Days That Shook the World (2003) s01e04 Episode Script

1
NARRATOR: Throughout history,
great leaders
have inspired people
to fight for their freedom.
Two events stand out,
reflecting the contrasting fortunes
of two great leaders,
the assassination of Martin Luther King
and the release of Nelson Mandela.
Extraordinary moments
separated by just 22 years.
This is a dramatised version of events,
based on the accounts of people
who witnessed two days
that shook the world.
It is April 3rd, 1968.
In Vietnam, war is reaching its height
In Prague, Soviet tanks
have taken over the city.
In Paris, tensions are rising
amongst student protestors.
And in Atlanta, Georgia,
Reverend Martin Luther King
is about to set off
on the last campaign of his life.
Dr Martin Luther King Jr,
Nobel Peace Prize winner
and the world's most famous
civil rights leader,
is on his way to Memphis, in Tennessee.
James Earl Ray, a drifter
and lifelong petty criminal on the run
from the police, is also
making his way to Memphis.
Within the next 24 hours,
these two men's lives will collide
with one act of violence
that will bring America
to the brink of self-destruction.
But King can't board yet.
A threat on his life
means that he is forced to wait on
the tarmac while his plane is searched.
Through his use of non-violent protest
against racism, poverty and war,
King has become an icon
to millions around the globe.
But in challenging American society,
he is seen by many,
including the government,
as an enemy of the state.
Today he is leaving
his hometown of Atlanta
to return to Memphis,
the scene of his latest crisis.
ANNOUNCER: Memphis is a clean,
progressive-looking city of 600,000.
Geographically, it is in Tennessee,
but its attitudes are Deep South.
About 200,000
of its residents are Negroes.
On February 12th
NARRATOR: Since the abolition
of slavery in 1865,
black Americans have had to fight
for racial equality
and the right to vote.
Martin Luther King has been
at the forefront of this struggle
for the last 13 years.
Through his policy
of non-violent action,
he forced the government
to outlaw segregation,
and led 250,000 people
to march on Washington,
which put civil rights
firmly on the presidential agenda.
But despite these and other successes,
many parts of America
are still racially divided.
In Memphis, 1,300 black
sanitation workers have been on strike
for two months in protest
of their treatment
by the city authorities.
Last week, Martin Luther King
came to Memphis
to add his weight and lead a march
in support of the strike.
But his peaceful protest was hijacked
by disenchanted locals,
who believed in direct violent action.
(PEOPLE SCREAMING)
The notoriously brutal
city police retaliated,
injuring 62 people and shooting
at least one person dead.
Well, I only pray for my life.
I knew the store was going,
and that didn't concern me at all,
but I just prayed to God
to spare my daughter and I.
That we'd get out of there alive,
because we had no way to get out,
and if they had opened that door,
I'm sure they would have destroyed us.
They were savage. They were just
It was unbelievable.
There was no control
I mean, nobody could control them.
The leaders couldn't control them.
They were like Zulus.
NARRATOR: The city authorities,
fearing more violence,
have banned all future marches,
and brought in the army to police
the black areas of town.
Dr King, we're ready for you now.
NARRATOR: This crisis
has left King's reputation
as a leader of non-violent protests
in tatters.
Now, one week later,
he is returning to Memphis,
hoping to defend his philosophy
by attempting to stage
another march next week.
But the atmosphere in Memphis
is now so volatile
that King is risking everything,
including his life.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
King finally arrives at 7:00,
several hours later than he had planned.
He's due to lead a prayer meeting
in an hour at the local Mason Temple.
But because of the bad weather,
he doesn't think
many people will attend,
so he asks his colleague Ralph Abernathy
and a 26-year-old
civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson,
to lead the meeting instead.
He checks into the Lorraine Motel
to catch up on his backlog of work.
(MAN CHATTERING ON TV)
The motel has been run since 1942
by Lorraine Bailey,
and is still one of the few places
in Memphis where black Americans
can rent a room.
So Dr King has always used the Lorraine
as his campaign base whilst in Memphis.
- Dr King.
- How are you?
- Just fine.
- Thank you very much.
Thank you, Dr King.
He takes one of
his usual courtyard rooms
looking out over Mulberry Street.
Tomorrow, King's colleagues
are due in court
to contest the city's injunction
against their planned march,
so King needs to work
on their legal strategy personally.
At stake is not only his philosophy
and his life,
but his faith that American society
has the will or desire to change.
At the Mason Temple,
local pastor Billy Kyles
is waiting for the entourage to arrive.
He is the man who first alerted King
to the plight of the sanitation workers.
But he's surprised when King does not
arrive with Abernathy and Jackson.
- Come in out of the rain.
- Reverend, good to see you.
- Good to see you.
- Welcome to Memphis.
NARRATOR: Kyles informs them
that over 2,000 people
have braved the weather
to hear King speak.
So Abernathy calls him.
(PHONE RINGING)
He tells King that he's not going
to speak to 2,000 people
who are expecting Martin Luther King.
They're expecting to hear you.
NARRATOR: So, although he's busy,
King decides he has to attend after all
in what is destined to be
his last and most prophetic speech,
King reveals his fears for what
he thinks will be one of the toughest
and most critical battles of his life.
KING: We've got some
difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn't matter
with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
And I don't mind.
Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life.
Longevity has its place.
But I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will
And he's allowed me
to go up to the mountain.
And I've looked over.
And I've seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you.
But I want you to know tonight
that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land!
So I'm happy tonight
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord/
(WIND HOWLING)
NARRATOR: Having delivered
what will become known
as one of his most memorable speeches,
King and his aids return
to the Lorraine Motel invigorated.
They continue work on their plans
to fight the city's court order.
At 5:00 the next morning,
having spent the entire night working,
Martin Luther King's colleagues
set off to fight the injunction,
while he starts his final day
by going to bed
and getting some much-needed rest
As King sleeps,
James Earl Ray arrives in town.
He stops on South Main Street,
over the road from the Lorraine Motel
ANNOUNCER ON RADIO: A climate that tends
towards approval
and encouragement of violence
has been created
by white terrorism, unquote.
NARRATOR: Ray, aged 406,
has been a loner all his life.
He was drafted into the army
shortly after World War II,
but while serving in Germany,
was jailed for drunkenness.
Since then, he's been in and out
of jail for of fences
ranging from fraud to armed robbery.
Last year, he escaped
from Missouri State Prison,
where he was serving a 20-year sentence.
He heads straight to the boarding house
at 422 and a half South Main Street.
Sir, can I help you?
NARRATOR: It's nothing
out of the ordinary,
home to mainly drunks and down-and-outs.
I'd like to rent a room.
Yes, sure, come right this way.
NARRATOR: But for Ray, it's all
he'll need for the fob he has to do.
- Yeah, this is good. I'll take it.
- Okay. Just $8.50 per week.
NARRATOR: From the moment he arrives,
he unwittingly starts leaving
a trail of clues,
and attracting the attention of people
all over Memphis.
I'll need your name.
(STUTTERING)
It's John Willard.
NARRATOR: Bessie Brewer,
who runs the boarding house,
is the first person to notice him.
Unlike any of the other residents,
he's dressed in a suit,
and she's also surprised
that he pays for his room
from a roll of $20 bills.
At 11:00am.,
King wakes up for his final day,
while James Earl Ray settles into
his room to figure out a plan.
From this morning's local newspaper,
Ray knows that
King is staying over the road.
But his bedroom window doesn't afford
the best view of the Lorraine Motel,
so he goes looking
for a better vantage point
The bathroom at the end of the corridor
looks directly over the road
at the courtyard rooms of the Lorraine.
It seems to be the perfect place
from which to monitor King's movements.
Shortly after King wakes up,
Ralph Abernathy arrives
to continue to discuss ways
of raising more support
for the planned march.
I'm just gonna hold onto this.
NARRATOR: Now that he has found
his perfect vantage point,
Ray heads off down Main Street
to purchase a pair of binoculars.
The second eyewitness
is Ralph Carpenter,
who runs the York Arms Company
at 162 South Main Street.
Now here is a fine pair.
- That suit you?
- Yeah, I'll take these.
All right. $40.35.
NARRATOR: He recalls a surly,
well-dressed man
driving a white '66 Mustang,
paying with a stash of $20 dollar bills.
Later in the day,
this pair of binoculars
will be traced to this store,
and Carpenter's description
will lead the police to James Earl Ray.
At 1:00 p.m, King still
hasn't heard from his colleagues
at the courthouse, whether they have
the go-ahead for Monday's march.
Having finished his meeting
with Ralph Abernathy,
he decides to use this rare opportunity
to get some much-needed rest
James Earl Ray heads back
to the boarding house
with everything he needs.
To this day, the motives for what Ray
is about to do remain unclear.
When he is finally arrested,
he will plead guilty
in the face of
overwhelming incriminating evidence.
But as soon as he is sentenced,
he will recant his confession,
and will protest his innocence
for the remainder of his life.
(PHONE RINGING)
At 4:00, Lorraine Bailey
puts an urgent call through to Dr King.
One moment, please.
Dr King, Andrew Young's
on the phone for you.
Thank you.
NARRATOR: His colleague, Andrew Young,
is calling from the courthouse,
with the news
that they have won their battle
to overturn the city's injunction.
The march can go ahead
as long as it is peaceful
This is the news
they have all been waiting for.
I'm going to get some food.
Okay, I'll talk to you later,
someone's at the door. Okay, bye.
NARRATOR: Shortly after 4:00,
Abernathy returns
with a clean shirt for King
to wear to dinner.
- Here's a fresh shirt.
- Thank you.
We got good news, man. We got it.
NARRATOR: King tells him the good news,
and they excitedly begin to discuss
ideas for the march.
Let's get this on.
If it's from the cleaners,
it's still kinda damp.
NARRATOR: Across the street,
James Earl Ray unpacks what he needs
and settles down for what he thinks
will be a long wait,
as King shows no signs
of leaving his room.
- You hungry?
- Yeah, man, I'm glad
Here's some chips, have some chips.
I'm glad this day is over.
NARRATOR: Relieved that
they've won their first battle,
King and Abernathy
take the time to relax.
ABERNATHY: Thanks, man.
NARRATOR: The fears and threats
that have hung over them are forgotten.
All Ray needs now to complete his job
is for King to step outside.
Nobody knows
if he is working by himself,
or, as many people will come to believe,
for others,
as part of a plot to kill King.
Ar 5-00,
Billy Kyles arrives at the Lorraine.
For Ray, this is the first indication
that King may be about to emerge.
King is due at Kyles' house
for dinner at 6:00,
and he has arrived early
to make sure everyone leaves on time.
- We got good news.
- What?
We got it. We got the march.
Praise God, that is good news.
We've been working hard here.
That is good news.
All right.
Let's go get something to eat. My house.
Yeah, you know
- Throw it all out and everything.
- Okay.
You know, get it all done.
Walt for the good, old Southern cooking.
- We're ready for you.
- KING: Okay.
I'll grab my jacket
and I'll be ready to go.
Don't you forget about Jesse.
(MEN CHATTERING)
NARRATOR: At 5:45, Ralph Abernathy
decides to freshen up before dinner.
For the first time today, King steps
outside his room for some fresh air
while he waits for Abernathy.
As King emerges from his room,
he's greeted by Jesse Jackson,
who has arrived to join them for dinner.
- You're not dressed for dinner.
- Yeah, I'm
- Don't you have a suit or something?
- What's wrong with this?
I got an appetite.
You're not coming to my house
without a suit on. Forget it.
NARRATOR: 205 feet and three inches
away, Ray tries to line up his target.
But in order to get a better angle,
he has to climb into the bath.
In doing so, he leaves fingerprints,
which will later be matched
to the prints on the gun.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Hey, man, how much time do you need?
NARRATOR: His boarding house neighbour,
Willie Anschutz,
is trying to get into the bathroom.
Who's that in there?
MAN: It's that new guy in 5.
I've been trying to get in there
NARRATOR: Later tonight, Jesse Jackson
describes the last few minutes
of King's life to a news team.
JACKSON: Reverend Billy Kyles,
we were going to his home.
Reverend Kyles had just come out,
and had started down the steps.
Mr Ben Branch from Chicago,
who plays for the Bread Basket Band,
a band that we have
in one of our projects in Chicago.
And I said, "Dr King, Ben Branch."
He said, "Yes, Ben, I want you
to sing that song for me tonight."
I want you to do Precious Lord.
I want you to do it real pretty for me.”
So Ben said, "Okay, Dr King." And so,
I said, "Doctor, you ready to go? ♪
He said, "Yes, Jesse." He said,
"Let's get ready to go right now."
I said, "Dr King." And that was it.
NARRATOR: At exactly 6.01,
a single shot hits King
in the right-hand side of his face,
severs his spinal cord
and lodges in his left shoulder blade.
But he's still alive.
That sounded like a shot!
NARRATOR: As Ray leaves, he is spotted
by another key witness, Willie Anschutz
Yeah, that was a shot.
- Martin.
- ABERNATHY: Martini Martini
NARRATOR: Guests from adjacent rooms
start to gather around King's body.
JACKSON: Help, help!
Somebody call somebody!
NARRATOR: Police officers stationed over
the road are the first on the scene,
and head off in the direction
of the shot
Somebody call somebody!
NARRATOR: Real/sing that
police are now all around him,
Ray throws the weapon and his belongings
in a nearby doorway,
to avoid getting caught red-handed.
ABERNATHY: Call somebody!
NARRATOR: Billy Kyles goes inside
to call an ambulance,
but he can't get through
to the operator,
because down below Lorraine Bailey
has run into the car park
to investigate what she believes
to be a car crash.
It immediately becomes clear to her
that Martin Luther King has been shot
The shock causes her to have a stroke,
and within two hours Lorraine Bailey
will have a brain haemorrhage and die.
(SIREN WAILING)
At 6:15, 14 minutes after King was shot,
an ambulance arrives
to rush him 20 blocks
across town to St Joseph's Hospital
The shooting of one of
the greatest leaders in American history
is already sending shockwaves
around the world.
As a crowd gathers outside, doctors
in the ER perform emergency surgery
to close the wound
and remove the bullet
They unsuccessfully try
to revive him for 45 minutes.
At 7.05,
they officially pronounce King dead.
At 7:10 this evening,
Martin Luther King was shot
in Tennessee.
(ALL GASPING)
Martin Luther King 20 minutes ago died.
(ALL EXCLAIMING)
America is shocked and saddened
by the brutal slaying tonight
of Dr Martin Luther King.
I ask every citizen
to reject the blind violence
that has struck Dr King,
who lived by non-violence.
Memphis is a confused
and shocked city tonight.
No-one can believe what has happened.
NARRATOR: The mayor of Memphis,
Henry Loeb,
fears that rumours of a conspiracy
to assassinate King
will trigger civil unrest
He declares a state of emergency,
with a 24-hour curfew,
and calls in 11,000 state troopers
to secure the city.
One hundred and fifty police seal off
the Lorraine Motel
to continue their investigation.
By 8:00 p.m, the police have matched
the bullet in King's body
to the gun found on Main Street,
which has James Earl Ray's
fingerprints on it
Together with statements
from eyewitnesses,
police are able to issue
a description of the sniper.
REPORTER: Dr Martin Luther King was shot
and killed in Memphis, Tennessee,
this evening at approximately 6:00 p.m.
Witnesses said a well-dressed
young white man
was seen running from the area
and dropped a weapon.
He was later allegedly
seen driving away in & white automobile.
The weapon has been recovered
by Memphis police,
and they have also recovered a blanket
from a nearby warehouse building,
from which the assassin
allegedly fired the shot.
NARRATOR: But James Earl Ray
has already made it out of the state,
and eventually escapes to Britain
using a false passport
The white people do not know it,
but the white people's
best friend is dead.
The black people's leader,
our Moses,
the once in a 400, 500-year leader,
has been taken from us
by hatred and bitterness.
Even as I stand at this hour,
I cannot even allow hate
to enter my heart at this time,
for it was sickness,
not meanness, that killed him.
And somehow this nation
has to continue to be challenged
and to be transformed from what it is
to what it ought to be.
NARRATOR: Despite the pleas for calm,
within hours violent riots break out
in 130 cities across America.
A reaction to what many Americans see
as the greatest injustice
against the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King's philosophy
of non-violence,
a principle that he defended
throughout his life, is forgotten.
The storm of violent retribution
sweeps across the nation.
The voice that called
for justice and brotherhood
has been stilled,
but the quest for freedom,
to which he always gave
eloquent expression,
continues on.
NARRATOR: By the time Martin Luther King
was assassinated,
on another continent a freedom fighter
engaged in a violent struggle
had already been in prison
for five years.
It will be another 22 years
before he is released.
It is the 11th of February, 1990
In Panama, General Noriega
has surrendered to the US military.
In Yugoslavia, 45 years of
communist rule have come to an end.
In Romania, President Ceausescu
has been executed by his own people.
And in Cape Town, South Africa, it has
just been announced that the world's
most famous political prisoner
is about to be freed.
In a private villa 30 miles
from Cape Town,
Nelson Mandela wakes up at dawn.
Now aged 71,
his day begins like every other
during his 27-year sentence,
with an exercise routine.
With his release,
today will mark the beginning of a new
era for the people of South Africa.
For the last 50 years,
black South Africans have been engaged
in a struggle against
the ruling National Party's policy
of racial segregation,
or apartheid.
A battle for racial equality
in their own land.
Mandela became
their most prominent voice,
and stepped up the campaign
with a call for violent retaliation
against the brutal regime.
In 1962, he was captured,
tried for terrorism
and sentenced to life in prison.
Newly installed President FW de Klerk
has bowed to pressure
from international sanctions
to end apartheid,
and announce Mandela's release
as the first sign of reconciliation.
With the eyes of the world
trained upon them,
the way today's events are perceived
will determine the future
of South Africa.
At 5:00, warrant officer James Gregory
arrives for work, as usual,
knowing today is the most
important day of his career.
Mandela must leave the prison
at exactly 10:00 a.m.
For 20 years, Gregory has been
assigned to guard Mandela,
and censor all his correspondence.
He is the only officer
who the government has trusted
to be with him throughout his sentence.
Today it falls to Gregory to make sure
that the government's wishes
are carried out to the letter,
so that they gain the maximum
political capital out of the occasion.
(WHIRRING)
But as the early morning papers
roll off the presses,
the government has already missed
its first opportunity
to capitalise on the release.
While Mandela has been in prison,
they have banned his image,
so the world has no idea
what he looks like.
President de Klerk
arranged for an official photo
to be distributed
to the world's media last night,
when the release
was officially announced.
But an administrative error
means that the photo
hasn't reached any of the newspapers
before the morning print run begins.
The face of the world's
greatest symbol of resistance
will remain a mystery
until he is set free.
For the first 25 years of his sentence,
Mandela was housed on Robben Island,
South Africa's most notorious jail
While he was in isolation,
his supporters and campaigners
around the world took up his cause,
knowing that this was the only way
to pressure the South African
government into reform.
Reluctantly, they had to concede
that the health and security
of their most dangerous prisoner
was their number one priority.
So for the last 14 months,
he has lived at the Victor Verster
low-security farm prison
in a private villa,
a mile away from any other inmates.
On Mandela's last day,
the first visitor to the villa
is the prison doctor,
who gives him his final examination.
Aged 68, he contracted tuberculosis
on Robben Island
and has received regular
medical attention ever since.
DOCTOR: Thank you,
Mr Mandela, and good luck.
NARRATOR: Mandela's status
also affords him the luxury
of having his own housekeeper,
warrant officer Jack Swart,
the prison's head chef.
As on any other day, he arrives on time
to prepare Mandela's
usual light breakfast.
For the last two years,
Gregory has allowed Mandela
very limited access to newspapers.
He has not been allowed to read articles
about South African politics,
but has amassed
vast knowledge of foreign affairs
from cuttings
he has been allowed to keep.
On this, his last morning in prison,
for the first time Gregory allows him
to read all the newspapers.
But there ls precious little
concerning his release
because it has been announced so late.
Outside the prison gates,
thousands of supporters,
officials and journalists are already
starting to gather for his release.
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)
At 7.40 a.m,
the prison governor,
Brigadier Coulda, arrives at the house
with the discharge papers.
By signing these historic documents,
Mandela is no longer a prisoner
of the South African government.
Gregory Witnesses the event
by adding his signature.
They congratulate each other privately,
knowing that this marks the end
of an era for both of them.
But although Mandela's free,
he's not able to leave yet.
He has now become a prisoner
to the world's media,
and there are still two hours left
before he is due in front
of the cameras.
It's now 8.00,
and Gregory sets off to the front gate,
to pick up the first members
of Mandela's reception committee.
For security reasons, he has to
escort all visitors to the house.
These men are representatives
of Mandela's political party,
the until recently banned
African National Congress, or ANC.
With all the clamour for Mandela
to be released,
the government has had to recognise
and negotiate with them.
Today is the first chance for them
to prove that they can work together.
(WATER RUNNING)
Mandela has remained in prison
one week longer than originally agreed
to allow him and his ANC colleagues
the time to plan the release
for maximum political gain.
He has to prove to his public
that he hasn't given up his ideals,
that his release is not the end
of the struggle,
but the start of a revolution.
And while the ANC wants to
continue their campaign
to overthrow the white government,
they also need to appear
to be the party that can lead
South Africa into a new era.
Before his release was announced,
Mandela had dreamt
that his first day of freedom
would be spent quietly at home
with his wife Winnie and their family.
However, it has been decided that
the release is too important an occasion
not to speak to the world
for the first time in 30 years.
(MEN SPEAKING XHOSA)
But even hours before he is released,
the location for his first words
and what he should say
are still matters for debate.
Mandela isn't expecting a large crowd,
and suggests he makes his first speech
at the prison gates,
before addressing a rally in Cape Town.
But he is overruled,
as the prison is in the heart
of white middle-class South Africa.
Instead, he is to be rushed
straight to City Hall in Cape Town,
but the speech is still to be finallsed.
Outside the prison, with an hour to go
before Mandela appears,
the crowd has built up to 4,000,
People are perched wherever they can,
to get their first look at their hero
since he was imprisoned.
In Cape Town, thousands have already
gathered in the exhausting heat,
and news crews from around the world
are starting to broadcast
their first images.
It's 9:30, time for Mandela
to get dressed, ready to leave.
Gregory waits for him in his office.
Once Mandela is changed,
all they need is the go-ahead
from the prison gates.
Everything appears to be going to plan.
Within half an hour,
Gregory will have finished the fob
he started 20 years ago.
(PHONE RINGING)
Minutes later the gatehouse calls.
He is told that everyone has arrived
to escort Mandela out of the prison.
But as soon as he hangs up,
he immediately realises
that someone is missing.
Winnie Mandela, Nelson's wife,
is stuck a thousand miles away
in her hometown, Johannesburg.
Because the announcement of
her husband's release came so late,
she wasn't able to arrange a flight
to Gape Town in time.
Gregory breaks the news
that Winnie definitely won't be there
by the time they are due to leave,
and might not make it at all today.
He is faced with a choice
of either forcing Mandela through
the gates on time, without Winnie,
or defying the government
by keeping the world waiting,
possibly for another day.
The prison governor calls Gregory
to find out why Mandela hasn't left yet
Mandela has told him that
he won't leave without Winnie,
so Gregory,
at the risk of losing his fob,
tells the governor
that there will be a delay.
Mandela now has time to address
the details of the speech.
The ANC are keen to highlight the role
that they have played in negotiating
with a government
that's hoping for reconciliation.
But despite the fact
that Mandela is being freed,
the speech can't be seen
to be appeasing a government
that still hasn't abandoned apartheid.
So, for him, the question is not
if they should keep fighting, but how.
For Mandela's people,
the black majority,
most of whom live in townships
across the country,
the importance of the speech
can't be underestimated.
For 50 years, they have lived
with the misery of apartheid,
which has left them powerless and poor.
They've waited half a century
for their freedom,
their chance to be treated as equals.
And so they're hoping
that Mandela's speech
will confirm him as the leader
they've longed for.
Under the midday heat,
the crowd waits for information
about Mandela's whereabouts.
He is now two hours late,
and nobody outside the prison knows why.
In Johannesburg,
Winnie is finally boarding her plane.
On hearing that she is leaving,
the prison governor sends out a message
that the release will now be at 3.00,
five hours later than planned.
Whilst Mandela takes a nap,
Jack Swart prepares an unexpected lunch
for the guests.
Astonished at the thousands
who have gathered outside the gates,
the governor takes extreme action
to avert a volatile situation
within the prison
by locking up
all the non-white prison guards.
At 1:00, Gregory wakes Mandela
to say that Winnie is on her way
from the airport,
and he'll be able to leave the prison
in two hours' time.
But amongst a restless crowd
of thousands in Cape Town,
years of brutal oppression
are coming to the surface.
Violence breaks out between groups
of Mandela's supporters and the police.
Several people are injured, and taken
away to makeshift first-aid points,
before ANC marshals
manage to separate the two sides.
It is 3:30, and Winnie Mandela
has finally made it to the prison.
Throughout Nelson's imprisonment,
she has stood by him
and campaigned for his release.
Despite the impression of unity,
their marriage is already faltering.
Apart from the strain
of 27 years of separation,
their political views have diverged.
(BOTH SPEAKING XHOSA)
With her arrival,
everything is now in place
for Mandela to leave the prison,
albeit another 30 minutes later
than planned.
(ALL CHATTERING)
(GUN FIRING)
(PHONE RINGING)
Military Intelligence informs Gregory
that one of the guards en route
to the gate has been contracted to
assassinate Mandela as he leaves.
Gregory panics, and tells Mandela
that there will be a further delay.
Mandela is eager to leave
and join his supporters,
who have been waiting 27 years
for his release.
But he knows that Gregory
wouldn't delay him
unless the threat was real,
so he leaves him
to do whatever it takes.
Gregory radios across the prison,
insisting that all guards
remove their weapons.
This is Warrant Officer Gregory
On hearing this message, the prison
governor overrules Gregory's order.
The jail houses hundreds of prisoners,
and disarming the guards is unthinkable.
But Gregory refuses to move Mandela
until the threat is removed.
So, faced with the possibility
of a further delay,
the governor reluctantly
orders all the prison guards
to follow Gregory's order.
Another ten minutes pass
before Gregory is assured
that everyone has been disarmed,
and he can let Mandela leave.
He orders Mandela's personal effects
to be loaded into a van,
ready for his departure.
Twelve crates of books
and newspaper cuttings
that he has collected
over the last two years.
After over 20 years in his care,
Mandela says goodbye to Gregory,
their last moment as prisoner and guard.
We're back.
There is excitement, there's movement.
We've just heard that Mr Mandela
has left his home of the past 14 months.
He is on his way to leave
the Victor Verster Prison.
If I may turn around
NARRATOR: While the jail's
most famous prisoner leaves
for his appearance in front
of the world's cameras,
the locked-up prison guards
have to watch events unfold on TV.
REPORTER ON TV: About three to
four minutes, even maybe five,
before Mr Mandela's car
will be stopping at the gate.
NARRATOR: Finally, at 345,
the convoy sets off for the front gate.
After 27 years in isolation,
Mandela is about to enter a society
that he knows little about,
with an uncertain future for him
and his nation.
As the convoy departs, Jack Swart
discovers that, in his rush to leave,
Mandela has forgotten the only two items
he can't afford to leave behind,
his glasses
and his notes for the speech.
His job done,
Gregory pulls his car aside
to let the others pass
before they reach the gate.
As Mandela goes by,
he gives the ANC salute,
a gesture of solidarity that,
until recently,
would have landed Gregory in prison.
Swart tries to ring ahead
to the front gate,
but it is too late
Mandela's convoy has already arrived,
and nothing's going to delay
the release any further.
REPORTER: Mr Mandela, who has greyed
NARRATOR:
South African national television
has suggested that
Mandela walks the last 50 metres,
so they can identify him.
This is the first time the government
has allowed them to show his face.
REPORTER: Appearing in public
for the first time any moment now.
There's Mr Mandela.
Mr Nelson Mandela, a free man,
taking his first steps
into a new South Africa.
That is the man that
the world has been waiting to see.
His first public appearance
in nearly three decades.
Walking strongly, step by step,
further into freedom.
NARRATOR: Despite what he has been told,
he is completely bewildered
by the crowd's reaction.
In their excitement to see him,
people surge past the marshals.
REPORTER: The day
he has also been waiting for.
NARRATOR: Mindful of his security,
he is returned to his car
to be rushed to Cape Town, where he'll
give his all-important first speech.
REPORTER: Mr Mandela has walked
his first steps to freedom,
into a new South Africa,
now on his way to Cape Town.
NARRATOR:
Fifty thousand people have squeezed
into the centre of Cape Town.
While waiting for Mandela, dozens
have already suffered heat exhaustion,
and three people have had heart attacks.
Now that the cavalcade is on its way,
they hope to see him speak
within an hour.
REPORTER: Total excitement.
People running alongside the car.
Pushing, touching the car.
NARRATOR: Because thousands
of people have jammed the roads
from the prison to Cape Town,
instead of taking the highway,
the cavalcade takes the back routes
through the lush vineyards.
It is the first time for 30 years
that Mandela has seen his country
as a free man.
As he passes through
the narrow back roads,
Mandela is amazed that so many people,
black and white,
have come out to greet him in a region
that used to be a white heartland.
By 6:00 p.m,
when he's due to give his speech,
Mandela still hasn't arrived.
The crowd of 50,000 people who've
been waiting all day starts to disperse
as they no longer think he is coming.
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
As the cavalcade approaches
the outskirts of Cape Town,
supporters surround his car.
It grinds to a halt and is unable
to move for over an hour.
(PEOPLE SINGING)
REPORTER: Douglas, I'm looking
out of the outside broadcast van.
There is Mrs Mandela
right behind the broadcast van.
NARRATOR: It's 7:00 by the time Mandela
finally manages to arrive at City Hall
REPORTER: And with her,
her husband, Mr Nelson Mandela.
The man in the grey suit
NARRATOR: By the time Mandela gets up
the steps onto the balcony of City Hall,
the sun is setting.
But 10,000 of his staunchest
supporters have stayed
to hear him speak.
MAN: Mandela!
REPORTER: Mr Mandela is announced,
and there he is. Nelson Mandela.
27 years since his incarceration.
And the crowd
NARRATOR: Back in the prison villa,
Jack Swart watches on TV.
He's been unable to reach Mandela,
and still has his notes and his glasses.
Thankfully for Mandela,
he doesn't need his notes,
but he doesn't have
another pair of glasses,
so for his first public address
in 30 years, he has to wear Winnie's.
(SPEAKING XHOSA)
Friends,
comrades
and fellow South Africans.
I greet you all in the name of peace,
democracy and freedom for all
NARRATOR: Mandela's speech,
long-anticipated by his supporters,
but feared by the government,
lasts for over an hour.
It's not until he calls for
a continuation of the violent struggle
to end apartheid,
and white political domination,
that his supporters hear the rally cry
they have been waiting for
and the government realises
that this really is the end of an era.
It has to be ended
by our own decisive mass action,
in order to build peace and security.
The factors which necessitated
the armed struggle
still exist today.
We have no option but to continue.
(ALL CHEERING)
We express the hope that a climate
NARRATOR: After over 20 years
in the prison service,
James Gregory retires
almost immediately,
having played his part
in this historic day.
I have cherished the idea
of a democratic and free society.
It is an ideal for which
I am prepared to die.