The Jesse Owens Story (1984 TV Movie)

Georg Stanford Brown: Lew Gilbert

Quotes 

• [on hearing that Jesse had received $10,000 from an unknown benefactor in 1936] 

  Lew Gilbert : What is the straight story behind that money, Mr. Owens?

  Jesse Owens : You want the truth? I was paid $10,000 to support Alfred M. Landon's campaign againt Franklin D. Roosevelt.

  Lew Gilbert : Were you ashamed of that?

  Jesse Owens : Some people thought I should be, but I wasn't. Celebrities endorse cigarettes, banks, automobiles. Why was it wrong for me to endorse a Republican? Besides, it wasn't just for the money. I believed Landon would be better for the Black man.

  Lew Gilbert : What made you think so?

  Jesse Owens : Adolf Hitler made my name a household word when he wouldn't shake hands with me. President Roosevelt didn't shake hands with me, either. Governor Landon did.

• Lew Gilbert : [On the legend of Jesse and Hitler]  Did he really stop them from playing the Star Spangled Banner when you won?

  Jesse Owens : Just between us... men behind the legend, Hitler had no control over that. The proper national anthems were played for all the winners, and nobody ever asked him to invite me or any other athlete to sit in his box.

  Lew Gilbert : Well, didn't he snub you? Didn't he refuse to shake hands, or is that just another myth?

  Jesse Owens : On the first day, he shook hands with the first winners, who were Germans and Finns. Then the international committee objected, and he didn't shake hands with anybody anymore. Cornelius Johnson and Dave Albritton were the next Black winners, so if he snubbed any of us it was them, not me. The reporters used my name instead of theirs, which was the best thing that could have happened to my public speaking career.

  Lew Gilbert : You mean you've been keeping the myth alive on the lecture circuit ever since.

  Jesse Owens : Those stories are what people like to hear, so you tell them.

  Lew Gilbert : Doesn't it bother you making money off of that snow job?

  Jesse Owens : [belligerent]  You call that a snow job? The real job is what the Nazis did on a lot of Americans who came home telling how great it was in Germany. Organized, clean, gemütlichkeit. So for the next two years, nobody stopped the worst murderer of all time from gobbling up a couple more countries. Now isn't that a little more important than whether Hitler snubbed me?

  Lew Gilbert : Okay.

  Jesse Owens : And what did those Americans worry about? Too many events won by Black athletes. How could the White man keep the scales tipped in his favor? So, for the next eleven years, there were no Blacks in the major leagues. Isn't that important?

  Lew Gilbert : Yes.

  Jesse Owens : So, let me ask you one. Why don't people want to hear me talk about those things? Why is it all they care about is how mad I got Hitler?

  Lew Gilbert : You and Hitler were the stars of the show. People love to hear the lowdown on stars.

  Jesse Owens : Oh, say it straight! You don't get too far giving people the lowdown on themselves.