>> 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. where else would they go? they would go to columbia, the swimming pool where i worked. i got to see marines up close and personal. they were crazy. and i did not