1 00:00:16,155 --> 00:00:31,435 Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hey, last dark, I've listeners. Here's part two of 2 00:00:31,475 --> 00:00:34,235 Speaker 1: my look at Jesse Owens's famous long jump in the 3 00:00:34,355 --> 00:00:38,235 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six Nazi Olympic Games. If you missed part one, 4 00:00:38,435 --> 00:00:40,755 Speaker 1: maybe give that a listen first. It should be in 5 00:00:40,795 --> 00:00:43,475 Speaker 1: your feed. To hear the rest of our nine part 6 00:00:43,555 --> 00:00:47,275 Speaker 1: Revision's history series on the nineteen thirty six Olympics, head 7 00:00:47,315 --> 00:00:50,515 Speaker 1: over to Revisionist Histories show page and look for the 8 00:00:50,515 --> 00:01:00,315 Speaker 1: episodes titled Hitler's Olympics. Here's the episode. On a warm 9 00:01:00,395 --> 00:01:03,915 Speaker 1: day in August nineteen fifty one, a helicopter appeared in 10 00:01:03,955 --> 00:01:08,435 Speaker 1: the sky above the Berlin Olympics stadium. Seventy five thousand 11 00:01:08,515 --> 00:01:12,435 Speaker 1: people had gathered there to watch a Harlem globetrotter's basketball game. 12 00:01:13,155 --> 00:01:17,315 Speaker 1: The crowd looked up. The chopper circled three times and 13 00:01:17,435 --> 00:01:18,355 Speaker 1: landed on the field. 14 00:01:18,955 --> 00:01:22,395 Speaker 2: The loudspeaker announcer called out attention, attention. 15 00:01:23,155 --> 00:01:25,675 Speaker 1: A black man in a white suit stepped out onto 16 00:01:25,675 --> 00:01:26,675 Speaker 1: the red cinder track. 17 00:01:26,995 --> 00:01:29,475 Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest run on the world, it 18 00:01:29,635 --> 00:01:31,075 Speaker 2: turned mister Burland. 19 00:01:33,555 --> 00:01:37,155 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens was back in Germany to take a victory lap. 20 00:01:38,195 --> 00:01:40,435 Speaker 2: I had many thoughts as I made the symbolic run 21 00:01:40,475 --> 00:01:42,915 Speaker 2: of victory around the same Red Center track that had 22 00:01:42,995 --> 00:01:46,875 Speaker 2: run so many years before. As I passed each section, 23 00:01:48,475 --> 00:01:49,955 Speaker 2: there was a bridge to the pass. 24 00:01:51,035 --> 00:01:53,835 Speaker 1: The Second World War had ended only six years earlier, 25 00:01:54,075 --> 00:01:56,315 Speaker 1: and Germany, along with the rest of the world, was 26 00:01:56,355 --> 00:01:59,115 Speaker 1: still reckoning with it all. Whatever was left of the 27 00:01:59,195 --> 00:02:02,835 Speaker 1: Nazi leadership had been grilled at the Nuremberg Trials. Berlin 28 00:02:02,955 --> 00:02:06,795 Speaker 1: was rebuilding after Allied bombing campaigns. About eighty percent of 29 00:02:06,835 --> 00:02:09,915 Speaker 1: the city center had been flattened, Yet the stadium the 30 00:02:09,995 --> 00:02:13,675 Speaker 1: Nazis had built for the Olympics was still standing, and 31 00:02:13,795 --> 00:02:17,355 Speaker 1: that day at the Globetrotter's game, Jesse Owens was back 32 00:02:17,875 --> 00:02:20,755 Speaker 1: to take his victory lab and to give a speech. 33 00:02:23,035 --> 00:02:25,955 Speaker 1: Words often fail on occasions like this, he told the 34 00:02:25,955 --> 00:02:29,675 Speaker 1: German crowd, But I remember the good that happened here. 35 00:02:30,355 --> 00:02:34,195 Speaker 1: I remember the fighting spirit and sportsmanship shown by German 36 00:02:34,235 --> 00:02:39,155 Speaker 1: athletes on this field, and here we reached the important part, 37 00:02:40,475 --> 00:02:46,435 Speaker 1: he says, especially by Lutslang of Germany, the man I 38 00:02:46,515 --> 00:02:48,715 Speaker 1: managed to be in the broad jump. 39 00:02:53,315 --> 00:02:56,715 Speaker 2: The crowd came forth with a tremendous role, and the 40 00:02:56,795 --> 00:02:58,275 Speaker 2: cheers are with me today. 41 00:03:00,395 --> 00:03:03,795 Speaker 1: Owens stood for an ovation that one of the globetrotters said, 42 00:03:03,875 --> 00:03:07,835 Speaker 1: lasted a full fifteen minutes. And I think maybe it 43 00:03:07,915 --> 00:03:12,035 Speaker 1: was then standing there watching how hungry that crowd was 44 00:03:12,075 --> 00:03:15,515 Speaker 1: for even this mention of a good German that he 45 00:03:15,595 --> 00:03:20,235 Speaker 1: decided to tell an even bigger story about what happened 46 00:03:20,475 --> 00:03:25,035 Speaker 1: between him and Luteslog at the nineteen thirty six Olympics. 47 00:03:25,555 --> 00:03:32,395 Speaker 1: It was the start of the great long jump tall Tale. 48 00:03:32,915 --> 00:03:36,475 Speaker 3: Hi'm Malcolm Gladwell. Welcome to Revisionist History, my show about 49 00:03:36,475 --> 00:03:40,795 Speaker 3: things overlooked and misunderstood. Throughout this series, we've been looking 50 00:03:40,795 --> 00:03:45,115 Speaker 3: at how people tried to rationalize their participation in Hitno's Olympics, 51 00:03:45,755 --> 00:03:48,955 Speaker 3: and in this episode we've reached the most enduring and 52 00:03:49,035 --> 00:03:54,115 Speaker 3: I think heartbreaking rationalization of all. Jesse Owens his story 53 00:03:54,475 --> 00:03:59,235 Speaker 3: about befriending a Nazi, the story that it seems Owen's 54 00:03:59,275 --> 00:04:03,875 Speaker 3: made up. But why why did Owens need to tell 55 00:04:03,875 --> 00:04:09,915 Speaker 3: a lie? 56 00:04:13,515 --> 00:04:19,595 Speaker 2: Our home was in Alabama and my parents were sharecroppers 57 00:04:19,595 --> 00:04:20,875 Speaker 2: on this particular place. 58 00:04:22,155 --> 00:04:25,195 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty one, Jesse Owens sat down with an 59 00:04:25,195 --> 00:04:28,635 Speaker 1: interviewer to record in oral History. She a white woman 60 00:04:28,715 --> 00:04:32,275 Speaker 1: in cat's eye glasses and pearls Owens or a suit 61 00:04:33,235 --> 00:04:36,435 Speaker 1: The two sat in midcentury modern armchairs so close their 62 00:04:36,515 --> 00:04:40,195 Speaker 1: knees were almost touching. The curtains were drawn, the room 63 00:04:40,355 --> 00:04:45,075 Speaker 1: was filled with smoke. They spoke for six hours, starting 64 00:04:45,395 --> 00:04:46,355 Speaker 1: at the very beginning. 65 00:04:48,075 --> 00:04:50,835 Speaker 4: What about the people that owned the big house where 66 00:04:50,835 --> 00:04:52,395 Speaker 4: your father was a shared dropper? 67 00:04:52,835 --> 00:04:54,355 Speaker 5: Was this a Negro individual? 68 00:04:55,155 --> 00:04:55,275 Speaker 6: Light? 69 00:04:57,195 --> 00:05:01,355 Speaker 1: The first tape is mostly about Owens's early life, growing 70 00:05:01,395 --> 00:05:03,595 Speaker 1: up one of the youngest of ten brothers and sisters 71 00:05:03,595 --> 00:05:07,235 Speaker 1: in Alabama. He was a sickly kid with a sunny disposition. 72 00:05:07,875 --> 00:05:12,035 Speaker 1: His parents had him late, him their gift child. It 73 00:05:12,075 --> 00:05:15,395 Speaker 1: can be hard to know things for certain about Jesse Owens' life. 74 00:05:15,755 --> 00:05:19,395 Speaker 1: His biographer William J. Baker once wrote of him, Jesse 75 00:05:19,475 --> 00:05:23,635 Speaker 1: Owens was always strong on imagination, weak on literal truth. 76 00:05:24,635 --> 00:05:27,795 Speaker 1: But whatever the facts, I believe his tone of voice 77 00:05:27,795 --> 00:05:32,035 Speaker 1: in this tape, its warmth and its weariness. You hear 78 00:05:32,075 --> 00:05:35,155 Speaker 1: about the setbacks, the time he saw his mother crying 79 00:05:35,155 --> 00:05:38,355 Speaker 1: while folding the laundry because she couldn't afford clothes for him, 80 00:05:38,915 --> 00:05:40,635 Speaker 1: And then you hear about the. 81 00:05:40,635 --> 00:05:42,915 Speaker 4: Triumphs Now, that's where it all began. 82 00:05:43,955 --> 00:05:46,915 Speaker 7: Junior Heins rebala I spoke chapter with the basketball team. 83 00:05:47,395 --> 00:05:50,195 Speaker 7: Chapter in of the track team, captain of the baseball team, 84 00:05:50,915 --> 00:05:54,835 Speaker 7: I was president of the student council, captain about cards. 85 00:05:56,755 --> 00:05:58,715 Speaker 1: I was impressed the first time I heard him list 86 00:05:58,755 --> 00:06:01,875 Speaker 1: all those accomplishments. He was obviously great from the start. 87 00:06:02,595 --> 00:06:05,635 Speaker 1: But the second time I listened, I noticed just how 88 00:06:05,875 --> 00:06:10,355 Speaker 1: worn out he sounds going through that list. That tone 89 00:06:10,475 --> 00:06:12,315 Speaker 1: has a lot to do with how I came to 90 00:06:12,395 --> 00:06:15,915 Speaker 1: understand Jesse Owens. He's telling the story of his life 91 00:06:15,915 --> 00:06:19,795 Speaker 1: in this oral history, but really he just keeps talking 92 00:06:19,835 --> 00:06:20,955 Speaker 1: about one idea. 93 00:06:21,635 --> 00:06:24,515 Speaker 4: She get tired of this sometimes, Oh yes, you get 94 00:06:24,555 --> 00:06:25,955 Speaker 4: tired of living in a glass bowl. 95 00:06:26,955 --> 00:06:30,835 Speaker 1: Living in a glass bowl. But it's a. 96 00:06:32,915 --> 00:06:37,115 Speaker 7: It's a wonderful thing to help people to recognize you, 97 00:06:37,355 --> 00:06:42,275 Speaker 7: people to admire you for your ability, but sometimes people 98 00:06:42,355 --> 00:06:46,275 Speaker 7: forget your human being. People were looking, everybody's eyes were 99 00:06:46,355 --> 00:06:49,355 Speaker 7: upon you, and it would scrutinize everything that you did, 100 00:06:50,195 --> 00:06:51,955 Speaker 7: and so therefore you had to be very, very careful 101 00:06:51,995 --> 00:06:54,275 Speaker 7: of what of the things that you did, and it's. 102 00:06:55,915 --> 00:06:56,515 Speaker 4: A tough thing. 103 00:06:56,595 --> 00:06:59,995 Speaker 1: Sometimes. By the time he taped this interview, people had 104 00:06:59,995 --> 00:07:03,875 Speaker 1: been telling stories about Jesse Owens, mythologizing him for decades. 105 00:07:04,275 --> 00:07:06,195 Speaker 1: You can even hear of the interview we're doing it. 106 00:07:06,715 --> 00:07:08,195 Speaker 4: How did all this make you feel? 107 00:07:08,315 --> 00:07:11,395 Speaker 5: Now, Remember, you're a you're you're a youngster from the 108 00:07:11,435 --> 00:07:15,315 Speaker 5: cotton fields of Alabama, and this is all relatively new 109 00:07:15,395 --> 00:07:18,675 Speaker 5: to you. And suddenly you're you're you're the captain of 110 00:07:18,715 --> 00:07:21,595 Speaker 5: so many things, and you're a well, a good suit 111 00:07:21,795 --> 00:07:22,915 Speaker 5: and people like you. 112 00:07:23,155 --> 00:07:26,115 Speaker 4: And when you felt like you were somebody, you know? 113 00:07:26,715 --> 00:07:29,675 Speaker 1: And that, I think is that the heart of why 114 00:07:29,755 --> 00:07:32,915 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens made up that story about Lutslog helping him 115 00:07:32,995 --> 00:07:36,035 Speaker 1: during the broad jump qualifying rounds and about their friendship 116 00:07:36,075 --> 00:07:41,435 Speaker 1: all those years afterwards. First being an athlete made him somebody, 117 00:07:41,635 --> 00:07:44,635 Speaker 1: then when that was done, telling stories about it kept 118 00:07:44,675 --> 00:07:48,995 Speaker 1: him with somebody. But he was black in early twentieth 119 00:07:49,035 --> 00:07:52,275 Speaker 1: century America, which meant that as soon as he started 120 00:07:52,275 --> 00:07:55,035 Speaker 1: to be somebody, he had to play the two crowds, 121 00:07:55,715 --> 00:07:59,235 Speaker 1: the white people giving him opportunities and the black people 122 00:07:59,395 --> 00:08:02,475 Speaker 1: who wanted him to use his status to change things. 123 00:08:03,395 --> 00:08:05,995 Speaker 3: If you're the first to come along, you're a pioneer. 124 00:08:06,355 --> 00:08:09,395 Speaker 3: You represent not just yourself, which you represent your category. 125 00:08:09,475 --> 00:08:11,555 Speaker 3: And he's being asked to represent his category in a 126 00:08:11,555 --> 00:08:14,195 Speaker 3: way that no obviously, no white athlete is being asked 127 00:08:14,235 --> 00:08:15,195 Speaker 3: to represent a category. 128 00:08:15,275 --> 00:08:18,475 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I actually think what's striking looking at Jesse 129 00:08:18,475 --> 00:08:21,235 Speaker 1: Owens's life is how really that starts for him. I mean, 130 00:08:21,275 --> 00:08:24,235 Speaker 1: it's really he's sort of a superlative athlete from a 131 00:08:24,315 --> 00:08:27,675 Speaker 1: very young age, and then this just keeps happening to him. 132 00:08:27,915 --> 00:08:30,595 Speaker 1: It was the same when people started boycotting the nineteen 133 00:08:30,675 --> 00:08:33,715 Speaker 1: thirty six Olympics, wondering if he would too. 134 00:08:34,395 --> 00:08:35,715 Speaker 3: He's at the time, how old. 135 00:08:36,355 --> 00:08:37,355 Speaker 1: I think he's twenty two. 136 00:08:37,675 --> 00:08:40,235 Speaker 3: So we have this kid who is being asked to 137 00:08:40,315 --> 00:08:45,515 Speaker 3: parse one of the most complicated kind of moral and 138 00:08:46,555 --> 00:08:50,435 Speaker 3: political questions of the time, and he's being torn in 139 00:08:50,475 --> 00:08:51,835 Speaker 3: two directions. 140 00:08:52,395 --> 00:08:54,995 Speaker 1: At first, Jesse Owens seemed to see the situation in 141 00:08:55,035 --> 00:08:59,435 Speaker 1: Germany clearly, the violence and the discrimination, and he supported 142 00:08:59,435 --> 00:09:02,155 Speaker 1: the boycott. He knew what it was like living in 143 00:09:02,155 --> 00:09:05,955 Speaker 1: the United States under Jim Crow and segregation. He said 144 00:09:06,035 --> 00:09:09,955 Speaker 1: in a radio interview that quote, if there is discrimination 145 00:09:10,075 --> 00:09:13,595 Speaker 1: against minorities in Germany, then we must withdraw from the Olympics, 146 00:09:14,155 --> 00:09:18,435 Speaker 1: to which his white coach, Larry Snyder responded, basically, suit yourself, 147 00:09:18,515 --> 00:09:21,355 Speaker 1: but if you skip the Olympics, you're going to be 148 00:09:21,595 --> 00:09:26,315 Speaker 1: and this is his exact phrase, A forgotten man. The 149 00:09:26,355 --> 00:09:31,795 Speaker 1: opposite of a somebody. In the end, eighteen black athletes 150 00:09:31,835 --> 00:09:34,115 Speaker 1: went to Berlin with the US Olympic team that year. 151 00:09:35,115 --> 00:09:37,875 Speaker 1: Each of them had to wrestle privately with the question 152 00:09:37,995 --> 00:09:41,275 Speaker 1: of whether or not to participate, but because of the 153 00:09:41,275 --> 00:09:44,795 Speaker 1: Glass Bowl, Jesse Owens had to do it in public. 154 00:09:46,155 --> 00:09:49,115 Speaker 1: There were endless opinions about what he should do. Even 155 00:09:49,115 --> 00:09:52,915 Speaker 1: the secretary of the NAACP, Walter White, had an opinion 156 00:09:53,275 --> 00:09:56,115 Speaker 1: best represented in a letter to Owens that he drafted 157 00:09:56,155 --> 00:10:00,635 Speaker 1: but never sent, which now sits in the archives. I 158 00:10:00,755 --> 00:10:03,955 Speaker 1: fully realize how great a sacrifice it will be for 159 00:10:03,995 --> 00:10:05,635 Speaker 1: you to give up the trip to Europe and to 160 00:10:05,675 --> 00:10:09,795 Speaker 1: forego the acclaim which your athletic prowess will unquestionably bring you. 161 00:10:10,595 --> 00:10:13,315 Speaker 1: On the other hand, it is my firm conviction that 162 00:10:13,355 --> 00:10:16,435 Speaker 1: the issue of participation in the nineteen thirty six Olympics, 163 00:10:16,475 --> 00:10:20,515 Speaker 1: if held in Germany under the present regime, transcends all 164 00:10:20,595 --> 00:10:24,675 Speaker 1: other issues. Participation by American athletes, and especially by those 165 00:10:24,755 --> 00:10:26,995 Speaker 1: of our own race, which has suffered more than any 166 00:10:27,035 --> 00:10:31,315 Speaker 1: other from American race hatred, would I firmly believe, do 167 00:10:31,555 --> 00:10:36,555 Speaker 1: irreparable harm the very pre eminence of American negro athletes. 168 00:10:36,595 --> 00:10:39,755 Speaker 1: Gives them an unparalleled opportunity to strike a blow at 169 00:10:39,875 --> 00:10:42,995 Speaker 1: racial bigotry and to make other minority groups conscious of 170 00:10:43,035 --> 00:10:46,675 Speaker 1: the sameness of their problem with ours. If the Hitlers 171 00:10:46,715 --> 00:10:51,195 Speaker 1: and Mussolini's of the world are successful, it is inevitable 172 00:10:51,275 --> 00:10:56,075 Speaker 1: that dictatorships based upon prejudice will spread throughout the world. 173 00:10:56,955 --> 00:11:00,115 Speaker 1: White never sent that letter, but it captured how a 174 00:11:00,115 --> 00:11:02,835 Speaker 1: lot of people understood the stakes of the choice that 175 00:11:02,955 --> 00:11:07,115 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens had to make deny his Olympic dreams for 176 00:11:07,195 --> 00:11:10,475 Speaker 1: the good of Black America or go to the games 177 00:11:11,115 --> 00:11:11,915 Speaker 1: at their expense. 178 00:11:13,475 --> 00:11:15,275 Speaker 4: But you could have given up at this point. You 179 00:11:15,355 --> 00:11:19,475 Speaker 4: didn't have to go on with it. If the recognition 180 00:11:19,555 --> 00:11:23,475 Speaker 4: and the status hadn't been as important to you as 181 00:11:23,475 --> 00:11:26,075 Speaker 4: it was, you could have sat un through with this nonsense. 182 00:11:26,075 --> 00:11:28,075 Speaker 4: I'm going to finish my education and the one and 183 00:11:28,155 --> 00:11:31,395 Speaker 4: become a lawyer or something else. 184 00:11:32,435 --> 00:11:37,515 Speaker 7: Well, this you could have done. But yet and still 185 00:11:37,595 --> 00:11:42,115 Speaker 7: you feel that here you are, where people have made 186 00:11:42,115 --> 00:11:46,035 Speaker 7: it possible for you to start. Why at this point 187 00:11:46,795 --> 00:11:51,955 Speaker 7: become See you're not any greater, then the people will 188 00:11:51,995 --> 00:11:56,875 Speaker 7: make you. You can do a number of things. But 189 00:11:56,995 --> 00:12:01,195 Speaker 7: if the people are not with you, then who knows about. 190 00:12:01,475 --> 00:12:08,235 Speaker 1: Leave the gospel, become a forgotten man. So Jesse Owens 191 00:12:08,475 --> 00:12:11,995 Speaker 1: went to the Olympics with everyone watching, and he made 192 00:12:12,035 --> 00:12:15,515 Speaker 1: a miracle athleteca coming second up on it. 193 00:12:16,635 --> 00:12:17,955 Speaker 8: Makes the others look as if they're working. 194 00:12:18,555 --> 00:12:21,475 Speaker 1: He won gold medals in each of his events, the 195 00:12:21,515 --> 00:12:24,275 Speaker 1: one hundred and two hundred meters dashes, the one hundred 196 00:12:24,275 --> 00:12:27,955 Speaker 1: meter relay, in that legendary broad jump, and for a 197 00:12:27,955 --> 00:12:30,355 Speaker 1: lot of people, all those medals seemed to validate his 198 00:12:30,475 --> 00:12:34,035 Speaker 1: choice to go. He'd proven Hitler wrong with every step, 199 00:12:34,355 --> 00:12:40,195 Speaker 1: so much Farian supremacy. That's where the story of Jesse 200 00:12:40,275 --> 00:12:44,155 Speaker 1: Owens usually ends, but there's so much more to it. 201 00:12:46,315 --> 00:12:48,715 Speaker 1: After the track and field events, in nineteen thirty six, 202 00:12:49,035 --> 00:12:51,875 Speaker 1: the athletes toured Europe for a series of track meets. 203 00:12:52,435 --> 00:12:55,795 Speaker 1: Avery Brandage, Newly, a member of the International Olympic Committee, 204 00:12:55,795 --> 00:12:59,475 Speaker 1: had organized it with the Amateur Athletic Union. The organizations 205 00:12:59,515 --> 00:13:02,355 Speaker 1: would pocket their cut of the ticket sales, but the 206 00:13:02,395 --> 00:13:06,155 Speaker 1: athletes couldn't make money from the meets. Remember the games 207 00:13:06,195 --> 00:13:09,875 Speaker 1: were for amateurs, no money for sport. Jesse Owens, this 208 00:13:09,915 --> 00:13:12,875 Speaker 1: one said. All we athletes get out of this Olympic 209 00:13:12,955 --> 00:13:15,955 Speaker 1: business is a view out of a train or airplane window. 210 00:13:16,475 --> 00:13:21,115 Speaker 1: It gets tiresome, it really does, staring out those windows. 211 00:13:21,395 --> 00:13:24,755 Speaker 1: I think he had started to contemplate his future, and 212 00:13:24,835 --> 00:13:27,355 Speaker 1: I don't think he liked what he saw. They were 213 00:13:27,435 --> 00:13:30,275 Speaker 1: expected to keep training, compete for a few more years 214 00:13:30,315 --> 00:13:33,155 Speaker 1: until their bodies started to fall apart. Maybe there'd be 215 00:13:33,155 --> 00:13:37,955 Speaker 1: another Olympic Games. But then what Owens didn't come from 216 00:13:37,995 --> 00:13:40,475 Speaker 1: a rich family. He'd barely had the time to get 217 00:13:40,515 --> 00:13:43,555 Speaker 1: an education with all his training. What kind of job 218 00:13:43,595 --> 00:13:46,955 Speaker 1: could he do once his athletic career was over. After 219 00:13:46,955 --> 00:13:51,915 Speaker 1: the Berlin Games, he was really famous. Offers had started 220 00:13:51,915 --> 00:13:54,835 Speaker 1: to come in. Twenty five grand for two weeks with 221 00:13:54,875 --> 00:13:58,595 Speaker 1: an orchestra in California, forty grand for ten weeks of 222 00:13:58,595 --> 00:14:02,275 Speaker 1: shows with the entertainer Eddie Canter. Now that's serious money. 223 00:14:02,435 --> 00:14:06,235 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty six, that was a fortune. He began 224 00:14:06,315 --> 00:14:10,035 Speaker 1: to think about leaving the tour and going home. Could 225 00:14:10,035 --> 00:14:14,715 Speaker 1: be rich, but going professional would be violating Olympic rules 226 00:14:15,315 --> 00:14:18,315 Speaker 1: and missing the rest of the tour would too. He 227 00:14:18,315 --> 00:14:22,115 Speaker 1: could never compete at the Olympics again. Those were the rules, 228 00:14:23,715 --> 00:14:30,515 Speaker 1: rules enforced by Avery Brandage, who took amateurism extremely seriously. 229 00:14:31,555 --> 00:14:35,035 Speaker 1: After the Berlin Games, a reporter asked him about rumors 230 00:14:35,115 --> 00:14:38,195 Speaker 1: that Owens was going to quit the post Olympics tour, and. 231 00:14:38,275 --> 00:14:42,155 Speaker 4: I'd understand the Bandage that the received information that Owen 232 00:14:42,275 --> 00:14:43,995 Speaker 4: will not go to the top. 233 00:14:44,275 --> 00:14:45,595 Speaker 1: Doc Colney will not appear. 234 00:14:45,755 --> 00:14:48,915 Speaker 9: I hope that Owen will be build engagement when one 235 00:14:48,915 --> 00:14:51,075 Speaker 9: of the Pinot boys we've had, and we hope that 236 00:14:51,155 --> 00:14:54,715 Speaker 9: there will be nothing to mar this record. 237 00:14:55,635 --> 00:14:59,035 Speaker 1: These were crocodile tears. By the time he gave that interview, 238 00:14:59,235 --> 00:15:02,075 Speaker 1: Avery Brandage already knew that Jesse Owens had a ticket 239 00:15:02,275 --> 00:15:05,995 Speaker 1: for a steamer back to the United States leaving before 240 00:15:06,035 --> 00:15:06,835 Speaker 1: the end of that tour. 241 00:15:07,555 --> 00:15:10,595 Speaker 10: Well, I just hope that all these up the room mud. 242 00:15:11,275 --> 00:15:15,195 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens was banned for life from amateur sport. The 243 00:15:15,315 --> 00:15:18,555 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six Games would be the last act and 244 00:15:18,595 --> 00:15:21,915 Speaker 1: the pinnacle of his athletic career. He went to the 245 00:15:21,955 --> 00:15:24,995 Speaker 1: press with a rare complaint. I came over to Europe 246 00:15:24,995 --> 00:15:28,435 Speaker 1: with only ten dollars in my pocket. To make matters worse, 247 00:15:28,555 --> 00:15:32,115 Speaker 1: I've lost six pounds being pushed around and circused all 248 00:15:32,155 --> 00:15:34,915 Speaker 1: over Europe. They sent me to Prague from Cologne without 249 00:15:34,915 --> 00:15:36,595 Speaker 1: a cent and I had to run a race in 250 00:15:36,635 --> 00:15:39,395 Speaker 1: Prague without having had an ounce of food for ten hours. 251 00:15:40,235 --> 00:15:43,835 Speaker 1: I am turning professional because I'm busted and know the 252 00:15:43,875 --> 00:15:47,035 Speaker 1: difficulties encountered by any member of my race in getting 253 00:15:47,075 --> 00:15:51,195 Speaker 1: financial security. I want to get some money while I'm 254 00:15:51,195 --> 00:15:54,115 Speaker 1: in the spotlight. He tried to make the most of it. 255 00:15:54,435 --> 00:15:58,315 Speaker 1: He became an entertainer, even tried tap dancing, and along 256 00:15:58,355 --> 00:16:00,755 Speaker 1: the way he was working to keep up with sports too, 257 00:16:01,475 --> 00:16:03,635 Speaker 1: But it was like everything had gone a little sour. 258 00:16:04,035 --> 00:16:06,635 Speaker 1: He was supposed to race against another amateur in Cuba, 259 00:16:06,755 --> 00:16:11,195 Speaker 1: a sprinter, until Avery brundagecaw wind and said he'd banned 260 00:16:11,235 --> 00:16:14,035 Speaker 1: that sprinter from American amateur sport if he went through 261 00:16:14,075 --> 00:16:17,355 Speaker 1: with the race, so they replaced the guy with a 262 00:16:17,395 --> 00:16:18,995 Speaker 1: horse Cuba. 263 00:16:19,435 --> 00:16:23,075 Speaker 3: Jesse Owens, the Ebonistrick of Olympic Games, celebrates turning professional 264 00:16:23,075 --> 00:16:24,355 Speaker 3: by racing against a horse. 265 00:16:24,555 --> 00:16:26,195 Speaker 1: Jesse had a start at forty yards and one. 266 00:16:26,155 --> 00:16:29,435 Speaker 7: Hundred and he won by injes and oh a lot. 267 00:16:33,075 --> 00:16:36,955 Speaker 1: So when Jesse Owens went professional, that essentially was the 268 00:16:37,035 --> 00:16:40,395 Speaker 1: choice he made to spend the rest of his life 269 00:16:40,875 --> 00:16:45,235 Speaker 1: reliving those two weeks. In August nineteen thirty six, he 270 00:16:45,395 --> 00:16:48,555 Speaker 1: was trapped as if he jumped into that broad jump 271 00:16:48,635 --> 00:16:54,355 Speaker 1: pit and sunk to his knees in quicksand which is 272 00:16:54,355 --> 00:16:57,195 Speaker 1: not to say that it wasn't also a good life. 273 00:16:57,315 --> 00:17:00,835 Speaker 1: He had three daughters, He was involved in presidential campaigning. 274 00:17:01,115 --> 00:17:03,235 Speaker 1: He ran a fitness program during the war for the 275 00:17:03,315 --> 00:17:06,875 Speaker 1: US Office of Civilian Defense. He led a big life, 276 00:17:07,675 --> 00:17:10,235 Speaker 1: but in order to do all the other stuff, he 277 00:17:10,275 --> 00:17:12,435 Speaker 1: had to keep the dream of those two weeks alive. 278 00:17:12,995 --> 00:17:15,555 Speaker 1: You can even hear this in that oral history when 279 00:17:15,595 --> 00:17:17,835 Speaker 1: they start on that third tape, Jesse Owens is in 280 00:17:17,875 --> 00:17:20,435 Speaker 1: the middle of talking about his actual life now in 281 00:17:20,475 --> 00:17:23,835 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. He's complaining about some business deal that 282 00:17:23,915 --> 00:17:24,435 Speaker 1: went south. 283 00:17:24,555 --> 00:17:26,235 Speaker 11: Deal for me and I got to sing over to 284 00:17:26,275 --> 00:17:28,395 Speaker 11: the bank and I made a mistake by not having 285 00:17:28,435 --> 00:17:30,275 Speaker 11: two sources, you know. 286 00:17:30,435 --> 00:17:32,755 Speaker 1: So again this was a guy with a life. But 287 00:17:32,915 --> 00:17:36,435 Speaker 1: the interviewer is like, yeah, sure, sure, what about the Olympics? 288 00:17:36,475 --> 00:17:40,675 Speaker 6: Though, what else is new? Jesse, Let's go way back 289 00:17:40,795 --> 00:17:47,715 Speaker 6: now to nineteen thirty six and reminisce about the Olympics. 290 00:17:47,755 --> 00:17:49,955 Speaker 6: I'm sure that you have told this story how many 291 00:17:50,035 --> 00:17:53,075 Speaker 6: hundreds of times to how many papers and magners using 292 00:17:53,115 --> 00:17:58,475 Speaker 6: this person, and this has been broadcast certainly then many times, 293 00:17:58,515 --> 00:18:01,515 Speaker 6: but for the Historical Library would like to have a 294 00:18:01,555 --> 00:18:06,475 Speaker 6: record of the Olympics in your own words, the feeling. 295 00:18:06,195 --> 00:18:10,115 Speaker 1: That you had when you His job was telling the 296 00:18:10,155 --> 00:18:13,675 Speaker 1: story of the Olympics. And once she asks, he gets 297 00:18:13,755 --> 00:18:14,235 Speaker 1: right to it. 298 00:18:14,515 --> 00:18:19,075 Speaker 11: I remember it was in July July the fourth of 299 00:18:19,315 --> 00:18:23,035 Speaker 11: nineteen thirty six when we had the final tryouts for 300 00:18:23,235 --> 00:18:27,235 Speaker 11: the Olympics at Randos Island, and that was the fourth. 301 00:18:27,315 --> 00:18:30,235 Speaker 1: But the thing about telling one story for your entire 302 00:18:30,315 --> 00:18:33,155 Speaker 1: life is that the meaning of that story has to 303 00:18:33,235 --> 00:18:36,155 Speaker 1: keep changing with the times, to stay marketable, to keep 304 00:18:36,235 --> 00:18:39,795 Speaker 1: enough eyes on that glass bowl. And in nineteen fifty one, 305 00:18:40,435 --> 00:18:43,195 Speaker 1: at that halftime speech during the Harlem Globe Trotter's game, 306 00:18:43,835 --> 00:18:50,635 Speaker 1: he discovered its most powerful edition, Loots Long. We'll be 307 00:18:50,755 --> 00:19:02,995 Speaker 1: right back. I guess first, can you tell me about 308 00:19:03,475 --> 00:19:06,435 Speaker 1: that Globe Trotter's game in the Berlin Stadium in nineteen 309 00:19:06,515 --> 00:19:11,755 Speaker 1: fifty one. Sure, I'm talking to Damien L. Thomas, Curator 310 00:19:11,795 --> 00:19:15,355 Speaker 1: of Sports at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American 311 00:19:15,395 --> 00:19:19,035 Speaker 1: History and Culture. He's the author of the book Globe Trotting, 312 00:19:19,395 --> 00:19:22,275 Speaker 1: African American Athletes and Cold War Politics. 313 00:19:23,435 --> 00:19:29,075 Speaker 12: The Harlem Globetrotters were just starting to travel internationally, and 314 00:19:29,115 --> 00:19:32,315 Speaker 12: they had played a game in Frankfurt a couple of 315 00:19:32,395 --> 00:19:36,515 Speaker 12: days before, and one American official had asked them to 316 00:19:36,555 --> 00:19:41,395 Speaker 12: play this game in West Berlin because at the time, 317 00:19:42,075 --> 00:19:45,715 Speaker 12: the Soviets were doing a lot of festivals, a lot 318 00:19:45,715 --> 00:19:50,355 Speaker 12: of exchanges, and they wanted to ensure that the US 319 00:19:50,435 --> 00:19:53,155 Speaker 12: and the West was able to tell their own story. 320 00:19:54,115 --> 00:19:56,595 Speaker 1: In the Cold War, the US and the USSR were 321 00:19:56,595 --> 00:19:58,595 Speaker 1: fighting for the hearts and minds of the rest of 322 00:19:58,635 --> 00:20:03,275 Speaker 1: the world, which led them bizarrely straight to the Harlem Globetrotters. 323 00:20:03,955 --> 00:20:09,035 Speaker 13: The Harlem Globetrotters basketball Wizard's extraordinary their patents planned them 324 00:20:09,075 --> 00:20:11,595 Speaker 13: bring in play sandy capers that made them the most 325 00:20:11,635 --> 00:20:13,795 Speaker 13: popular team in the history of the sport. 326 00:20:14,395 --> 00:20:17,195 Speaker 1: Before the NBA was a big deal, before black people 327 00:20:17,275 --> 00:20:20,875 Speaker 1: played even college basketball and any great numbers, the Heartlem 328 00:20:20,875 --> 00:20:25,395 Speaker 1: Globetrotterers were kind of traveling basketball circus. True to the name, 329 00:20:25,835 --> 00:20:26,475 Speaker 1: they were all. 330 00:20:26,315 --> 00:20:31,035 Speaker 6: Over the place, Harlem Groctore. 331 00:20:31,355 --> 00:20:34,195 Speaker 1: It was a major operation run by one of the 332 00:20:34,195 --> 00:20:37,875 Speaker 1: most infamous and ruthless sports promoters of all time, a 333 00:20:37,875 --> 00:20:39,955 Speaker 1: white guy named Abe Sapperstein. 334 00:20:40,275 --> 00:20:43,515 Speaker 9: I'm gooi twelve, Come on, let's push again. 335 00:20:44,595 --> 00:20:46,755 Speaker 1: You've probably seen footage of them playing a lot of 336 00:20:46,795 --> 00:20:51,875 Speaker 1: fake passes, improbable shots, and goofing around, except they're totally 337 00:20:51,915 --> 00:20:57,555 Speaker 1: incredible at basketball, even in slow motion. They're magical hands 338 00:20:57,595 --> 00:21:02,875 Speaker 1: fool you. I was talking to Damian Thomas though, because 339 00:21:02,915 --> 00:21:06,715 Speaker 1: underneath the goofiness there was something more sinister going on. 340 00:21:07,275 --> 00:21:11,475 Speaker 12: The Harlem Lowe Trotters were also so deeply tied to 341 00:21:11,675 --> 00:21:15,515 Speaker 12: minstro se, which was the dominant form of entertainment in 342 00:21:15,555 --> 00:21:22,595 Speaker 12: America from the eighteen eighties through the nineteen early nineteen fifties. 343 00:21:23,075 --> 00:21:26,675 Speaker 1: The players, almost all black Americans, were often referred to 344 00:21:26,915 --> 00:21:28,715 Speaker 1: as clowns. 345 00:21:28,835 --> 00:21:31,195 Speaker 8: Meet the most colorful comedy acting in present day. Spot 346 00:21:31,515 --> 00:21:34,115 Speaker 8: Purists say they make a mockery of the game. They clown, 347 00:21:34,235 --> 00:21:35,275 Speaker 8: they juggle, they fool. 348 00:21:35,995 --> 00:21:38,635 Speaker 1: But where some people might see a kind of basketball circus, 349 00:21:39,155 --> 00:21:42,195 Speaker 1: the State Department saw the perfect propaganda weapon. 350 00:21:43,235 --> 00:21:47,435 Speaker 12: People often didn't think of sports as having ideological content, 351 00:21:48,155 --> 00:21:53,355 Speaker 12: and so whereas other forms of American culture would be 352 00:21:53,435 --> 00:21:58,595 Speaker 12: resisting sometimes Coca cola, sometimes blue jeans, rock and roll, 353 00:21:58,755 --> 00:22:03,915 Speaker 12: and American movies were shunt people often welcomed basketball because 354 00:22:03,915 --> 00:22:07,635 Speaker 12: they didn't think of it as as had been in 355 00:22:07,715 --> 00:22:12,115 Speaker 12: a propagandistic function. But it did, and it's one of 356 00:22:12,155 --> 00:22:15,515 Speaker 12: the things that made it very important is that people 357 00:22:15,595 --> 00:22:19,595 Speaker 12: didn't see it as containing hidden messages. 358 00:22:21,675 --> 00:22:24,435 Speaker 1: A lot of Soviet propaganda during the Cold War called 359 00:22:24,435 --> 00:22:27,915 Speaker 1: out the lie of American equality. The US might talk 360 00:22:27,955 --> 00:22:31,355 Speaker 1: about all people being equal, but the country was segregated 361 00:22:31,715 --> 00:22:34,355 Speaker 1: and really only white people had a shot at a 362 00:22:34,395 --> 00:22:38,355 Speaker 1: decent quality of life. It was true and a particularly 363 00:22:38,475 --> 00:22:41,795 Speaker 1: useful message for the USSR trying to get African and 364 00:22:41,875 --> 00:22:45,355 Speaker 1: Asian countries to align with them instead of the US. 365 00:22:46,395 --> 00:22:49,715 Speaker 1: So the United States responded with a big hidden message 366 00:22:49,795 --> 00:22:55,115 Speaker 1: about the globetrotters, a message with two parts. First part, hey, 367 00:22:55,155 --> 00:22:58,035 Speaker 1: look we have wealthy black people in this country, and 368 00:22:58,115 --> 00:23:02,315 Speaker 1: the second, much more sinister part, look at these clowns. 369 00:23:02,915 --> 00:23:05,475 Speaker 1: Don't you see why we're segregating them. 370 00:23:05,955 --> 00:23:09,195 Speaker 8: Number fifty is Goose Tato, clown with the longest arms 371 00:23:09,195 --> 00:23:11,915 Speaker 8: in the spot with his seven foot overall reachie rakes 372 00:23:11,995 --> 00:23:14,035 Speaker 8: in seven thousand a year from a team which grows 373 00:23:14,075 --> 00:23:15,075 Speaker 8: a million last season. 374 00:23:15,795 --> 00:23:21,595 Speaker 12: You would see these situations where maybe Goose Tatum, who 375 00:23:21,675 --> 00:23:25,555 Speaker 12: was the lead clown, which lay on the floor and 376 00:23:25,675 --> 00:23:29,675 Speaker 12: read read the newspaper while the game was going on 377 00:23:29,675 --> 00:23:33,435 Speaker 12: on the other end of the floor, designed to stress 378 00:23:33,475 --> 00:23:39,515 Speaker 12: that African Americans were lazy and then we were unresponsible 379 00:23:39,915 --> 00:23:43,515 Speaker 12: or weren't mentally engaged in the game. And so you 380 00:23:43,595 --> 00:23:47,275 Speaker 12: saw all of these various ways where the stereotypes played 381 00:23:47,315 --> 00:23:51,635 Speaker 12: out in some of the comedic routines of the low tribes. 382 00:23:52,635 --> 00:23:57,235 Speaker 12: It allows the State Department to make the argument that 383 00:23:57,355 --> 00:24:01,115 Speaker 12: African Americans don't have full quality, don't have all the 384 00:24:01,235 --> 00:24:08,915 Speaker 12: opportunities that are available to white Americans because they are lazy, 385 00:24:09,395 --> 00:24:15,555 Speaker 12: they're as intelligent, they are not ready to occupy a 386 00:24:15,635 --> 00:24:17,035 Speaker 12: space of full equality. 387 00:24:17,995 --> 00:24:21,835 Speaker 1: The State Department needed black success stories that also made 388 00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:29,515 Speaker 1: segregation look okay. Enter the Globetrotters and Jesse Owens And 389 00:24:29,875 --> 00:24:32,195 Speaker 1: how did Jesse Owens become involved in all this? 390 00:24:32,875 --> 00:24:37,955 Speaker 12: All throughout the nineteen forties, Jesse Owens had traveled sporadically 391 00:24:37,995 --> 00:24:40,515 Speaker 12: with the Harlem Globe Trotters and he would serve a 392 00:24:40,595 --> 00:24:43,795 Speaker 12: variety of functions. He would serve as the press secretary, 393 00:24:44,195 --> 00:24:48,555 Speaker 12: the announcer during the game, and also as halftime entertainment. 394 00:24:49,515 --> 00:24:53,835 Speaker 12: And typically when he performed during halftime, they would set 395 00:24:53,955 --> 00:24:58,675 Speaker 12: up hurdles around the court and Jesse Owens would jump 396 00:24:58,715 --> 00:25:04,715 Speaker 12: over the hurdles around the core as a halftime entertainment spectacle. 397 00:25:05,395 --> 00:25:08,235 Speaker 1: At one of the Globetrotters promoters events, he ran a 398 00:25:08,315 --> 00:25:11,355 Speaker 1: race against another Black Castle fleet on his hands and 399 00:25:11,435 --> 00:25:14,635 Speaker 1: knees even worse than that horse race in Cuba. 400 00:25:14,795 --> 00:25:18,315 Speaker 12: He writes about that, and he writes about how he 401 00:25:18,515 --> 00:25:25,075 Speaker 12: felt humiliated and felt as if he was being treated 402 00:25:25,235 --> 00:25:28,235 Speaker 12: less than. But then he also writes, well, what else 403 00:25:28,435 --> 00:25:29,635 Speaker 12: was I supposed to do? 404 00:25:29,995 --> 00:25:30,235 Speaker 10: Yeah? 405 00:25:30,275 --> 00:25:32,395 Speaker 12: What would other options available? 406 00:25:33,995 --> 00:25:37,515 Speaker 1: And that is how in nineteen fifty one, Jesse Owens 407 00:25:37,675 --> 00:25:40,155 Speaker 1: returned to the Berlin Stadium at the behest of the 408 00:25:40,195 --> 00:25:43,835 Speaker 1: State Department as the Black Superstar, with a story to 409 00:25:43,875 --> 00:25:49,235 Speaker 1: tell about a kind Nazi. Jesse Owens had spent much 410 00:25:49,235 --> 00:25:52,315 Speaker 1: of his life in the Glass Bowl. He knew the rules, 411 00:25:52,835 --> 00:25:56,235 Speaker 1: and so during his second visit to Berlin, he focused 412 00:25:56,235 --> 00:25:58,515 Speaker 1: on the part of his story the Americans and the 413 00:25:58,555 --> 00:26:03,235 Speaker 1: Germans most needed, the part about Lutslang, a good white 414 00:26:03,275 --> 00:26:06,995 Speaker 1: German who'd embraced a black man just the day before 415 00:26:07,035 --> 00:26:10,995 Speaker 1: that Globetrotters game. Owens had finally met Lutslong's widow and 416 00:26:11,035 --> 00:26:14,235 Speaker 1: his son Kai. It seems he told them that untrue 417 00:26:14,275 --> 00:26:17,235 Speaker 1: story about the qualifying round and how Lutzlang had helped 418 00:26:17,275 --> 00:26:21,195 Speaker 1: him keep from fouling out, and maybe he'd seen how 419 00:26:21,275 --> 00:26:24,555 Speaker 1: much the story of Long's kindness had touched Kai too. 420 00:26:24,755 --> 00:26:28,155 Speaker 1: It was another story with two messages, Hey, look, the 421 00:26:28,315 --> 00:26:31,635 Speaker 1: US and Germany can be friends again too, And also 422 00:26:32,755 --> 00:26:36,355 Speaker 1: how bad could segregation be if this black superstar could 423 00:26:36,435 --> 00:26:40,275 Speaker 1: still see the humanity in a white Nazi And it 424 00:26:40,315 --> 00:26:43,995 Speaker 1: was a smash success. Owens stood outside that stadium for 425 00:26:44,115 --> 00:26:48,475 Speaker 1: hours after that game, signing autographs. The US State Department's 426 00:26:48,475 --> 00:26:53,035 Speaker 1: office in Berlin sent home a report. Appearance Harlem Globetrotters 427 00:26:53,075 --> 00:26:56,515 Speaker 1: with Jesse Owens in Olympic Stadium August twenty two even 428 00:26:56,555 --> 00:26:59,435 Speaker 1: more successful than anticipated. 429 00:26:59,395 --> 00:27:03,115 Speaker 12: And this became one of the most requested stories that 430 00:27:03,275 --> 00:27:05,235 Speaker 12: Jesse Wootaeil while the speaker started. 431 00:27:05,875 --> 00:27:09,515 Speaker 1: After that trip to Germany, Owens began to tell increasingly 432 00:27:09,555 --> 00:27:13,835 Speaker 1: a laborate stories about Lutslog. By the nineteen sixties, In public, 433 00:27:14,155 --> 00:27:17,435 Speaker 1: the story had grown to Lutslang helping Owens to qualify. 434 00:27:18,275 --> 00:27:21,955 Speaker 1: Later came the apocryphal letters, but with each version of 435 00:27:21,995 --> 00:27:26,595 Speaker 1: that story, Owens was masterfully navigating the complexities of Cold 436 00:27:26,635 --> 00:27:32,075 Speaker 1: War US racial politics. It's somehow an apology for his 437 00:27:32,115 --> 00:27:34,675 Speaker 1: own excellence, because the premise of the story is that he, 438 00:27:34,755 --> 00:27:37,755 Speaker 1: a person who holds the world record and broad jumping, 439 00:27:37,915 --> 00:27:41,195 Speaker 1: needs to be instructed on how to approach the pit 440 00:27:41,355 --> 00:27:42,715 Speaker 1: by a Nazi. 441 00:27:43,115 --> 00:27:46,795 Speaker 3: No, but actually been it's worse than that, because the 442 00:27:46,835 --> 00:27:53,195 Speaker 3: story itself has its own kind of implied racial bias, 443 00:27:53,635 --> 00:27:57,555 Speaker 3: which is, he's not just being instructed about how to 444 00:27:57,675 --> 00:27:58,595 Speaker 3: conduct the long jump. 445 00:27:58,675 --> 00:28:00,195 Speaker 1: He's lost control of his own emotions. 446 00:28:00,275 --> 00:28:02,835 Speaker 3: Yes, he's being instructed about how to control his emotions. 447 00:28:02,915 --> 00:28:06,635 Speaker 1: Yeah, Actually he's not being told how to control his emotions. 448 00:28:06,675 --> 00:28:09,515 Speaker 1: He's being told how to handle the fact that he 449 00:28:09,515 --> 00:28:14,515 Speaker 1: will continue to be unable to control his emotions. It's 450 00:28:14,515 --> 00:28:17,115 Speaker 1: not like it's not like lou lout Song comes up 451 00:28:17,115 --> 00:28:20,915 Speaker 1: and is like, here's a transcendental meditation that I think 452 00:28:20,955 --> 00:28:22,675 Speaker 1: you could do to really get this under control. 453 00:28:24,075 --> 00:28:27,315 Speaker 3: I mean, the meta story in that story is so 454 00:28:27,635 --> 00:28:31,235 Speaker 3: kind of like weird and distasteful, and Jesse Owens is 455 00:28:31,355 --> 00:28:38,475 Speaker 3: forced to play along with this kind of deeply offensive narrative. 456 00:28:38,595 --> 00:28:41,235 Speaker 1: But that's that's the really sad part though, is he's 457 00:28:41,275 --> 00:28:43,675 Speaker 1: not he's not forced to play along with it, like 458 00:28:43,755 --> 00:28:47,995 Speaker 1: he generates the narrative. Like there's many people that I'm 459 00:28:48,035 --> 00:28:52,075 Speaker 1: suspicious of who play several meaningful white co writers on 460 00:28:52,155 --> 00:28:55,435 Speaker 1: this story. But I really think that Jesse Owens is 461 00:28:55,475 --> 00:28:56,235 Speaker 1: the first mover. 462 00:28:56,275 --> 00:28:59,595 Speaker 3: So he's so internalized these Yeah, well, he knows enough, 463 00:28:59,875 --> 00:29:01,355 Speaker 3: he knows enough about what it means to be a 464 00:29:01,355 --> 00:29:03,595 Speaker 3: black man in nineteen thirty six that he knows that 465 00:29:03,595 --> 00:29:10,195 Speaker 3: that's the story. That's the plausible version of the story. 466 00:29:10,315 --> 00:29:13,475 Speaker 1: We almost always tell the story of Jesse Owens's Gold 467 00:29:13,515 --> 00:29:17,715 Speaker 1: medals as a story of triumph. Actually, Triumph is the 468 00:29:17,715 --> 00:29:20,035 Speaker 1: title of a best selling book about him. It's the 469 00:29:20,115 --> 00:29:23,515 Speaker 1: name of a Jesse Owens History Channel documentary that just 470 00:29:23,595 --> 00:29:27,115 Speaker 1: came out. And I'm not saying that Jesse Owens didn't triumph, 471 00:29:27,515 --> 00:29:30,875 Speaker 1: or that he didn't enjoy the fame or the money. 472 00:29:30,915 --> 00:29:34,875 Speaker 1: But look at what two weeks of triumph cost him 473 00:29:34,915 --> 00:29:38,515 Speaker 1: a life behind glass, playing a version of himself in 474 00:29:38,595 --> 00:29:42,195 Speaker 1: a story of racial reconciliation that he must have on 475 00:29:42,275 --> 00:29:45,715 Speaker 1: some level known was just not true. And it was 476 00:29:45,755 --> 00:29:49,795 Speaker 1: a story that worked like magic until all of a 477 00:29:49,795 --> 00:30:10,395 Speaker 1: sudden it didn't. We'll be right back. Jesse had been 478 00:30:10,435 --> 00:30:13,395 Speaker 1: telling one version or another of the Lutslog story for 479 00:30:13,475 --> 00:30:16,915 Speaker 1: nearly twenty years when it finally went mainstream in nineteen 480 00:30:17,035 --> 00:30:21,195 Speaker 1: sixty eight. That was the year Jesse Owens Returns to 481 00:30:21,235 --> 00:30:24,875 Speaker 1: Berlin came out. The film by the legendary Olympic documentary 482 00:30:24,955 --> 00:30:28,515 Speaker 1: and Bud Greenspan. It builds up to that globetrotter's trip 483 00:30:28,555 --> 00:30:31,555 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one, the jog around the track, the 484 00:30:31,595 --> 00:30:36,435 Speaker 1: standing ovation, but the heart of the piece is Lutslang's son, Kai, 485 00:30:37,155 --> 00:30:37,355 Speaker 1: I have. 486 00:30:37,435 --> 00:30:39,875 Speaker 14: Very often seen pictures from you and the photographs of 487 00:30:39,915 --> 00:30:42,675 Speaker 14: my father. Please tell me about this competition here in 488 00:30:42,715 --> 00:30:47,515 Speaker 14: the stadium, because I've my father only seen for three times. 489 00:30:47,675 --> 00:30:49,635 Speaker 14: I was born nineteen forty one and my father has 490 00:30:49,675 --> 00:30:50,715 Speaker 14: died in ninety forty three. 491 00:30:51,435 --> 00:30:53,755 Speaker 1: Remember, Kai was still a kid when his dad died. 492 00:30:54,155 --> 00:30:57,515 Speaker 1: He didn't know his father, and in the film, Jesse 493 00:30:57,555 --> 00:31:00,515 Speaker 1: Owens tells him a story about how his dad helped 494 00:31:00,515 --> 00:31:02,675 Speaker 1: Owens qualify for the broad jump. 495 00:31:03,275 --> 00:31:05,155 Speaker 9: Ki, you probably don't know it, but your father was 496 00:31:05,195 --> 00:31:08,035 Speaker 9: greatly responsible for my winning the broad jump in nineteen 497 00:31:08,115 --> 00:31:10,675 Speaker 9: thirty six. It all happened on the other side of 498 00:31:10,675 --> 00:31:12,715 Speaker 9: the field here, but we had the premonaries for the 499 00:31:12,795 --> 00:31:16,275 Speaker 9: running broad jump, and on the first two jumps, I 500 00:31:16,315 --> 00:31:18,315 Speaker 9: followed on one and didn't go far enough on the 501 00:31:18,355 --> 00:31:21,835 Speaker 9: other and your father came to my assistance and he 502 00:31:21,835 --> 00:31:24,355 Speaker 9: helped me measure a footback of the takeoff board, and 503 00:31:24,395 --> 00:31:26,835 Speaker 9: he helped the tape until I measured a foot back 504 00:31:26,915 --> 00:31:29,635 Speaker 9: as far as my takeoff was concerned. And then I 505 00:31:29,715 --> 00:31:32,315 Speaker 9: came down and I hit between these two marks, and 506 00:31:32,395 --> 00:31:35,155 Speaker 9: therefore I qualified, and that led to the victory in 507 00:31:35,195 --> 00:31:36,115 Speaker 9: the running broad jump. 508 00:31:36,955 --> 00:31:39,355 Speaker 1: He seemed to say, sure, your dad would go on 509 00:31:39,475 --> 00:31:42,635 Speaker 1: to fight with the Nazis, but he was a good man. 510 00:31:43,515 --> 00:31:46,355 Speaker 1: Kai asked Owens if he'd like to recreate the famous 511 00:31:46,435 --> 00:31:50,275 Speaker 1: photograph of his father. They laid down in the grass together. 512 00:31:53,475 --> 00:31:57,555 Speaker 1: The film was a huge, huge hit, the first time 513 00:31:57,715 --> 00:32:01,355 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens really got his Olympic glory back. The nineteen 514 00:32:01,435 --> 00:32:04,715 Speaker 1: thirty six games were before people had televisions in their homes, 515 00:32:05,075 --> 00:32:08,275 Speaker 1: so Americans hadn't really seen the footage of the games 516 00:32:08,315 --> 00:32:12,795 Speaker 1: before that movie hadn't seen just how incredible Jesse Owens's 517 00:32:12,835 --> 00:32:16,075 Speaker 1: Olympic achievement was. I haven't watched a lot of track 518 00:32:16,115 --> 00:32:18,915 Speaker 1: and field, but it still takes my breath away. The 519 00:32:18,955 --> 00:32:22,355 Speaker 1: long jump, especially, it just looks like he's running on air, 520 00:32:22,955 --> 00:32:25,355 Speaker 1: and as he leaps, he raises his hand above his 521 00:32:25,355 --> 00:32:27,595 Speaker 1: head and he just soars. 522 00:32:28,915 --> 00:32:32,315 Speaker 9: It was at Olympic record one to sixty five and 523 00:32:32,395 --> 00:32:35,195 Speaker 9: one third inches. The first one to greet name was 524 00:32:35,235 --> 00:32:38,995 Speaker 9: looks Long, an athlete of special carriage. He put his 525 00:32:39,155 --> 00:32:41,915 Speaker 9: arms around him and we walked down the broad jump 526 00:32:41,995 --> 00:32:44,355 Speaker 9: runway directly in front of Chapley Hitler's box. 527 00:32:46,835 --> 00:32:50,955 Speaker 1: The Bud Greenspan documentary meant that Jesse Owens finally had 528 00:32:50,995 --> 00:32:55,675 Speaker 1: it all again, his fame, his financial security, and his 529 00:32:55,715 --> 00:32:58,995 Speaker 1: Olympic glory back, and all that had come just in 530 00:32:59,075 --> 00:33:03,595 Speaker 1: time for another Olympic Games, Mexico City, nineteen sixty eight. 531 00:33:04,315 --> 00:33:07,715 Speaker 1: By that point, Avery Brendage had become the first American 532 00:33:07,755 --> 00:33:12,395 Speaker 1: President of the International Olympic Committee, and decades after suspending 533 00:33:12,475 --> 00:33:15,595 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens, Olympic leaders had seen the power of the 534 00:33:15,635 --> 00:33:18,515 Speaker 1: Owens story and welcomed him back to the Olympic movement 535 00:33:18,555 --> 00:33:21,915 Speaker 1: as a kind of figurehead. In Mexico, Jesse Owens was 536 00:33:21,955 --> 00:33:24,395 Speaker 1: a guest of the government, an adjunct of the US 537 00:33:24,435 --> 00:33:28,955 Speaker 1: Olympic Committee, and a radio commentator. But once again, the 538 00:33:29,035 --> 00:33:33,275 Speaker 1: Games were about something more than sports. That year, it 539 00:33:33,395 --> 00:33:36,155 Speaker 1: was the summer of nineteen sixty eight, the height of 540 00:33:36,195 --> 00:33:39,275 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement, and like in nineteen thirty six, 541 00:33:39,635 --> 00:33:42,795 Speaker 1: there was talk of black American athletes protesting the games, 542 00:33:43,355 --> 00:33:48,515 Speaker 1: specifically the track athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos. Everyone 543 00:33:48,595 --> 00:33:52,355 Speaker 1: was on eggshells. One day during the Games, Jesse Owens 544 00:33:52,475 --> 00:33:55,635 Speaker 1: was walking through the Olympic village when he ran into Carlos. 545 00:33:56,515 --> 00:34:00,075 Speaker 1: I know this because Owens's radio co host Les Kider 546 00:34:00,155 --> 00:34:02,715 Speaker 1: was with him, and later he wrote about it in 547 00:34:02,755 --> 00:34:06,955 Speaker 1: his memoirs. Carlos apparently confided in Owens that he was 548 00:34:06,995 --> 00:34:10,155 Speaker 1: planning some kind of protest the next day. Owen got 549 00:34:10,195 --> 00:34:13,555 Speaker 1: anxious and told him not to do anything public, and 550 00:34:13,595 --> 00:34:17,235 Speaker 1: then apparently Carlos got frustrated and in the middle of 551 00:34:17,275 --> 00:34:20,275 Speaker 1: the Olympic village he pointed a finger at Jesse Owens 552 00:34:20,315 --> 00:34:26,435 Speaker 1: and yelled, you goddamn uncle. Tom Owens was stunned. The 553 00:34:26,475 --> 00:34:29,875 Speaker 1: next day, John Carlos won bronze in the two hundred 554 00:34:29,955 --> 00:34:33,755 Speaker 1: meter sprint and Tommy Smith won the gold. Owens was 555 00:34:33,795 --> 00:34:37,115 Speaker 1: in the radio booth high above the field watching. According 556 00:34:37,155 --> 00:34:40,835 Speaker 1: to that radio co host Les Kider, Owens said, boy, 557 00:34:41,035 --> 00:34:43,715 Speaker 1: I hope nothing happens when they play the national anthem. 558 00:34:44,275 --> 00:34:48,755 Speaker 1: They might refuse to accept the awards instead, something much 559 00:34:48,875 --> 00:34:53,035 Speaker 1: more dramatic happened. They accepted their medals, but then they 560 00:34:53,035 --> 00:34:57,755 Speaker 1: took the podium shoeless and raised glovefists in a black 561 00:34:57,835 --> 00:35:01,515 Speaker 1: power salute. The image was broadcast across the world. 562 00:35:02,795 --> 00:35:05,995 Speaker 13: Yesterday, they came in first and third in the two 563 00:35:06,115 --> 00:35:09,395 Speaker 13: hundred meter dash and then stood on the victory platform 564 00:35:09,475 --> 00:35:14,035 Speaker 13: with wildheads wearing black socks and gloves and a racial protest. 565 00:35:15,995 --> 00:35:18,955 Speaker 1: Kider said that when Jesse Owens learned what Smith and 566 00:35:18,995 --> 00:35:23,675 Speaker 1: Carlos had done, he sat there and repeated three words 567 00:35:23,675 --> 00:35:27,915 Speaker 1: to himself, Oh my god. 568 00:35:28,475 --> 00:35:34,835 Speaker 12: They were also breaking a very important unwritten rule in America, 569 00:35:35,475 --> 00:35:40,155 Speaker 12: which is you don't criticize the United States in foreign land. 570 00:35:40,755 --> 00:35:43,675 Speaker 12: And so Jesse Owens was aware of that rule in 571 00:35:43,715 --> 00:35:46,715 Speaker 12: the thirties and in the forties, and he was certainly 572 00:35:46,715 --> 00:35:49,075 Speaker 12: someone who abided by that. 573 00:35:49,075 --> 00:35:52,115 Speaker 1: That's Damian Thomas again, Smithsonian Sports Curator. 574 00:35:52,675 --> 00:35:58,875 Speaker 12: Jesse Owens is from an era where it was important 575 00:35:58,915 --> 00:36:02,115 Speaker 12: for you to be a credit to your race. And 576 00:36:02,195 --> 00:36:08,515 Speaker 12: so the way in which you advanced African American opportunity 577 00:36:08,835 --> 00:36:14,795 Speaker 12: access was through good behavior. It was through embodying these 578 00:36:14,955 --> 00:36:22,995 Speaker 12: middle class values chastity thrift tempoints. But by nineteen sixty eight. 579 00:36:23,635 --> 00:36:26,915 Speaker 12: African Americans are half of the players in the NBA, 580 00:36:27,515 --> 00:36:31,635 Speaker 12: a third in the NFL, and a quarter in Major 581 00:36:31,715 --> 00:36:36,555 Speaker 12: League Baseball, and so the mere presence of African American 582 00:36:36,675 --> 00:36:41,275 Speaker 12: athletes is no longer seen as progressive in and of itself. 583 00:36:42,235 --> 00:36:46,995 Speaker 12: It's seen as now the status quote thirty years after 584 00:36:47,755 --> 00:36:53,595 Speaker 12: Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens won gold and so athletes in 585 00:36:53,675 --> 00:36:59,195 Speaker 12: the nineteen sixties are now saying that the country needs 586 00:36:59,235 --> 00:37:02,795 Speaker 12: to do more, that you need to be more engaged 587 00:37:02,835 --> 00:37:09,075 Speaker 12: with solving racial problems and racial issues, and so athletes 588 00:37:09,115 --> 00:37:13,995 Speaker 12: by nineteen sixty eight are willing to confront America. And 589 00:37:14,035 --> 00:37:18,955 Speaker 12: they're willing to confront America before a worldwide audience. 590 00:37:22,275 --> 00:37:25,755 Speaker 1: Avery Brandage was apoplectic, and in one of the most 591 00:37:25,795 --> 00:37:30,555 Speaker 1: deeply cynical twists of fate, Brandage and the International Olympic 592 00:37:30,595 --> 00:37:34,595 Speaker 1: Committee asked Jesse Owens, whom they'd previously banned for life, 593 00:37:34,995 --> 00:37:38,315 Speaker 1: to go see Tommy Smith and John Carlos to ask 594 00:37:38,355 --> 00:37:42,595 Speaker 1: them to apologize and promise not to protest again. And 595 00:37:42,635 --> 00:37:46,355 Speaker 1: he did. He was received the way you might expect. 596 00:37:47,195 --> 00:37:51,755 Speaker 1: They would not be apologizing. Tommy Smith and John Carlos 597 00:37:52,035 --> 00:37:54,795 Speaker 1: were kicked out of the Olympic village and banned from 598 00:37:54,835 --> 00:37:58,755 Speaker 1: future games. They had faced a conundrum a lot like 599 00:37:58,875 --> 00:38:02,435 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens had thirty two years earlier, but they made 600 00:38:02,435 --> 00:38:06,795 Speaker 1: the opposite choice. Jesse Owens must have felt as if 601 00:38:06,795 --> 00:38:10,235 Speaker 1: his whole life was on trial. I mean, just listened 602 00:38:10,235 --> 00:38:11,075 Speaker 1: to Tommy Smith. 603 00:38:11,915 --> 00:38:15,075 Speaker 15: Had I been a good boy in Mexico, I could 604 00:38:15,115 --> 00:38:18,795 Speaker 15: have probably been a monetarily richer, and I would probably 605 00:38:18,795 --> 00:38:20,675 Speaker 15: have been a bigger figure that I am right now. 606 00:38:21,195 --> 00:38:23,315 Speaker 15: Well yet, and still I would have to fight myself 607 00:38:23,315 --> 00:38:24,115 Speaker 15: from the inside. 608 00:38:24,835 --> 00:38:28,355 Speaker 1: The day after their protests, on air, Owens's radio co 609 00:38:28,475 --> 00:38:31,635 Speaker 1: host asked him to compare the Black Power Salute with 610 00:38:31,715 --> 00:38:35,635 Speaker 1: being snubbed by Adolf Hitler in nineteen thirty six, another 611 00:38:35,715 --> 00:38:40,235 Speaker 1: story about something that had never happened. Owens was taken aback. 612 00:38:40,795 --> 00:38:42,675 Speaker 1: He just spent the whole night trying to get the 613 00:38:42,715 --> 00:38:47,195 Speaker 1: athletes to apologize. He paused for a second and said 614 00:38:47,355 --> 00:38:50,555 Speaker 1: the two are not similar, but I guess I was 615 00:38:50,595 --> 00:38:54,395 Speaker 1: the only one involved in both. And then he talked 616 00:38:54,395 --> 00:39:00,235 Speaker 1: about the night before, and he began to weep. It 617 00:39:00,315 --> 00:39:04,515 Speaker 1: all hit Owens extremely hard, so hard that he wrote 618 00:39:04,515 --> 00:39:07,915 Speaker 1: a book length response to the Black Power movement. He 619 00:39:08,035 --> 00:39:11,395 Speaker 1: titled it Black think one of a series of books 620 00:39:11,555 --> 00:39:13,235 Speaker 1: he wrote at the end of his life with a 621 00:39:13,235 --> 00:39:18,155 Speaker 1: white co author, and here we find ourselves again at 622 00:39:18,195 --> 00:39:21,675 Speaker 1: louts Long. That book came out just two years after 623 00:39:21,715 --> 00:39:24,715 Speaker 1: the Mexico City Games, but it's almost written like he's 624 00:39:24,755 --> 00:39:28,235 Speaker 1: still there. There's a kind of urgency to it. It's 625 00:39:28,275 --> 00:39:30,635 Speaker 1: like what he wishes he'd said in that conversation with 626 00:39:30,755 --> 00:39:33,715 Speaker 1: John Carlos and Tommy Smith, And what did he wish 627 00:39:33,795 --> 00:39:39,435 Speaker 1: he'd told them a story about a good German loots Long, 628 00:39:40,515 --> 00:39:44,275 Speaker 1: about how his friendship across racial lines was even bigger 629 00:39:44,315 --> 00:39:47,435 Speaker 1: and even more improbable than anyone ever could have imagined. 630 00:39:48,555 --> 00:39:53,755 Speaker 1: At blacks climactic moment, Jesse Owens wrote, don't pass up 631 00:39:53,795 --> 00:39:57,795 Speaker 1: your Olympics and euroluts Long, don't let the Black thinkers 632 00:39:57,835 --> 00:40:03,035 Speaker 1: sell you out. The significance of that brief interaction just 633 00:40:03,155 --> 00:40:07,915 Speaker 1: kept growing in Jesse Owens's life story until two years 634 00:40:07,955 --> 00:40:12,315 Speaker 1: before he died in nineteen seventy eight. With that co author, 635 00:40:12,835 --> 00:40:17,755 Speaker 1: Jesse Owens published a book called Jesse a Spiritual Autobiography. 636 00:40:18,395 --> 00:40:21,155 Speaker 1: This is the one with the letter Lutslong supposedly sent 637 00:40:21,275 --> 00:40:23,675 Speaker 1: right before he died in the deserts of North Africa 638 00:40:24,475 --> 00:40:27,675 Speaker 1: a place in truth he never fought. It's kind of 639 00:40:27,675 --> 00:40:31,075 Speaker 1: a beautiful letter, though, even knowing it's not true. I 640 00:40:31,195 --> 00:40:34,315 Speaker 1: still get choked up when I read it. But it's 641 00:40:34,355 --> 00:40:39,435 Speaker 1: the dedication on spiritual autobiography that really gets me. Owens 642 00:40:39,435 --> 00:40:44,715 Speaker 1: dedicates the book to two unmatchable teammates, my wife of 643 00:40:44,755 --> 00:40:49,795 Speaker 1: almost fifty years, Ruth, and the Nazi who fought Hitler 644 00:40:49,835 --> 00:41:02,555 Speaker 1: with me Loots long, Tom, can you hear me? 645 00:41:02,595 --> 00:41:05,715 Speaker 10: Okay? I can, Yes, Okay, fantastic. 646 00:41:06,955 --> 00:41:11,195 Speaker 1: I had one last question, how did Jesse Owens feel 647 00:41:11,235 --> 00:41:14,555 Speaker 1: about making this story up? Did he ever talk about 648 00:41:14,555 --> 00:41:18,195 Speaker 1: it with anyone? So I called Tom Ecker, once a 649 00:41:18,195 --> 00:41:20,955 Speaker 1: great track and field coach. He trained Sweden for the 650 00:41:21,035 --> 00:41:24,635 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight Games. He's something of an Olympic historian. 651 00:41:25,115 --> 00:41:27,755 Speaker 1: He's eighty nine now. He was born the year before 652 00:41:27,795 --> 00:41:29,595 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirty six Games. 653 00:41:29,835 --> 00:41:33,155 Speaker 10: I met with Jesse Owens a few times, and then 654 00:41:33,195 --> 00:41:37,155 Speaker 10: I brought into Cedar Rapids where I live, and he 655 00:41:37,275 --> 00:41:39,235 Speaker 10: came here and spoke to a group. 656 00:41:39,435 --> 00:41:40,475 Speaker 6: And he slept in your. 657 00:41:40,395 --> 00:41:44,315 Speaker 10: Daughter's bed, Tom's wife, Carol, Yeah, he slept and he 658 00:41:44,435 --> 00:41:48,075 Speaker 10: slept at our house. Wow, So you guys actually had 659 00:41:48,075 --> 00:41:51,715 Speaker 10: a good relationship. Yeah, we got along, really do well. 660 00:41:51,915 --> 00:41:55,475 Speaker 10: He told a lot of the same stories that I 661 00:41:55,635 --> 00:41:56,275 Speaker 10: love to hear. 662 00:41:57,275 --> 00:42:00,235 Speaker 1: One of those stories, of course, was the Lutslong broad jump. 663 00:42:01,035 --> 00:42:04,115 Speaker 1: Tom had heard the story before, but it didn't quite 664 00:42:04,115 --> 00:42:07,115 Speaker 1: add up. He'd never seen any official account of an 665 00:42:07,155 --> 00:42:10,875 Speaker 1: interaction between Owens and Long during that qualifying round. He 666 00:42:10,955 --> 00:42:13,875 Speaker 1: knew the famous sports writer Grant land Rice had been 667 00:42:13,915 --> 00:42:17,035 Speaker 1: watching the event through his binoculars, and in a detailed 668 00:42:17,075 --> 00:42:21,275 Speaker 1: account of that day, Rice described how calm Jesse Owens 669 00:42:21,275 --> 00:42:24,795 Speaker 1: looked when he made that final jump. He didn't say 670 00:42:24,835 --> 00:42:30,555 Speaker 1: anything about Lutsloan. Decades later, in Cedar Rapids, Tom says 671 00:42:30,555 --> 00:42:33,235 Speaker 1: he asked Jesse Owens about the jump himself. 672 00:42:35,235 --> 00:42:39,115 Speaker 10: Oh, yes, yeah, I talked to We talked about Lutslan 673 00:42:39,355 --> 00:42:43,075 Speaker 10: and the fact that that most of that was made up, 674 00:42:44,075 --> 00:42:49,915 Speaker 10: he admitted through. Oh yeah, why did he make it up? Oh? 675 00:42:50,035 --> 00:42:56,195 Speaker 10: He well, he he He wanted he wanted to tell 676 00:42:56,275 --> 00:43:00,075 Speaker 10: good stories. He told me that that he wanted to 677 00:43:00,275 --> 00:43:03,395 Speaker 10: just be able to tell good stories, and that that 678 00:43:03,555 --> 00:43:08,355 Speaker 10: was a good story. We all know what's true. 679 00:43:09,835 --> 00:43:12,755 Speaker 1: I'm left with this image of Jesse Owens falling asleep 680 00:43:12,875 --> 00:43:15,715 Speaker 1: in a little girl's bed, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 681 00:43:15,755 --> 00:43:18,355 Speaker 1: he's once again been called to tell his great story. 682 00:43:19,235 --> 00:43:22,795 Speaker 1: And what dream could visit him then that one day 683 00:43:23,195 --> 00:43:26,675 Speaker 1: he woke up alone in a strange land and stepped 684 00:43:26,675 --> 00:43:29,515 Speaker 1: out onto a great field in a big glass bowl 685 00:43:30,075 --> 00:43:33,515 Speaker 1: to fight for a country that didn't want him, against 686 00:43:33,555 --> 00:43:37,435 Speaker 1: the people who were most supposed to hate him, and 687 00:43:37,475 --> 00:43:40,995 Speaker 1: then all of a sudden one of them reached out 688 00:43:41,715 --> 00:43:47,515 Speaker 1: and touched him. Under the circumstances, who's telling the truth? 689 00:43:48,795 --> 00:43:50,755 Speaker 9: We posed as his father and I did on the 690 00:43:50,795 --> 00:43:53,715 Speaker 9: grass of the stadium, and though it may seem a 691 00:43:53,755 --> 00:43:57,355 Speaker 9: little childish, doing it brought back memories of a warm 692 00:43:57,435 --> 00:44:01,155 Speaker 9: interlude in my life when a fellow athletes showed a 693 00:44:01,195 --> 00:44:04,715 Speaker 9: special grace and a special courtesy when I needed help. 694 00:44:05,875 --> 00:44:09,155 Speaker 9: I've experienced many moments of the sun, but perhaps the 695 00:44:09,195 --> 00:44:12,275 Speaker 9: most rewarn was to have Let's long beside me On 696 00:44:12,435 --> 00:44:13,235 Speaker 9: the Winners Platform. 697 00:44:20,595 --> 00:44:25,075 Speaker 1: Revisionist History is produced by me Ben Mattaphaffrey, Kalli Emlyn, 698 00:44:25,315 --> 00:44:29,555 Speaker 1: and Nina Bird Lawrence. Our editor is Sarah Nix. Fact 699 00:44:29,635 --> 00:44:33,635 Speaker 1: checking on this episode by J. L. Goldfeind. Original scoring 700 00:44:33,835 --> 00:44:38,795 Speaker 1: by Luis Gara, mastering by Jake Gorsky, Engineering by Nina 701 00:44:38,835 --> 00:44:44,355 Speaker 1: Bird Lawrence. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Special thanks 702 00:44:44,555 --> 00:44:48,715 Speaker 1: to Karen Chakherji, Wendy Martin, J. D. Landis, and Lee 703 00:44:48,835 --> 00:45:05,275 Speaker 1: Haffrey for translation help. I'm Ben Mattaphaffrey. For more from 704 00:45:05,315 --> 00:45:08,235 Speaker 1: our nine part series on Hitler's Olympics, head over to 705 00:45:08,275 --> 00:45:10,635 Speaker 1: Revisionist History. Thanks for listening.