President Lyndon Johnson (with his wife and daughter) had to helicopter
over 15,000 protestors to arrive at the (CIA designed) Century
Plaza Hotel. Johnson needed to fill the coffers of his newly formed
re-election campaign by hosting a night of dinner and entertainment.
For $500 a head Democrats in tuxedos and ballgowns indulged in french food and wine. Jack Benny kept the laughter rolling in between musical performances by Ed Ames and the Supremes. The president posed for photos with some of his most powerful constituents (though many people who previously voted for him did not attend).
They were upset with the death toll in Vietnam and
wanted the president to know how they felt. Two men,
Irving Sarnoff and Donald Kalish (railroad engineer and
UCLA professor) brought over 65 different groups
together to greet LBJ to LA. One of those groups, the
Dissenting Democrats (formed by Carl Reiner, Norman
Lear, and Robert Vaughn), made their opinion known by
placing their names with 18,000 others in the LA Times
that morning.
That afternoon at a park
a mile from the hotel, people gathered to listen to singers Phil
Ochs, Barbara Dane, and speakers Dr. Benjamin Spock, H. Rap Brown,
and Muhammad Ali.
They began to march.
That night when 15,000 members of the community clashed with 1500 members of the LAPD became known as Bloody Friday.
It changed policy, history, and many people - including myself.
This is my film.
After four years of research...
a story so unbelievable it had to be told!