Nelson Mandela's First Television Interview
Though his face is fuller than the man we've come to instantly recognize, there's no mistaking his thoughts and resolve. This televised interview of Nelson Mandela in 1961 is perhaps his first. "The police were hunting for him at the time, but African nationalists had arranged for me to meet him at his hideout; he is still underground," the ITN reporter Brian Widlake explains in voice over.
"The Africans require, want to franchise on the basis of one man, one vote," Mandela began the interview. "They want political independence."
The reporter asked him if it was possible for blacks to develop in the country without pushing out the Europeans.
"There is room for all the various races in this country," Mandela responded.
Mandela is currently in critical condition, and possibly on life support, at 94 years of age.
