The Cavalcade of America presented by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through
chemistry.
To those American men and women who labored to build a great and free and united nation,
to those who labor still for a national unity that will stand strong before all the world,
this performance of the Cavalcade of America is dedicated.
In the Cavalcade Theater, we present Henry Clay of Kentucky, an original radio drama
by Garrett Porter, a story of the great American statesman who said, I'd rather be right than
president.
Our star from the Cavalcade players is Ray Collins, who will play the part of Henry Clay.
Our Cavalcade Orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Voorhees.
DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Henry Clay
of Kentucky on the Cavalcade.
Thunder and lightning one night in the year 1849, and a swaying carriage rattling over
the twisting gutted roads of the National Pike, bound through the valley of the Cumberland.
The driver crouching, lashing his whip over the backs of his team and behind him, huddled
in a coach blanket in the rear of the carriage of pinch faced old man, hollow eyed and haggard.
He is Henry Clay of Kentucky.
Faster Tom, faster.
Yes sir, my Henry.
Get up here.
Don't like to go no faster over these roads.
Not too fast.
So little time to get there before the storm breaks.
Yeah sir.
Listen to that.
Sure going to be a deluge ain't it?
Not if I can help it.
What's that Mars Henry?
Never mind Tom, keep after those horses.
You stay kibbit up like I promised Miss Lucretia.
Don't worry about me Tom, we've got to make that train in Cumberland 50 miles.
Tom look out!
Whoa, whoa now, whoa!
Tom.
Mars Henry, Mars Henry, where is you?
Here, thrown clear of it.
You have to get out of here.
You hurt Tom?
No sir, I'm all right Mars Henry.
How about you?
A little bruise maybe, that's about all.
Look at that wheel.
Sure is busted to bits all right.
Maybe we can get some help in that cabin over there.
Yeah, I'm afraid.
What's that?
Listen.
Sounds like a fight and a good one.
Sure does.
You stable the team, get yourself some supper.
Yes sir Mars Henry.
How do you like that one?
Come on you Yankee.
Gentlemen please.
Take it.
Gentlemen stop I beg you.
You talk like a loose leash.
All many of you have.
No, that's what you talk like.
Sir please stop them for me.
Come over here now.
Give it to your again.
Have you had enough sir?
Enough I'll show you.
Please gentlemen.
This is a public place.
Can't you see you're upsetting our landlady.
What's the fight about?
This Tariel thinks we fought in Mexico so the south can run the country.
That's a Yankee slur.
I merely suggested we could very well get along without the north.
Yeah and the north would be glad to get rid of the south.
Someday we'll see about that.
I came in here hoping someone would help me.
My carriage broke down.
It's very important that I get to Cumberland tonight.
Well I have a quote sir.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
You're a good man.
And I have a quote sir.
You're welcome to ride with me.
My name is George Johnson.
Thank you Mr. Johnson.
I should be much obliged.
You see I must catch the Cumberland train to Washington.
Sir my name is Frank Peabody.
If you prefer the company of a Yankee to a Tarheel I'd be glad to have you ride with me.
Thank you Mr. Peabody.
It's very kind of both of you.
My name is Henry Clay.
Henry Clay.
Mr. Clay I've heard of you and your compromising tricks.
The southerner with northern principles.
I'd advise you to go back to Kentucky.
Well, at least I can agree with this Yankee on that.
Good evening.
You'll have to excuse me too, sir.
The day of your halfway measures is over.
Good night, Mr. Clay.
Mr. Clay, I'm sorry, sir.
Why, for downright disgrace, they haven't got some respect,
at least for your years.
What's this country coming to?
Oh, that's all right, ma'am.
See what happens when men lose their reason.
There's no respect for anything.
Nothing left but violence.
Mr. Clay.
Huh? Well, ma'am?
Mr. Clay, I can help you get to Cumberland tonight.
I'll have my cousin James come over from the next farm,
and he'll drive you there.
Thank you, mistress.
I can only get to Washington while there's time for reason.
But when men listen to the thunder of their blood,
I'm afraid it deafens them to any voice that speaks of common sense.
Tom, looks like you'll have to find a place for my baggage in the forward car.
I'll take care of it, master. Don't you worry.
You'll find me in the fourth seat there with that gentleman.
Yes, sir.
And you'll give me the key to the front door?
Yes, sir.
Now, give me that key and I'll get it.
Thank you, sir.
You'll find me in the fourth seat there with that gentleman.
Yes, sir.
And I'll get it.
Now, give me that key and I'll get it.
Sit there with that gentleman.
Yes, sir.
Senator Cash.
Henry Clay.
What are you doing on this train?
I'm going back to the Senate.
I didn't know you were still in politics.
I heard you'd retired Ashland for good.
Well, Kentucky made a Cincinnati of me and
I had to leave my plow.
Legislature named me last week.
I left as soon as possible, the creature will follow me.
You find Congress changed, Senator.
There's a different tone to the argument now.
Voices are angrier.
Congress is divided.
There's no common ground between anti-slavery men like
Daniel Webster in the North and pro-slavery men like
John Calhoun in the South.
But we can't sit by and do nothing, Cass.
We can still reason, compromise.
Wish we could, Senator.
But it isn't as simple as it was at the time of the Missouri compromise.
What can you do with California and all this new territory in the Southwest?
Utah, New Mexico, Texas?
Oh, I'm sure we can satisfy both the North and the South in some way.
It's trouble either way, slave or free.
And how are you going to appease the North with the stricter
fugitive slave law the South demands?
And satisfy the South if you abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.
No, it's impossible.
It's all over.
This meeting in Nashville will prove it.
Huh? What meeting in Nashville?
I suppose you'd heard, sir.
The Southern delegates at a convene in Nashville to decide what they'll do.
But secession.
Calhoun is behind it, of course.
Secession?
We're on the brink of war.
I must see Calhoun at once before they close the door to reason.
Yes.
I'll begin with Calhoun.
Mr. Calhoun will see you now, Mr. Clay.
Thank you.
Glad to see you again, John.
I don't know whether I'm glad to see you or not, Henry.
Usually means a fight.
Well, John, I was pretty young when I was a war hawk.
I've learned since it's better to fight with words than with lives.
Lives?
Yeah, I'm thinking of them too.
That's why I believe the North and the South should part in peace.
But the Union, John, the Union!
That's over, Henry. The South can't endure this intolerable relationship with the North.
And Dan Webster knows it.
You'll compromise with me, Henry.
John, you and I have the flush of the same fever in our cheeks.
Consumption's one other thing beside old age we share in common.
Henry, you might as well understand I'm against you.
And so is Webster.
If I weren't, I'd be false to the South.
These new issues that divide us today can't be solved by sitting around and talking when it's the session that the South wants.
I can't believe we've forgotten the value of reason, John.
Its reason convinces me that the Union and the rights of the Southern states are no longer compatible.
That's my last word, Henry.
Very well, John.
Then here's mine.
As long as there's blood in my veins, I'll fight to preserve the Union.
Henry, the time has come to face facts.
There'll be no Union.
I haven't forgotten our Missouri compromise.
I fought as much as you did to save the Union.
But now, I know it can't be done.
I know it can't be done. Your Nashville convention, John, do you really mean to carry out this threat of secession?
It's more than a threat, sir.
It's the South's only hope.
You really shouldn't be out here on such a stormy night, Henry.
Oh, perhaps not, Lucretia.
But this is my first chance to see the foundation of this new monument to George Washington.
It looks firm, like Washington.
He was a rock, Lucretia.
The symbol of the foundation of our government.
Yes.
And this monument will be a symbol of our Union, too.
Not much of it now.
But I can imagine how it'll look when it's finished.
It should be something for men to see, from what you've already told me of it.
It took a war and years of trouble before they could agree on Washington and Union and all the rest.
They had to give and take.
The very Union was founded on compromise, Lucretia.
Henry, I wonder then...
Hmm? What, my dear?
Why you don't go see Daniel Webster?
Dan hasn't spoken to me nor I to him for nine years.
But aren't you refusing to compromise your own differences with Daniel Webster?
I wouldn't think of waiting on him, hat in hand.
Besides, Dan wouldn't compromise.
You mean you won't, Henry.
It would be a beginning.
It might, Lucretia.
Dan could help so much if he would, if I go to see him.
There. Good evening, Senator Clay.
I didn't expect to see you.
Oh, on a night like this.
Yes, it is a cold night, Mrs. Webster.
Won't you come in, Senator?
Thank you.
Is Senator in?
Why, I think he's at work in his study.
But I'll tell him you're here, Senator Clay.
You'd be so kind, Mrs. Webster.
You come in here where there's a warm fire and I'll tell Daniel you're here.
Hello, ma'am.
Daniel.
Yes, my dear.
Here's Senator Clay to see you.
Clay? Here?
Good evening, Dan.
Come in.
Come in, Henry.
Draw up a chair there.
Thank you, Dan.
I'll prepare you both some punch, Daniel.
Well, it's been a long time, Dan.
Eight years.
Well, Henry, I never expected to see you back in the Senate.
Well, Dan, the thing that brought me back was the same thing that brought me out in this snowstorm
to talk to you tonight.
I guess we've both known what that has been for 40 years.
Dan, we're both too old for the White House now to forget politics and talk frankly.
As for the party, well, younger men will take that over for us, won't they?
Henry, what's on your mind?
Dan, even if we have disagreed and fought each other,
there's always been one thing we've agreed on, the Union.
And now it's about to break up unless you and I compromise and make up
and together persuade other men to do the same.
Our careers are about done.
And I'd like to close mine by trying to settle these problems that threaten the Union.
Here are your hot drinks, gentlemen.
Thank you, my dear.
Excuse myself.
Compromise, huh?
You were always one for that, but I'm not so sure.
Oh, we've got to, Dan.
Any one of the issues piling up today can disrupt the Union.
I'm as aware of the danger as you, Senator.
But will my constituents accept compromise?
Will the South will either give up?
They'll divide men as they've divided us, Dan. They always will.
But the problem is to find an issue to unite them.
You and I agree on that, Henry.
Compromise is the essence of democracy, because democracy is a give and take,
surrendering differences and compromising for the sake of the Union.
It was in 1787. It is in Congress and every town meeting every day.
What compromise will work now? Where will we ever find one?
It seems to me the details are less important than the spirit of compromise, Dan.
Give each side bargains, and if there's reason left, they'll take it.
California free. Give the South an open chance at Utah and New Mexico.
Abolish the slave trade here in the district.
And give the South its fugitive slave law.
But it's the spirit that counts.
I think your plan should appeal to reasonable men, North and South, Henry.
Reasonable men? Yes, it should, as long as reason remains, Dan.
Must be a few reasonable men left.
You and I must make them see reason.
As long as the people prefer reason to violence, the Union is safe.
Then to the Union, Henry.
To the Union, Dan.
The Senate must realize that with the South, sir, the question is one of interest.
With the North, sentiment.
On neither side would there be any sacrifice of principle.
I see no safety for our country save in a Union of hearts, which must come by mutual concession.
I present the olive branch to both parts of this distracted and unhappy country.
War and dissolution of the Union are identical.
I ask for the floor.
The Senator from South Carolina, John C. Calhoun.
Sir, whatever the plan of the Senator from Kentucky, it will not save the Union.
This Union has already begun.
If this agitation goes on, nothing will be left to hold the states together except for us.
If you cannot agree to settle our differences on the broad principle of justice to the South, say so.
And let us agree to separate and part in peace.
The Senate is not going to be able to do anything about it.
Mr. Henry?
Yes, Tom?
Are you all done for the day, Mr. Henry?
No, Tom, it's just a short recess. I'll have to go back in the Senate for a few minutes.
Please, Mars Henry, why don't you all just quit for a while and take yourself a rest?
Not yet, Tom, not yet for a while.
But, Mars, you've been in there since last winter. It is summer.
Why does you all do it, Mars?
Well, Tom, so people from Kentucky say, and New England and Carolina and California and so forth,
can live together and work together in this land of ours.
Is that what you're all fighting about, Mars?
Well, white men and black Tom, slave and free, all have to get along together somehow.
Oh, then I is powerful glad.
Why, Tom?
Glad that I ain't got nothing to do with all that in there.
All right, Tom, I've got to get back to my seat.
Mr. Lucretia say you already must have talked at least 70 times.
More like seven times 70, Tom.
But I've got to make one more speech.
One more, Tom, and then perhaps we'll go home.
Sir, this Senate has considered the compromise measures of the cell of Kentucky for months on end.
But who favors it?
Gentlemen from the South do not like it.
We of the North do not like it.
We said and we still say that slavery must and shall be abolished in all the territories of the United States.
With that demand, there can be no compromise.
There can be no compromise.
Let me remind the Senate that the Constitution guarantees slavery in the territories.
The Senator cries the Constitution.
The South will learn that the higher law of the Constitution, slavery must and shall be abolished.
The Senator from Ohio has the floor.
We do not fear this stale cry of disunion, sir.
Shall we give way to this outcry of the South?
Never, never, never.
We have conceded point after point, principle after principle, until guilty and shamed demand that we stop.
Let the Southern states go.
I ask for the floor.
I ask for the floor.
Senator from Kentucky, sir.
I ask the Senate to pause at the edge of the precipice before that disastrous leap is taken.
As the last blessing which heaven can bestow upon me on this earth,
I implore that if the direful and sad event of the dissolution of the Union shall happen,
I may not survive to behold it.
Sir, this Union will put us at the mercy of any foreign tyrant who would cross our every liberty.
Gentlemen, you speak of the North or of the South.
Sir, I allegiance to no South, no North, no East, no West.
I allegiance only to the Union.
There you are, my dear. Is Miss Lucretia right in here?
Thank you, Tom.
There, there.
Henry, let me ride backwards.
Oh, please, Lucretia. I want to be able to look back at Washington.
Sure you're comfortable, dear?
Oh, I think so.
Well, my dear, the extremists on either side are satisfied,
but with the compromise, for a little while at least, the Union is safe.
I'm glad, Henry, that you won.
Well, we're trying reason for a while longer back there in Washington, and not force, not yet.
My dear, I think you did everything any one man could for what you believed in.
Short of dying for it, Lucretia.
Henry.
Man will die for what he believes, provided it's deep enough,
and if it is, he just won't compromise.
I guess that's what makes him a man.
You know, Lucretia, they've always cheered at me as a compromiser,
but there's one thing I never have nor never will compromise,
and that is my own belief in the Union of these states.
It was Abraham Lincoln who rode the whirlwind that Henry Clay tried to avert,
and who summed up his lifelong struggle to preserve our Union with these words.
He loved his country partly because it was his own country,
and mostly because it was a free country.
Within a decade after Clay's death, the nation was in the midst of a civil war to prove in blood
the principles he sought to establish.
Henry Clay, the great compromiser, takes his place in the cavalcade of America.
Music
Our thanks to Ray Collins and the cavalcade players for their performance of Henry Clay of Kentucky.
Next week, the cavalcade of America, in response to many requests,
will present a repeat performance of Abraham Lincoln, The War Years.
This radio drama, especially written by the distinguished American playwright Robert E. Sherwood,
based on Carl Sandberg's celebrated life of Lincoln.
Once more, in his most inspiring role, Raymond Massey will be back with the cavalcade players
and the character of Abraham Lincoln on our birthday tribute to the great emancipator.
We hope you'll join us.
Music
From February 7th to 13th is Boy Scout Week.
At this time, DuPont joins the nation in honoring more than 9 million boys and men
of this great American organization and salutes its 31 years of service to the youth of our country.
On the cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from DuPont.
Applause