you and your community. there are 200 cash prizes totaling $100,000. for the list of rules, go to student can.org. with television host and author, tavis smiley. then david cameron took questions from members of the house of commons. and later congressmen talk about midterm election results. >> this week on "q&a," our guest is tavis smiley, out with his new was the book "death of a king: the real story of dr. martin luther king jr.'s final year." it explores the tumultuous and difficult final year of dr. king's life as he clashed with the press, the president, and leaders of the civil rights movement. >> tavis smiley, your book, "death of the king," it says

there is a story hidden about mr. king. what is it? >> from april 1967 to april 1968, it shifted against him because of his opposition to the vietnam war. i have seen three biographers on here before. without the heavy lifting by the historians, i cannot have written a death of a king. no one has ever focused on the text. they have not focused on the last year of his life april 4, 1967 to 1968, one year to the date. what is the last year like? how does he navigate? how is america treating him? he left five years after i have a dream.

he involved in the five-year period. >> into the back, you say you didn't 19 interviews for this book. which one did you learn the most? >> good question. i suspect there is nothing like talking to correct coretta scott king. i talked to coretta scott king many times. mr. hardy passed away who wrote the vietnam speech for dr. king. he believed and he said to me many times that he believed that speech beyond vietnam put a target on his back. when dr. king calls america the

greatest purveyor of violence, it was a damning speech. he says about america. mr. harding dies believing he was partly responsible for putting that target on his back. you talked to young and clarence and coretta scott king. who i had a chance to interview and all of those notes i've been keeping and saving for a moment like this when the book would be written. >> you were three years old when he was shot and killed. can you remember the first time you knew there was a martin luther king? >> she was certainly in my conscious before i turned 12. we discuss something prior occasion. i wrote about this in my memoir. the defining moment is a brutal beating i received in indiana. the brutal beating i received at

age 12, i was in the hospital for a couple of weeks in traction as a 12-year-old kid. i cannot understand why it happened. >> who beat you? >> my father. >> my father or stepfather? >> my stepfather but technically my father. he had never lost his temper the form. -- before. i was accused of doing something at my church. i was not called in for a meeting or to answer questions. the pastor stood in front of the whole congregation in kokomo, indiana and just blasted me. my father, of course, is embarrassed. back in the day, the only place a black man could get any respect was in the black church. it was a major embarrassment to my father. he snapped and beat me so severely i was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. and so, i do not know how to practice my way through this. a deacon, a member of my church, bequeath a good to me. in the box were these recordings of dr. king's speeches.

he was on the road all the time speaking. some americans said he only gave one speech and his whole time in only had one line that i want to live -- that i want my children to be judged by the content of their character. he lived until 1968. gordy followed king around. he put many of the talks on lp. my deacon collected them. he gave this box to me. when i got out of the hospital, i had a chance to play the records, ooohhh --when i heard the love in his heart in his soul, it resonated with me. he was talking to the nation about the power of love. love was the only thing that could turn into enemy into a friend and how hatred was not was not really an option. and he was talking to a brokenhearted 12 year old kid.

all i ever charged with my life in my own way, tv, print, try to make the world safe for his legacy and this was one of my contribution and to help people understand why i love martin so much. in the last year of his life, we helped to kill him because we

abandoned him. we vilified him in death. you have to come to terms with his demonization. >> you referenced the speech he gave in stockholm, here is an excerpt. is not the i have a dream speech. >> i still have a dream that the prosperity and speeds -- peace would you enjoy in sweden will become the chief export of the world over and we will be able to an adjournment despair and bring new life into the dark chambers of pessimism. with this faith, we will be able to transform the discords of our

world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and the world over we will be able to sing, we have overcome, we have overcome. deep in my heart, i do believe we would overcome someday. thank you. >> he would have been 37. it's hard to believe he was 39 when he was shot. is that more like him than the i have a dream speech? >> that was not his best

delivery. it was prose, beautiful prose. that delivery was not his best. his beyond vietnam speech in 1967 probably one of the worst delivered speeches in terms of the delivery, worst ever. he was reading from a prepared text like he was that night. king starts out reading the prepared text in august 1963 and at some point if you listen to the tape, you are a voice in the background saying, "tell them about the dream." that was the voice of mahalia jackson, the great gospel singer. it got to a lull and has three parts. he started on a high,

challenging america. he starts out on a high, a bit of a lull, and she told him to tell them about the dream, martin. he starts talking about his dream. that is the ad lib, the ref, the freestyle we come to know. that was not necessarily in his prepared remarks. he was reading off a paper which he differently. -- did infrequently. >> you talked about an incident that happened in 1958, he was stabbed at a book signing in new york. >> a woman was demented and walked up to him as said, are you dr. martin luther king jr.? and he said, yes, i am. she stabbed him in the chest. they rushed him to the hospital. obviously, he survived. he almost died in a sense that the doctors told him that the blade was just a few centimeters

away from his aorta. had it that the blade hit his aorta, he would've drowned in his own blood. they put it this way -- had dr. king sneezed, it would've punctured his aorta. after he got out of the hospital, he preached a sermon. if i had sneezed speech. he said i would not have been around for the montgomery bus and rosa parks and i will not have been here to do this. this ab rhythm. it was one of the greatest speeches delivered. he basically said i am so glad i did not sneeze. it was a beautiful rendition of him looking back at his life. he was stabbed before.

in chicago leading a march, he was stoned. he had been stoned, stabbed, would know about the j -- we knew about the jailings. with this book, i had to come to terms with this. j edgar hoover listed him as the most dangerous man in america. dr. king, the most dangerous man in america. i have asked my times how you can be the most dangerous man in america when the only weapon you are using is love? i talked about the power of love and the potency of love that we may need to reconsider in the world we live in. >> the riverside church is where? >> manhattan, west side. >> what was the atmosphere? >> dr. king had been speaking on the record about his opposition to the vietnam war.

he was a big name and he was an even bigger name at the time, benjamin scott a he had been out at the war and there were others. it was the young people. stokely carmichael holds pushing dr. king to be more vocal in his opposition. nobody wanted him to talk about it except for james, who was pushing him to talk about the vietnam war. everybody wanted him to stay out of step king took some time, and to this moment of high drama where he was going to give a public policy speech coming out against the war. he chose the location in manhattan. he was speaking to a group of clergy, the right place in the right city. he gives this speech about beyond vietnam. that america is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today and what he called a triple threat -- racism,

poverty, and militarization. >> was there video? >> there's audio of the entire speech but the video, people came and got some [indiscernible] there is no video of the entire speech. >> let's listen to some of the audio. >> i speak out against this war because i am disappointed with america. there could be no great disappointment where there is no great love. i am disappointed with our failure to be forthrightly with the triple evil of racism, economic exploitation, and militarization. we are presently moving down a dead end road that lead to

national disaster. it is time for all people to call upon america to come back home. god has a way of standing before the nation and it seems that [indiscernible] you are too arrogant. >> who got mad at him because of the speech? >> every body. the next day, the media turns on him. >> why? >> they did not see what they saw as his arrogance that he was sent america is the greatest purveyor of arrogance. they said we have given you like to talk about civil rights but not licensed to talk about national policy.

they said we did not give you the right to talk about federal spending. martin was saying the war is the enemy of the poor. basically, martin had gotten too big for his britches and moved out of talking just about civil rights and people do not want to hear it. we're not talking about fox news, we're talking about the liberal media. when you read in death of the king, what the new york times said about him and "the washington post" said about him, it is embarrassing and shameful. all of these years later to read what these publications said. every major newspaper came after him the next day. the media turns to him first and

then the white house. he and johnson work together. the white house turned on him. and white america had turned on him. 75% of the american people thought he was irrelevant in the last year of his life. inside a black america, almost 60% of black people thought he was person non grata. the last year of his life, the media turns on him among the white house, white folks, black folk, the naacp came out publicly against him. the urban league came out against him. powell junior blasted him publicly. ralph, the only black nobel laureate comes out publicly against him. he is on the board of the naacp. the naacp passed a resolution to condemn dr. king.

ralph saw it before it went out and he toughened the language. it was not tough enough for him against dr. king. he is even tougher on dr. king. a nobel laureate like dr. king was against a war but a peace prize recipient is going against him and i cannot quote on c-span what is in the book, what thurgood marshall, i cannot even use the language what thurgood marshall said and felt about dr. king. >> that was on the year when he was on the supreme court. i made a note, what was it that thurgood marshall disliked? >> he did not like his strategy, his style. there were a lot of negroes uncomfortable with martin being in people's faces with the marches. the elite negroes. martin was born in an upper-middle-class family. he said i choose to side with the port and with the underprivileged. a lot of bourgeois elite who said you have gone into phd and from the right family, act more well behaved and stucco that marching and protesting. for the elite, he was always a

step. thurgood marshall also complained about the fact that martin, do the work in the streets and created a bunch of lawsuits and other issues that the naacp had to deal with. he is causing all this trouble. there's a line i will not quote of the ugly stuff marshall said. this is ugly enough. imagine thurgood marshall saying of dr. king, "he is a boy on a man's body." that is the kind of hate he had coming out of him. inside of his own organization, he cannot get support. >> we did the last interview with stokely carmichael and it was 1998 and was dying at the time. i did it up in harlem.

the reason i bring it up is in your book you talk about stokely carmichael. a lot of other blacks at the time started to differ with dr. king. let's watch a little bit of this. [video clip] >> dr. martin luther king occupied the center of the stage, no question about it. but there were areas where in fact, where there was progress, those areas were not making progress anymore. for example, freedom now, once they saw the problems, it doesn't exactly serve them. one of the reasons was to bring more precision to the movement,

it came to clarify number one that dr. king king was loved and admired and respected by all of us, nonviolence was a principal for him and for him alone. >> there is the answer right there. there's a wonderful book out about stokely carmichael. a great book. glad to see him get the respect he deserved. dr. king loved stokely. they disagreed on tactics.

for dr. king, black power was a wonderful slogan but not a tactic. it was stokely that was pushing martin to be more vocal against the war. they got to speaking in a variety of places around the country and stokely came to ebenezer, martin's church and listen to him preach. there was a love but they disagree on tactics. >> another person you write about is ralph abernathy. here's an interview we did in 1989. i want you to explain this one. [video clip] >> always trying to ignore and rewrite history. if you go to the king center, on the marches and demonstrations, and if you go to the atlanta international airport, you see pictures of me at martin marching together at somebody

has cropped me off. they have decided i am not going to feel my rightful place in history. >> that is talking about the family the prior in your book, you talk about the disagreements the two had. what was the relationship and what did they disagree about? >> ralph was his dear friend. he was the last person to introduce a when he gave a speech. he gave them a wonderful introduction. they were deeply abiding friends. yet, from my research and the works of others have done, i cannot speak for them, there is a sense and some of the work that ralph had a bit of an ego.

and at times, he suffered a bit of -- i do not want to be too strong, but maybe slight jealousy. >> what about the nobel prize story? >> martin was getting more exposure. it underscores that ralph thought he was getting cut out. they go to sweden for the nobel peace prize. the acceptance that martin had received. they are leaving the hotel. the motorcade is lined up and dr. king and his family and aides and are all traveling to sweden for the ceremony. they come out to get into the car and dr. king and mrs. king

went to get into this particular car. ralph followed them with his wife. and the chief of protocol said to him, this car is for dr. king and ralph said, i am with him. he said i understand, but this is for dr. king. ralph stood there and argued and protested with the chief of protocol. dr. king had to say to ralph, "ralph, ralph." ralph got into the car but his jaw was tight for the rest of the day. dr. king wanted to give all the money to the movement and he did. ralph's jaw was tightened again but he got the money should be split between the kings and him. i do not want to take anything away from the courageous life that ralph lived and dr. king called him his dear friend. that is dr. king's characterization. none of us are perfect.

there are some good in the worst of us. ralph had, it seemed, some issues with the fact that dr. king was getting more exposure. >> clarence jones, in 2013 -- before we run the clip, who is the? >> a a young lawyer. dr. king recruited him to work with him. he paid a courtesy of going to his house in california to recruit him to work for the movement. clarence did not fancy the idea. dr. king said i am preaching tomorrow, why don't you go hear me preach. he laid in on him. he laid in on him with a sermon that talked about elite negroes who do not want to give back to the movement. clarence eventually [indiscernible] he snuck out the letter from the birmingham jail. clarence is the young man who snuck those notes out of the prison in his pocket, in his

underwear and socks, as snuck it out of the prison and got it published. one of the great writings that king ever did. clarence encouraged him as nothing out. >> dr. king would be how old? >> 85. >> clarence jones. [video clip] >> in a speech of 1967, dr. king said "we suffer from a kind of spirit that is in contrast to our psychological abundance and will learn to swim the season like fish and fly the airline first and will not learned the simple art of walking the earth like brothers." the legacy of dr. king is committed to nonviolence is unequivocal and unambiguous. >> you have a great library here. clarence is the one who dr. king signed to write to be beyond the vietnam speech. clarence, being the lawyer he is, gives him a speech that

basically said on the one hand this and on the other hand this. dr. king read the speech and said what is this? you are giving me a brief on the one hand and the other hand and that's not what i wanted. he took the assignment away from clarence jones and gave it to vincent harding, his neighbor and gave the assignment to vincent harding. he took responsibility of writing it. he died a few months ago. >> how hard was it for you to rip the cover off of the onion? there's a lot of negative about what was going on. >> i go back to these three principal biographers who i

cannot thank enough. the work to make it easier for him it was to write a book about king. i wanted to focus on this last year. there are so many layers. i wanted this book to be a historical novel. historically accurate and at the back of the book, all types of pages of endnotes and see the resource material i used to write the text. i wanted to write it -- i worked with dr. rich to give me the texture to make it read like a page turning novel so people can follow it. there were a lot of layers. we had to look at the last year

and figure out what we thought were the high point. the significant points to give a give a sense of the hell and hate coming at him. you cannot talk about his life linearly. this bullet that he knows is out there with his name on it but there are significant flashback scenes to tie into the last year. >> the nonviolence, the civil rights and vietnam war. here is some clip. i want you to explain this in a second. [video clip] >> people do not know, it is really hard. i am not the only one. you have to cook the children pinto beans.

they do not know what it is to get a good meal. >> i want you to know that you have my moral support. i am going to be praying for you and coming back to see you at we are going to be demanding when we go to washington that something be done and done immediately about these conditions. >> the poor people's campaign was what? >> most everybody disagreed again. in the last year's life, he knows death is in his face and he knows his time is limited. >> why does he know it is limited? >> he feels it. he just knew. he knew the time was coming. everybody thought about the mountaintop speech before he died. i may not get there with you but prior to that last night for

many, many months, he knew that his time was limited. he was working aggressively on the people's campaign off the ground. we think of occupy today in new york city. he was going to be the original occupy that keeps coming to washington. he was going to set up a tent city, that footage you saw was him on his campaign to sign up volunteers to recruit people to come to washington to live in this tent city they were calling resurrection city. they were going to camp out in these tend to live there on the national mall until they embarrass congress to do something about poverty. lyndon johnson had called for a war on poverty but in case on a war in vietnam war. the resources were being

squandered. he wanted to force congress and embarrass them to do something immediately about the issue of poverty. his heart is broken by the conditions. he broke out in tears. the best research i've seen on this suggests there were two times we see king crying in public, the visit to mississippi to see how these black folks are living at the other is the day he gave the eulogy with the four little girls killed. that trip really broke his heart. >> you talked about living in a trailer in indiana and nine kids in the family. >> nine plus me, 10 kids. my mom, my dad, a grandmother. 13 people and a three-bedroom trailer. >> what was it like?

>> tight. a lot of love in my family. conditions were very difficult. i have great respect and admiration for my parents who got us through that period. it makes me appreciate more now of my faith and family and friends and the blessings i have. i come from humble beginnings. i try to live every day to the fullest i recognize there are other people who are still in these conditions. that is why i spent so much time with a poverty tour. i think poverty is threatening our democracy and poverty is a matter of national security. with kink here now, he would have a serious critique of this government on the same three -- racism, poverty, and militarism.

poverty has to be the defining issue. we are getting a bunch of lip service. >> when you appeared on this network a lot, and you appeared on here in 2012, before the second election. i want to catch up with this and ask you a lot of questions about what you said then. [video clip] >> three times now,

african-americans have supported the president. we have moved the goalposts three times. if you get -- if he gets the second term and all the hopes of black people have riding on him to deliver and the first two years of a second term, before he becomes a lame duck, what are we going to say? you have to talk about accountability for every president. republican, democrat, black, white. it is not about accommodation, it's about accountability. >> a couple of years since you were there. what do you think now? >> it is still about accountability. i've said it before. there are people mad about me and challenge me including the white house. the data is going to indicate. go to the kerwin institute, it is going to show that black people lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category.

it is not to say it's all the president's fault the president have to be held accountable and push a you have to make demands. black people to some degree have been sold for rental to the president, they noticed catching so much hell, they have not wanted to make things more difficult. by being to differential and making no demands, we have lost ground. that's not what we want either. >> if martin luther king was here today, what would you think about barack obama? >> he would've campaigned and voted for him. the best parallel i could come up with it the close king got to a black president was the first black mayor of a major american city. he went to cleveland many times to campaign for the mayor who won. his victory was at the sheraton hotel and the mayor goes down to king's room and tells him when i win, i want to call you on the stage. carl stokes went down and won but never called dr. king. carl stokes decided it will be way too dangerous to be seen with dr. king. this is another example of how toxic king had become. they do not want to be seen in a picture with him. carl stokes crushed dr. king when he refused to be seen after all the campaigning king did. he would have voted for barack obama as celebrated his election and reelection as would've been

his chief critic. you cannot tell me if king were living that he would let obama go six years without any critique of not being a major public address on poverty. he did in december but that was six years into his presidency. and all the wars we have been engaged in a king never would've been silent about that. >> let's go to the end for a minute so you can explain how you dealt with this. this is video of the lorraine motel, where is it? >> it is in memphis at it as a part of the national civil rights museum. i would encourage you to see it. it is completely renovated. it is in memphis. site of lorraine motel where king was assassinated. it is sacred space. even if i'm there for two hours, i go by the sacred place. just to pay homage. >> a different angle you see from the video and you will see richard.

let's watch. [video clip] >> everybody leaves and go to their rooms. king stepped out onto the balcony and he is talking down to the courtyard below, who was >> everybody leaves and go to their rooms. king stepped out onto the balcony and he is talking down to the courtyard below, who was introducing him to the musician who will play that night. here's a musician from chicago. dr. king said, i want you to play my favorite song. that is what you are hearing right now. and dan said, i will play it and i will play it real pretty. and in the silence was cracked by a gunshot. that was at 6:01 p.m. was shot and he fell backward. his feet were hanging off of the action. people started screaming at rushed up the stairs. the famous photograph was in response to police, who on this fire station department came and

said, where the shots coming from? the point is to the building which was the original rooming house. >> in your book, you talk about the relationship between jesse jackson and he mentioned he was there that night and andy young, was he there that night? >> andy was there that night. he had left to go somewhere. >> he started accusing jesse jackson of doing his own thing and again, different planes. how close were they? >> king loved jesse and was happy to have him as part of his staff. jesse was not just articulate but eloquent a young and

handsome. people loved to hear him speak and he doing great work in chicago. king was happy to have him in his inner circle. king called his whole team a team a wild horses. there's one story where king is having some pretty choice words with jesse and jesse was not the only were -- only one. he will sense a pretty stern terms to jesse and not about you and you doing your own thing. if that's what you want to do, get out of here. if you want to be with me, let's focus on the work that needs to be done. there were a number of folks on

his team that did not agree with him on his assessment against the war in vietnam an issue of poverty. people had different agendas. king called them a team a wild horses. >> and a reference of him being depressed and being exhausted and being angry and then there's a moment where he wanted coretta scott king to be as a wife more submissive. what was that about? >> for the entire era, patriarchy was out of control. there was sexism in the movement. there was not a single woman who got to speak at the march on washington. dorothy height, she did not get a chance to speak. not a single woman spoke.

sexism was alive and well then. and martin, coretta was interested in doing more and getting more involved a given more speeches. she was very good they did on a number of occasions. the traditional man of that era, martin did not want to hurt is more involved. >> what you see about coretta scott king that the average person do not see? >> most of us regard her as a woman with great fortitude and strength and dignity and a wonderful spirit. just full of humanity and love of humanity. i remember asking her one-time, one of the great joys of my life was whenever people ask at want to see the best of my work, we have a tape of my best moments on my show. the one that kills people the most is we close with this, i was in ebenezer church one day interviewing mrs. king in atlanta about her husband. i do know what possessed me to say this on camera but i lean forward and say, i hope i will

not get in trouble for asking, can i ask why after all these years since dr. king's passing you never got married? the crowds like, they like -- oohh, did he ask coretta scott king that? she shifted in her seat and said well, tavis, let me ask you, why are you married? the place erupted. that last life track went on for three minutes. i blushed. who knew she did comedy? she busted my chops so good. >> did you answer? >> no. she gave me an answer action bust my chops a little bit. her answer was that martin was her life partner and god had given her the vocation of working with him is used to on that mission whether martin is here or not.

>> is a little bit of coretta scott king and she died in -- >> and the bush administration. >> i think a lot of people do not know me and they think i am a cold and uncaring person. that -- i was just martin's wife. i try to be my best self and be satisfied with that. and if people do not know it, maybe they will eventually know it. it does not bother me. >> this probably is not there right now but you deal in the book with his affairs. why did you do it? >> dr. king was a public servant, not a perfect servant. we are all human and divine. you cannot write about someone and try to sugarcoat what their shortcomings were. i think of all the books written about him he handle it responsibly.

there's nothing tawdry in the text. under do not go into detail so i was not there. some of these allegations are just that. the fbi was good about putting out a lot of lives. i was not around to know where the truth started. and so, there are couple pages in the book where it comes up. i think the data, the research underscores that it is hard to ignore this one in georgia who was a kentucky state senator who wrote a book after dr. king's passing who was with him at the

lorraine motel in today's prior to his death. she wrote a book and she talked about an affair. and so, that's one bit of information. >> she is still alive. here she is a couple of years ago. >> i need to be empowered. >> it puts her on the front line of the civil rights movement and put her with dr. king who became her lover. >> i write for historical purposes that after i am gone that there would be a history of what i did and how i did it so people wouldn't know the truth. >> the written truth about them take them from their meeting when she organized the civil rights march to his death as she was with him in memphis as i him moments after he was shot. >> that is from kentucky public

television. do you believe it? >> i was not there so i do not know what to believe. she is respected and regarded as the first black woman state senator in kentucky. i have met her a number of times and talked to her. i cannot speak to it. this we do know, in the last year for his life, she tried to exercise herself of all types of demons that he is trying to wrestle with including the demon of fear and hesitation. there is a moment after coretta had surgery where he had a conversation with her. essentially a confessional and i think he wanted to make sure because he was tie was limited that the things he had done and was not proud. getting those things out of his spirit. we know that to be true because her friends, her family and friends were very upset with

martin because they thought he had chosen the wrong time. he did not know if she was going to make the surgery. when she was recuperating, he made a confessional. his point was she lived and i have to get this out now that she is survived the surgery and i do not know she was going to make it through. and so, that is the part of his journey. it shows he is human and we all make mistakes and you know, quite a story. >> a question on the book itself. there are no footnotes but have a bibliography in the back. >> i am not a historian and i do not want it to read like a history text. i cannot touch anything that the other biographers have done. it is a book that focuses on the last year. i wanted everyday people to be able to access a book that is easily readable with a fast-paced that puts you in real time from april 4, 1967 to april 4, 1968 when he died. i want you to walk the journey so you can be in the space.

we call him doc. his friends and colleagues called him doc. you are with him every step of the way so you see and feel at have to deal with everything he felt and saw and had to deal with as you are into the story. it is like a movie. it isn't easy reading. i do not want to put anything in the book that was historically inaccurate so all of my source material is in the back. it is annotated -- if it was annotated, it would've slowed it down. >> you are 11 years older than he was when he died. >> i thought about it many times. i just turned 50 a few years ago. >> that is why i said 11. >> i was just about to say i

turned 50 and when i was on the eve of turning 40, on the night i was turning 40, i had a major anxiety attack. i felt like i cannot breathe and i was choking, i had the most horrible time about to turn 40. i do not know how i got through the night. the point is, it was the most difficult night i have ever had in my life. i thought i was going to die that night. i cannot understand, i had never had an anxiety attack. i got past it. what hit me in my self reflection was i was feeling guilty about the fact the guy who saved my life and 12, my hero, i was about to live longer than he had and i cannot make since i was about to live longer than dr. king. why am i still here in dr. king is gone? what is it that i have done?

nothing i have done but it is mercy and grace. why am i here at 40 and dr. king was dead at 39? it took me a few days to get through it. i processed it it went around my work. i am glad i got around to honor dr. king. >> this is a lighter moment. people learned you are coming today, i had a number people ask me a question about you, what do

you think it was? >> i can't imagine. i cannot possibly imagine. maybe something about music, dancing -- >> almost a person -- [laughter] let's watch an excerpt. >> not an excerpt. come on, brian. >> the most important moment. with dr. king he smiling? >> he would probably be busting my chops. >> let's watch. [video clip] ♪ i would love you like a baby ♪ [applause] [laughter] >> what in the world was going

on? >> that is not a bad fox trot. i decided i would do one last foolish, ridiculous, stupid thing. i got voted off after a couple of weeks now because of my dancing but there were people who said on the show when were scores than i did. my scores were good. i think whether the fan saw, every week they do a package -- i'm sure you do not watch it, you are too busy reading books. you are too busy reading the books and enjoy your life with your beautiful bride.

they came after me three times asking me to do it and i said, no. they told me to do a meeting. i got voted off because the audience saw with these packages, i was so busy on the book tour. you cannot perfect the fox trot or anything, it takes time. i have always loved the art of dance and even more so now because it is really hard. you are a great interview because you did not start yesterday. i've been on my tv show for years and i'm still trying to get better. my competitors have 35-40 hours of rehearsal and i am on the road every day and we had 8-10 hours a week to hers. i think the audience realized he has to finish his book tour because he was never perfect this. >> on the basis of everything you have done, how much reaction did you get from this? >> probably more from this. 20 million viewers, it is a lot. what people saw in this book is dr. king had textures and colors to him as well. he was a prankster, jokester. a pillow fight the last day of his life. they were jumping up and down the beds like boys. pillow fighting. he loved music. there's a great story that he

went to see ike and tina. a great story of him on the tonight show tonight harry belafonte was guest hosting. i love the story. dr. king was in atlanta and harry belafonte was guest hosting and king leaves atlanta late and an -- lands in new york late. he said i cannot be late.

the cab driver starts drive like a bat out of hell and is running through red lights. dr. king goes, i do want to arrive, i would much rather arrive late and than be the late dr. king. he told it on the show. he was a funny, funny guy. harry belafonte got him to tell the story and it killed the audience. a rare moment of levity. he had textures. he may have been on "dancing with the stars." >> aretha franklin. r-e-s-p-e-c-t. >> she raised more money on the movement to any other artist. all kind of folks, but aretha franklin did a lot of fundraising. >> were any of those people mad

at him about the vietnam speech? >> many of them stood behind him. especially harry belafonte, his friend to the end. >> what one thing in this book do you think is the most important thing? >> at all of the tapes of king, not what time is he caught on tape contesting the humanity of anybody, all with love. >> our guest has been tavis smiley and you can watch them on pbs every night at 11:00. >> most places. >> name of the book is "death of a king: the real story of dr. martin luther king jr.'s final year." thank you very much. >> thank you, brian. >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments, visit us at q-and-a.org. "q&a" programs are also available as c-span podcasts. [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span city to the new pv in american history tv on the road, traveling to american cities. next week we travel to the medicine, wisconsin. >> it is a glorious service, the service for the country. the call for every citizen. it is a known endings rubble.

>> he is probably the most important political figure in wisconsin history. one of the most important in the of the 20th century. hewas a reforming governor defined the term progressivism. he was a united states senator recognized by his peers in the 1950's as on of the five greatest senators. he was an opponent of world war i, stood his ground advocating for free speech. above all he was about the people. after the civil war america changed radically from a nation of small farmers and small producers and small manufacturers