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Interview with Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, December 3, 1983 in Parliament House, New Delhi, India.
I was the last American Video journalist to have interviewed Mrs. Gandhi. To this day I still have difficulty understanding why I was selected over such icons as Barbara Walters and McNeil and Lehrer. But I was! I would lie to think I was chosen because of my fame and erudition but it really boiled down to being in the right place at the right time and having the audacity to request the interview. Getting the interview was easy - getting to India was a daunting task. I raised $25,000 dollars (which covered 6 cases of electronic equipment, travel costs and hotel accommodations for 5 people, passports, visa, inter-India travel, food, cameras and archival materials of interviews done by Edward R. Morrow and Mrs. Gandhi's father, the 1st Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. (Contrary to popular thought Mrs. Gandhi was not the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi)
I not only interviewed Mrs. Gandhi but I met her assassin! He had been her bodyguard for 22 years but ended up killing her by shooting her in the back several times on Halloween day 1984. I remember him as a huge hulk of a man with beard and turban. He was well over 6 feet tall while Mrs. Gandhi was barely 5 feet tall. The assassin and his accomplice were hung after a quick trial.
Both of Mrs. Gandhi's two sons, Sanjay and Rajiv, became Prime Minister. One was also assassinated and the other died in a plane crash. Two days after Indira Gandhi was killed I spoke at a memorial service at the Indian Consulate in New York. I was also interviewed by Indian Newspapers and on 2 Indian TV networks. Not bad for a Jewish girl from Cleveland!
Libba HaLavey (left) with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, December 3, 1983
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Segment 1 (mp3 10.7MB)
Segment 2 (mp3 8.2MB)
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Note from the Webmaster: Due to limitations of the source tape, There is a small gap
(~45 seconds) towards the end of the second segment.
We are attempting to remedy this using a secondary source.
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