBC News in Montgomery, Alabama.
And we will be back after this message.
Where's my briefcase?
Here's your dinosaur.
Watch out for the mailman.
If it's going to be one of those days and caffeine bothers you, don't add to your problems.
Try Sanker brand decaffeinated coffee.
It's 97% caffeine free.
So all you get is a good smooth tasting cup of coffee.
Sanker coffee.
If it's going to be one of those days, who needs caffeine?
I missed the bus.
A perfect Caesar salad used to be a lot of work.
You needed homemade croutons, lemon, grated Romano cheese, anchovies, and garlic.
But now Kraft golden Caesar dressing pours on all but the croutons and they shake out
from a Bel Air carton.
So go ahead, render justice to your taste buds with toasted crunchy croutons from Bel
Air and the noblest Caesar of them all from Kraft.
The pros and cons of forced school busing take on added meaning after the shooting of
Governor George Wallace.
Barbara Walters, who is in Detroit, will explore the subject of busing with two opposing factions
in just a moment.
First a station break.
See NBC News coverage of the Michigan and Maryland primaries tonight.
With a girl who is very today.
The assassination attempt on Governor Wallace has overshadowed the primaries being held
today in Maryland and Michigan.
They seem now like an anticlimax to the shooting yesterday in Laurel, Maryland.
In Michigan the main issue was forced school busing, an issue on which Governor Wallace
is expected to carry the state.
Barbara Walters is in our Detroit studio with two guests this morning, each of whom takes
an opposing view of the matter of busing.
To put it in some perspective, this is the first primary that the state of Michigan has
had in 44 years.
It had been choosing its delegates by convention and party caucus.
It's 132 delegates will be selected here.
And is expected to be a large Republican crossover, larger than in Wisconsin, because the busing
issue is an issue that does not seem to have party lines.
The issue, the busing issue that has Americans in an uproar, pro and con across the country,
is perhaps nowhere more dramatically present than here in Michigan.
In the city of Pontiac, for example, there were big and sometimes violent anti-busing
demonstrations last fall.
The Pontiac housewife, Mrs. Irene McCabe, walked her way to national recognition this
spring when she and a half a dozen other women hiked on foot all the way to Washington to
express their indignation over busing to achieve racial balance in the schools.
This was a 41-day walk.
It ended with an audience with the top assistant to President Nixon, John Ehrlichman.
The pro-busing forces are on the move too, organizing pro-busing white suburbanites at
coffee clutches and going door to door with pro-busing petitions.
One of the organizers of those who favor busing is Mrs. Alma Stallworth.
She's a Democrat and a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, elected from a racially
mixed neighborhood in northwest Detroit.
And we invited Mrs. Stallworth and Mrs. McCabe to discuss the busing issue with us this morning.
Good morning.
Of course, after the news yesterday of the shooting with Governor Wallace, the issue
is it seems all the more hot and probably the two opposing sides even firmer in their
views.
Do you think that's the way it will be?
Well, I think it's unfortunate that we had the tragedy of the shooting of Governor Wallace,
but with the racial implications of the busing issue, I think that we all have to be aware
of this is the tone of our country.
And unless we can bring forces together, I feel that there will be more of the same.
Most people who oppose school busing deny that race has anything to do with their opposition,
and those on the other side, such as you, Mrs. Stallworth, often say that prejudice
is the basis of it.
How do you feel about that, Mrs. McCabe?
Well, I think that Mrs. Stallworth just said it very adequately when she said the racial
implications of the forced busing, this is the sole reason for busing is by race.
And I know that Governor Wallace's attempted assassination yesterday redoubled my determination
to put an end to busing for race.
You see, we are told on one hand to be colorblind, and this is how I have lived and how I have
raised my children.
And our children, people are people, and to bus them for race only is simply, again, drawing
attention to the differences in the races, and I disapprove of this, for many reasons,
but that being one of them, I wanted to pick up on what Mrs. Stallworth just said.
You can give your other views as well at this time.
Wonderful.
You know, having experienced the situation now for one full year, I can say with great
emphasis that it is a negative factor on race relations.
It is a negative factor on education.
They have lowered the educational standards, the academic achievement standards when they're
testing youngsters.
It has been a negative factor as far as integration in our city is concerned.
Immediately, in the first year, we lost 11 percent of our white student body because
of the white flight.
They left the city of Pontiac, our school district, and fled to the suburbs.
It has been a negative factor as far as financing a school system is concerned.
There are so many meritorious reasons to be against the forced busing.
You have said that your feeling is one of being without prejudice, that you had brought
your child up to be colorblind.
You don't think that prejudice is the basis of this then?
No, I do not.
You speak also of it being an issue of good education, but I would wonder if you had a
special problem sometimes replying to your critics in that you've kept your 11-year-old
daughter out of school since last fall when busing began in Pontiac.
Do you feel that some kind of education is better than absolutely none?
Barbara, let me assure you and the rest of whoever is watching the nation that my daughter
is receiving an education, and I as a parent am exercising my parental, my maternal rights
to choose how she is educated.
I could not fight this issue without somehow defying the court order.
I am in defiance of a federal court order right now, pleading to be arrested and prosecuted
on this cause so that our point of view can have our day in court.
We have been denied entrance into the court system, which is actually every citizen's
right, and we've been denied this.
So the only way we will get into court is by defying the federal court order.
Just to make things very clear, if you do not think that it's a racial issue in any
sense, why specifically do you oppose having your child go to B-Bus?
Is it because of the long bus ride, or what is it?
It is none of those issues in my case.
It is a matter, it's a constitutional question.
It has been from the very beginning.
This was my immediate reaction.
One year later, I still see it as a denial of my constitutional rights.
It would be a denial of Mrs. Stallworth's constitutional rights also.
I want to retain my freedom of association, my freedom of choice.
But it has nothing to do with where your child goes to school.
It's a constitutional question.
You know what, Barbara, I have my two oldest children in a parochial integrated school.
I removed them from the public school out of choice and put them into a parochial integrated
school.
But I had a freedom of choice in this case.
Mrs. Stallworth?
Well, I think that we have to admit this is quite controversial in terms of what people
feel is their constitutional right.
I think it's unfortunate that Mrs. McCabe and her group cannot identify the same frustration
that black parents face in trying to achieve the quality education that she's talking about.
And since my term in the legislature, I can be more assured than ever that the same racist
attitude reinforces the system that makes possible the educational finance for our schools
in the state of Michigan.
And because of racism, our children are denied the proper funding, the proper facilities,
the proper resources that would guarantee all of the things that she spoke to in terms
of what busing would mean to children.
Now in terms of the Pontiac situation, as you know, they defeated their millage.
It will cost the city of Pontiac more than three million dollars.
In terms of services, there will be no special education, physical education, library services.
And I question whether or not the issue of busing is worth the sacrifice that all children
and all families will be required to make simply because you have one group that's opposed
to it.
The other thing that I feel that in the city of Detroit, we face a deficit of more than
thirty-one million dollars.
And if we do not pass our millage, then our schools will close in September.
And we have already been told in those areas where we have predominantly white residing
that they are opposing the millage on the basis of the busing.
Now at last, does everybody know what you mean by millage?
Well the millage is based on property tax.
And we have to renew it plus increase it to five mills to make up the deficit and to sustain
us for the next few years.
Let me ask you a specific question.
You have a sixteen-year-old son and he's going to school now in Detroit.
Are you anxious for him to be bused to a suburban school?
Well actually, most of my constituents bus their children anyway.
In my district, I guess it could be considered one of the more affluent districts in the
city of Detroit.
Why do they bus them?
Because they want better education.
They send them to Oak Park.
Are these private schools that they're busing them to?
They're public schools and they're paying their own transportation.
They are busing themselves to have them sent to the better schools?
Yes.
Now in the legislature during the last session, we spent $79 million on busing.
So what I'm saying is transportation is part of education just as it is in every facet
of living now.
We had heard earlier, I remember when this question was raised when we were in Florida,
that there are a great many blacks who were against busing.
Yes.
Blacks have mixed feelings about busing.
But I think most of us have to realize that if we're going to get the benefit of our
tax dollar, and all of us are not on welfare in ADC, as some people think, then we will
have to force the issue so that we will get the necessary funds to sustain those schools,
those community schools in our neighborhood.
Of course we would like to have the community school concept, but what we've found since
we're segregated and isolated, we never get the kind of attention that's necessary.
So it's my feeling if the situation is integrated, then regardless to what the formula is and
what the source of revenue is, then everyone will get the benefit.
Mrs. McCabe, in Boston there's a program to bus talented black youngsters from the inner
city, mostly black schools, to the better, mostly white schools in the suburbs.
How would you feel if busing were limited to this?
I don't approve of busing for a racial balance for any reason.
Before I became involved in this, we made a study in our city in Pontiac to see to it
that each school had equal educational opportunities.
How do you think that could be provided if there is not busing?
We have very little time.
If there is not busing, let's take that money, the money that is extremely important, and
improve schools.
But the schools aren't what needs improvement because it is not the plant or the facilities
available that create an equal educational environment.
It is the teacher who motivates the youngster and the teacher alone who is responsible for
79 percent.
So your solution is better teachers or better educated teachers?
Absolutely.
Put that money into investigating why the teachers are the caliber that they are.
Let's check into the home.
I'm sorry, I'll have to interrupt, but this is an issue we're not going to solve here.
It does affect the vote, but we're going to be hearing a good deal more about it, I'm
sure, in the weeks to come until the conventions.
I thank you, Mr. Stallworth and Mrs. McCabe, and we'll be back after this message from
Joe Untake.
I'm going to show you how this bag of Domino Sugar can save you money on breakfast products
you use every day.
Pure Domino Sugar has been a natural ingredient of homemade cooking and baking for many a
year.
And the folks at Domino Sugar want to make sure you get the best and save money too.
You can store coupons right on their bright yellow five pound bags.
Coupons for savings on delicious breakfast products to brighten your mornings.
Look, there are three coupons on every bag.
Now this one's worth ten cents off on any size of spoon-sized shredded wheat by Nabisco.
The second is worth five cents off on a five pound bag of Domino Sugar.
And a third is worth ten cents off on any size of regular Nabisco shredded wheat.
Now that's a total of 25 cents savings in all.
Good on your next purchase of these fine products.
And all you do to use them is cut them out and take them to your grocer.
These specially marked bags of pure Domino Sugar will be on sale for a limited time only.
So look for them on your grocer's shelf.
Domino Sugar in over 20 varieties and sizes makes it so easy to bring back the good taste
of homemade.
And get 25 cents in money saving coupons too.
Again, Governor Wallace's condition is stabilized.
A bullet is lodged near his spine.
He is...
Michigan, Maryland.
Two important primaries in one night.
And NBC News will be there with live coverage of the returns Tuesday at 1030, 930 Central
and 730 Pacific Time.
Decision 72.
You make it.
There's a new wave of excitement around us.
People are getting back to their country.
As I was once...
WRC-TV, Channel 4, Washington.
The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.
Good morning.
It's today, May 16th.
I am Frank McGee and here are the morning's headlines.
Governor George Wallace is holding his own, but doctors fear he may be partly paralyzed.
Despite this, politics continue.
There are primary elections today in Michigan and Maryland.
The Today staff is in two cities this morning.
Barbara Walters is in Detroit to cover the Michigan primary.
And I'm here in Washington for our coverage of the shooting of Governor George Wallace.
The Alabama governor was shot down yesterday in Laurel, Maryland after addressing a shopping
center crowd at an election eve rally.
Doctors at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland said Wallace had been hit by four
bullets.
Some bullets have been removed, one from his stomach, one from the right arm, another remains
lodged near the spine.
This, doctors fear, could cause partial paralysis.
Wallace was shot just after he finished speaking and stepped from the platform to mingle with
the crowd, something he rarely does.
He was in great pain, said his wife, but he lay there very quietly.
Three others were wounded, none seriously, a Secret Service agent, an Alabama state trooper,
and a female campaign worker.
A 21-year-old Milwaukee man, Arthur Bremer, is being held in the shooting, charged with
two federal counts and four Maryland state counts.
NBC News reporter Gordon Graham is standing by at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.
A briefing on Governor Wallace's condition is expected shortly, so let's go there now.
Gordon.
Doctors say Governor Wallace should be well enough to leave Holy Cross Hospital in five
to ten days.
By then, they will have determined if his paralysis will be a permanent condition and
if the bullet lodged near his spinal column can be safely removed.
Meanwhile, the governor's aides say his campaign will continue and Mrs. Wallace will take up
the burden of the campaign effort.
He says they will be at the Democratic Convention in Miami.
A briefing is now going on at a temporary press headquarters just down the road.
We'll have the latest information on our next report.
Gordon Graham, NBC News at Holy Cross Hospital in Maryland.
Now back to Frank McGee in Washington.
Reaction yesterday ranged from outrage to shock and sympathy.
President Nixon telephoned Mrs. Wallace saying that he was praying for the governor's early
recovery.
Senator George McGovern said he was temporarily suspending his campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination and Treasury Secretary John Connolly called the shooting tragic and
shocking.
Here is the way the day went.
It was a warm day, so Wallace, stepping from the platform, took off his coat and strolled
into the crowd.
His departure from his usual practice of swift exits could have been fatal.
Then at point blank range, the gunfire.
Wallace lurched and crumpled to the ground, seriously wounded.
Arthur Bremer knocked to the ground, was pummeled and kicked by onlookers and finally handcuffed.
Oncealla took up the cab and soundly horse 45 Brazil, holding back his main bargain for
her name, Reformer.
tutti 것anOn凡T ici wvolla chabhhh
On the surface, there was nothing to indicate that Arthur Bremer could be a man of such
violence.
Quite by chance, NBC News cameraman Charles Feckety filmed Bremer at an earlier rally,
and Bremer seemed to typify a good deal of what is best in middle class, mid-America.
From stylistically mod hair to sunglasses to neckerchief and jacket to a button on that
jacket which echoed one of Wallace's favorite sentiments, stand up for America.
Reaction to the shooting has come in from all corners of the nation and from all walks
of life.
Here are three.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, black activist Jesse Jackson, and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
It gives all of us something to think about.
And the first thing I'm thinking about, why in the name of God the Congress of this United
States and of these United States cannot pass a law abolishing the manufacturing of hand
guns and stopping them from coming into the country and the registration.
There's something wrong when this happens.
In the name of God, just imagine 14,000 guns confiscated in one year in a city, and this
is all over the country.
There's too many guns in the hands of people that shouldn't have them.
And your life and mine and your wife and your mother and your kids' life are involved and
in jeopardy.
And it's about time we as Americans would bond together and say, it's fine to talk about
all these things, but let's first proceed with what is the first thing to do, and that
is to start to do something to outlaw a handgun.
What's the purpose of a handgun?
The only purpose of a handgun is to kill a human being.
You can't hunt with them.
We talk about taking the guns off the street, it becomes a great political issue.
I think taking guns out of people's hands and stop teaching people how to kill has to
become an absolute.
I don't think that's any longer a matter of debate.
I think that it is just further evidence of how sick the nation is.
More importantly than who killed George, or who shot George Wallace, or who shot Dr. King,
or who shot the Kenders, is what is it in the atmosphere that gives some people the
feeling that they can kill an idea by killing a man.
All of the candidates should have been afforded some kind of protection in view of the nature
of the country and the conditions of the country that causes such violence to erupt in one
campaign.
It has nothing to do with percentage points, it has nothing to do with many, many of the
cursory reasons that they give for not giving protection or for giving protection.
It always takes a crisis, it always takes a tragedy, it always takes something of that
nature to wake our country up to many things.
This is what is so terribly sad about things in America.
Just a few moments we will go to New York and Frank Blair for the rest of the news.
This is Today on NBC.
It's a breakthrough, the exciting new Magicare shoeshine mitt.
Now quality waxes and lanolin and tiny capsules break to shine and preserve shoes.
Start now to be good to your shoes, quickly, conveniently, for pennies.
Magicare mitts keep your hands clean and they're disposable.
Six mitts to a box, your choice of black, brown, or neutral.
Get the new Magicare shoeshine mitt at People's Drug Stores and other fine drug food variety
and shoe repair stores.
Madame is extremely particular, she insists on the finest grapefruit.
Florigold, Florida's finest, a discriminating grapefruit, thin skin bursting with juice.
Madame must have a Florigold grapefruit for weight watching.
Rich in vitamin C, naturally nutritious for luscious salads, fruit cups, or delicious
beverage, insist on Florigold and be as particular as Madame.
Uh oh, a bread squeezer.
She's going to squeeze us to see how fresh we are.
She'll find out why people call us the fresh guys.
First they wrap us warm, then wonder stay fresh wrapper.
That keeps the freshness in.
And rushed warm into the bakery truck.
Here she comes.
Oh, oh that's smart.
One day helps build strong bodies 12 ways and one squeeze tells you why people call us
the fresh guys.
Woo.
Land over ma, you love it all.
You love it all, land over ma.
I love it, I love it.
The Hecht Company, Woodies, Garfinkels, and Sears opening soon.
25 fantastic shops and restaurants.
Six movie theaters.
Now open on the Beltway, exit 32, at Landover Road in Maryland.
You love it all, land over ma.
The news from around the world, the American command in Saigon said today U.S. warplanes
have destroyed a large part of the North Vietnamese air defense headquarters in Hanoi.
The announcement also reported the aerial attackers cut the main pipeline carrying fuel
from North Vietnam to troops in the demilitarized zone and communist held areas of Quang Tri
province.
Earlier intelligence reports said Russian advisors were working at the air defense headquarters
in Hanoi, but there was no mention of this in today's announcement.
The U.S. command also announced today that American B-52s dumped more than 700 tons of
explosives on communist positions near Khon Tum, which long has been under attack.
The U.S. command's report on air operations said more than 1,800 strikes had been flown
against rail lines, rail yards, bridges, airfields, port facilities, warehouses, anti-aircraft
missile sites, fuel depots, and other targets inside North Vietnam since May 8th when President
Nixon ordered the air campaign intensified.
The main weapons used in this new war is the 500-pound bomb.
About 75 percent of the missions flown in Vietnam use this weapon.
These days, the Air Force, Navy, and Marines are flying up to 300 missions a day over the
North and nearly as many in the South.
Another key weapon in the American arsenal is the rocket.
There are many types.
These are phosphorus rockets used to mark targets for the pilots.
Other kinds are used to hit troop concentrations if the enemy makes the mistake of being caught
out in the open.
The men who fly these planes are the front-line fighters for the United States today.
They carry the war to North Vietnam and pound enemy positions in the South in an effort
to take pressure off the South Vietnamese on the ground.
In spite of all this effort, the North Vietnamese still manage to get supplies through.
It is just not possible to knock out every truck and convoy heading South or to silence
every artillery position shelling South Vietnamese bases.
Attacks from the air can slow the enemy down.
We're interrupting the regular news because doctors at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring,
Maryland are about to present a briefing on the condition of Alabama Governor George Wallace.
...shown all signs favorable from his surgery.
His blood pressure is stable, normal, and there have been no further evidence of any
problems such as bleeding.
Here it is.
The paralysis condition remains the same as our last report, and there will be further
consultation during the day on that situation.
Is there any other decision on whether or not the operation is going to be done?
Not at the present time.
There's no decision on any further surgery at this time.
I understand the surgery was temporarily involved in last night's ball and were you thinking
none of the trucks were correct?
Or was this just a telegram or not?
Both medical judgments felt at that time that no further surgery was necessary.
There was no stop and start.
No stop and start.
Eight points.
Do you mean you might leave that bullet pressing against the spine?
That will be up to the neurosurgeon.
How many bullets in all were there?
There were four to five bullet wounds, but how many bullets?
The best judgment this time is that it was between four or five bullets which struck him.
How many bullets?
There were two bullets in his body.
One was removed.
Doctor, what will happen today?
Today we are going to take care of him as a normal convalescence after a bullet wound
surgery.
Are there any changes, doctor, from the 2 a.m. report?
He looks much better.
Are you more often?
Oh, yes.
What internal organ would pretend to be?
The stomach.
Doctor, you said he is in satisfactory condition, yet last night you said critical.
He is still in satisfactory condition.
I think it is wise to keep any patient with this magnitude of injury on the critical list.
He is still on the critical list.
Nobody is completely out of danger with this type of injury for several days.
How is he surviving?
He is in good spirits.
Yes.
He says it hurts and he is feeling fine.
I'd like to introduce Dr. Herman Magenzini, our cardiologist from the hospital.
He's been in attendance since the governor was brought to the emergency room.
Doctors at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland, attending Governor George Wallace,
briefing reporters on his present condition.
Dr. Magenzini?
M-A-G-A-N-Z-I-N-I, Magenzini.
Really medically, the governor has done remarkably well.
He has had no complications.
His electrocardiogram, his blood pressure, his chest, in every possible respect, has
remained normal, not only throughout the surgery, but throughout the night.
During the time we've been monitoring his vital signs, certainly medically and cardiovascularly
speaking, he's in excellent condition and has maintained such.
Would you say, Dr., that he is fully not better than any other normal patient with a problem?
He's a very vigorous patient and has a very fine cardiovascular system and he's doing
remarkably well considering the magnitude of his injuries.
Would you explain to Dr. why that hospital is not moving?
I'm afraid that's a surgical problem.
Dr. Shatop, would you explain that for our coverage, Hannah?
Would you give us a diversion scan in the way of a prognosis at this point?
Even if it's tentative?
I think the governor is going to make a recovery.
Now, what disability has as a result of these wounds is difficult to evaluate at this time.
We're all very optimistic at this point.
What will you be deciding about?
And that is the condition of Governor George Wallace at this moment.
This is Today on NBC.
How can a bathroom tissue that looks so soft be so stubborn?
Meet SoftWeave, the soft bathroom tissue with its own self-starter.
It starts when you want it to.
SoftWeave lets you get to the softness center.
The Levitts World's Largest Brand Furniture Dealer with two warehouse showrooms in greater Washington
has now opened number three in Fairfax, Virginia on Gallows Road just north of Route 50.
We're celebrating this event with the greatest grand opening sale in Levitts history.
Take advantage of the thousands of outstanding values displayed in Levitts 250 exquisitely decorated model rooms.
Get immediate delivery.
All grand opening sale items also available at Levitts in Rockville and Camp Springs.
Open daily 10 to 10, closed Sunday.
Today let's make chicken noodle soup with tender chicken, egg noodles, vegetables and herbs.
How long will it take?
Just eight seconds.
With Lipton's new cup of soup, real soup, you cook up in a cup instantly.
Look.
Add boiling water, stir, and you've got a single serving of real soup.
Tomato, beef flavor noodle, and onion.
New cup of soup from Lipton.
Delicious.
The better you breathe, the better you feel.
Nature has a way of cleaning bad odors out of the air, so the air always smells fresh and clean.
That's what Airwick is all about.
It works continuously to clean bad odors out of the air, so breathing is a little nicer
and you feel better anywhere in your home.
Airwick, the original air freshener.
It's like nature in a bottle.
Only moments after he heard that Governor George Wallace had been seriously wounded,
today Washington editor Bill Monroe was on his way to Laurel, Maryland where the shooting occurred.
And Bill is with us now to tell us what it was like, Bill.
Right, there's always a need after some shocking event to try to find some meaning in it,
some pattern, some way to get hold of it, to guard against it's happening again.
But at the Laurel shopping center where Governor Wallace was shot,
there was not much meaning to be discovered.
The governor had extended his hand to a man wearing a Wallace button and the man shot him.
Afterwards a thunder shower had washed off the black asphalt where Wallace had lain for a few minutes
until the ambulance came.
After the shower there was a rainbow and people stood around on the wet pavement
behind a rope barrier put up by the police.
They looked at the spot and talked quietly.
One man snapped a picture of his family with a shooting scene in the background.
A carpenter wearing a blue hard hat with a Wallace sticker on it said he had heard the shots.
When he realized Wallace had been hit he said, my stomach turned over.
It seems he added bitterly that every time you try to do something,
somebody wants to cut your throat.
A woman outside a laundromat at the shopping center told friends,
I bet you he'll get lots of votes.
The operator of one of the 89 stores spread around the asphalt told bystanders,
after the shooting an English reporter came into my shop and telephoned London.
They put him right through just like he was calling downtown.
Some of them were kicking him.
It may well turn out there is no more meaning to the shooting of Governor Wallace
than there was to the shootings of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy.
Some of the horror of yesterday's violence in fact came across
when a woman radio reporter at the scene watching Governor Wallace lying stricken on the pavement
said into her microphone, the president of the United States,
is lying on the ground.
She did not correct herself, apparently not realizing that the shock of Laro Maryland,
1972, had evoked the shock of Dallas, 1963.
Maybe there is no neat solution to be found in the pattern of American politics
or in the American pattern of guns and violence to the problem of security for public figures.
Maybe American leaders must now quit shaking hands,
quit appearing in public before unscreened crowds if the nation's history is not to be distorted
every few years by the bullets of the insane.
Maybe it has come down to that sad necessity.
It would indeed be sad if it became a necessity.
A great deal would go out of the democratic process
and it would hang forever, some kind of a shadow across the American spirit, it seems to me,
if a man can't...
It's so obvious, everything one feels about the situation like this,
you feel like it's obvious and banal to even express such a view,
but if a man can't stand up and say what his convictions are
without taking the very real chance of having himself killed,
well then, where are we?
Those questions are easier asked than answered, I suppose.
Bill, there was an indication yesterday that at other stops in Maryland
the governor had encountered more hostility than he normally encounters in Maryland,
a state that by and large has been quite friendly to him.
Have those reports been exaggerated or are they substantiated or what did you find?
At a stop before the governor went to this speech-making affair,
not many miles away in Maryland, at another shopping center,
the character of the crowd, for reasons I don't think anybody can explain, was quite different.
There was some heckling, a tomato had been thrown at the governor,
the whole scene was a little bit tense.
On the other hand, at the Laurel Shopping Center where this happened,
everything was quite peaceful and everything was quite relaxed
and the governor probably went into the crowd there partly because he had a feeling
that there's no hostility here that I can sense.
I understand that he's made it a general practice to consult with his security people at the scene
and see whether they and his own judgment tells him it's advisable
to mix with the crowd and shake hands as is traditionally done.
And I would certainly assume that this is what they did yesterday and judged it to be safe.
I feel a little sorry for the Secret Service.
I'm sure the Secret Service feels terrible about what happened
and feels that somehow they may have let down.
On the other hand, they must have this feeling that they wish,
although I don't believe they've ever said it,
that they wish no candidate would ever go into the crowd to shake hands.
And yet they sense that these politicians feel they have a need to do this
and perhaps they do politically.
Perhaps the political scene forces the politician to do this.
Thank you, Bill. A station break.
See NBC News coverage of the Michigan and Maryland primaries tonight.
At Baskin Robbins, we custom make ice cream cakes, cake rolls, ice cream pies, clown cones, rosettes.
In fact, we'll custom make just about anything in your choice of 31 flavors of the world's most delicious ice cream.
See, we make people happy at Baskin Robbins.
Good morning. Partly cloudy today in Washington.
Chance of a thundershower this afternoon.
A high today about 75. Right now it's 59 degrees.
Doctors appear convinced that Governor Wallace will recover from his wounds,
but they're uncertain about the paralysis that has set in.
The governor is paralyzed from the waist down, the result of a bullet lodged next to his spine.
Here's an eyewitness account of the shooting following a Wallace campaign appearance yesterday in Laurel, Maryland.
I shook his hand, my nephew Leon. Leon!
My nephew Leon went to shake his hand. At the same time, the shots rung out.
And this little Billy stepped in there. He was the one that did the work, the firing of the gun.
What did he look like?
A little barely squatty, sandy-hands sort of a person.
He had a boosy, boosy hair.
Well, roughly the way he was being, right off the bat the police were there on top of him.
And I'd say to me he looked like he was in his 30s.
Did he say anything?
No, the police tried to fight with the police. I guess the police were scared that he was going to try to shoot again.
Did you actually see a gun?
I forget. It all happened so sudden. Maybe I did, maybe I did.
I see when Mr. Wallace fell on the floor and the blood came spurting out of his chest.
His shirt was covered with blood.
The man charged with the shooting of Governor Wallace is identified as Arthur Bremer, 21, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He's being held in Baltimore on $200,000 bond for a hearing at 10 o'clock this morning.
Four other persons were hit in the shooting following a Wallace campaign appearance in Laurel.
Secret Service agent Nicholas Zarvos is reported in good condition from a neck wound.
Dora Thompson, a campaign worker, is in satisfactory condition with a leg wound.
An Alabama State Police Captain E.C. Dotherd was treated for a flesh wound and released.
This is News for Washington Today with Don Doak, brought to you by PEPCO, dedicated to service to the community.
When you save electricity, you save money, and little things add up.
For example, when you're air conditioning or heating systems on, keep your doors and windows closed.
When you're baking, don't keep opening the oven door.
And the refrigerator, after you take something out, close the door.
Hey, Sammy, wait!
Hey!
Turning things off when you're not using them helps, too.
Like lights.
Well, somebody's been listening. A room nobody's in and the lights are out.
Your electric bill. It's one of the few monthly bills you can cut down without giving anything up.
Polls are open in Maryland's primary election and will remain so until 8 o'clock tonight.
In addition to the presidential race, five Democrats are running for the Democratic nomination to the fifth district congressional seat held by Republican Lawrence Hogan.
In the eighth congressional district, two Democrats are vying for the chance to challenge Republican Gilbert Goody.
Other races in Montgomery County include 15 candidates for three school board seats and two candidates are in a race for a county judgeship.
In the recount of votes in the Republican primary in the district, Jerry Moore appears to have won the nomination to challenge Walter Fonthroy for the district seat in Congress.
William Chin Lee, before the recount, led Moore by 71 votes.
The Fairfax County supervisors have approved a budget of more than $320 million without raising the property tax.
Partly cloudy today and tonight in Washington with a chance of a thundershower this afternoon, a high today in the mid-70s, low tonight in the middle 50s.
Tomorrow, fair with a high about 75. The chance of rain, 40 percent today and 20 percent tonight and tomorrow.
Right now, winds are out of the southwest at three miles an hour. The barometer, 29.83 inches.
The relative humidity, 93 percent and the present temperature in Washington, 59 degrees.
This is Don Doak in a moment back to Today in New York.
Join us at six o'clock for 90 minutes of News 4 Washington with Glenn Rinker and Jim Vance.
Here's wild excitement for every food shopper. Wowee, it's wild.
Look, now every A&P store has become A&P We-O, W-E-O, where economy originates.
It's a brand new concept. You shop at a modern supermarket with wild warehouse prices.
Same fine quality, prices better than discount. Many A&P prices are lower than a year ago.
Shop A&P We-O. Let wild warehouse prices slash your food costs drastically.
Switch to A&P We-O and save.
Good morning. As we begin the second half of this special report on the shooting of Governor George Wallace of Alabama,
the governor is holding his own after being struck by four or five bullets yesterday.
He was shot after making a last-minute campaign speech in Laurel, Maryland, about 15 miles northeast of Washington, D.C.
The doctors who operated on Governor Wallace have issued a morning statement giving his condition.
The governor has spent a very quiet and peaceful night and morning. His condition is satisfactory.
He is now in the intensive care unit at Holy Cross Hospital and has shown all signs favorable from his surgery.
His blood pressure is stable, normal, and there has been no further evidence of any problems such as bleeding.
Here it is.
Any findings on the paralysis?
The paralysis condition remains the same as our last report, and there will be further consultation during the day on that situation.
Is there any other decision on whether or not to do the operation?
Not at the present time. There's no decision on any further surgery at this time.
I understand the surgery was temporarily called last night while I was there. Were you thinking none of that was correct?
With medical judgments, I felt that at that time no further surgery was necessary.
Dr. Joseph Shano, one of the six surgeons attending Governor Wallace.
Police arrested a 21-year-old Milwaukee man, Arthur Bremer.
He is charged on four counts of intent to kill and is being held in the Baltimore County Jail.
Federal charges have also been lodged against him.
A Secret Service agent shot in the neck is in good condition after six hours of surgery.
And so is Dora Thompson, a Wallace campaign worker who was shot in the leg,
as well as an Alabama state trooper who was treated and released and spent the night with his family.
We'll be back with more on the Wallace story later in this hour, but for other late news, let's go to New York and Frank Blair.
Good morning, everyone. The U.S. Command in Saigon said today American warplanes cut the main pipeline
carrying fuel from North Vietnam to troops in the South.
In an assessment of bombing last week, the command also said fighter bombers damaged
North Vietnam's air defense headquarters outside Hanoi.
In the past, Russian advisers had been reported working at the defense headquarters,
but there was no indication that Russians were there when the bombs fell.
In South Vietnam this morning, there were reports that the North Vietnamese troops
were making their way back towards the government defense line protecting Wei.
They had been driven from that area by a South Vietnamese Marine raid three days ago.
The mayor of Saigon, Colonel Do Kien Ngu, today ordered police to enforce a law against men wearing long hair.
He said long hair was contrary to the spirit of vigilance required to meet the North Vietnamese offensive.
The price of gold rose to a record high of $54.50 an ounce on the London market today.
There has been heavy buying of gold since President Nixon announced the mining of North Vietnam's harbors.
In Paris, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong demanded today that the Paris peace talks resume Thursday.
The allied side suspended the talks on May the 4th.
A group of West German anarchists called the Red Mary faction took the responsibility today
for the bombing of the U.S. Army headquarters in Frankfurt last week.
The group said it was protesting American escalation of the Vietnam War.
A lieutenant colonel was killed and 13 persons were hurt in the explosion.
And here at home there were more anti-war protests.
In Princeton, New Jersey, police arrested 26 persons who had tried to block the entrance to the Institute for Defense Analysis.
At least 51 more were arrested in other demonstrations in other parts of the country.
Vice President Spiro Agnew arrived in Bangkok today on an unscheduled visit,
and sources said he is expected to make a one-day trip to Vietnam tomorrow.
Spiro Agnew had been in Tokyo representing President Nixon at ceremonies transferring Okinawa to Japan.
It was disclosed in Washington today that the National Institutes of Health have abandoned the search for a combination vaccine to fight the common cold.
Scientists found so many viruses that caused colds, more than a hundred,
that the concept of an effective cocktail vaccine had to be discarded.
That is the news and the time is thirty-five after the hour.
And now the new heavy traffic carpet for hotels, restaurants, and homes.
MillStar from Millican Research.
Millican Carpets take you to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Arizona.
Here in buildings designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright is Millican's unique carpet called MillStar.
Nothing penetrates its impermeable back, neither dirt nor tractin sand.
Spills stay on top, clean easily.
92 percent of the luxurious locked-in pile is on top for longer wear.
This dramatically colored carpet pile is 70 percent solution-dyed Acro-Lan acrylic fiber, 30 percent super-lightfast nylon.
Antistatic, recommended for public buildings and private homes.
A wide range of colors, patterns, realistic prices.
MillStar Carpet by Millican, developed by Millican Research.
At fine stores everywhere.
Severe thunderstorms are due this afternoon and evening for most of Texas,
except for the northwestern and southern sections into southeast Oklahoma, western Arkansas, and northwest Louisiana.
Rain is due again today across upper New England.
Showers and thundershowers are likely from New York and Pennsylvania into Ohio, eastern West Virginia, and Maryland.
The southeastern states will be fair and mild, but with thundershowers in Florida.
Some locally heavy rains are possible in the Florida thundershower areas.
The Midwest and the Mississippi Valley will be fair and warm.
The plain states are becoming exceptionally warm with near 90-degree readings due this afternoon.
The southwest will hold fair and warm today.
Cooler, showery weather is moving in across the northwestern states.
And the temperature map for this afternoon shows a wedge of much above normal 80 and 90-degree temperatures building up into the center of the nation.
The Midwest and the east will be in the 70s and 60s, the northwestern states in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
Time is 37 and a half after the hour, and we'll be back after this message.
Here's Barbara on tape.
You know, it is lovely for woman's hair to be soft, and therefore you've probably never liked the hairspray that can make hair stiff.
Well, Protein 21 hairspray is designed to make hair not nearly as stiff.
So how well can it hold? Beautifully.
Because Protein 21 holds not just by sticking the top hairs together, but by reaching down and giving body to individual hair shafts.
Protein 21 holds with body, so you can have hair that looks and feels the way you want it to.
A bright holiday in Georgia begins at one of our family fun centers, followed by sports, major league all the way.
And when the sun goes down, come out and play.
For information, write Georgia Holiday, March 1000, Atlanta 30301.
Georgia Holiday
We're all aware of the shooting of Governor Wallace, but the primaries go on as scheduled today in Maryland and Michigan.
And Barbara Walters will report from Detroit after we take this station break.
See NBC News coverage of the Michigan and Maryland primaries tonight.
Bye, kids. Have a nice day. Bye, kids.
Well, another day starts and another roll ends.
Glad I dropped by. Here, take this. Scott Tisha?
A full thousand sheets on the roll. You don't replace it so often. It's like getting a roll and a half of any other leading brand.
A thousand sheets. That's a lot of sheets. That's a lot of kids.
Scott Tisha. It's like getting a roll and a half. You don't replace it so often. Scott Tisha.
Today's presidential primaries in Maryland and Michigan are proceeding. The polls are now open in both of those states.
Wallace was favored to win in them before he was shot yesterday. How the shooting will affect the voting is, of course, a question.
Barbara Walters, who's covering the Michigan primary, has with her in Detroit political pollster Oliver Quayle.
Barbara?
The weather's supposed to be bright and sunny today, and it's supposed to be bringing out a very large vote.
Here in Michigan, there are 132 Democratic delegates at state. It's the sixth largest delegate block at the Democratic National Convention.
It will be. And because school busing is the big issue, almost everyone agrees that Governor George Wallace is the favorite.
And now with yesterday's attempt in his life, Wallace is expected by many to get even more votes out of sympathy or outrage.
The suspense seems to be who will be coming in second, and we're going to be discussing these matters with Oliver Quayle.
But first, the other major candidates on the Democratic ballot, Senator George McGovern, Senator Hubert Humphrey,
Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and Senator Muskie, who withdrew from active campaigning, is on the ballot, along with two others, Senators Jackson and Hartke.
There's a nominal Republican contest in Michigan, President Nixon running with the token opposition of California Congressman Paul McCloskey.
In Maryland today, the Democrats are going after 53 delegates, and the major names are the same as in Michigan.
Wallace, McGovern, Humphrey, again, Mrs. Chisholm, Senator Muskie, and six others, and Wallace is predicted by many to be the big winner in Maryland as well.
Maryland Republicans can choose among President Nixon, Congressman Muskie, and Representative John Ashbrook of Ohio.
Right now here in Detroit, we want to discuss these races with pollster Oliver Quayle,
especially the question of what yesterday's shooting of Governor Wallace means politically to the governor's chances in today's two primaries.
The governor's campaign continued last night on television.
There was a half-hour special program featuring the governor, which had been filmed or taped earlier, and his commercials continued to run,
even though the McGovern and Humphrey commercials were taken off by the Democratic State Committee here.
Now, Mr. Quayle, do you have any way of knowing at this point how the shooting of Governor Wallace will affect the vote?
No, I don't really know, Barbara, but I have a clue.
Just by good fortune, we were doing a last-minute telephone poll Sunday night and last night,
and we completed about 75 percent of our interviews on Sunday night, but we completed another 25 percent last night after the shooting had taken place.
And then late last night, we compared the two, and we found that Wallace had indeed come on by about nine or ten points,
and that Senator McGovern had slipped nine or ten points.
Now, I want to make it clear that this poll isn't saying that Wallace is going to win or lose,
or McGovern is going to win or lose, or Humphrey is going to win or lose.
I would even disagree with you a little bit that Wallace is the front-runner.
I think it's a very close race between the three, but...
I'm quoting statements having been made by newspapers and other...
Well, that's...
It's not my opinion.
Okay.
If you're going to deny it, I'm going to deny it.
All right.
But he has been talked about by many that he's the favorite.
But what you are saying, then, is that the extra votes for Governor Wallace are coming from the McGovern camp.
Is that right?
That's right. They are indeed.
Why would that be?
Well, actually, both Wallace and McGovern are appealing to the so-called alienated voter.
David Brinkley has talked a lot about that during the spring, and others, too, you have on this show.
And some alienated voters against the establishment, the government doesn't care about us anymore, and so on,
were so upset, apparently, and sympathized with Governor Wallace being shot, of course,
that they switched over from McGovern to Wallace.
Not great hordes, but some.
So you can't predict any kind of larger percentage or in any way, as a result of the...
No. All we can say is we have a clue that sympathy for Governor Wallace after the shooting will help him some.
And will very possibly come from the McGovern camp rather than Humphrey.
Now, Humphrey is staying strong and stable?
About the same. About the same.
Now, what about the crossover vote?
I hear it's going to be even larger here, that it's predicted that it may be larger here than it was in Wisconsin.
It may be. It's hard to tell. The people, the voters, don't register by party here.
You just sort of register.
But we asked people in our poll, you know, what they considered themselves,
and we found out of all the voters in this primary, 30 percent were non-democrats,
20 percent were independents, and 10 percent were Republicans, who were voting in the Michigan Democratic primary.
Is the biggest issue in Michigan busing, or is it the war?
We've heard busing, so one has been stressed.
Well, I think it's simple. The biggest issue is the war.
This is one of the most dovish states we've observed so far.
This is every bit as dovish as Massachusetts. It's exactly the same.
So the biggest issue is the war, but the most cutting issue is busing.
And busing is much more important here than in any other primary state that we've observed, including Florida, which is fascinating.
Michigan Democratic primary voters are more tensed up about busing than anyplace else.
So that the votes might go more for Wallace, whose major issue is busing, than McGovern, whose major issue is war.
That's correct.
Are these votes for Wallace? Can you tell if these are votes for Wallace, let's say, if an election were taking place, or are they votes for Nixon?
I think one of the fascinating things that came out of the survey, Barbara, was that 61 percent of the Democratic primary voters,
who are balloting for George Wallace, said in an election against Humphrey and Nixon, they would vote for Nixon.
So a considerable number of voters for George Wallace don't intend to stay in the Democratic column come November.
And what about the black vote? Where is that going?
Black vote is interesting, I think. Up until now, Senator Humphrey has been getting wide margins, 75, 77 percent of the black vote.
Here is Shirley Chisholm, at least two weeks ago, and who knows what it will be today.
The people are going to express themselves.
Shirley Chisholm was getting 22 percent of the black vote and cutting down Senator Humphrey's majority.
So if he doesn't do well, that could be one reason.
About 19 percent of the state is black and about...
About 19 percent of the state's Democratic primary voters would be black.
And in the city, in Detroit itself, it's almost 50 percent?
Yes, 40 odd.
Well, I hope we'll be talking with you tomorrow after the results are in.
We thank you, Oliver Clare, for bringing us this preview or analysis of what the votes may be.
It's supposed to be a very big vote today, isn't it?
Yes, it should be a big turnout.
Thank you again.
And we're going to be back after this word, well, we'll be back with Frank, a word from Lipton, flow through tea bags.
They're like two bags of flavor in one, not more tea, but more tea flavor.
Frisk.
Lipton flow through tea bags.
Two bags of flavor in one.
Wishbone people are people who thrive on the good life.
Good times, good friends, good food.
They're people who really like salads, and for them, there's only wishbone.
Wishbone salad dressings in a big variety of flavors, each one perfectly blended to give salads a taste as fresh and zesty as the good life itself.
Wishbone for people who really like salads.
Politics have come naturally to George Corley Wallace.
He was born in Clio, Alabama, on August 25, 1919.
His father was a Democratic county chairman.
His grandfather had been a judge.
While still in high school, Wallace began learning his political trade by serving as a page in the Alabama Senate.
Two years later, his father died and his mother lost the family farm.
Wallace had to work hard at odd jobs, but he also played hard, winning two Bannamweight titles as a Golden Glover.
That's him on the right, disposing of an opponent who has been badly retouched by a photographer after being retouched by Wallace.
Wallace put himself through law school at the University of Alabama, where it is said he was too poor to buy law books.
He worked entirely with borrowed texts.
In 1943, he married Lurlene Burns.
Shortly thereafter, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and by the time they had their first child, Bobby Joe,
they were living in a remodeled chicken coop near the air base at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
After combat tour as a flight engineer in the Pacific Theater, George Wallace returned to Alabama,
and in 1946, he was elected to that state's legislature.
In 1952, he became the judge of Alabama's third judicial circuit.
In 1958, he was cited for contempt for refusing to let federal officials examine voter registration lists.
The contempt charge was dismissed. Wallace said it was because he knew how to stand up to the federal government,
but the U.S. District Court Judge, Frank M. Johnson, Jr., said Wallace had really made the disputed records available to the government by subterfuge.
Wallace was defeated in a bid for governor in 1958, but four years later, when the family posed for this picture,
Wallace was on his way to winning the governor's race.
In 1963, in a doorway of the University of Alabama, Wallace made a brief symbolic stand against the integration of black students.
Here is a portion of this statement.
I stand here today as governor of this sovereign state and refuse to willingly submit the illegal use of patience of power of the central government.
I claim today for all the people of the state of Alabama, those rights reserved to them under the Constitution of the United States,
among those powers so reserved and claimed as the right of state authority in the operation of public schools, colleges, and universities.
Denied a second term as governor because of an Alabama law, Wallace first tried to get that law changed
and then had his wife nominated and elected in his place.
So help me God.
And while my husband continues the fight on the national scene,
I shall do all within my power to continue to give you good state government.
So as we call upon the courage that is our inheritance,
we will continue the policies and programs and great progress we are enjoying today
without sacrificing principle or losing sight of our goal.
In 1968, in a campaign marked by heckling, Wallace took five states as an independent candidate for president.
This year, Wallace was back. So were the hecklers. And this was his reaction.
They believe in free speech.
They believe in free speech for everybody but, you know, me. They don't want me to speak free.
They're the folks who want to use four-letter words, you know.
And that's one thing the American citizens are tired of is a breakdown of ethical moral values in this country
that causes that to come about.
In a news conference earlier this year, Wallace outlined his political philosophy and assessed what it would take to win.
You might say that from now on my slogan is, fed up, big government, leave us alone.
Just say fed up. That's right. They are fed up.
I can envision them nominating me or maybe being blown into oblivion because if they nominate somebody
with all the principles of disarming, giving away money to folks that won't work, foreign aid, busing little school children,
they're not going to be elected.
That in brief has been the career of George Wallace. There is one further personal note.
The first Mrs. Wallace died in 1968. Wallace has four children all by his first marriage.
Last year the governor married the former Cornelia Snively.
She was with the governor until yesterday when a sudden burst of gunfire cut him down.
Also with him were Billy Joe Camp, the governor's press secretary, and George Mangum, his advanceman.
They were eyewitnesses.
Later in the rifle range of a boys club in Silver Spring, Maryland, they told NBC News correspondent Paul Duke just what had happened.
After the governor had spoke, he left the podium to shake hands.
He removed his coat and was in his shirt sleeves, and he walked to the crowd to his left,
which was a shallow roped off area, probably no more than 12 to 15 feet of people on the front there.
And as he came that way, a gentleman approached me and said he had someone he would like for the governor to meet.
And I walked away to meet this person and try to arrange the meeting as he desired it,
and had probably got some 20 feet, 25 feet away from the governor when I heard sounds which almost immediately I recognized as gunfire.
Then I did smell gunpowder in the area, and I turned immediately, and the crowd was scrambling around,
and I saw that the governor was on the ground, and also Captain Dother, the Alabama State Trooper, his chief security man.
I rushed over, and at that time the governor was conscious.
He was obviously hit several times. I couldn't distinguish how many at that time.
I saw the gray puffs of smoke, and I was horrified.
I didn't even want to entertain the thought that this had been gunfire.
But then, of course, when I saw the governor fall back, and then almost simultaneously,
one of the Secret Service men who were adjacent to him reached up and grabbed his throat and kind of turned and fell,
and then Captain Dother fell, and I still wasn't sure.
And I rushed over there as quick as I could to see if they had been hit,
and immediately when I got to the governor, while the governor, I saw blood all over his arm,
and I knew at least he had a flesh wound anyhow. This was before his wound had been ascertained either on the scene.
Mrs. Wallace was in the area, and she put herself over the governor.
Yes, she did have, she was concerned about his safety, maybe being shot again,
and someone asked her to get up, and she said, no, I'm afraid they'll shoot him again.
And she was protecting him, especially his head area at that time.
Of course, she was talking to him at the same time, and I could not distinguish if he was talking back at that time or not,
but his eyes were alert, and he was looking at her.
Now, the governor had taken some precautions, some security precautions.
As far as security measures, yesterday in the shopping center at Laurel,
we feel that we had everything that could possibly have been arranged as far as security.
People were on the rooftops, they were in the normal positions. He had a number of them with him.
Well, he had also used a bulletproof podium for quite a while, hadn't he?
And this obviously was some measure of precaution.
This had been used, you know, during the entire 68 campaign, this was built for the 68 campaign.
And ironically, just this morning before the Wheaton rally, they had one of the hinges broken.
The Wheaton Marathon, yes.
One of the hinges was broken, and they had taken and had it welded this morning.
We'll be back after this message.
When you hear the words wholesome natural food bulk, do you think it sounds like something heavy, tasteless?
Then you're not thinking Kellogg's original All-Brand or Brand Buds.
Tasty cereals made from gold and wheat bran.
They're a good source of B vitamins and an excellent source of food bulk in the diet,
lack of which may sometimes contribute to irregularity.
So for a tasty way to get the benefits of bran, think Kellogg's All-Brand or Brand Buds.
That's good thinking.
Now here's a word about another fine product from Kellogg's.
I'm Tom Harmon giving my son a workout.
Sensible exercise like this helps me stay on the young side along with sensible eating like bread.
Product 19, the high potency cereal.
With all the officially established minimum daily adult requirements for vitamins and iron and good taste.
Who won the game, boys?
I let Dad win.
It's his ball.
Stay on the young side.
Start with Kellogg's product 19.
Once more we've been made rudely aware that it's a product of the
We've been made rudely aware that in our present society,
the men who would lead us cannot safely walk among us.
It is far easier to deplore our conduct because we risk the loss of so many things.
We have been made rudely aware that in our present society,
the men who would lead us cannot safely walk among us.
I am rudely aware that in our present society, the men who would lead us cannot safely walk among us.
It is far easier to deplore our condition than to find the means for changing it.
But first, if further evidence that handguns be abolished were needed, it has been tragically provided.
And perhaps, as has been suggested on this program this morning,
political candidates in the future should not be permitted to mingle with the crowds.
But already, the ring of security men surrounding candidates hangs like a black drape around our public life.
Whatever immediate answers might be found, the ultimate answer must be this country's rediscovery of its very soul.
We must again become aware, as we have been through most of our history,
that violence in language or in deed simply is not a defensible instrument in political processes.
That the heart of our system is the right to disagree, to debate the disagreement,
but accept the people's judgment and the outcome of that debate,
including the retention of or the transfer of national leadership,
with disappointment perhaps, but in tranquility always.
A station break.