This Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the University of Akron celebrated by having an activities fair where several on and off- campus organizations representing social justice, acceptance, and other tenets of Dr. King's stances. While the University of Akron celebrates that way this year, many Americans take the time to volunteer in their community as well as reflect on Dr. King's messages. While the author could easily pick a movie from the sixties with Sidney Poiter that reflects Dr. King's philosophies, there is a movie from the late forties that does relate to our current circumstances and calls for economic, political, and social justice. The film is 1948's State Of The Union.
The film stars Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Angela Lansbury, Adolphe Menjou, and Van Johnson. The film starts out with Kay Thorndike (Lansbury) visiting her father Sam (Lewis Stone) on his deathbed, and he tells her that she must take over his newspaper business, that he raised her as he would a son, only to have her turn out better than one, and he knows she will make heads roll. She leaves his bedside with this message and her father's cane, and Sam Thorndike commits suicide. We then see Kay take her father's place as a newspaper magnate. Not that it matters, but Kay, and the rest of the character cast are Republican. We then see Kay talking to her friend and strategist, Jim Conover(Menjou) about a man she saw on a Newsweek cover who she feels is the perfect Republican presidential candidate, Grant Matthews(Tracy), who also happens to be her lover. We meet Grant, who is an airplane tycoon this side of Richard Branson but as regular as your next door neighbor, but is a popular orator. Kay, Jim, and their campaign manager, 'Spike' McManus(Johnson) persuade him to run. Thorndike and Conover also persuade him to have his wife, Mary( Hepburn), make a national introductory tour with him. Mary comes to Washington and tells Conover that she hopes that Grant can speak honestly without compromise, because it is one of the better parts of him. Conover reassures her that that won't happen, even though he then goes on the phone and talks about buying and selling a candidate for the Grand Ole Party. Mary knows about Grant's affair, but for the sake of restoring his soul, she goes along for the tour with him and Spike. Grant continues his honest orations, but to the chagrin of Thorndike and Conover, who feel he is losing his chance for scoring a nomination. Conover meets him and Mary at a stop right after his makes a speech against corruption in union leadership, and right before he makes a speech against corruption in big business. For a second, Mary and Jim vie for his soul while Jim is in between meetings with different union leaders, as Mary wants him to continue preaching honesty and integrity while Jim wants him to tone it down so he can win the right support. Grant chooses the "right" support, and Jim takes Mary's spot as he points him to corrupt special interest arrangements. Will Grant fall in line with the same corruption he stands against? Will Mary let Grant know about her knowledge of his affair with Kay? Watch the movie and find out.
What does this film have to do with Dr. King? The film manages to speak truth to power in a contentious time in our history. The film came out right in the middle of the Joseph McCarthy/House of Un-American Activities Committee time, and tension was so high in Hollywood that Katharine Hepburn and Adolphe Menjou did not speak to each other at all outside of the camera, being polar opposites politically. The messages Grant orates about the diginity of the common individual, who deserves to be represented by a person who actually listens, understands, and does something about it actively still ring relevant to today, where the common individual is reclaiming dignity through nonviolent demonstrations. It is a shame that no modern Republican candidate is like Grant Matthews, but back then it meant different things and the times responded to were different as well. The film is not as well known nor received as other Frank Capra social drama and comedies, but it is relevant for our time and relevant for the holiday because it explores and asks questions regarding the state of our country and those chosen to represent us.
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