In today’s (19 May 2009) show of Larry King Live, the host switched places while three other interviewers asked him about his life as described in his new book My Remarkable Life.He yarned about getting his start as a radio presenter, the ups and downs of his family life and what it was like interviewing every US President since Richard Nixon.
At one point Anderson Cooper (the third interviewer for the hour) asked him about meeting Martin Luther King Jnr. Listen to their conversation:
COOPER: You wrote in the book about seeing Miami water fountains that said "colored" on it. And, actually, you knew Martin Luther King, Jr.
LARRY KING: Yes, I did. I interviewed him. And the first thing I did when I arrived in Miami was drink out of the "colored" water fountain. I had never seen that in New York -- I had read about it but couldn't believe it.
COOPER: And you were with Martin Luther King, Jr. One day when he wasn't admitted to a -- a hotel, is that true?
LARRY KING: Yes, a motel. They wouldn't let him in. He had a reservation. They wouldn't take the reservation. And he came out and sat on the porch. It was in Tallahassee.
And the owner of the motel -- the owner or manager came out and looked down. A lot of crowd gathered around.
And the owner said to him, what do you want, Dr. King? What do you want?
And he looked up and said, “My dignity.”
You never forget that.
Source: Larry King Live, Transcript, CNN, 19 May 2009.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: The two Kings and the cover of Larry’s new autobiography.