Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
Released: October 21, 1963Runtime: 52 min
During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses five camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1999.
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Cast & Crew
Top billed cast
James Lipscomb
as Narrator
John F Kennedy
as Self - President of the United States
George Wallace
as Self - Governor of Alabama
Robert F Kennedy
as Self - Attorney General of the United States
Vivian Malone
as Self - a Negro Student
James Hood
as Self - a Negro Student
Michael Lemoyne Kennedy
as Self - Robert F. Kennedy's Son
Burke Marshall
as Self - Assistant Attorney General
Nicholas Katzenbach
as Self - Deputy Attorney General
John Dore
as Self - Deputy Attorney General
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