Dakota Incident (1956)

Ward Bond: Sen. Blakely

Photos 

Quotes 

• Sen. Blakely : In a small way, I'm trying to unite our people: the Indians and the white.

  Amy Clarke : I hope your scalp is glued on tight. Have you ever met an Indian face to face?

  Sen. Blakely : Only in the literary sense. You see, I happen to be a student of anthropology.

  Amy Clarke : So was General Custer. It didn't help him much.

• Sen. Blakely : Not all savages paint their faces and wear eagle feathers!

• [Senator Blakely attempts to reason with hidden Indians] 

  Sen. Blakely : Indian brothers, hear me! I extend my hand to you in friendship. Soon I go to the tents of your many chiefs to speak of peace and smoke the pipe of everlasting brotherhood. The promises I make you will be honored. If you allow us to go in peace and safety, then my mission can be fulfilled. And once again, you can lay aside your war drums and return to your families, raise your corn and hunt your buffalo. Tell me that my words are not blown away with the wind. Tell me that I am heard. Tell me that you will leave here now in peace and go to your villages. Speak to me, Indian brothers, so that I may know, so that...

  [an arrow strikes the Senator in the stomach] 

  Sen. Blakely : You were right, Miss Clarke. Words aren't enough. But perhaps they just didn't understand.

• Mark Chester : What do them savages know about God? What kind of religion does an Indian got?

  Sen. Blakely : Well, among other things, the religion of taking only from the land which is necessary for his survival. The Indian takes his food from the small end of the Horn of Plenty. The white man spills his from the large end and leaves it to rot upon the ground.

  Minstrel : Just like a politician spilling words out of the big end. Senator, your Horn of Plenty is the same at both ends... no small end; none at all.

• Sen. Blakely : These things are bound to happen. Until we can find a common ground, a common language...

  Amy Clarke : You can't kill an Indian with words.

  Sen. Blakely : Never underestimate the power of words, Miss Clarke. It only takes one word to start a war: charge! There's also a single word to end one: armistice.

  Amy Clarke : Have you found the words to end this one?

• Sen. Blakely : How could you hate a man so much?

  John Banner : I didn't hate him. He was my brother!