>> olin johnston and strom thurmon were the two u.s. senators and albert watson was the congressman. in each case they all responded -- strom thurmon was the most honest. he said "politically infeasible to do this." >> because of color? >> because of color at that time. olin johnston offered to appoint me to the marine academy. i wasn't interested. i never heard from albert watson. my mother to this day believes strom thurmon played a role, because every single milestone in my life until he died i would get a note from strom thurmon. >> you go to the academy, and you switched your uniform. >> i sure did. >> the united states marines. >> i knew two things when i graduated from high school. and they were both negative. under no circumstances was i going to go into the marine corps. you have to remember, i lived in columbia, south carolina, an hour, hour and a half drive from island. and they were both negative. where else would they go? the would go to columbia, swimming pool where i worked. i got to see marines up close and personal. the