1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is the 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: story of one of music histories giants, an artists so 3 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: big and so influential that the word icon doesn't do 4 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: the man justice. It's a story about a trumpet player, 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: an accidental jazz innovator, and reluctant jazz ambassador. It's a 6 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: story about a drug bust, a pissed off president, racist 7 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: Southern lawmakers, a CIA coup. And it's a story about gangsters, 8 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: lots and lots of gangsters. Because this is a story 9 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: about the great jazz man Louis Armstrong, which of course 10 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: means it's a story about great music. Unlike that music. 11 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: I played a few at the top of the show 12 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: that wasn't great music. That was a preset loop from 13 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: my melotron called roll Them if you Got Them MK one. 14 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 15 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: rights to Tammy by Debbie Reynolds. And why would I 16 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of Princess Leah's Mom's cheese? 17 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one 18 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: song in America on September seventeenth, nineteen fifty seven, and 19 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: that was the day that Louis Armstrong gave an interview 20 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: that instantly changed how the public thought of him. It 21 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: may have been the catalyst for the President of the 22 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: United States to suddenly become involved in the civil rights movement. 23 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: On this episode, a drug bust, racist politicians, a CIA coup, 24 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 1: stone cold gangsters, and one of the greatest to ever 25 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: do it, Louis Armstrong. 26 00:01:48,800 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. 27 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: There are two ways to say Louis Armstrong's name. The 28 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: first way is how I've just said it, Louis. The 29 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: second way is Louie. Watch any footage then or now 30 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: as someone talking about Louis Armstrong or Louis Armstrong, and 31 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,239 Speaker 1: you'll hear different people say it different ways. And even 32 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixty nine Barbara streisand musical Hello Dolly, 33 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: in which he made a memorable cameo as a bandleader, 34 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: he introduces himself as Lewis. But still I'm gonna call 35 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: him Louis, just because that's what I've always done, and 36 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: I tried doing it the other way, and frankly it 37 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: just sounds weird. So here we go. Anyhow, I bring 38 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: this up because just like there are two ways to 39 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: say Louis Armstrong. There are two ways to see Louis Armstrong. 40 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: In fact, there are two Louis Armstrong's. Let me explain 41 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: the first one you're familiar with. That's the larger than 42 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: life icon you call Satchmo or Pops. The lifelong ambassador 43 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: of jazz, the American art form, born right there in 44 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: his hometown, New Orleans, an art form that in many 45 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: ways he invented, or at least was its most important 46 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 1: early innovator. He was the giant on whose shoulders every 47 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: jazz great to come in the twentieth century stood impossible 48 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: high seas on the trumpet, that gravelly scat singing voice. 49 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: What a wonderful world and all that. This is the 50 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: same guy who as the years went by and the 51 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: culture shifted and so called traditional jazz took a back 52 00:03:56,360 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: seat to bebop, modal jazz and hard bop with new 53 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: strains of the art form, he helped shape now soundtracking 54 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement. He stayed the same in the 55 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: minds of jazz cats such as Dizzy Gillespie. Louis became 56 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: an artifact of the past, still catering to the white 57 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: man at a moment when a famous black musician should 58 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: be using his platform not to cater but to dissent. 59 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: I don't get involved in politics, Louis Armstrong once said, 60 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: I just blow my horn. What Dizzey Gillespie didn't know 61 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: at the time, though we'd learned much later, was that 62 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,599 Speaker 1: I just blow my horn was Louis Armstrong's code for 63 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: I survive. Louis was taught early on how to survive 64 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 1: as a black man in a white man's world. He 65 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: did this by heeding the advice of his mentors, including 66 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: Joe Oliver aka King Oliver, the famous band leader, who 67 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: told Louis, you're crying in your horn, all right, but 68 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: it's the audience that should cry, not you. You have 69 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: to learn to never wear the trouble in your face. 70 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,680 Speaker 1: So Louis hid that trouble in his horn, which was 71 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: exactly what he was doing on a particular night in 72 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:13,480 Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, the year he seriously leveled up, going 73 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,200 Speaker 1: from getting paid to respectable three hundred and fifty dollars 74 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:20,039 Speaker 1: a night to commanding a staggering twenty five hundred dollars 75 00:05:20,120 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: every show. That's like thirty five grand in today's dollars. 76 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 3: By the way. 77 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 1: Tonight, Louis found himself in a familiar spot outside the 78 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: club in between sets, puffing on a joint, getting high 79 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: as hell actually, and also getting paranoid, worried that a 80 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: couple of cops would step out of the shadows to 81 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: pinch him for communing with one of his greatest loves, marijuana. 82 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: This is where the other Louis Armstrong comes in, the 83 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: real Louis Armstrong, the one from the real part of 84 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: New Orleans, the back of town James Ally, not Storyville, 85 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: the red light district where black men weren't allowed to 86 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: pay for sex, but Black Storyville, the city's other red 87 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: light district, some three blocks away, where sex workers weren't 88 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 1: prostitutes as they were known in the white establishments, but horrors, 89 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: a small distinction in descriptors that functioned solely to degrade 90 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: the black citizens of New Orleans even more than they 91 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: already were by segregation and discrimination. It was in this 92 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 1: environment of systemic racism, sex, and violence that Louis Armstrong 93 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: came of age, including the years he spent in an orphanage, 94 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,000 Speaker 1: a fortuitous turn of events that found him joining their 95 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: brass band, where his self taught god given skills quickly 96 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: rocketed him to Cornett Player first chair. Now, as an adult, 97 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: he continued to navigate not just a racist city, but 98 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: a racist world. And a little Reefer went a long way, 99 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,599 Speaker 1: not just in how it made Louis feel, or how 100 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: it made the music sound, all those horns winding themselves 101 00:06:57,839 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: around each other in harmonious ecstasy, but and this is 102 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: in Louis's own words, it made you quote forget all 103 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: the bad things that happened to a negro unquote. Louis 104 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: had his fair share of bad things to forget, and 105 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: he hoped that tonight he wouldn't add another one of 106 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 1: the lists. As he choked on the joint, his manager, 107 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: Joe Glazer told Louis he had nothing to worry about. Then, 108 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: an arrangement had been made with the federal agents who'd 109 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: been following Louis arm Strong's trail of skunky marijuana smoke. 110 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: Joe Glazer had done this by setting up his other 111 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: famous client, Billy Holiday, who was at this very moment 112 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: being booked for possession. Didn't matter that Billy wasn't in 113 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: her hotel room when agents searched it and found the dope. 114 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: I mean, yes, it did matter that she wasn't there, 115 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: because legally there was nothing tying her to the drugs, 116 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,240 Speaker 1: and even the shittiest of public defenders could have fought 117 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: and beat the charge easily. But it didn't matter because 118 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: Joe Glazer, Billy Holiday, and Louis Armstrong's manager had advised 119 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: Billy to not lawyer up and instead to plead guilty. 120 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: One hand washed the other. Joe gave Billy to the Feds, 121 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 1: and in return, the Feds laid off Satchmo, who no 122 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: offense to Billie. Holiday was the golden goose for Joe Glazer, 123 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: it was just business. For Louis Armstrong, it was survival. 124 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: Louis watched Billy take the fall, and he couldn't help 125 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: but think back to a time when he found himself 126 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: in a similar situation. It was seventeen years prior, in 127 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, not in Chicago, where he'd been making his 128 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: home and his name, but instead in Culver City, California, 129 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 1: where he was on tour with his band. This was 130 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: long before Joe Glazer entered the picture. Louis was standing 131 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: outside the Cotton Club, passing a joint back and forth 132 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: with his white drummer weed, or gage, as Louis called 133 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: it was not yet illegal in the United States, but 134 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,319 Speaker 1: it had been illegal for years in the state of California, 135 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: and the two detectives who suddenly came out of nowhere 136 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: made this abundantly clear. They charged Louis with a felony 137 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: punishable by up to six years behind bars. But Louis 138 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: didn't wind up like Billy Holliday, who had her cabaret 139 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: card revoked and could no longer find steady work. For 140 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 1: this offense, Louis had nothing taken away and only served 141 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: nine days, after which he was free to go to 142 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: keep making that money and to keep blowing his horn. 143 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,199 Speaker 1: And it's all because the two men who simply made 144 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 1: their presence and their considerable influence know At Louis's trial, 145 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: the Cotton Club's band leader, Abe Lyman, showed up with 146 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: his brother and sat in the gallery. The judge looked 147 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: out at the small crowd and locked eyes with the 148 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: two men. He knew what they said about the Limans, 149 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: that they were bootleggers, that they were cozy with Culver 150 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: City politicians, and that they were even cozier with gangsters. 151 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: The judge was a sworn man of the law. But 152 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,839 Speaker 1: even lawmen knew to tread carefully around the mob. So 153 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong got that cush sentence and made his way 154 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: back to Chicago. Because a couple of supposed wise guys 155 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: put the pressure on just by showing up. The words 156 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: of King Oliver came back to him. Now, never wear 157 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: the trouble in your face, which is what Louis did, 158 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: completely unaware that this very moment was the true beginning 159 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 1: of his private life. Of the other Louis Armstrong, the 160 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: one the American public was just getting to know and love, 161 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: the same Louis Armstrong who was about to fall into 162 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:58,559 Speaker 1: the arms of organized crime. Chicago, nineteen thirty one. Louis 163 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: Armstrong sat backstaye at the show Boat Club, sweating from 164 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: the Knight's feverish set hot music. They called it so 165 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: hot that his heart was still pounding, his ears still ringing. 166 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: He stripped down to his T shirt with a handkerchief 167 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: wrapped around his head. He was just another horn player, 168 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:20,760 Speaker 1: but of course he wasn't. Louis didn't play like anyone else. 169 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 1: His thrilling sound was the product of his self taught style, 170 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: and the emphasis here is on self taught he had 171 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: incorrect ambusher, which is a fancy word for the way 172 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: you're supposed to press your lips to the mouthpiece. To 173 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: put it plainly, Louis Armstrong had poor technique technically speaking, This, 174 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: of course, was a huge part of his individuality and 175 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: what made him stand out, like the way he would 176 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: shake his head and get vibrato instead of using his fingers, 177 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: which was the norm. These things, this irregular technique, helped 178 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,200 Speaker 1: make him the hottest jazz man. 179 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 3: In the country. 180 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: The groundbreaking records he cut with his Hot five and 181 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: Hot seven combos just a few year years earlier were 182 00:12:01,320 --> 00:12:03,839 Speaker 1: hard to come by because it seemed like the music 183 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: stores were always sold out. Louis's record label at the time, Okay, 184 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: released his music on their Race Records line, which was 185 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: at the time the industry term for music marketed to 186 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,520 Speaker 1: African Americans, as well as their regular line of records, 187 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: which is to say, records for white people. And yeah, 188 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: we know that's pretty fucked up, but that's the way 189 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: that it was. Louis Armstrong's reach was wide, and you 190 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: need look no further than an up and coming pop 191 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: singer named Bing Crosby, whose style was obviously indebted to 192 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong. Louis, on the other hand, was in debt 193 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: to someone else. The door to the dressing room backstage 194 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:49,200 Speaker 1: at the Showbo Club swung open, and in walked Frankie Foster, 195 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: the notorious Chicago gangster. Some said Frankie was the trigger 196 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,000 Speaker 1: man who took care of that Tribune reporter Jake Lingle, 197 00:12:57,679 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: and despite his clean cut image, Link was dirty and 198 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: on the take, real buddy buddy with al Capone a 199 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: little too buddy buddy, apparently, because he went out with 200 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,080 Speaker 1: one bullet to the back of his head, died with 201 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,679 Speaker 1: his cigar clenched between his teeth and that day's paper 202 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,960 Speaker 1: still in his hands. Louis didn't have to know whether 203 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: Frankie was the one who actually did Lingle, because he 204 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:21,199 Speaker 1: was sure the guy had the stones for killing, period. 205 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: And now that guy with the stones for killing was 206 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: standing between Louis Armstrong and the door. Pack your bags. 207 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: Frankie said, you're going to New York to play a 208 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: show there tomorrow. What Louie thought, New York? The hell 209 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: he was going to New York. Louis had show his 210 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: book right here in Chicago, and he told Frankie. This 211 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: Frankie responded by reaching into his jacket pocket and producing 212 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: a revolver. He pulled the hammer back, and the sound 213 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: of the pistol cocking sent the shiver down Louis Armstrong's spine. 214 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: How about now, was he getting through New York City tomorrow? 215 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:02,079 Speaker 1: Let me back up for a second. There are a 216 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: few things he needed to know in order to understand 217 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: why one of Chicago's most feared trigger man was threatening 218 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong in his dressing room. At this point nineteen 219 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: thirty one, Louis was not yet managed by Joe Glazer, 220 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: the guy who set up Billy Holliday on that phony 221 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: drug bust, but instead by a man named Johnny Collins. 222 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: Johnny Collins was a big guy with a Hitler mustache, 223 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: and like many others working at the time in the 224 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: music business, he was a gangster. Okay, maybe not in 225 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: the literal al capone way, but in the way that 226 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: he did his fair share of shady shit kind of way. 227 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: In fact, Johnny Collins had weaseled his way into his 228 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: current role by making some sort of below the table 229 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: deal with Louie's former manager. Now that former manager, Tommy 230 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: Rockwell was making a stink. Either he wanted his old 231 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: job back or he wanted to get paid. He told 232 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: Johnny Collins to cough up six grand or he'd burn 233 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: that fucking hitler mustache right off his face. Collins and 234 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: Louis knew that Tommy Rockwell was serious, just like they 235 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: knew that the t German Frankie Foster was serious. This 236 00:15:02,800 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: was a guy with a direct line not just to 237 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: al Capone, but to the New York mobster Dutch Schultz. 238 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: And though Tommy Rockwell always denied hiring Frankie Foster to 239 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: do his dirty work, the dirty working question being forcibly 240 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: removing Louis Armstrong from Chicago and shipping him to a 241 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,560 Speaker 1: club in New York where Rockwell was connected. No Rockwell 242 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: did manage to get Louis kicked out of the American 243 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: Federation of Musicians where the AFM by complaining to them 244 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: that Louis Armstrong was in violation of his previous management contract. So, 245 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 1: on top of having a gun pointed in his face, 246 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: and on top of being caught in a power struggle 247 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: between warring and well connected gangster managers, Louis Armstrong was 248 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: now no longer protected by a union, which meant he 249 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,600 Speaker 1: was out of luck when it came to negotiating wages, 250 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: working conditions, etc. Faced with this extremely messy situation, Louis 251 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: Armstrong and his manager, Johnny Collins, saw only one way out. 252 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: They ran. They high tailed it out of Chicago and 253 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: headed south, far away from Frankie Foster and Tommy Rockwell 254 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:11,400 Speaker 1: and from al Capon. Louis and his band hold up 255 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: in a private Pullman train car, steam and smoke powering 256 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: them all the way to New Orleans, then by bus 257 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: to Memphis, where a dispatcher at the depot told them 258 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: to exit the larger vehicle Johnny Collins had paid for 259 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 1: and get on a smaller bus with fewer amenities, and 260 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: they refused, so the Memphis Police Department was called, and 261 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: the cops took one look at Johnny Collins, his white 262 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: wife on a bus with a bunch of black musicians, 263 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 1: and being the racist pencil dicks that they were, threw 264 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: all of them in jail and Moviie Armstrong had to 265 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,480 Speaker 1: agree to play a local benefit show in order to 266 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: be released, which he did not, wearing the trouble in 267 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: his face all that. Instead, he delivered his message inside 268 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: his music, dedicating one of his favorite tunes that night 269 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: to the Memphis PD a song called I'll be Glad 270 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: when You're dead, You Rascal You. In Philadelphia, the problem 271 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: wasn't racist cops. It was a couple of local goons 272 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: who found their way backstage, just like Frankie Foster had done, 273 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: But unlike Frankie Foster, these goons were offering Louis their protection. 274 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: Louis was once again reminded of what was at stake 275 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: of the people who would be glad when he was dead, 276 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: you rascal you, and this freaked him out. He went 277 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,399 Speaker 1: straight to the police station, fearing for his life, and 278 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: asked them to lock him up for his own safety. 279 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: And there in that cell, all these things weighed on 280 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 1: his mind, as did his other problems, like his lips, 281 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: which had become bloody and shredded on account of his 282 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: bad technique. And then there was his estranged wife, Lil 283 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: who was demanding thousands of dollars and unpaid quote unquote 284 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: maintenance money. All of which is to say when Joe 285 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 1: Glazer finally showed up, the man who would become Louie's 286 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,960 Speaker 1: manager for just about the rest of his life, it 287 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: couldn't have happened at a better time. Glazer had his 288 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: own direct line to guys like al Capone, having run 289 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,760 Speaker 1: the gangster cell side clubs and brothels in the past, 290 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 1: he'd managed boxers. He was tough and feared and respected 291 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: in his own way. Not that Glazer wasn't extremely problematic, 292 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: because he was. He nonchalantly tossed around racial slurs. He 293 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,160 Speaker 1: was once given a ten year sentence for the rape 294 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: of a fourteen year old girl, but avoided jail time 295 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: by marrying her. A few years later, when he found 296 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: himself in a similar situation with a seventeen year old girl, 297 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: his friend al Capone pulled some strings to make it 298 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,720 Speaker 1: go away, which is what Joe Glazer did, and that's 299 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: what Louis Armstrong wanted right now. To make everything go away. 300 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,400 Speaker 1: He needed a guy like Joe Glazer, because to survive 301 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: he needed more than the ability to hide his trouble 302 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,879 Speaker 1: in his horn. Joe Glazer believed in Louis Armstrong, and 303 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: he was ready to go to work for Louis, and 304 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: those facts outweighed the very glaring moral and ethical deficiencies 305 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: of his character. This was the world that Louis Armstrong 306 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:06,040 Speaker 1: came from and the world in which he continued to live, 307 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 1: and starting in nineteen thirty five, he lived it with 308 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: Joe Glazer as his manager. Glazer paid off Louie's wife, Lil, 309 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,679 Speaker 1: He paid off the ex manager Johnny Collins, and he 310 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: used his connections to get organized crime off Louis's back. 311 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: Then he took out a six figure life insurance policy 312 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: on his client and got to work. As Louis later said, 313 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: Joe Glazer saved him from the gangsters, but Louis Armstrong 314 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: would win his next battle on his own. We'll be 315 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: right back after this. 316 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 3: We're we're where. 317 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,360 Speaker 1: In January nineteen fifty seven, like millions of others in America, 318 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: President Dwight D. Eisenhower was watching Elvis Presley on the 319 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: Idiot Box. This was the Tupelo Boys third appear errants 320 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: on The Ed Sullivan Show, and this time the censors 321 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: at CBS insisted that the camera only show him from 322 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: the waist up. If the decision were left to Elvis 323 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: the Pelvis, that camera would have gone south of his 324 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,479 Speaker 1: belt line to show people at home with the girls 325 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: in the studio audience were losing their minds over but 326 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: this was America not the land of the free, as advertised, 327 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,479 Speaker 1: but the land of the carefully crafted, damage controlled public 328 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: relations image, an image that Dwight D. Eisenhower was more 329 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: than well aware of. But a rock and roll singer's 330 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 1: quivering hips weren't on Ike's mind at the moment. Neither 331 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: was the upcoming inauguration in which he would be sworn 332 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:44,720 Speaker 1: in for a second term. Instead, Eisenhower was worried about 333 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: how the rest of the world currently looked at America. 334 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about what parts of Elvis Presley's 335 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: body were being shown on TV. I'm talking about Rosa 336 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: Parks arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat, 337 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Junior busted for doing thirty twenty five, 338 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 1: and the KKK forcing a black truck driver to jump 339 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,760 Speaker 1: off a bridge to his death. And despite Brown versus 340 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: Board of Education, which just three years prior had declared 341 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: segregation in schools to be unconstitutional, a follow up opinion 342 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: by the Supreme Court actually made it okay for some 343 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: districts to ignore desegregation, places like Little Rock, Arkansas. But 344 00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: I'll get to that in a minute. My point is 345 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: Eisenhower knew that America's image wasn't as pretty as it 346 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: was made out to be, because America, both on the 347 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: surface and deep down, could get kind of ugly. Eisenhower 348 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: needed to work on polishing that image, in part by 349 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: spreading the good news about capitalism. As the Cold War 350 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: continued to heat up, part of Eisenhower's plan was to 351 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: send jazz ambassadors out to visit the rest of the world. Essentially, 352 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: the State Department would earmark tens, even hundreds of thousands 353 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: of dollars to fund overseas tours of jazz artists with 354 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: racially mixed bands. For the musicians, it was good money 355 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: and an opportunity to see the world. For Eisenhower and 356 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,199 Speaker 1: his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, it was a 357 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,879 Speaker 1: way to control a narrative of black and white Americans 358 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: living and working together in harmony for far flong audiences 359 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: in the Balkans, the Middle East, and in Russia. Russia 360 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,199 Speaker 1: in particular was where Eisenhower wanted Louis Armstrong to go 361 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 1: on a government funded jazz ambassador tour later that year, 362 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty seven. At this point, Louis Armstrong was 363 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,399 Speaker 1: fifty six years old. He was an American Institution, and 364 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,159 Speaker 1: with the help of his manager, Joe Glazer, he crossed 365 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: over to white audiences, performing not just jazz tunes but 366 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 1: pops standards. He'd appeared in movies with Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, 367 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: and Grace Kelly. He was a beloved entertainer and an 368 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,639 Speaker 1: ideal cultural export. But most importantly for President Eisenhower and 369 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: Secretary of State Dulles, Louis Armstrong lived by the code 370 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,679 Speaker 1: of the mentor King Oliver. He never won trouble in 371 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: his face meeting. Of course, that Eisenhower could trust Louis 372 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: to hang with the Soviets, not the bitch and moan 373 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,360 Speaker 1: about the real troubles that black Americans faced every day 374 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: back home. And this is not to say that Louis 375 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: Armstrong did not stand up for civil rights. The year prior, 376 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: he famously refused to appear with his Integrated band in 377 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 1: his hometown, New Orleans, when the state of Louisiana passed 378 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 1: a law forbidding black and white musicians from performing together. 379 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: He also refused to perform at any venue where he 380 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,640 Speaker 1: was not allowed to stay, which is how he began 381 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: staying in white's only hotels and how he found himself 382 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: the first black guest ever at the Dakota Hotel in 383 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 1: Grand Forks, Michigan, on the evening of September seventeenth, nineteen 384 00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:48,000 Speaker 1: fifty seven. Again, September seventeenth, nineteen fifty seven, two weeks 385 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: after the Governor of Arkansas, Raville Fabas, called in the 386 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,359 Speaker 1: National Guard to stop nine black students from enrolling in 387 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,439 Speaker 1: Little Rock Central High School in defiance of Brown versus 388 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: Board of Education. Also, just one week after the Civil 389 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: Rights Act was passed, the first piece of civil rights 390 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 1: legislation signed into law by President Eisenhower. These things were 391 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: no doubt on Louis Armstrong's mind this particular night when 392 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: a student journalist writing for the Grand Fork Herald showed 393 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: up at his room at the Dakota Hotel. At first, 394 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: the conversation when it's expected, they talked to music, and 395 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: Louis went on and on about Bing Crosby and what 396 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: a great voice he had. But then the kid mentioned 397 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: Little Rock and Louis's face twisted up as horn was 398 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: tucked away in its case, and he had no place 399 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,239 Speaker 1: to hide his trouble. So, for once Louis Armstrong let 400 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: his trouble emerge in his face, and then in his voice. 401 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: You know what he said to the college reporter. It's 402 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: getting almost so bad. A colored man hasn't got any country. 403 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: Eisenhower has got no guts. He's a two faced politician. 404 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: And that Governor Fabis he's a no good motherfucker. So 405 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:03,200 Speaker 1: is John Foster Ellis. That man's another motherfucker. And the 406 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: way they are treating my people in the South, the 407 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: whole government can go to hell. The college reporter couldn't 408 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: write fast enough in his notebook. He could hardly believe 409 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: what he was hearing, because the public Louis Armstrong never 410 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: talked like this, meaning that, as far as the world 411 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: was aware, the private Louis Armstrong never thought like this, 412 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:25,959 Speaker 1: but he clearly did. And as the kid kept writing, 413 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: Louis started singing, Oh say, can you motherfucking see by 414 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: the motherfucking don's early life. Obviously, this being nineteen fifty seven, 415 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: many Louis Armstrong's actual words could not be printed. He 416 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: and the reporter settled on uneducated plowboy as a replacement 417 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 1: for motherfucker to describe Governor Foubis. And when the story 418 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: ran not just in the Grand Forks Herald, but in 419 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: the papers all over the country via the Associated Press, 420 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 1: it was like a bomb went off. Louis Armstrong's words 421 00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: were strong, and his stance was even stronger, a stance 422 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: that resulted in his refusal to go through with the 423 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: Jazz ambassador toward Russia for the gutless motherfucker Dwight d 424 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:19,880 Speaker 1: eys an Hour. The backlash was immediate. White radio stations 425 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: threw out all the Louis Armstrong records. Ford Motor Company 426 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,640 Speaker 1: prepared to pull their sponsorship from an upcoming being Crosby 427 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,440 Speaker 1: TV special in which Louis was slated to appear. Even 428 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 1: on the other side of the divide, Sammy Davis Junior 429 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: called out Louis Armstrong for waiting so long to do 430 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: the right thing, and Louise's mind, however, doing the right 431 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: thing if it involved putting himself out there, well that 432 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: was dangerous. If he was on the front lines of 433 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,560 Speaker 1: the movement, picketing, marching and holding a sign, if he 434 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: got in a scuffle, if the cops roughed him up, 435 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,199 Speaker 1: or he got clocked in the face, if his lips, 436 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,639 Speaker 1: his mouth, if they got any more fucked up than 437 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,280 Speaker 1: they already were, he was done, he would not survive. 438 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,440 Speaker 1: So saying these things to this reporter now in nineteen 439 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 1: fifty seven, that was putting himself out there more than 440 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: he ever had. And in the wake of Louis Armstrong 441 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: calling out President Eisenhower in just about every newspaper in 442 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: the country, something truly remarkable happened. Less than one week 443 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: after the article ran. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard. 444 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,880 Speaker 1: He sent the US Armies one hundred and first Airborn 445 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: Division to Little Rock, and he ordered Little Rock Central 446 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:33,920 Speaker 1: High to admit the nine black students immediately. Eisenhower's action 447 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,080 Speaker 1: was enough to convince Louis to embark on one of 448 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:39,879 Speaker 1: those government funded jazz ambassador tours after all, but not 449 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: to Russia. Three years later, Louis Armstrong and his band 450 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: took off for Africa to represent in America that, in 451 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: his eyes, was perhaps beginning to listen and beginning to change, 452 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,639 Speaker 1: when in reality, America was just using Louis Armstrong for 453 00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 1: the one thing he didn't want to get involved with 454 00:27:58,600 --> 00:27:59,439 Speaker 1: in the first place. 455 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:19,680 Speaker 3: Politics. 456 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:25,639 Speaker 1: November nineteen sixty, Louis Armstrong, with his fourth and final 457 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: wife Lucille by his side, was just finishing a most 458 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,879 Speaker 1: excellent meal at a restaurant in Leopoldville, capital of the 459 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: newly independent Republic of the Congo, and back home in 460 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: the States, John F. Kennedy had narrowly defeated Richard Nixon 461 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: in the presidential election. Louis one time nemesis, the lame 462 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: duck Dwight Eisenhower, the end of his two term run 463 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: in sight, had finally persuaded Louis to be a jazz 464 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: ambassador after all, despite their differences. Perhaps Louis believes he 465 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: was the anointed President Whisperer thanks to his part in 466 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: the Little Rock Dustup. Perhaps the election of JFK gave 467 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: him hope for the future of his divided country. And 468 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: perhaps all of this and more made Louis now feel 469 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: great pride as a representative of that country. Or maybe 470 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: the money was just that good. However it went down, 471 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,080 Speaker 1: Louis was working for Ike, a man he once called 472 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: two faced, bringing a positive image of America to a 473 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 1: country that had only recently thrown off the shackles of colonialism. 474 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: Eisenhower intended to influence the Congo before the Commies got 475 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: to them. First part of this strategy was while Louis 476 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,720 Speaker 1: was now dining in Leopoldville with his wife and a 477 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: diplomat from the US embassy, or at least Louis Armstrong 478 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: was made to believe that the man in the white shirt, 479 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: black tied, black jacket in dark shade sitting across the 480 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: table from him was a diplomat. Louis did not know 481 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: that this man, Larry Devlin, was in fact not a diplomat, 482 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: but instead the CIA station chief posted to the Congo. 483 00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 1: Louis also did not know that the purpose of Larry 484 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,360 Speaker 1: devlin presence here in Leopoldville was to arrange and support 485 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: the assassination of the Congo's first democratically elected Prime Minister, 486 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: Patrese l Mamba, who the US feared was sympathetic to Russia, 487 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,480 Speaker 1: and then replace him with Joseph Mobutu, a military man 488 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: who was also anti communist. Furthermore, Louis had no idea 489 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: that at this very moment, as the dinner wrapped up 490 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,160 Speaker 1: and he and Lucille made small talk with a man 491 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: they thought to be an innocuous agent of goodwill, just 492 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: a mile from where they sat in Prime Minister of 493 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: Maamba's home, soldiers affiliated with Joseph Mobutu were holding him hostage. 494 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: The fix was already in, and Louis Armstrong, feeling like 495 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: he was doing something good, feeling a little patriotic even, 496 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: was in fact being used as a smoke screen, in 497 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: elaborate cover so that the CIA and the US government 498 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: could meet the right people, shake the right hands, and 499 00:30:54,960 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 1: get the wheels turning on their hit job. Fucking gangsters, 500 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: always gangsters with Louis Armstrong. Shortly after Louis's three month 501 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: tour of Africa ended in January of nineteen sixty one, 502 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: Prime Minister Patrice Lumumbo was tortured and executed by Congolese 503 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: separatists aided in part by the Belgian government. Later CIA 504 00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: station chief Larry Devlin, the man who had dinner with 505 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong and his wife the Congo's capital, told the 506 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: US Congressional Investigation quote, the coup of Mobutu was arranged 507 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: and supported and indeed managed by the CIA. Unquote. Louis 508 00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: Armstrong would never hear this quote or know about this 509 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,840 Speaker 1: plot or about the role he unwittingly played in it, 510 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: because Larry Devlin's testimony happened in nineteen seventy five, four 511 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: years after Louis Armstrong died of a heart attack at 512 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: the age of sixty nine. Oddly enough, this wasn't the 513 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: only shocking revelation that emerged following the Great trumpet Player's death. 514 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:04,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy six, one year after Devlin's testimony, The 515 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:07,080 Speaker 1: New York Times ran a three part investigative piece on 516 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: a man named Sidney Korshak. Now, just like there were 517 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,920 Speaker 1: two Louis Armstrong's, there were two Sydney Korshaks. The public 518 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: Sydney Corshak was a well respected labor attorney in Beverly Hills, 519 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: but the private Sydney Corshak was known as a fixer 520 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: for Chicago organized crime. As The Times revealed, in the 521 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: early nineteen sixties, Sidney Korshak went into business with Louis's 522 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:34,959 Speaker 1: longtime manager Joe Glazer, the man who had once saved 523 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,600 Speaker 1: Louis Armstrong from gangsters, assigned control of his majority stock 524 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: in his business over to Sidney Korshak and alleged gangster. 525 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: Why It Is Louis Armstrong biography pops, The writer Terry 526 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:53,920 Speaker 1: Teachout hypothesizes that cutting such a deal was perhaps Joe 527 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:57,560 Speaker 1: Glazer's solution to getting organized crime off his clients back 528 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: for good regardles This is the reason why. However, it 529 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: still means that for the rest of his life, Louis 530 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: Armstrong's survival was handled in part by the hidden world 531 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:12,600 Speaker 1: of the Chicago Mob, the very same group that it 532 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: once tried to make his very life a disgrace. I'm 533 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:35,959 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. 534 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 4: All right, disco's thanks for rolling with us and Satchmo 535 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 4: through Chicago, Africa and back again. 536 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 1: Question of the week, and it's not an easy one. 537 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:49,360 Speaker 1: Which musical artist would you choose from any generation to 538 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: represent America as an ambassador? As President Eisenhower chose Louis Armstrong. 539 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: You can only choose one six one seven nine oh 540 00:33:56,680 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: six six six three eight. Leave me a voicemail, send 541 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,840 Speaker 1: me a text and let me know. Can also reach 542 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 1: me at disgracelampod as well on Instagram, X and Facebook. 543 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 4: Leave a review for the show on Apple Podcasts or 544 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,879 Speaker 4: Spotify and win some free merch. All right, here come 545 00:34:08,960 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 4: some credits. 546 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,000 Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 547 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. 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Visit 557 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 4: disgracelampod dot com slash membership for details, rate and review 558 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,359 Speaker 4: the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and 559 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 4: Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot com 560 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 4: slash at disgraceland Pod. 561 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: Rock a Roller. He's a bad, bad man.