White House Pays Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take our viewers to the White House, where in introducing the president, Coretta Scott King and others have unveiled a portrait of the late Dr. King on this, the day that America remembers the great civil rights leader, who was gunned down in 1968. There you see President Bush. He's just been introduced by Coretta Scott King.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mrs. King, thanks for this beautiful portrait. I can't wait to hang it.</s>WOODRUFF: President Bush, signing a proclamation on this day when we observe the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You see him there at the White House East Room, accompanying Coretta Scott King, the widow of the great civil rights leader. Major Garrett, the president spoke with some passion.</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I think it's worth pointing out, the singular nature of that picture we just saw, the president with Coretta Scott King, who really is the first lady of the American civil rights movement. So much of the civil rights movement takes its cue from her moral authority. And the president sitting with her, even giving her a small peck on the cheek, it's a remarkable photograph here at the White House -- a Republican president coming after Bill Clinton, very, very popular Democratic president, clearly, throughout the black community. This is all part of a very concerted White House effort, one that springs, we are told, very naturally, from the president's own instincts, own desires, to talk in a different way than Republicans historically have to the black community in America. As I said earlier before, we went to the ceremony, the president and the first lady, as only they can, doing everything they can on this day to make sure this is not only a holiday -- a day not only of remembrance, but a day celebrating all that Martin Luther King stood for and still stands for through his legacy today.</s>WOODRUFF: I think he said it all, Major, when he said America is a better place because Martin Luther King Jr. was here. All right, Major Garrett joining us from the White House.