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And they came to my home.

I just will tell you --... I don't believe myself, that I'm telling you this --

I told them what they could do with the gold medal. And I told them, if they really liked Wagner -- and I like Wagner -- to go back immediately and tell Mr. Wagner not to make any public statement of this, because I would be forced to embarrass him, and them.

Well, all this was proving that I was what my critics believed about me -- a very implacable, arrogant, self-centered, egoistic --

I swear, I don't know what I would have said if they had offered me a bronze medal. Jesus.

And Whitney was a very, very popular, well-respected civil rights leader at the time. It took me a while to get back my old feelings about Whitney, but we did. I guess about a year. We did.

Edwin, you're embarrassing me, getting me to tell you these truths.

You know, it may have been that the controversy wasn't all that important. Damn! You know. Why would they think it could be resolved by a gold medal?

If it weren't important, they'd be wasting the tax payers' money. And if it were as important as I thought it was, it was a bribe.

Why do you think Whitney Young played this role?