My grandfather told me he was involved in choreographing this momentous day in civil rights. He claims to have been one of a couple of men that served as go-betweens all night long the night before between George Wallace and Bobby Kennedy in Birmingham as they came to an agreement as to exactly how everything would play out. He was very believable as he told me about it and I know he was a close friend and worked for Wallace. If that is true it would mean the tension at that moment wasn't real but staged - at least to a degree. Watching the footage I do believe Wallace had no intention of continuing to block those poor young people.
