1 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: On a warm day in August nineteen fifty one, a 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: helicopter appeared in the sky above the brilliant Olympic Stadium. 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,160 Speaker 1: Seventy five thousand people had gathered there to watch a 4 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:19,079 Speaker 1: Harlem globetrotter's basketball game. The crowd looked up. The chopper, 5 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: circled three times and landed on the field. 6 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 2: The loudspeaker announcer called out attention, attention. 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: A black man in a white suit stepped out onto 8 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: the red cinder track. 9 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest run on the world returned. 10 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 2: Mister Burland. 11 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens was back in Germany to take a victory lap. 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 2: I had many thoughts as I made the symbolic run 13 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 2: of victory around the same red sender track that had 14 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 2: run so many years before. As I passed each section, 15 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 2: there was a bridge to the pass. 16 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: The Second World War had ended only six years earlier, 17 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: and Germany, along with the rest of the world, was 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: still reckoning with it all. Whatever was left of the 19 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: Nazi leadership had been grilled at the Nuremberg trials. Berlin 20 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: was rebuilding after Allied bombing campaigns. About eighty percent of 21 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,480 Speaker 1: the city center had been flattened. Yet the stadium the 22 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: Nazis had built for the Olympics was still standing, and 23 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: that day at the Globetrotters game, Jesse Owens was back 24 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: to take his victory lab and to give a speech. 25 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: Words often fail on occasions like this, he told the 26 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: German crowd, But I remember the good that happened here. 27 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: I remember the fighting spirit and sportsmanship shown by German 28 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: athletes on this field. And here we reached the important part, 29 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: he says, especially by Lutslog of Germany, the man I 30 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: managed to be in the broad jump. 31 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 2: The crowd came forth with a tremendous role, and the 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 2: cheers are with me today. 33 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: Owens stood for an ovation that one of the globetrotters 34 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: said lasted a full fifteen minutes. And I think maybe 35 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: it was then, standing there watching how hungry that crowd 36 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: was for even this mention of a good German that 37 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: he decided to tell an even bigger story about what 38 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: happened between him and Luteslog at the nineteen thirty six Olympics. 39 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: It was the start of the great long jump tall tale. 40 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 3: H'm Malcolm Gladwell. Welcome to Revisionist History, my show about 41 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 3: things overlooked and misunderstood. Throughout this series, Who've been looking 42 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 3: at how people tried to rationalize their participation in Hitner's Olympics, 43 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 3: And in this episode we've reached the most enduring and 44 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 3: I think heartbreaking rationalization of all. Jesse Owens his story 45 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 3: about befriending a Nazi, the story that it seems Owen's 46 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 3: made up. But why why did Owens need to tell 47 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 3: a lie? 48 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 4: Our home was in Alabama and my parents were sharecroppers 49 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 4: on this particular place. 50 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,800 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one, Jesse Owens sat down with an 51 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: interviewer to record in oral history. She a white woman 52 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: in cat's eye glasses and pearls Owens or a suit. 53 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: The two sat in mid century modern armchairs so close 54 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: their knees were almost touching. The curtains were drawn, the 55 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: room was filled with smoke. They spoke for six hours, 56 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: starting at the very beginning, What. 57 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 5: About the people that owned the big house where your 58 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 5: father was a shared dropper? Was this a Negro individual? 59 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: Light? The first tape is mostly about Owens's early life, 60 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: growing up one of the youngest of ten brothers and 61 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: sisters in Alabama. He was a sickly kid with a 62 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: sunny disposition. His parents had him late, called him their 63 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: gift child. It can be hard to know things for 64 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: certain about Jesse Owens's life. His biographer William J. Baker 65 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: once wrote of him, Jesse Owens was always strong on imagination, 66 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: weak on literal truth. But whatever the facts, I believe 67 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: his tone of voice in this tape, its warmth and 68 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: its weariness. You hear about the setbacks, the time he 69 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: saw his mother crying while folding the laundry because she 70 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: couldn't afford clothes for him, and then you hear about 71 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: the triumphs Now. 72 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,239 Speaker 5: That's where it all began. Junior heights reveal or Character 73 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 5: of the Basketball team. 74 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 6: Chapterin of the Track Team, Captain of the baseball team, 75 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 6: I was President of the student council, Captain about cards. 76 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: I was impressed the first time I heard him list 77 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: all those accomplishments. He was obviously great from the start. 78 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: But the second time I listened, I noticed just how 79 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,919 Speaker 1: worn out he sounds going through that list. That tone 80 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: has a lot to do with how I came to 81 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 1: understand Jesse Owens. He's telling the story of his life 82 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: in this oral history, but really he just keeps talking 83 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: about one idea. 84 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 4: She get tired of this sometimes, Oh yes, you get 85 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 4: tired of living in a glass bowl, living in a 86 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 4: glass bowl. 87 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: But it's a. 88 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 4: It's a wonderful thing to help people to recognize you, 89 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 4: people to admire you for your ability, but sometimes people 90 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 4: forget your human being. People were looking, everybody's eyes were 91 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 4: upon you, and they would scrutinize everything that you did. 92 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 2: And so therefore you had to be very, very careful 93 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 2: of what other things that you did. And it's a 94 00:05:59,640 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 2: tough thing. 95 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: Sometime, by the time he taped this interview, people had 96 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: been telling stories about Jesse Owens, mythologizing him for decades. 97 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:09,720 Speaker 1: You can even hear the interviewer doing it. 98 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 5: How did all this make you feel? 99 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 7: Now? 100 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 5: Remember you you're a youngster from the cotton fields of Alabama, 101 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 5: and this is all relatively new to you, and and 102 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 5: suddenly you're you're you're the captain of so many things, 103 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 5: and you're all a suit and people like you. 104 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 2: And when you felt like you were somebody you know. 105 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: And that I think is of the heart of why 106 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens made up that story about Luteslong helping him 107 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: during the broad jump qualifying rounds and about their friendship 108 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: all those years afterwards. First being an athlete made him somebody. 109 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: Then when that was done, telling stories about it kept 110 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,600 Speaker 1: him with somebody. But he was black in early twentieth 111 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: century America, which meant that as soon as he started 112 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: to be somebody, he had to play the two crowds, 113 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,799 Speaker 1: the white people giving him opportunities and the black people 114 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 1: who wanted him to use his status to change things. 115 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 3: If you're the first to come along, you're a pioneer. 116 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 3: You represent not just yourself, which you represent your category. 117 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 3: And he's being asked to represent his category in a 118 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 3: way that no obviously, no white athlete is being asked 119 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 3: to represent a category. 120 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I actually think what's striking looking at Jesse 121 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: Owens's life is how early that starts for him. I mean, 122 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: it's really he's sort of a superlative athlete from a 123 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: very young age, and then this just keeps happening to him. 124 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: It was the same when people started boycotting the nineteen 125 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: thirty six Olympics, wondering if he would too. He's at 126 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: the time, how old I think he's twenty two. So 127 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: we have this kid who is. 128 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 3: Being asked to parse one of the most complicated kind 129 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 3: of moral and political questions of the time, and he's 130 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 3: being torn in two directions. 131 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: At first, Jesse Owens seemed to see the situation in 132 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: Germany clearly, the violence and the discrimination, and he supported 133 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: the boycott. He knew what it was like living in 134 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: the United States under Jim Crow in segregation. He said 135 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: in a radio interview that quote, if there is discrimination 136 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: against minorities in Germany, then we must withdraw from the Olympics, 137 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: to which his white coach, Larry Snyder responded, basically, suit yourself. 138 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: But if you skip the Olympics, you're going to be, 139 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: and this is his exact phrase, a forgotten man, the 140 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: opposite of a somebody. In the end, eighteen black athletes 141 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,679 Speaker 1: went to Berlin with the US Olympic team that year. 142 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: Each of them had to wrestle privately with the question 143 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,839 Speaker 1: of whether or not to participate, but because of the 144 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: Glass Bowl, Jesse Owens had to do it in public. 145 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: There were endless opinions about what he should do. Even 146 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 1: the secretary of the NAACP Walter White, had an opinion 147 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: best represented in a letter to Owens that he drafted 148 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: but which now sits in the archives. I fully realize 149 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: how great a sacrifice it will be for you to 150 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: give up the trip to Europe and to forego the 151 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: acclaim which your athletic prowess will unquestionably bring you. On 152 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: the other hand, it is my firm conviction that the 153 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: issue of participation in the nineteen thirty six Olympics, if 154 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: held in Germany under the present regime, transcends all other issues. 155 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: Participation by American athletes, and especially by those of our 156 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: own race, which has suffered more than any other from 157 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: American race hatred, would I firmly believe, do irreparable harm. 158 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 2: The very pre. 159 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,000 Speaker 1: Eminence of American Negro athletes gives them an unparalleled opportunity 160 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: to strike a blow at racial bigotry and to make 161 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: other minority groups conscious of the sameness of their problem 162 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: with ours. If the Hitlers and Mussolini's of the world 163 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: are successful, it is inevitable that dictatorships based upon prejudice 164 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: will spread throughout the world. White never sent that letter, 165 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: but it captured how a lot of people understood the 166 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: stakes of the choice that Jesse Owens had to make 167 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,000 Speaker 1: deny his Olympic dreams for the good of Black America 168 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: or go to the games at their expense. 169 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 5: But you could have given up at this point. We 170 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 5: didn't have to go on with it. If the recognition 171 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 5: and the status hadn't been as important to you as 172 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 5: it was, he could have sat on through with this nonsense. 173 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 5: I'm going to finish my education and the one and 174 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,960 Speaker 5: become a lawyer or something else. 175 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 4: Well, this you could have done. But yet and still 176 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 4: you feel that here you are, where people have made 177 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,160 Speaker 4: it possible for you to start, Why at this point 178 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 4: become See you're not any greater. Then the people will 179 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:00,439 Speaker 4: make you. You can do a number of things. But 180 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 4: if the people are not with you, then who knows about? 181 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: Leave the glass bowl, become a forgotten man. So Jesse 182 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,319 Speaker 1: Owens went to the Olympics with everyone watching, and he 183 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: made a miracle happen. 184 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 6: Capa conic second up on it na makes the others 185 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 6: look as if they're working. 186 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: He won gold medals in each of his events, the 187 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,839 Speaker 1: one hundred and two hundred meter dashes, the one hundred 188 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: meter relay, in that legendary broad jump, and for a 189 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:33,959 Speaker 1: lot of people, all those medals seemed to validate his 190 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 1: choice to go. He'd proven Hitler wrong with every step, 191 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: so much Farian supremacy. That's where the story of Jesse 192 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 1: Owens usually ends, but there's so much more to it. 193 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: After the track and field events in nineteen thirty six, 194 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: the athletes toured Europe for a series of track meets. 195 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: Avery Brandage, Newly, a member of the International Olympic Committee, 196 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,079 Speaker 1: had organized it with the Amateur Athletic Union. The organizations 197 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,880 Speaker 1: would pocket their cut of the ticket sales, but the 198 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: athletes couldn't make money from the meets. Remember, the games 199 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: were for amateurs, no money for sport. Jesse Owens once said, 200 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: all we athletes get out of this Olympic business is 201 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: a view out of a train or airplane window. It 202 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: gets tiresome, it really does, staring out those windows. I 203 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,480 Speaker 1: think he had started to contemplate his future, and I 204 00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: don't think he liked what he saw. They were expected 205 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: to keep training, compete for a few more years until 206 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: their bodies started to fall apart. Maybe there'd be another 207 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: Olympic Games. But then what Owens didn't come from a 208 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: rich family. He'd barely had the time to get an 209 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: education with all his training, What kind of job could 210 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: he do once his athletic career was over. After the 211 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:55,599 Speaker 1: Berlin Games. He was really famous. Offers had started to 212 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: come in. Twenty five grand for two weeks with an 213 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: orchestra in California, forty grand for ten weeks of shows 214 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: with the entertainer Eddie Canter. Now that serious money. In 215 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,959 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, that was a fortune. He began to 216 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: think about leaving the tour and going home. He could 217 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: be rich, but going professional would be violating Olympic rules 218 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: and missing the rest of the tour would too. He 219 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 1: could never compete at the Olympics. Again. Those were the rules, 220 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:34,120 Speaker 1: rules enforced by Avery Brandage, who took amateurism extremely seriously. 221 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: After the Berlin Games, a reporter asked him about rumors 222 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:41,280 Speaker 1: that Owens was going to quit the post Olympics tour. 223 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 8: And I'd understand the Bondage that the received information that 224 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 8: Owns will not go to the stop, but Doc Holmley 225 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 8: will not appear, and I hope that Owen will be 226 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 8: build engagements when one of the finest boys we've had, 227 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 8: and we hope that there will be nothing tom this record. 228 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: These were crocked dial tears. By the time he gave 229 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,199 Speaker 1: that interview, averybrend had already knew that Jesse Owens had 230 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:07,680 Speaker 1: a ticket for a steamer back to the United States, 231 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: leaving before the end of that tour. 232 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 5: No, I just hope that all these are just rumored. 233 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens was banned for life from amateur sport. The 234 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six Games would be the last act and 235 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: the pinnacle of his athletic career. He went to the 236 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 1: press with a rare complaint. I came over to Europe 237 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: with only ten dollars in my pocket. To make matters worse, 238 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: I've lost six pounds being pushed around and circused all 239 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: over Europe. They sent me to Prague from Cologne without 240 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: a cent and I had to run a race in 241 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: Prague without having had an ounce of food for ten hours. 242 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: I am turning professional because I'm busted and know the 243 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: difficulties encountered by any member of my race and getting 244 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: financial security. I want to get some money while I'm 245 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: in the spotlight. He tried to make the most of it. 246 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: He became an entertainer, even try tap dancing, and along 247 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: the way he was working to keep up with sports too, 248 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: But it was like everything had gone a little sour. 249 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: He was supposed to race against another amateur in Cuba, 250 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: a sprinter until Avery Brundage caught win and said he'd 251 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: banned that sprinter from American amateur sport if he went 252 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: through with the race. So they replaced the guy with 253 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: a horse Cuba. 254 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 8: Jesse Owens, the Ebonistic of Olympic Games, celebrates turning professional 255 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 8: by racing against a horse. 256 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: Jesse had a start at forty yards and one hundred 257 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: and he won by inches. 258 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 9: And I ought a lot. 259 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: So when Jesse Owens went professional, that essentially was the 260 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: choice he made to spend the rest of his life 261 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: reliving those two weeks in August nineteen thirty six. He 262 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: was trapped as if he'd jumped into that broad jump 263 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: pit and sunk to his knees in quicksand which is 264 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: not to say that it wasn't also a good life. 265 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: He had three daughters, He was involved in presidential campaigning. 266 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: He ran a fitness program during the war for the 267 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: US Office of Civilian Defense. He led a big life, 268 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: but in order to do all the other stuff, he 269 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: had to keep the dream of those two weeks alive. 270 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: You can even hear this in that oral history when 271 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 1: they start on that third tape. Jesse Owens is in 272 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: the middle of talking about his actual life. Now in 273 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, he's complaining about some business deal that 274 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: went south. 275 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 10: THEO for me and I got to sing over to 276 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 10: the bank and I made a mistake by not having 277 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 10: two sources, you know. 278 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: So again this was a guy with a life. But 279 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: the interviewer is like, yeah, sure, sure, what about the Olympics? 280 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:44,280 Speaker 11: Though, what else is new? Jesse, Let's go way back 281 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 11: now to nineteen thirty six and reminisce about the Olympics. 282 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,560 Speaker 11: I'm sure that you have told this story how many 283 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 11: hundreds of times to how many papers and miners using 284 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 11: this person, and this has been broadcast, certainly known many times. 285 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 11: But for the Historical Library would like to have a 286 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 11: record of for the Olympics, in your own words, the 287 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 11: feeling that you. 288 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: Had when you know his job was telling the story 289 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: of the Olympics. And once she asks, he gets right 290 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: to it. 291 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 10: I remember it was in July July the fourth of 292 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 10: nineteen thirty six when we had the final tryouts for 293 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 10: the Olympics at Rados Island, and that was the fourth But. 294 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: The thing about telling one story for your entire life 295 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: is that the meaning of that story has to keep 296 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: changing with the times, to stay marketable, to keep enough 297 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: eyes on that glass bowl. And in nineteen fifty one, 298 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 1: at that halftime speech during the Harlem Globetrotter's game, he 299 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:54,720 Speaker 1: discovered its most powerful edition, Loots Long. We'll be right back. 300 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: I guess first, can you tell me about that Globetrotters 301 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: game in the Berlin Stadium in nineteen fifty one. Sure, 302 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: I'm talking to Damian L. Thomas, Curator of Sports at 303 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 304 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: He's the author of the book Globe Trotting, African American 305 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: Athletes and Cold War Politics. 306 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 12: The Harlem Globetrotters were just starting to travel internationally and 307 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,879 Speaker 12: they had played a game in Frankfurt a couple of 308 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 12: days before, and one American official had asked them to 309 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 12: play this game in West Berlin because at the time, 310 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 12: the Soviets were doing a lot of festivals, a lot 311 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 12: of exchanges, and they wanted to ensure that the US 312 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 12: and the West was able to tell their own story. 313 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 1: In the Cold War, the US and the USSR were 314 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: fighting for the hearts and minds of the rest of 315 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: the world, which led them bizarrely straight to the Harlem Globetrotters. 316 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 13: The Harlem Globetrotters basketball Wizard's extraordinary. They are patent that 317 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 13: plan them, bring and play, and Sandy Capers had made 318 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 13: them the most popular team in the history. 319 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 2: Of the sport. 320 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: Before the NBA was a big deal, before black people 321 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,440 Speaker 1: played even college basketball, and any great numbers, the Harlem 322 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: Globetrotters were kind of traveling basketball circus. True to the name, 323 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:30,199 Speaker 1: they were all over the. 324 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,679 Speaker 11: Place persona Harlem grouptore. 325 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: It was a major operation run by one of the 326 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: most infamous and ruthless sports promoters of all time, a 327 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: white guy named Abe Sapperstein. I'm MASAKOWI twelve. 328 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 2: Come on, let's push again, for. 329 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 1: You've probably seen footage of them playing a lot of 330 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: fake passes, improbable shots, and goofing around. Except they're totally 331 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,719 Speaker 1: incredible at basketball. 332 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 2: Even in slow motion. Their magical hands pool you. 333 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: I was talking to Damian Thomas though, because underneath the 334 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: goofiness there was something more sinister going on. 335 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 12: The Harlem Blobetrotters were also so deeply tied to mins 336 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 12: pro se, which was the dominant form of entertainment in 337 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:26,639 Speaker 12: America from the eighteen eighties through the nineteen early nineteen fifties. 338 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: The players, almost all black Americans, were often referred to 339 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: as clowns. 340 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 6: Meet the most colorful comedy acting in present day spot 341 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 6: purists say they make a mockery of the game. 342 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:38,880 Speaker 2: They clown, they juggle, they fool. 343 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: But where some people might see a kind of basketball circus, 344 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: the State Department saw the perfect propaganda weapon. 345 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 12: People often didn't think of sports as having ideological content, 346 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 12: and so whereas other forms of American culture would be resisting, 347 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 12: sometimes Coca cola, sometimes blue jeans, rock and roll, and 348 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:07,639 Speaker 12: American movies were shunt people often welcomed basketball because they 349 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:13,760 Speaker 12: didn't think of it as as had been a propagandistic function. 350 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 12: But it did, and it's one of the things that 351 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 12: made it very important is that people didn't see it 352 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,160 Speaker 12: as containing hidden messages. 353 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: A lot of Soviet propaganda during the Cold War called 354 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: out the lie of American equality. The US might talk 355 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,959 Speaker 1: about all people being equal, but the country was segregated, 356 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: and really only white people had a shot at a 357 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 1: decent quality of life. It was true and a particularly 358 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: useful message for the USSR trying to get African and 359 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: Asian countries to align with them instead of the US. 360 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: So the United States responded with a big hidden message 361 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: about the globetrotters, a message with two parts, first part, hey, 362 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,639 Speaker 1: look we have wealthy black peace in this country. And 363 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,880 Speaker 1: the second, much more sinister part, look at these clowns. 364 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: Don't you see why we're segregating them. 365 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 6: Number fifty is Goose Tatum, clown with the longest arms 366 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 6: in the spot with his seven foot overall reachie raks 367 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,640 Speaker 6: in seven thousand a year from a team which grows 368 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 6: to a million last season. 369 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 12: You would see these situations where maybe Goost Tatum, who 370 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 12: was the lead clown, which lay on the floor and 371 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 12: read read the newspaper while the game was going on 372 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 12: on the other end of the floor, designed to stress 373 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:43,120 Speaker 12: that African Americans were lazy and then we were unresponsible 374 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 12: or weren't mentally engaged in the game. And so you 375 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 12: saw all of these various ways where the stereotypes played 376 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 12: out in some of the comedic routines of the low tribes. 377 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 12: It allows the State Department to make the argument that 378 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 12: African Americans don't have full e quality, don't have all 379 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 12: of the opportunities that are available to white Americans because 380 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 12: they are lazy, they're not as intelligent, they are not 381 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 12: ready to occupy a space of full equality. 382 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,400 Speaker 1: The State Department needed black success stories that also made 383 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: segregation look okay. Enter the Globetrotters and Jesse Owens. And 384 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: how did Jesse Owens become involved in all this? 385 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 12: All throughout the nineteen forties, Jesse Owens had traveled sporadically 386 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 12: with the Harlem Globetrotters and he would serve a variety 387 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 12: of functions. He would serve as the press secretary, the 388 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 12: announcer during the game, and also as halftime entertainment. And 389 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:57,639 Speaker 12: typically when he performed during halftime, they would set up 390 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 12: hurdles around the core and Jesse Owens would jump over 391 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 12: the hurdles around the core as they have time entertain 392 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 12: a spectacle. 393 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: At one of the Globetrotter's promoters events, he ran a 394 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 1: race against another black athlete on his hands and knees 395 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 1: even worse than that horse race in Cuba. 396 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,920 Speaker 12: He writes about that, and he writes about how he 397 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 12: felt humiliated and felt as if he was being treated 398 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 12: less than But then he also writes, well, what else. 399 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 2: Was I supposed to do? 400 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 7: Yeah? 401 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 12: What would other options available? 402 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: And That is how in nineteen fifty one, Jesse Owens 403 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: returned to the Berlin Stadium at the behest of the 404 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,399 Speaker 1: State Department as the black superstar with a story to 405 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: tell about a kind Nazi. Jesse Owens had spent much 406 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: of his life in the Glass Bowl. He knew the rules, 407 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: and so during his second visit to Berlin, he focused 408 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: on the part of his story the Americans and the 409 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: Germans most needed, the part about Lutzlang, a good white 410 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: German who'd embraced a black man Just the day before 411 00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: that Globetrotter's game. Owens had finally met Lutzlang's widow and 412 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,840 Speaker 1: his son Kai. It seems he told them that untrue 413 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: story about the qualifying round and how Lutzlang had helped 414 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: him keep from fouling out. And maybe he'd seen how 415 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: much the story of Long's kindness had touched Kai too. 416 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: It was another story with two messages, Hey, look, the 417 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,200 Speaker 1: US and Germany can be friends again too, and also 418 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: how bad could segregation be if this black superstar could 419 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: still see the humanity in a white Nazi? And it 420 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: was a smash success. Owens stood outside that stadium for 421 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: hours after that game, signing autographs. The US State Department's 422 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,640 Speaker 1: office in Berlin sent home a report. Appearance Harlem Globetrotters 423 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:00,400 Speaker 1: with Jesse Owens in Olympic Stadium August twenty two more 424 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: successful than anticipated, and. 425 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 12: This became one of the most requested stories that Jesse 426 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:08,879 Speaker 12: Wood tailed on the speaker circuit. 427 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 1: After that trip to Germany, Owens began to tell increasingly 428 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: elaborate stories about Lutslog. By the nineteen sixties, in public, 429 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 1: the story had grown to Lutslog helping Owens to qualify. 430 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: Later came the apocryphal letters, but with each version of 431 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: that story, Owens was masterfully navigating the complexities of Cold 432 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: War US racial politics. It's somehow an apology for his 433 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,159 Speaker 1: own excellence, because the premise of the story is that he, 434 00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: a person who holds the world record and broad jumping, 435 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: needs to be instructed on how to approach the pit 436 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: by a Nazi. 437 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 3: No, but actually been. It's worse than that, because the 438 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 3: story itself has its own kind of implied racial bias, 439 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 3: which is, he's not just being instructed about how to 440 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 3: conduct a long jump. 441 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: He's lost control of his own emotions. 442 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 3: Yes, he's being instructed about how to control his emotions. 443 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, Actually it's not. He's not being told how to 444 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: control his emotions. He's being told how to handle the 445 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,919 Speaker 1: fact that he will continue to be unable to control 446 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: his emotions. It's not like it's not like lout song 447 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: comes up and is like, here's a transcendental meditation that 448 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: I think you could do to really get this under control. 449 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,879 Speaker 3: I mean, the meta story in that story is so 450 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 3: kind of like weird and distasteful, and Jesse Owens is 451 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:42,080 Speaker 3: forced to play along with this kind of deeply offensive narrative. 452 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: But that's that's the really sad part though, is he's 453 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: not He's not forced to play along with it, like 454 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,359 Speaker 1: he generates the narrative. Like I there's many people that 455 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: I'm suspicious of who play a several meaningful white co 456 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 1: writers on this story. But I really think that Jesse 457 00:27:58,600 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 1: Owens is the first mover. 458 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 3: He's so internalized these Yeah, but he knows enough, he 459 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:05,200 Speaker 3: knows enough about what it means to be a black 460 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,400 Speaker 3: man in nineteen thirty six that he knows that that's 461 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 3: a story, that's the plausible version of the story. 462 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 1: We almost always tell the story of Jesse Owens's Gold 463 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: Medals as a story of Triumph. Actually, Triumph is the 464 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: title of a best selling book about him. It's the 465 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: name of a Jesse Owens History Channel documentary that just 466 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,680 Speaker 1: came out. And I'm not saying that Jesse Owens didn't triumph, 467 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 1: or that he didn't enjoy the fame or the money. 468 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 1: But look at what two weeks of Triumph cost him. 469 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: A life behind glass, playing a version of himself in 470 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: a story of racial reconciliation that he must have on 471 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: some level known was just not true. And it was 472 00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: a story that worked like magic, until all of a 473 00:28:53,400 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: sudden it didn't. We'll be right back. Jesse Owens had 474 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 1: been telling one version or another of the Lutslang story 475 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: for nearly twenty years when it finally went mainstream in 476 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,720 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. That was the year Jesse Owens Returns 477 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: to Berlin came out. The film by the legendary Olympic 478 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 1: documentarian Bud Greenspan. It builds up to that globetrotter's trip 479 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one, the jog around the track, the 480 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: standing ovation, but the heart of the piece is Lutslang's 481 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: son Kai. 482 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 14: I have very often seen pictures from you and the 483 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 14: photographs of my father, please tell me about this competition 484 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 14: here in the stadium, because I've my father only seen 485 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 14: for three times. I was born nineteen forty one and 486 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 14: my father has died in ninety forty three. 487 00:29:55,040 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 1: Remember, Kai was still a kid when his dad died. 488 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: He didn't know his father, and in the film, Jesse 489 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: Owens tells him a story about how his dad helped 490 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: Owens qualify for the broad jump. 491 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 15: Kyle, you probably don't know it, but your father was 492 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 15: greatly responsible for my winning the broad jump in nineteen 493 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 15: thirty six. It all happened on the other side of 494 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 15: the field here when we had the preminaries for the 495 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 15: running broad jump, and on the first two jumps, I 496 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 15: followed on one and didn't go far enough on the other, 497 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 15: and your father came to my assistance and he helped 498 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 15: me measure a footback of the takeoff board, and he 499 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 15: helped the tape until I measured a foot back as 500 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 15: far as my takeoff was concerned. And then I came 501 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 15: down and I hit between these two marks, and therefore 502 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 15: I qualified, and that led to the victory in the 503 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:39,720 Speaker 15: running broad jump. 504 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: He seemed to say, sure, your dad would go on 505 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: to fight with the Nazis, but he was a good man. 506 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: Kai asked Owens if he'd like to recreate the famous 507 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: photograph of his father. They laid down in the grass together. 508 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 1: The film was a huge, huge hit, the first time 509 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens really got his Olympic glory back. The nineteen 510 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: thirty six games were before people had televisions in their homes, 511 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: so Americans hadn't really seen the footage of the games 512 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: before that movie hadn't seen just how incredible Jesse Owens's 513 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 1: Olympic achievement was. I haven't watched a lot of track 514 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: and field, but it still takes my breath away. The 515 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 1: long jump especially, it just looks like he's running on air, 516 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: and as he leaps, he raises his hand above his 517 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: head and he just soars. 518 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 15: It was a little Olympic record, one to sixty five 519 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 15: and one third interest the first month. 520 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 2: The Greek name was looks Long, an athlete of special carriage. 521 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 15: He put his arms around him and we walked down 522 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 15: the broad jump runway directly in front of Chapley hit 523 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 15: those box. 524 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: The Bud Greenspan documentary meant that Jesse Owens finally had 525 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: it all again, his fame, his financial security and his 526 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: Olympic glory and all that had come just in time 527 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: for another Olympic Games, Mexico City, nineteen sixty eight. By 528 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,800 Speaker 1: that point, Avery Brendage had become the first American President 529 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: of the International Olympic Committee ever, and decades after suspending 530 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens, Olympic leaders had seen the power of the 531 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: Owens story and welcomed him back to the Olympic movement 532 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: as a kind of figurehead. In Mexico, Jesse Owens was 533 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: a guest of the government, an adjunct of the US 534 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: Olympic Committee, and a radio commentator. But once again, the 535 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: Games were about something more than sports. That year, it 536 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: was the summer of nineteen sixty eight, the height of 537 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement, and like in nineteen thirty six, 538 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: there was talk of black American athletes protesting the games, 539 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: specifically the track athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos. Everyone 540 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: was on eggshells. One day during the Games, Jesse Owens 541 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: was walking through the Olympic village when he ran into Carlos. 542 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: I know this because Owens's radio co host Les Kider 543 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: was with him, and later he wrote about it in 544 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,560 Speaker 1: his memoirs. Carlos apparently confided in Owens that he was 545 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: planning some kind of protest the next day, Owens got 546 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: anxious and told him not to do anything public. And 547 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 1: then apparently Carlos got frustrated and in the middle of 548 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: the Olympic village he pointed a finger at Jesse Owens 549 00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: and yelled, you goddamn uncle. Tom Owens was stunned. The 550 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,480 Speaker 1: next day, John Carlos won bronze in the two hundred 551 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: meter sprint and Tommy Smith won the gold. Owens was 552 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: in the radio booth high above the field watching. According 553 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: to that radio co host Les Kid, Owens said, boy, 554 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: I hope nothing happens when they play the national anthem. 555 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: They might refuse to accept the awards. Instead, something much 556 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: more dramatic happened. They accepted their medals, but then they 557 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 1: took the podium shoeless and raised gloves in a black 558 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: power salute. The image was broadcast across the world. 559 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:09,600 Speaker 13: Yesterday, they came in first and third in the two 560 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,000 Speaker 13: hundred meter dash and then stood on the victory platform 561 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 13: with bowed heads, wearing black socks and gloves and a 562 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 13: racial protest. 563 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: Kider said that when Jesse Owens learned what Smith and 564 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: Carlos had done. He sat there and repeated three words 565 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: to himself, Oh my god. 566 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 12: They were also breaking a very important unwritten rule in America, 567 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 12: which is you don't criticize the United States in foreign land. 568 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,239 Speaker 12: And so Jesse Owens was aware of that rule in 569 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,280 Speaker 12: the thirties and in the forties, and he was certainly 570 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 12: someone who abided by that. 571 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: That's Damian Thomas again, Smithsonian Sports Curator. 572 00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 12: Jesse Owens is from an era where it was important 573 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 12: for you to be a credit to your race. And 574 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:12,080 Speaker 12: so the way in which you advanced African American opportunity 575 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:18,319 Speaker 12: access was through good behavior. It was through embodying these 576 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 12: middle class values, chastity thrift tempoints. But by nineteen sixty eight, 577 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 12: African Americans are half of the players in the NBA, 578 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 12: a third in the NFL, and a quarter in Major 579 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 12: League Baseball. And so the mere presence of African American 580 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 12: athletes is no longer seen as progressive in and of itself. 581 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:50,560 Speaker 12: It's seeing as now the status quo thirty years after 582 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 12: Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens won gold and so athletes in 583 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,799 Speaker 12: the nineteen sixties are now saying that the country needs 584 00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:06,400 Speaker 12: to do more that you need to be more engaged 585 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 12: with solving racial problems and racial issues, and so athletes 586 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 12: by nineteen sixty eight are willing to confront America, and 587 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 12: they're willing to confront America before a worldwide audience. 588 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,319 Speaker 1: Avery Brandage was apoplectic, and in one of the most 589 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 1: deeply cynical twists of fate, Brandage and the International Olympic 590 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:38,080 Speaker 1: Committee asked Jesse Owens, whom they'd previously banned for life, 591 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,920 Speaker 1: to go see Tommy Smith and John Carlos to ask 592 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: them to apologize and promise not to protest again. 593 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:46,600 Speaker 9: And he did. 594 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,160 Speaker 1: He was received the way you might expect. They would 595 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: not be apologizing. Tommy Smith and John Carlos were kicked 596 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: out of the Olympic village and banned from future games. 597 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,200 Speaker 1: They had faced a conundrum a lot like Jesse Owens 598 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: had thirty two years earlier, but they made the opposite choice. 599 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens must have felt as if his whole life 600 00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: was on trial. I mean, just listen to Tommy Smith. 601 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,680 Speaker 16: Had I been a good boy in Mexico, I could 602 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:22,440 Speaker 16: have probably been a monetarily richer and I would probably 603 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:24,200 Speaker 16: have been a bigger figure that I am, right now 604 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,080 Speaker 16: well getting steal I would have to fight myself from 605 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 16: the inside. 606 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 1: The day after their protests, on air, Owens's radio co 607 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 1: host asked him to compare the Black Power salute with 608 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: being snubbed by Adolf Hitler in nineteen thirty six, another 609 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:43,800 Speaker 1: story about something that had never happened, Owens was taken aback. 610 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 1: He just spent the whole night trying to get the 611 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 1: athletes to apologize. He paused for a second and said 612 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: the two are not similar, but I guess I was 613 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: the only one involved in both, And then he talked 614 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: about the night before he began to weep. It all 615 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 1: hit Owens extremely hard, so hard that he wrote a 616 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:12,000 Speaker 1: book length response to the Black Power movement. He'd titled 617 00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: it Black Think, one of a series of books he 618 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 1: wrote at the end of his life with a white 619 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:22,400 Speaker 1: co author, and here we find ourselves again at Lootslong. 620 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,800 Speaker 1: That book came out just two years after the Mexico 621 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,879 Speaker 1: City Games. But it's almost written like he's still there. 622 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 1: There's a kind of urgency to it. It's like what 623 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: he wishes he'd said in that conversation with John Carlos 624 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: and Tommy Smith, and what did he wish he'd told 625 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:44,400 Speaker 1: them a story about a good German, loots Long, about 626 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:48,000 Speaker 1: how his friendship across racial lines was even bigger and 627 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:52,319 Speaker 1: even more improbable than anyone ever could have imagined. At 628 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:57,319 Speaker 1: Black Things, climactic moment, Jesse Owens wrote, don't pass up 629 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: your Olympics and eurolots Long, don't let the black thinkers 630 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:06,640 Speaker 1: sell you out. The significance of that brief interaction just 631 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: kept growing in Jesse Owens's life story until two years 632 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:15,880 Speaker 1: before he died in nineteen seventy eight. With that co author, 633 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:21,320 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens published a book called Jesse a Spiritual Autobiography. 634 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,719 Speaker 1: This is the one with the letter Lutslong supposedly sent 635 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,240 Speaker 1: right before he died in the deserts of North Africa, 636 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,279 Speaker 1: a place in truth he never fought. It's kind of 637 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,600 Speaker 1: a beautiful letter, though, even knowing it's not true, I 638 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,919 Speaker 1: still get choked up when I read it. But it's 639 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: the dedication on spiritual autobiography that really gets me. Owens 640 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:48,279 Speaker 1: dedicates the book to two unmatchable teammates, my wife of 641 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:53,359 Speaker 1: almost fifty years, Ruth, and the Nazi who fought Hitler 642 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 1: with me, loots. 643 00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 9: Long, Tom. 644 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:06,480 Speaker 7: Can you hear me? Okay? 645 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:07,520 Speaker 9: I can. 646 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: Yes, Okay, fantastic. I had one last question, how did 647 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens feel about making this story up? Did he 648 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,560 Speaker 1: ever talk about it with anyone? So I called Tom Ecker, 649 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,360 Speaker 1: once a great track and field coach. He trained Sweden 650 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: for the nineteen sixty eight Games. He's something of an 651 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,800 Speaker 1: Olympic historian. He's eighty nine now. He was born the 652 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:32,840 Speaker 1: year before the nineteen thirty six Games. 653 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,759 Speaker 9: I met with Jesse Owens a few times, and then 654 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 9: I brought into Cedar Rapids where I live, and he 655 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:42,799 Speaker 9: came here and spoke to a group. 656 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:46,400 Speaker 1: And he slept in your daughter's bed, Tom's wife, Carol. 657 00:40:46,600 --> 00:40:48,919 Speaker 9: Yeah, he slept and he slept in our house. 658 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:49,319 Speaker 7: Wow. 659 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 9: So you guys actually had a good relationship. Yeah, we 660 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 9: got along really well. He told a lot of the 661 00:40:58,040 --> 00:40:59,799 Speaker 9: same stories that I love to hear. 662 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,839 Speaker 1: One of those stories, of course, was the Lutslang broad jump. 663 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: Tom had heard the story before, but it didn't quite 664 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,759 Speaker 1: add up. He'd never seen any official account of an 665 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,480 Speaker 1: interaction between Owens and Long during that qualifying round. He 666 00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 1: knew the famous sports writer Grant land Rice had been 667 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: watching the event through his binoculars and in a detailed 668 00:41:20,680 --> 00:41:24,880 Speaker 1: account of that day, Rice described how calm Jesse Owens 669 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:28,359 Speaker 1: looked when he made that final jump. He didn't say 670 00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:34,160 Speaker 1: anything about lutslog. Decades later in Cedar Rapids, Tom says 671 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,760 Speaker 1: he asked Jesse Owens about the jump himself. 672 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 9: Oh, yes, yeah, I talked to We talked about lut 673 00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:46,160 Speaker 9: slang and the fact that that most of that was 674 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 9: made up. 675 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 7: He admitted to it. 676 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,560 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Why did he make it up? 677 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:53,400 Speaker 8: Oh? 678 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 9: He well, he. 679 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:56,920 Speaker 2: He. 680 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:02,680 Speaker 7: He wanted to tell good stories. He told me that 681 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:05,040 Speaker 7: that he wanted to just be able to tell good 682 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:10,920 Speaker 7: stories and that that was a good story. We all 683 00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:11,919 Speaker 7: know what's true. 684 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,320 Speaker 1: I'm left with this image of Jesse Owens falling asleep 685 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:19,319 Speaker 1: in a little girl's bed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 686 00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:21,880 Speaker 1: he's once again been called to tell his great story. 687 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,279 Speaker 1: And what dream could visit him? 688 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:24,440 Speaker 2: Then? 689 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:28,960 Speaker 1: That one day he woke up alone in a strange 690 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 1: land and stepped out onto a great field in a 691 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:35,560 Speaker 1: big glass bowl to fight for a country that didn't 692 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:39,360 Speaker 1: want him, against the people who were most supposed to 693 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,759 Speaker 1: hate him, and then all of a sudden one of 694 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:50,280 Speaker 1: them reached out and touched him. Under the circumstances, who's 695 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: telling the truth we posed. 696 00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,000 Speaker 15: As his father and I did on the grass of 697 00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 15: the stadium, and though it may seem a little childish, 698 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 15: doing it brought back memories of a warm interdude in 699 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 15: my life when our follow athletes showed a special grace 700 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:10,200 Speaker 15: and a special courtesy when I needed help. I've experienced 701 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,560 Speaker 15: many moments in the sun, but perhaps the most rewarding 702 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 15: was to have Let's long beside me on the winner's platform. 703 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: Revisionist History is produced by me Ben Mattaphaffrey, Tally Emlin, 704 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: and Nina Bird Lawrence. Our editor is Sarah Nix. Fact 705 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:37,200 Speaker 1: checking on this episode by J. L. Goldfeind. Original scoring 706 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:42,399 Speaker 1: by Luis Gara, mastering by Jake Gorsky, Engineering by Nina 707 00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 1: Bird Lawrence. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Special thanks 708 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:52,359 Speaker 1: to Karen Chakerji, Wendy Martin, J. D. Landis, and Lee 709 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,560 Speaker 1: Haffrey for translation help. I'm Ben Mattaphaffrey.