The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. MacNeil: Good evening. I'm Robert MacNeil in New York.

MR. LEHRER: And I'm Jim Lehrer in Washington. After our summary of the news this Thursday, we have extended excerpts from today's funeral service for the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a Charles Krause interview with the president of Turkey, a Betty Ann Bowser report on a fight among Republicans, and a Jeffrey Kaye look at discrimination in Hollywood. NEWS SUMMARY

MR. MacNeil: Thousands of mourners today paid tribute to the late Thurgood Marshall, the nation's first black Supreme Court Justice and champion of civil rights. President and Mrs. Clinton, Vice President and Mrs. Gore were among those attending the funeral service at the Washington National Cathedral. Chief Justice William Rehnquist said Justice Marshall had done more than anyone else to make the words "equal justice under law" a reality. Marshall died on Sunday of heart failure at the age of 84. We'll have extended excerpts from the service right after the News Summary. Jim.

MR. LEHRER: President Clinton continues to work on ending the military's ban on homosexuals. White House spokesman George Stephanopoulos said today some initial steps may be announced tomorrow. He said there would be a six-month review period before any final orders were issued. Mr. Clinton spoke about the issue at a White House photo opportunity this afternoon.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: The principle behind this for me is that Americans who are willing to conform to the requirements of conduct within the military services, in my judgment, should be able to serve in the military and that people should be disqualified from serving in the military based on something they do, not based on who they are, that is the elemental principle. There is actually an enormous amount of agreement on this. The Joint Chiefs agree, for example, that we should not any more ask people about their sexual orientation when they enlist, and I agree that any sort of improper conduct should result in severance. The narrow issue on which there is disagreement is whether people should be able to say that they are homosexual and do nothing else without be severed. But there are a whole lot of very complicated practical questions that flow from that very narrow issue, and that's what I want to have six months to give them a chance to work on it. So I hope we can.

MR. LEHRER: Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole said today congressional Republicans would oppose the President if he attempted to lift the ban before the six-month review was completed.

MR. MacNeil: Consumer spending helped the economy grow at a fairly brisk pace during the final three months of 1992. The Commerce Department reported the Gross Domestic Product was up 3.8 percent. That's the biggest increase in four years. The GDP is the sum of all goods and services produced in this country. There was good news for two major American corporations today. Chrysler reported its strongest quarterly earnings in four years and its highest yearly sales total ever. The automaker said it earned $356 million in the fourth quarter, $723 million for all of 1992. AT&T reported that it earned a record $1 billion in the fourth quarter, up 58 percent from the same period last year. Its net income for the year was $3.8 billion, up 18 percent from 1991.

MR. LEHRER: Israel's supreme court today upheld the government's deportation of more than 400 Palestinians. But the court ruled the men could appeal their cases individually. The Palestinians have been stranded between the borders of Israel and Lebanon since they were expelled six weeks ago. We have a report narrated by Louise Bates of Worldwide Television News.

MS. BATES: Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin expressed satisfaction with the verdict, and he dismissed warnings by the U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali that Israel could face sanctions over the deportations.

YITZHAK RABIN, Prime Minister, Israel: Since the last 35 years, the United States made every effort to prevent sanctions against Israel.

MS. BATES: In Ghaza, home to many of the deported Palestinians, anger at the court's decision boiled over onto the streets. A calmer official reaction was given by Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi.

HANAN ASHRAWI, Palestinian Spokeswoman: I think their decision is quite untractable because clearly it demonstrates that there is no intention to bring back the deportees. This is a form of collective punishment. It cannot be dealt with on the basis of individual petitions.

MS. BATES: In southern Lebanon the deportees learned of a court decision through their radios. Although the decision didn't surprise them, they reacted angrily.

[DEPORTEES SHOUTING]

MS. BATES: The deportees want the U.N. to pressure Israel into allowing them home. They know that their life of hardship will continue until a diplomatic solution to their problem is found.

MR. MacNeil: Fighting spread today into the former Yugoslav republic of Croatia. Croatian government forces said they captured a strategic hydroelectric dam in the ethnic Serbian enclave of Krajina. There were reports that retreating Serbs exploded mines on the dam, possibly threatening it with collapse. Until today it had been controlled by the United Nations under a year-old cease- fire agreement. Territorial battles between the republic's Serbs and Croats shattered that agreement a week ago. U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has reportedly threatened to withdraw the 16,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Croatia because of the renewed fighting.

MR. LEHRER: And that's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to the funeral service for Thurgood Marshall, the president of Turkey, the divided Republican Party, and discrimination in the entertainment world. FOCUS - IN MEMORIAM

MR. MacNeil: Official and unofficial Washington gathered this morning in the national cathedral at the funeral service for former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He was remembered as a man who changed American history through his life long dedication to social justice and the rule of law. But the eulogies also contained pointed references to today and the continuing struggle. We lead tonight with excerpts from the funeral service.

WILLIAM REHNQUIST, Chief Justice: Thurgood Marshall was an extraordinary man. He served for 24 years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Yet, before he ever took his seat on that court, he had designed and carried out a legal strategy which resulted in the overturning of laws which discriminated by race in schools, transportation, housing and the voting booth. Under his leadership, the American constitutional landscape in the area of equal protection of the laws was literally rewritten. The list of cases he argued and won before the Supreme Court of the United States is a long one. The names and holdings of the leading cases are known to every practitioner and student of constitutional law; Smith against Alright; Shelley against Cramer; Sweat against Painter, and finally his greatest victory, the landmark case of Brown versus the Board of Education. As a result of his career as a lawyer and as a judge, Thurgood Marshall left an indelible market not just upon the law but upon his country. Inscribed above the front entrance to the Supreme Court Building are the words "Equal Justice Under Law." Surely, no one individual did more to make these words a reality than Thurgood Marshall.

JUDGE RALPH WINTER, JR., Former Marshall Law Clerk: In 1961, he was the most famous lawyer in the United States, best known for winning 29 of 32 cases in the Supreme Court, including Brown. But he was no fancy appellate lawyer in today's language who had a boutique. He went where he was needed and tried all kinds of cases, including murder cases. His second career was as a civil rights leader. When he joined it, the civil rights movement had a small political base and diplomacy and persuasion were its principal weapons. He was a master at both, outspoken when it was time to be outspoken, subtle when it was time to be subtle. Yes, he could be subtle. I was his clerk in his first year as a judge on the court on which I now sit. Every morning he presided over a coffee hour attended by clerks from other chambers. The atmosphere was one of earthy stories, salty language and booming laughter. TM's inexhaustible sense of humor enabled him to laugh at while combating the darker side of human nature. His description of his civil rights work usually combined the malevolent with the humorous. The story of how he had to stay in private homes in the south and how threats were made against his life would center on an argument he supposedly had with another lawyer as to who would sleep near the window in case a bomb was thrown in.

KAREN WILLIAMS, Former Marshall Law Clerk: As the seventies and eighties witnessed a political environment with increasing hostility to the cause of individual rights and liberties, he never lost faith in the fundamental decency of women and men of good will or in the integrity of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the institutions of our American democracy. Even in dissent, the vigor of his arguments and the unyielding language of his opinions left no doubt as to his commitment. Whether the issue was equal opportunity in education, housing or employment, the death penalty, women's rights, or religious freedom, his words confirmed that he was, indeed, the conscience of the court and a broader American population. Close contact with a living legend is not easy. Ask Goody, John, Cissy, or any of his 85 law clerks known popularly as "knuckleheads" here today. With humor, wit and sarcasm, he taught us the serious task of analyzing the law from a very human perspective. If we suggested a more traditional approach, he often reminded us who signed the opinion.

WILLIAM COLEMAN: That tremendous legal career that you heard about certainly freed Negro Americans, and in most opinions I've read written by Thurgood Marshall he did use the phrase Negro Americans, of racial segregation and discrimination. But he did much more. The legal revolution he wrought also created the precedence which brought and protected women from comparable discrimination. His legal triumphs also freed all Americans from the hard effects of forced confessions, from improper searches and seizures, from trial without adequate counsel, from unfair trials, from invasion of privacy of the bedroom, and from deprivation of the right to vote. We observe the President here. Please do not think us ungracious when we wonder aloud if a son of Arkansas would be here if Thurgood Marshall in that hot summer of 1958 had lost, not won the Little Rock School Case.

VERNON JORDAN, Co-Director, Clinton Transition Team: To those of my generation growing up in the segregated South, Thurgood Marshall was more than a crusader for justice, more than a torch bearer of liberty, more than a wise and learned man of the law. He was a teacher who taught us to believe in the shield of justice and the sword of truth, a role model whose career made us dream large dreams and work to secure them, an agent of change who transformed the way an entire generation thought of itself, of its place in our society, and of the law, itself. Picture, if you will, the inescapable power of the beacon light Thurgood Marshall beamed into our cramped and constricted community, a community in which the law ordained that we should attend only segregated, inferior schools, a community in which the law ordained that our parents be denied the right to vote, a community in which the law ordained segregation in the courtroom and the exclusion of our parents from the jury box. It was Thurgood Marshall's mission to turn these laws against themselves, to cleanse our tattered Constitution and our besmirched legal system of the filth of oppressive racism, to restore to all Americans a Constitution and a legal system newly alive to the requirements of justice by demonstrating that the law could be an instrument of liberation. He recruited a new generation of lawyers who had been brought up to think of the law as an instrument of oppression. Those of us who grew up under the heel of Jim Crow were inspired to set our sights on the law as a career, to try to follow him on his journey to justice and equality. So while all Americans are indebted to Thurgood Marshall's accomplishments, we who grew up in the sunlight of his deeds owe a special debt of gratitude. Farewell, Mr. Civil Rights, farewell Mr. Justice Marshall. We thank you for all you have done. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

REV. NATHAN BAXTER, Dean, Washington Cathedral: Just after his 84th birthday he had these words to say which we must all, I believe, hold close to our hearts. He said this, "The battle for racial and economic justice is not yet won. Indeed, it has barely, barely begun. The legal system can force open doors and sometimes knock down the walls but it cannot build bridges." "That job," he says, "belongs to me and to you and to you and to you and to you, to all of us. That job belongs to me and to you." But then he said this, "Take a chance. Take a chance, won't you, and knock down the fences that divide, tear apart the walls that imprison, reach out, for freedom lies just on the other side." Bless you, My Justice. May light perpetual shine upon you. Amen.

[CHOIR SINGING "GLORY HALLELUJAH"] NEWSMAKER

MR. LEHRER: Next tonight a Newsmaker interview with the foreign visitor who is trying to persuade the United States to take a more active role in the war in Bosnia. The visitor is the president of Turkey, Turgut Ozal. Correspondent Charles Krause reports.

MR. KRAUSE: Turkey's President, Turgut Ozal, first became known to most Americans during the Gulf War. Within days after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, Ozal joined the U.S.-led coalition and he acted decisively. His first move was to shut down a vital Iraqi oil pipeline that ran through Turkey. Loss of the pipeline struck an important blow to Saddam's largely oil-based economy. Then during the fighting, Ozal allowed U.S. warplanes to use a strategically-located air base to bomb Iraqi targets. Turkey was key to the quick allied victory. In September 1990, Ozal paid an official visit to Washington, where he was given a warm welcome. At the White House, then President Bush spoke of Turkey's growing geopolitical importance.

PRESIDENT BUSH: As events in the Gulf have demonstrated, the indisputable strategic importance of Turkey to NATO and the United States we also agreed to maintain our close security and military relationship.

MR. KRAUSE: After the war ended Turkey continued to support U.S. policy. It became a key staging area for Operation Provide Comfort, the Bush administration's effort to aid and protect Iraq's Kurdish minority. As part of that effort, U.S. warplanes continue to use Turkish air bases to enforce a no-fly zone over Northern Iraq. Turkey has allowed the U.S. to use these bases despite the fact that Turkey, itself, has problems with its own Kurdish minority. U.S. appreciation of Turkey's geopolitical position has, if anything, grown greater since the Gulf War ended. With Sadat still in power, Turkey remains critical to U.S. efforts to contain Iraq, Turkey's neighbor to the Southeast, and since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Turkey has also assumed an increasingly influential role in the six Muslim republics that once comprised Soviet Asia. Finally, Turkey has recently become an important player in the Baltics, which it once ruled as part of the old Ottoman Empire. In Bosnia, Turkey has provided substantial diplomatic support from Muslim forces in Sarajevo. It's demanded an end to the arms embargo that has hurt their ability to fight the Serbs for control of this former Yugoslav republic. But despite Turkey's growing influence abroad, Ozal's power at home has been sharply reduced. He and his political party lost a general election almost two years ago, in part because Ozal was perceived to be too accommodating to the West. In Washington this week on a private visit, Turkey's president is meeting unofficially with U.S. Government leaders, scholars and journalists. Our interview began with a question about the prospects of a negotiated settlement of the fighting between Muslims and Serbs in Bosnia.

MR. KRAUSE: Do you see any likelihood at all that the Geneva peace process will succeed?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL, Turkey: I think all the experience up to now, it will not succeed.

MR. KRAUSE: Why not?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Why? I tell you exactly, because history shows very clearly victors will never give the land they occupy by force, by blood, and, therefore, I say there must be a kind of balance before you reach any agreement.

MR. KRAUSE: Tell me specifically what you want the United States to do right now.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I think United States, in my opinion, should do -- because United States is the world leader -- I mean, the United States is not like England or Britain or France or some other European countries -- they have more responsibilities. This is today's world leader. If nothing happens, the blame will come to United States I tell you, and therefore, I say United States should go to United Nations and to tell very clearly, do not continue on the negotiating process, because every time Serbs are getting some more benefit, and it's going to on the Serbs benefit, and this is not solution. The fight will continue after we reach even a peace and, therefore, we say it's broken.

MR. KRAUSE: Let me though specifically try to pin you down as to what it is you want the United States to do.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I think only air power and support arms.

MR. KRAUSE: And the arms embargo.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Arms embargo removed and support some arms, and we can give, you can give, and if you use the air power, we will give one or two more fleets.

MR. KRAUSE: All right. But what you want then is a direct U.S. military intervention --

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: From the air.

MR. KRAUSE: -- from the air.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: From the air. No ground force.

MR. KRAUSE: And what exactly would you have U.S. air power do in Bosnia?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I think the first -- no-fly zone should be used, second --

MR. KRAUSE: Enforce it.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Enforce it. And second, heavy gun position should be given a time, 10 days, should be given to the United Nations' control. If they don't do it, destroy them.

MR. KRAUSE: Why --

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: This is sufficient.

MR. KRAUSE: Why is it in the interests of the United States? Why should the United States risk lives and all the rest to intervene in Bosnia?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I say only the air power, not ground forces. In case of air power, we will also come and help as much as we can do. There is another reason. The -- between the communism and capitalism now is going into another different area, which is the religious base. This is far more dangerous than communism, capitalism.

MR. KRAUSE: Explain that to me. How does what the United States and the West do in Bosnia affect the Islamic world, the Arab world?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Yes. Today Islamic world has a general idea. I have seen it in the Islamic Conference, summit, small summit meeting in Senegal, very recently. I think all of the members of that conference explained that there is a double standard, the West applies it, and this is not helping moderate regimes in those countries. This is helping to the hardliners.

MR. KRAUSE: But when you say double standard, what are you referring to?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Double standard is this. I mean, there are same United Nations, Security Council decision in no-fly zone in Iraq, no-fly zone in Bosnia. Bosnia is not applied, but Iraq is a applied. This is also in favor of Saddam Hussein.

MR. KRAUSE: But why do you say there's a double standard? Why does the Arab world see it as a double standard?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Why, why this decision is applied in Iraq, why this decision is not applied in Bosnia?

MR. KRAUSE: The implication being because it's Christians who are attacking Bosnians?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: There is this saying. I mean, change the place. The Bosnians, Muslims, let's say become the same power as the Serbs today and Serbs should become in place of Bosnians, and I think there will be complete change of implementation. This is the belief of the Islamic world.

MR. KRAUSE: Do you think President Clinton will be more likely to act to commit U.S. air power?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I have no idea. I have no idea, but I know one thing. If United States is much more responsible than anybody in the world for the new world order, which is quite different than the previous case, which means there are ethnical problems popping up everywhere.

MR. KRAUSE: Ethnic.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Ethnical problem. If this case couldn't find Bosnian case, it's in the heart of Europe, if we could not find any solution, then this type of problems will spread all over the world.

MR. KRAUSE: Let's turn for a moment to Iraq, another country that is of importance to the United States and to Turkey. Your country has been, it seems, increasingly uneasy about the air strikes that are being mounted from bases in Turkey against Saddam Hussein. Is the coalition fracturing? Is Turkey having second thoughts about its policies?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: It's very simple. I -- the explanation I made before, I mean, Turkish public started to think there is a double standard. The no-fly zone is not applied to Bosnia. The no- fly zone is vigorously applied to Iraq.

MR. KRAUSE: Are you saying then, in effect, that if the United States and the West do not intervene in Bosnia, that Turkey may stop allowing the United States to use the air bases?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I think there will be, there will be a lot of pressure from the public opinion. You see, in this world, it is not like 1940s. The public opinion has much more effect on the governments, and probably today if you want to have certain decision, you would like to see that what is the opinion of the people. If their opinion is completely against, then you cannot do it.

MR. KRAUSE: You said that in the Islamic world, Iraq's neighbors are beginning to have second thoughts about this policy. Do you view Saddam Hussein as a threat to Turkey?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Let me tell you. The policy to Iraq is different and the policy which relates somewhat to Bosnians -- these are different matters. I only talk to you about the policy to Iraq relates to Bosnia, which is double standard feeling. That's a different matter. But the policy to Iraq, in my opinion, this is much more difficult case. He should not stay one single second in power, but he stays because of terror.

MR. KRAUSE: But still, sir, it is two years later.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Two years.

MR. KRAUSE: What do we do now? Does the United States respond more positively to Saddam Hussein's call for a dialogue? Do you see any chance that there might be some way of negotiating with him at this point, or should the United States keep up the military power?

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: I think with negotiation you lose your credibility in the whole Arab world, and whole Arab world except some extremes do not go easily with Saddam Hussein. That's another matter, and he will become a kind of hero in the Arab world. It will be dangerous, and in my opinion, you should design your strategy and it should not be a peaceful application. It should be with one stroke, what is your aim? Do it.

MR. KRAUSE: What you're advocating really is that the United States and the West and the allies go after Saddam Hussein --

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: Yes.

MR. KRAUSE: -- and get rid of Saddam Hussein even now.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: It is the ultimate solution of the problem. But I don't know how they will do it.

MR. KRAUSE: President Ozal, thank you very much.

PRESIDENT TURGUT OZAL: You're welcome.

MR. MacNeil: Still ahead on the NewsHour, the political fight between Texas Republicans and Hollywood discrimination. FOCUS - HARRIS COUNTY - INFIGHTING

MR. LEHRER: Now a report on the divided Republicans. Party leaders are in St. Louis today and tomorrow to elect a new chairman who will face a major rift between moderate and conservative factions. Correspondent Betty Ann Bowser of public station KUHT in Houston reports on the feuding among Republicans in former President Bush's home town.

MS. BOWSER: Harris County Republican Party Chairman Betsy Lake recently found out that in Texas right now party politics is a contact sport.

BETSY LAKE, Harris County Republican Chairman: I want to emphasize again that this meeting is not an official meeting of the statutory and county executive committee. [shouting in room]

MS. BOWSER: When Lake tried to stop a touchdown by the religious right, her opponents scored. They stripped her of most of her official political powers, so Lake and her supporters walked out.

BETSY LAKE: I am still the full, duly elected chairman of the county, and I will call the statutory committee together next fall when it is time for us to run the primary according to the Texas election code. Whatever happens here tonight is not legal.

MS. BOWSER: But today Lake is chairman of the Harris County Republican Party in name only. Like hundreds of other loyal George Bush team players, she's been benched.

WOMAN: I don't like to use the word "upset," but I'm bothered by it because I think that's not the kind of country we would warm to. That's not the United States.

OTHER WOMAN: We believe that Republicans have more views than what the people say believe. They only believe in certain items. Certain issues are all they're in there for.

MS. BOWSER: That same night the official Harris County Republican Party was taken over by Dr. Steven Hotze and a group of Evangelical followers.

STEVEN HOTZE, Republican Conservative: The state government in the education of bureaucrats want to educate our children from K through 12 that sodomy's an acceptable life style, that prophylactics should be dispensed without parental permission. Do you agree with that?

AUDIENCE: No.

STEVEN HOTZE: How about this? Abortion for minors without parental consent or knowledge.

AUDIENCE: No.

MS. BOWSER: Hotze is an allergist, father of eight children and a religious fundamentalist. He opposes abortion, gay life styles and believes laws should be based on morality.

DEE COATS, Republicans for Responsible Decisions: He does have an agenda of theocracy, and that's a whole other, it's a whole other subject which people tend to not believe. They want to set up our government based on biblical law.

MS. BOWSER: Lifelong Republican Dee Coats is offended by that.

DEE COATS: There's nothing tolerant or Christian about any of this. It's like -- I hate -- people keep throwing around the word "Nazi," and I hate to throw it around, but it's a little bit like that. They are so fervent and they have this glazed look in their eye and they raise their arms and their fists and say, we're taking over, and they hiss, they boo, they spit.

MS. BOWSER: Hotze does not apologize for the behavior of the Evangelicals. He says it's part of their political inspiration.

STEVEN HOTZE: What I try to do is activate people who haven't participated before in the political system, share with them how they can get involved at the precinct level, how they can become delegates to Senatorial district and state conventions and begin to make a difference in their local area, in their government and in their state. And so that's democracy and I think that's healthy and good, don't you, if we get more people involved?

MS. BOWSER: Hotze has been characterized as a stealth activist, quietly working behind the scenes on behalf of conservative causes. Since 1988, he's circulated this home training video that explains how people can be elected to local party positions.

SPOKESMAN: [video] Restoring America, how you can impact civil government with Dr. Steven Hotze.

MS. BOWSER: Over the years, Hotze has been successful at helping hundreds of Evangelicals move into precinct chairman positions. So Lake, who was elected in the March Republican primary, and her Bush moderates were on a collision course with Hotze before she was ever sworn in.

[DEMONSTRATION]

MS. BOWSER: The Lake moderates want the party to be more inclusive, to welcome gays and lesbians. When Lake met openly with a Log Cabin Republican, a gay and lesbian political group, sparks flew.

STEVEN HOTZE: This was in the news. This was printed in the papers, and it's caused a great deal of concern among the precinct chairman and the party who had supported the party platform which is, which opposes the homosexual agenda. I called her on the phone and visited with her after this had happened. I heard it had happened. I told her -- in fact, I said, Betsy, you can solve the problem. She said, how I can do it. I said, simply go before the committee and say, I understand that I've created some concern by meeting in official capacity as chairman-elect with the Log Cabin Republicans, if that's caused a concern, I'm sorry for having done that.

BETSY LAKE: I had been told that unless I would get up and "follow the way they wanted me to," things they wanted me to say, that they actually wanted me to get up and with someone's words repent, apologize for some of the things I had done so that they would not punish me. We cannot have this. The Republican Party is a political organization. It is not a church. We represent all Republicans of many different faiths, many different creeds, many different colors and whatever, and we are not just a Christian party.

MS. BOWSER: There was another emotional issue that divided the Harris County Republicans, abortion. During the national Republican Convention in Houston last summer, angry demonstrations took place.

[DEMONSTRATION]

MS. BOWSER: Inside the hall, Republicans like Dee Coats tried to get any language about abortion removed from the party platform. The effort failed.

DEECOATS: The group of longtime activist Republican women who saw our friends leaving the party over the abortion issue, and we were just very concerned that this was dominating the Republican agenda, and we thought this has nothing to do with being Republicans, and it is suicide for us to keep this in our, in our platform.

MS. BOWSER: The evangelicals and the moderates kept their distrust and dislike of each other under wraps until George Bush went down to defeat in November. Then 12 days after the election, Betsy Lake pulled out of the Harris County organization and formed her own Republican Party, called the Harris County Republican Federation.

BETSY LAKE: We want all Republicans represented in this party who will help us elect Republicans and who will vote Republican. That's what this is all about.

MS. BOWSER: Alan Bernstein has been covering politics for the Houston Chronicle for 12 years. He says the national leadership of the Republican Party is watching Harris County developments closely.

ALAN BERNSTEIN, Houston Chronicle: Houston right now is "the" focal point for the future of the Republican Party. This is a litmus test, a reflection of the greater national debate between hard right, religious right people, and more moderate people about the future. Nowhere else but in Houston do we have a more crystalline example of that kind of debate. You bet that they're watching what's going on down here.

MS. BOWSER: The man millions of Americans are watching is religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. He is probably the best known evangelical Republican in the country today. Using his Christian Broadcasting Network, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for President in 1988. Robertson says he has nothing to do with Steven Hotze and the political wars in the Harris County Republican Party, but he knows evangelicals like Hotze look to him for spiritual and political leadership.

PAT ROBERTSON, Religious Broadcaster: We found that one of every two votes that George Bush got identified himself or herself as a born again Christian. In Texas which he won, 73 percent of all his votes were evangelical Christians, born again; Florida which he won, 60 percent evangelical.

MS. BOWSER: Does the religious right have to be careful about becoming dogmatic as it attempts to gain and use politics in this country?

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, if I'm a leader -- and I hope I am -- I'm doing everything I can to talk to people about moderation, accommodation, and political reality.

MS. BOWSER: So you could work with people that don't necessarily agree with you?

PAT ROBERTSON: I could work with them because we would probably share common ground on mutual defense or sending troops to Somalia or, or cutting the budget or putting in a flat tax or something, so sure.

MS. BOWSER: Robertson also heads the Christian Coalition, now with more than 350,000 dues paying members in all 50 states. Ralph Reed is its executive director.

RALPH REED, Director, Christian Coalition: We're not trying to take over either political party. We are trying to do what blacks did in the fifties and sixties and what women and young people did in the sixties and seventies, and that is to bring into the political process a constituency that has previously been marginalized and largely ignored, and I think, for example, if you look at Ron Brown, or Vernon Jordan, that's an example of a level of maturity and sophistication in the African-American community that took time. And I think it's going to take some time for those people of faith who've gotten involved in the civic process over the last ten years or so to become acclimated, to become accepted, and to rise to levels of leadership.

MS. BOWSER: Michael Barone is an historian and political writer. He's been following the growing influence of the evangelicals in the Republican Party.

MICHAEL BARONE, U.S. News & World Report: One of the things that the religious right reminds me of in some respects is the movement of anti-war, anti-Vietnam War activists into the Democratic Party approximately twenty, twenty-five years ago. I mean, it was said at that time that these people were too far out, they were too left wing, they would alienate the ordinary voters. You had some very fractious and difficult party fights where people would throw each other out of the party. Where are we today? We see one of those anti-war activists, Bill Clinton, is about to become President of the United States. One of his big supporters in Chicago, by the way, was Mayor Daley. So these things have a way of coming around.

MS. BOWSER: Things certainly won't come around anytime soon in Harris County, where today there are, in effect, two Republican parties, Betsy Lake's Republican Federation, and Steven Hotze's Republican Advisory Committee. And right now no one seems to know if either organization conforms to Texas election law. FOCUS - COLOR BARS

MR. MacNeil: Finally tonight a report on the changing face of entertainment television. This TV season there's an unprecedented number of shows that feature African-Americans. And some critics are saying other minorities are seriously underrepresented. Correspondent Jeffrey Kaye of public station KCET-Los Angeles reports.

MR. KAYE: At a CBS testing room in Los Angeles, viewers recently reported their responses to a new situation comedy. If the program gets on the air, it'll join the slew of new shows featuring African-Americans [Rhythm & Blues]. There are more black actors on television than ever before. Twelve of the seventy-four prime time network shows now feature all or nearly all African-American casts. In addition to Rhythm & Blues, the programs range from Rock, a Fox show about a middle class family, to an NBC program featuring Patty LaBelle as a trendy night club owner. Some long running sitcoms now sport subtle changes. Murphy Brown on CBS recently got a new boss. One reason for the new face of prime time TV is the Cosby Show.

[COSBY SHOW EXCERPT]

MR. KAYE: Former NBC Executive Brandon Tartikoff brought Bill Cosby to the network.

BRANDON TARTIKOFF, Producer: I think the reason the show at the height of its success was getting over a 30 rating and over a 55 share of audience was that everyone related to it. It wasn't about one specific experience to one specific group.

MR. KAYE: A 55 share was a big deal. It meant more than half of the entire TV audience was tuned to Cosby. Programmers tried to duplicate the show's success. As they cast increasing numbers of African Americans, they made an important discovery according to advertising executive Doug Alligood.

DOUG ALLIGOOD, Advertising Executive: So what is happening is you've got blacks actually contributing in the economic success of television shows. That's one of the reasons they're on the air.

MR. KAYE: Alligood is a vice president of the BBDO Advertising Agency. He tells clients they should support programs with African- Americans out of self-interest. Blacks are a potent buying force and they watch lots of TV. Nielsen ratings indicate African- American households watch an average of 70 hours of TV per week. That compares with 47 hours for non-black households. Alligood points out that in some cases African-American viewers can substantially raise a show's rating.

MR. KAYE: So are you saying that black viewers can make or break a show?

DOUG ALLIGOOD: They can keep a show from failing. The population is a little bit too small to make a show a hit. For example, with Fox Television Network, some of their ratings last year were boosted by almost as much as 50 percent because of black viewing alone.

MR. KAYE: One Fox show that gets a boost from African-American viewers is the comedy series In Living Color.

[IN LIVING COLOR SEGMENT]

MR. KAYE: In Living Color sketches sometimes ridicule racism. Comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans is the program's creator and former executive producer. He complains that even though African-Americans have made breakthroughs in front of the camera, they play limited roles behind the scenes.

KEENAN IVORY WAYANS, Producer: And there's a very large, very loyal viewing population amongst African-Americans, and so economics dictates, you know, there's an audience, so you play to the audience.

MR. KAYE: Just a good business decision?

KEENAN IVORY WAYANS: Yes.

MR. KAYE: Not the good will of network executives?

KEENAN IVORY WAYANS: If it were the good will, then I think there would be more African-Americans producing those shows, so they're not.

MR. KAYE: Some network executives agree there aren't enough minorities in executive offices. The president of ABC Entertainment, Bob Iger, admitted as much at a recent Hollywood luncheon.

BOB IGER, ABC-TV: Going back to the minority representation issue, I think we've failed in all facets of our business on that subject, studio and network alike, and I'd want to see that improved, and it shouldn't just be idle chatter.

MR. KAYE: But while much attention has been focused on African- Americans in television, Latinos and Asians remain practically invisible.

RICK NAJERA, Writer: Right now there's more extraterrestrials and aliens on network television in leading roles than are Latinos in leading roles.

MR. KAYE: Writer Rick Najera is a Latino who works on In Living Color. His sketches featuring Latinos are played by whites since the program's cast has no Asian or Latino actors.

[IN LIVING COLOR SEGMENT]

MR. KAYE: Latinos account for only 3 percent of the actors on the air, according to the Screen Actors Guild, even though they comprise at least 9 percent of the population. Advertisers and programmers attempting to target Latinos are doing so through Spanish Language TV, even though the majority of Latinos watches English language television. Asians are also pretty much excluded from network television. Only 1 percent of TV actors are Asian, even though Asians make up 3 percent of the population. David Poltrack, senior vice president of planning and research at CBS, explains the under-representation of Asians and Latinos. He says, unlike African-Americans, Asians and Latinos are seen as foreign.

DAVID POLTRACK, CBS-TV: The black culture, particularly in music and the arts, is part of the popular culture in America, and today even more so. There is a cutting edge aspect to the black American urban culture, however, the Hispanic culture or the Asian culture is -- does not have that cache and actually is somewhat, I mean, foreign to most Americans. They don't -- particularly the Asian culture -- they don't understand it.

MR. KAYE: But it's network executives who don't understand it, according to writer Rick Najera.

RICK NAJERA: I think you could say, yeah, easily racism, but I think racism is based on ignorance, the ignorance of understanding Latin culture. There's a real fear of it and a feeling the Latin culture is not the American culture. You used to hear at the development meetings, what's our point of entry, what's -- it sounded obscene to me, but the point of entry meant, where's the Anglo, whose eyes are we watching this through, is it through the Anglo eyes? Where's the Anglo in the leading role that we can watch develop the show, that we can watch the Anglo? And I said, you know, when I watched Cosby, I didn't say, gee, I really miss the white people.

MR. KAYE: Two comedy writers for Rock, Ben Montano and Vince Cheung, say too often when Latinos and Asians do get roles, they're forced to play stereotypes.

VINCE CHEUNG, Writer: Why is it that every time there is an Asian character it's a house boy or a maid or something like that?

BEN MONTANO, Writer: It's all about balance. That's where, that's where I have a problem, if I don't see balance. It's okay to see the Latino gang member, because it exists, it's real. But when you don't see the Latino doctor, that's when I have a problem, in the same arena.

BILL COSBY: The Cosby Show should have shown producers and writers something about our own people.

MR. KAYE: Bill Cosby is also disturbed by TV's racial stereotypes, particularly the frequent caricatures of African- Americans.

BILL COSBY: We've got African-Americans on TV, women throwing their hands on their hips, honey, why don't you, and there's nothing going on. I'm not talking about a story that has to be about something tremendous, but clearly none of these images happen to be the kind of people that you can imagine graduating from college, that you can imagine working beside in a steel mill and thinking seriously about their family, about their life, about their contribution to making a better United States of America and world.

MR. KAYE: Jordan Moffet is executive producer of Rhythm & Blues, one of the shows that's been criticized for its depiction of African-Americans. He says the programs have been unfairly maligned.

JORDAN MOFFET, Producer: On many white shows there is a character who you'd call the dumb character or the stupid character. Cheers has one, Laverne & Shirley, Coach. It's a staple of sitcom. But if you did a sitcom where you had a character who was black, you would get criticized for that.

MR. KAYE: Could the reason for that criticism be that typically you are likely to see whites in a much broader range of characters than you are to see blacks who are often ghettoized and left restricted only to comedies?

JORDAN MOFFET: Well, I think certainly that is very fair. I think there are enough hour shows with black casts. And I think there should be Hispanic shows, and I think there should be Asian shows, and there should be good black shows on the air to mirror the differences in society, but if you want to talk about realistically who's in this country, you're talking about white people.

MR. KAYE: Unless you're talking about the some 30 percent of the country that is non-white. Many TV executives argue that entertainment television is under no obligation to reflect America's ethnic diversity. They say their casting decisions are based purely on sound business practices, which mitigate against taking chances.

DAVID POLTRACK: The risk involved in that leads one to want to go with the tried and the true.

MR. KAYE: But why is an Asian character or a Latino character more of a risk than a white character?

DAVID POLTRACK: Because the white character is played by an established star from an old sitcom. If you look at the business, if you get away from the, the ethnic issue and you just look at the nature of the business and you look at how the stars are recycled in the business, that's the same phenomenon.

DOUG ALLIGOOD: They're always based on sound business decisions. That's been their answer all along, the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s. They said it was a sound business decision. I don't doubt that, but it's still the same thing. It's unintentional racism.

MR. KAYE: TV executives say that television will come to look like America in time. But critics, such as Bill Cosby, say needing more time is an old excuse and the nation's TV industry needs to be quickly fine tuned. RECAP

MR. LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this Thursday, President Clinton was among the thousands of mourners who played tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall at a Washington memorial service. Mr. Clinton said he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed the military should stop asking recruits if they are gay. He said he would allow a six-month review before lifting the ban on homosexuals. And the Gross Domestic Product rose at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the final three months of 1992. It was the best showing in four years. Good night, Robin.

MR. MacNeil: Good night, Jim. That's the NewsHour tonight. We'll be back tomorrow night when editors and analysts look at President Clinton's handling of the gays in the military controversy. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.