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Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963)
Jun
10
1963
An energetic Bobby arrives at the White House in his limousine. DP: Gregory Shuker.
“This nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”
– JFK
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Grands soirs & petits matins [May Days] (William Klein, 1978)
May
24
1968
Sorbonne students discussing the political situation with an elderly Parisian man. DPs: William Klein & Bernard Lutic.
“Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible”
– May 68 slogan
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Salesman (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)
Mar
29
breakfast
Bible salesmen enjoying breakfast at a soulless motel. DP: Albert Maysles.
Watched on Good Friday.
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Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963)
Dec
14
Alabama Day
Bobby on the phone, seen from the back. DP: Gregory Shuker.
Filmed in Alabama: Alabama Day. In what he dubbed “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, George Wallace, Alabama governor, blocked Black students from walking into the University so he could uphold his inaugural promise of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”. This prompted a national crisis, resulting in the President issuing Executive Order 11111, making the #NationalGuard step in.
“Come Senators, Congressmen,
Please heed the call,
Don't stand in the doorway,
Don't block up the hall”
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Festival panafricain d'Alger [The Panafrican Festival in Algiers] (William Klein, 1969)
Jul
26
One Voice Day
Black hands holding each other. In translation the caption reads “Down with colonialism! Down with imperialism!”. DP: William Klein et al.
In typical Western fashion the credits for William Klein's Festival panafricain d'Alger focusses on the French and American participants. After Algeria regained its independence in 1962, it became Africa's – and the #AfricanDiaspora's – centre for postcolonial and liberation moments.
“À bas le colonialisme ! À bas l'imperialisme !”
The 12-day Festival panafricain attracted 5000 people from all over the African continent, as well as liberation fighters from the United States.
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Grands soirs & petits matins [May Days] (William Klein, 1978)
Jun
6
National Higher Education Day
Students discussing at the Sorbonne. DPs: William Klein & Bernard Lutic.
A ripple went through France in the early months of 1968. It started when the Communist and socialist party joined forces in an attempt to remove President De Gaulle from office. A month later, students at Nanterre (a Parisian university) teamed up with poets, musicians and small leftist groups to discuss class discrimination and political bureaucracy on campus. The meeting was peacefully disassembled but tensions remained. In May, Sorbonne students stood up for Nanterre, by then shut down. Then, police invaded the university and 20 000 stood up against the police.
“Convert all Parisian universities into reception centres for the revolutionary youth of the whole world.”
– student proposal
Somewhere in that crowd were those whose interest went beyond the main spectacle: the toppling of the new ancien regime. A #JeanRouchian anthropologist of sorts, artist, photographer and filmmaker William Klein pushes the eye through the masses. But it's also his eye; each frame is a Klein. However, we see not a documentary. Sound is asynchronous. Suddenly, it's night and flames lick the black sky. When bricks fly, frames follow. And then… the end.