5 Firing Line moments that are still relevant today | William F. Buckley | American Masters

5 Firing Line moments that are still relevant today | William F. Buckley | American Masters | PBS

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2 ай бұрын

Official website: www.pbs.org/americanmasters | #AmericanMastersPBS
William F. Buckley, Jr. hosted Firing Line for 33 years. During his tenure as host, he debated a number of influential public figures on topics ranging from comedy to imperialism. This compliation shows Buckley in conversation with five of his most memorable guests on matters that are still important today.
Discover the intellectual evolution and political legacy of William F. Buckley, Jr. See how the author and commentator, one of the foremost public intellectuals in American history, galvanized the modern conservative movement.
Chapters:
00:05 - Groucho Marx and Buckley on what kind of jokes are culturally appropriate
02:21 - Allen Ginsberg on drugs, spirituality and art
05:11 - Norman Mailer on the differences between Republicans and Democrats
08:47 - Noah Chomsky and Buckley on American imperialism
12:21 - Huey P. Newton defends the rhetoric of the Black Panther Party
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Now in its 38th season on PBS, American Masters illuminates the lives and creative journeys of those who have left an indelible impression on our cultural landscape-through compelling, unvarnished stories. Setting the standard for documentary film profiles, the series has earned widespread critical acclaim: 28 Emmy Awards-including 10 for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series and five for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special-two News & Documentary Emmys, 14 Peabodys, three Grammys, two Producers Guild Awards, an Oscar, and many other honors. To further explore the lives and works of more than 250 masters past and present, the American Masters website offers full episodes, film outtakes, filmmaker interviews, the podcast “American Masters: Creative Spark,” educational resources, digital original series and more. The series is a production of The WNET Group.

Пікірлер: 182

@ShermerHighSchool 2 ай бұрын

Too bad we don't have a show like this anymore. The world is a poorer place without it.

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

PBS would never give him a show today

@geneobrien8907 13 күн бұрын

@@wwbuirkle There's no need for PBS to give someone like Buckley a show on PBS, there are entire networks centered around right wing politics.

@wwbuirkle 13 күн бұрын

@@geneobrien8907 PBS is tax payer TV so yea a little diversity might help,or they should be defunded

@boogerie 2 ай бұрын

"I'm proud of being a Jew particularly week before last." I believe that's a reference to Israel's victory in the Six Day War

@kevinhealey6540 Ай бұрын

Buckley ran for Mayor of NYC in 65. He was asked by a reporter what would be his first official act as Mayor, should he win. Press "Read more" for his answer. - - "Demand a recount."

@roughhabit9085 15 күн бұрын

The editor of the NY Times said he had to keep sending different reporters to his press conferences because they all came back saying they would vote for him.

@user-ev4rp3qb6x 2 күн бұрын

That answer alone would make me vote for him. Self education makes for a better person and an open mind

@billmason2785 Ай бұрын

Buckley yes conservative. ...had entertained all points in of the political spectrum. ...giving a great back and forth

@JamesCormier 22 күн бұрын

Perfect civility and intellectually grounded. We need this type of discourse today.

@katherinea.rodgers8366 2 ай бұрын

I miss William F. Buckley!! I never missed Foring Line!!

@clete3977 28 күн бұрын

Foring Line. Never saw that. I'll google it.

@charlespirate1 2 ай бұрын

This would be much better if the participants spoke much more quickly and in sound bites for short periods interspersed with intrusive graphics and music.

@IanBerg 27 күн бұрын

Are you Rupert Mirdoch’s burner account? 😂

@jasondulin7376 26 күн бұрын

Finally someone said it.

@robertaccorsini4663 29 күн бұрын

What did Huey Newton say?

@riff2072 27 күн бұрын

People, white, black, whatever, have more income than we do difference. To find out those common things we need dialog. But the dialog turns into race-based rhetoric which can causes hatred and violence. We need to remove the rhetoric and replace it with dialog to make things better.

@LaArtsGuy 2 ай бұрын

To all of you, who don’t understand the great elegance of people displaying their desperate ideas… The whole point of the constitution is to preserve that conversation so we can solve problems together. Whether you like or dislike, either person in a discussion is truly irrelevant. What’s important is to understand both sides of an idea in the same moment.

@kurtgubitz 2 ай бұрын

That’s not Allan Ginsberg! That’s David Cross.

@loupasternak 22 күн бұрын

Thought it was Jack Black

@CamberGreber 17 күн бұрын

Came here to post this 😂

@jimsinger2521 2 ай бұрын

Buckley was a legend; he could expound and debate on anything.

@lisaharris452 27 күн бұрын

He certainly did, but I disagree that he could. He didn't have the adequate humility to even notice when people made points he should have pondered before rejecting. A mid-wit with a vocabulary and style that other mid-wits think is very, very smart.

@jimsinger2521 27 күн бұрын

@@lisaharris452 Sure. Not left wing enough for you? Watch him debate the guy who believed in race eugenics (who was a scientist who invented some kind of radio transmitter) or the leader of apartheid South Africa. He never interrupted, debated the creme de la creme intellectuals of the day with ease (on all topics) and was completely brilliant. Watch his final interview with Charlie Rose, if you want advice from a mid wit.

@lisaharris452 26 күн бұрын

@@jimsinger2521 It's more a matter of intelligence. I don't mistake verbal jousting for being smart or informed. A lot of rightwingers, most of whom are anti-intellectual, fall for anyone who puts people down and has a normal vocabulary, which many of them lack and are self-conscious about. They swooned for George Will, too, but now would probably condemn him as a communist.

@jimsinger2521 26 күн бұрын

@@lisaharris452 anyone who associates George Will with communism has clearly bought into the Trump idiocy. If you think Buckley would have tolerated Trump, you’re not paying attention.

@drm9979 24 күн бұрын

@@lisaharris452 I can only believe you must not be bright enough to see it. the exact opposite is true. it is fascinating how he engages at the essence of what other intellectuals are saying, spontaneously and with ease. Many liberals in the 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s admired WFB and were even a bit in awe of him. either you or they can be called “midwits”, not both.

@davidparnell1893 Ай бұрын

Buckley did face the hard truths and questions more logically than ANY "politician" of today. He could be inflexible but not without a logically reasoned and expressed position. He would be so disappointed with the simpleton idiocy of politicians today no matter which "party" they claimed.

@geneh460 15 күн бұрын

I'm not even remotely conservative, but I grew up watching Buckley. He was, in some ways, the definition of "gentlemanly opposition". Today he would be probably too liberal to be a Democrat much less a Republican. That is only a slight exaggeration.

@kdmdlo 2 ай бұрын

Could you possibly imagine a civil, intellectually-grounded discourse today? To begin, the participants in our political discussions today simply don't know anything (could you possibly imagine Matt Gaetz reading Karl Marx???). Add to it the calm, measured, polite exchange of ideas and it simply becomes an impossibility today. We are just so much worse off because of those (e.g., Newt Gingrich) that worked so hard to advance/propagate the cracks and fissures in our politics.

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

No but I could beleve AOC or Omar. LMFAO

@kdmdlo 2 ай бұрын

@@wwbuirkle Well, I don't know Ms. Omar particularly well, but yes ... I could absolutely see Ms. Ocasio-Cortez having such a discussion. She's reasonable, rational and uses ... you know ... facts. Matt Gaetz is too busy trolling high schools and Ms. Green has just one intonation (and that's full-on "shrill").

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

@@kdmdlo AOC using facts? I'm in her district genius nothing factual or worthwhile comes out of her mouth

@kdmdlo 2 ай бұрын

@@wwbuirkle Well, to hear the facts, you would actually have to listen to her and, perhaps, engage with her. She's your congressperson, speak with her. You'll be surprised to see that she's actually willing to talk to you if you're prepared to be civil.

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

@@kdmdlo LMFAO I guess you're just a fellow Socialist which is kinda embarrassing

@cullensweeney5678 2 ай бұрын

The Ginsberg one was beautiful. Great conversation and performances by Allen.

@t.c.eisele5262 Ай бұрын

What, no Gore Vidal? 😂

@riff2072 27 күн бұрын

Could not have Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal in the same post. All that would do is start a fight in the comments.

@richardpatrick2852 23 күн бұрын

He was more than Mr. Buckley could tolerate. I don't blame him.

@roughhabit9085 15 күн бұрын

Um that’s because Vidal was never on Firing Line.

@joshmulema1540 2 ай бұрын

i need that mailer sitting angle

@WalterBurton 19 күн бұрын

It's always fascinated me, Mailer's evident nervousness and rhetorical inferiority in this specific moment.

@RyanFowler-mw4rk Ай бұрын

Excellent interviewer. Snark, condescension aside, let guests speak.

@roughhabit9085 Ай бұрын

He never did an interview.

@efcsscfe2208 18 күн бұрын

I love William F Buckley. His brother Reid was my teacher. These southern Brahma leaders are sorely missed

@gt-gu7rb 14 күн бұрын

Norman Mailer's " The pleasurable comedy of politics." I wonder if he were alive today would he still feel this way. Great thought in any event.

@ricardocantoral7672 10 күн бұрын

Politics has always been a joke.

@DarrenKing-jm4qt Ай бұрын

His son Charlie Buckley wrote a terrific book… The Relic Master. Check it out.

@meganluke444 28 күн бұрын

Buckley had one son. Christopher.

@Spiral.Dynamics 2 ай бұрын

This is good.

@nedmerrill6228 21 күн бұрын

Keep thinking of Joe Flaherty’s imitation.

@xbulsara 12 күн бұрын

Buckley wasn’t a WASP strictly speaking, but his creepy superciliousness made him an honorary member.

@ricardocantoral7672 10 күн бұрын

More like a WASC

@user-zb6cv1eo6f 2 ай бұрын

Brilliant men

@markbrusberg9808 22 күн бұрын

I remember this show and while I was too young to appreciate the nuances in the topics being addressed, I admired the way people spoke to each other as adults (mostly - I do remember some dust ups) even when they were diametrically opposed, politically. Really a shame what political discourse has turned into.

@scoop1127 2 ай бұрын

He never used a comb.

@riff2072 27 күн бұрын

"Allow me one fault." Was Mr. Buckleys response to Michael Kinsley when asked about his unkept hair.

@FPOAK 20 күн бұрын

If Buckley thinks Ginsberg being a lefty drug user ruins his poetry then it’s a good thing he was never able to interview Blake, Coleridge, Shelley, Byron, etc

@kevinhealey6540 Ай бұрын

3;00 All the people I know of who took LSD either got away from it and the ones who didn't destroyed their lives.. I seen one guy take it once. He started screaming, "Hey what we need here are some women." He lost full control of himself. I realized that in the state he was in, anyone could have taken full advantage of him.

@ricardocantoral7672 10 күн бұрын

Lives destroyed?

@kevinhealey6540 4 күн бұрын

@@ricardocantoral7672 Excuse me, but I think that's self explanatory..

@johnnotrealname8168 Ай бұрын

Why did it go out of air? An interview about the Iraq War would have been interesting from him.

@roughhabit9085 Ай бұрын

Um he took himself off the air after 33 years. Is that okay with you?

@johnnotrealname8168 Ай бұрын

@@roughhabit9085 What?

@drm9979 24 күн бұрын

just informationally, Buckley opposed the Iraq War, not after it started like most, before and after.

@rumplestilskin5776 2 ай бұрын

Our times cry out for a Wm F. Buckley.

@katherinea.rodgers8366 2 ай бұрын

Yes!

@roughhabit9085 2 ай бұрын

Such a man does not belong in these vulgar times.

@leoanthony7947 2 ай бұрын

Amen to that !!!

@denali9643 2 ай бұрын

We have. Douglas Murray.

@rumplestilskin5776 2 ай бұрын

@@denali9643 True but he's not an American

@bullsantini Ай бұрын

The level of political discourse in this country is shockingly remedial compared to the 60s. Oh, and Norman mailer, may he rest, was a fool.

@dogcowrph 2 ай бұрын

“Coloured” people. 😂

@AndyLehrer 2 ай бұрын

As in the NAACP. As times change so does what language is acceptable.

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

@@AndyLehrer I think it made a comeback. I keep hearing people of color

@AndyLehrer 2 ай бұрын

@@wwbuirkle not the same.

@wwbuirkle 2 ай бұрын

@@AndyLehrer Oh yea do you make the rules up?

@AndyLehrer 2 ай бұрын

@@wwbuirkle It's just a fact, it's not the same thing.

@billbernhard3582 27 күн бұрын

Often enough though, words become a matrix for befuddlement, in which we feel comfortable having 'discussed' problems, while also reducing our need to demand the needed scheduling for repairs. Words calm and quiet, very often. When we NEED to ethically challenge and disturb SCOTUS, for example, words become a barrier to fixes ! Mr. Buckley was a rather drole master of the 'word', student of literacy as he was. Sometimes, we just need to put our collective finger in a dike and stop the damage, here in 2024 ! Trump & the Republicans are full of words. They all continue the damage, rather than ending it.

@conradgaarder2789 2 ай бұрын

Groucho resents Myron Cohen? That’s ridiculous.

@4Truth05 20 сағат бұрын

Yes, like many of the comments here, I previously thought William F. B. was an enlightened conservative. But 0.54 minutes into this interview with Groucho Marx when Marx states that although he likes minstrel shows but “because he was brought up in that era,” he thought it was wrong because of the struggle of the “colored people” at that time. Yes, Groucho use the term “colored people” but I will forgive him given his era. BUT Buckley’s response was exactly what we see with today’s MAGA conservatives, what-aboutism- Irish jokes, Jewish jokes!!! Come on Buckley, are you really equating this the hundreds of years struggle of Black Americans to the Irish & Jewish immigrants to America who came on their own volition?! I lost all respect for Buckley with this interview.

@michaellynch743 23 күн бұрын

Haha black panther guy isn’t even coherent

@WintersWar Ай бұрын

Marx says he resents jokes towards various denomination, then goes on to lampoon Catholics. He was an incontinent fellow.

@loupasternak 22 күн бұрын

what continent did he come from ?

@christopherlangdon2892 Ай бұрын

Mailer was a pompous fool in his support for Castro.

@wwbuirkle Ай бұрын

I would still take him over Chomsky

@IanBerg 27 күн бұрын

I bet Norman Mailer also admired fellow Castro supporter Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau at that time though Mailer would not have been impressed by Justin Trudeau.

@notlikely4468 14 күн бұрын

Hearing Buckley always makes me think of Mill "What I stated was, that the Conservative party was, by the law of its constitution, necessarily the stupidest party. Now, I do not retract this assertion; but I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it. Now, if any party, in addition to whatever share it may possess of the ability of the community, has nearly the whole of its stupidity, that party, I apprehend, must by the law of its constitution be the stupidest party. And I do not see why hon. Gentlemen should feel that position at all offensive to them; for it ensures their being always an extremely powerful party. I know I am liable to a retort, an obvious one enough, and as I do not intend any hon. Gentleman to have the credit of making it, I make it myself. It may be said that if stupidity has a tendency to Conservatism, sciolism and half-knowledge have a tendency to Liberalism. Well, Sir, something might be said for that-but it is not at all so clear as the other. There is an uncertainty about half-informed people. You cannot count upon them. You cannot tell what their way of thinking may be. It varies from day to day, perhaps with the last book they have read. They are a less numerous class, and also an uncertain class. But there is a dense solid force in sheer stupidity-such, that a few able men, with that force pressing behind them, are assured of victory in many a struggle; and many a victory the Conservative party have owed to that force." It would be wonderful to get to some form of heaven and find those two siting across from each other

15 күн бұрын

I've watched the complete version of the debate between Buckley and Chomsky. Honest conservatives concede that Chomsky wiped the floor with WFB.

@williamf.buckleyjr3227 12 күн бұрын

A rather slippery version of the no-true-Scotsman logical fallacy. I digress. You didn't watch a "version" of it, you watched it.

12 күн бұрын

@@williamf.buckleyjr3227 Picky picky. Your point being that there's no such thing as a honest conservative?

@tarnopol 2 ай бұрын

My favorite moment was when he screamed at Chomsky backstage after being exposed on air by him as the superficially urbane, uninformed rightwing hack he was, saying he’d have him in again to tear Chomsky to pieces. Never got around to it somehow. What a jewel he was, Buckley!

@kaustabhkalita2476 2 ай бұрын

This never happened

@tarnopol 2 ай бұрын

@@kaustabhkalita2476 Except that it did. Chomsky’s talked about it.

@kaustabhkalita2476 2 ай бұрын

@@tarnopol what did happen, according to chomsky was that, buckley seemed angry after the show and said he would have him on later again. Buckley was an epistemological optimist, he believes that ideas that are preposterous should be discarded and not be given the day of light in an individual capacity. In the first decade of firing line, when liberalism was still rampant in american discourse and the american people were it could be argued forming a liberal character he had on people of the liberal dispensation and greatly discredited most of them and their ideas as not having to deal with anything close to reality, and in doing so he distinctly changed the american character to more conservative dispensation.

@tarnopol 2 ай бұрын

@@kaustabhkalita2476 So, it did happen. Buckley was a PR package designed to launder monstrosities, like Vietnam, for audiences easily bamboozled by baroque diction. Like you.

@kaustabhkalita2476 2 ай бұрын

@@tarnopol just being seemingly angry for not being able to completely skewer an outwardly polite man in a 40 minute discussion doesnt mean he was right about vietnam. They were talking about vietnam ad nauseam in those days, to be interesting every show buckley tries to come at it from different avenues. He gave the american people too much credit and in doing so failed to predict chomsky could have an influence on the self destructive boomers and some of their children. He should have sticked to his tedious but strong points about vietnam for posterity' sake, at thr sake of being boring and disrespectful to his audience, a thing he greatly despised being. Your quarrel with bill seems to be his willingness to use words that other people might not know. Words come into existense not by jury or a standing committee. Words are formed because there is a felt need for it. Its an ode to freedom and to the people who came before us.

@RetiredVet2020 2 ай бұрын

He would be spinning in his grave to see what happened to the Republicans

@AndyLehrer Ай бұрын

His son voted for Obama.

@roughhabit9085 Ай бұрын

Kissinger said he single handedly shifted American politics to the right. Unfortunately it was a pendulum swing . It’s not the Republicans that would disappoint him.

@RetiredVet2020 Ай бұрын

@@roughhabit9085 not entirely true

@loupasternak 22 күн бұрын

would be ? he is

@analogdesigner 23 күн бұрын

Norman Mailer looks like George W Bush!

@R.Kinney1492 Ай бұрын

Too, Jewish for me.

@rexracernj7696 19 күн бұрын

Groucho is SO much more intelligent than that erudite poser WFB, in so many ways. Note at the beginning how WFB is intent on justifying racial jokes (he was a poorly-disguised bigot) but Groucho sticks to his guns. Yeah, I often watched Firing Line back in the day, admired WFB's vocab, but recognized that it masked a mediocre intellect.

@AlexKomnenos Ай бұрын

Noam Chomsky is such a wind bag

@marcweeks9178 12 күн бұрын

Really, that's your take? Most TV pundits just spout things they believe are conventional wisdom, but Chomsky is always prepared to back up his assertions with evidence. He's pointed out many times that this is what keeps him from being invited to the usual shows (Face the Nation and the like). You can't say controversial things because you don't have time to lay out an argument between commercial breaks. This means that you only have time to repeat conventional wisdom ("US good, Russia bad"). Televised discourse suffers as a result.

@jamesoliver6625 19 күн бұрын

Just how irrelevant to history are Ginsberg and Mailer. I remember seeing the Newton discussion as broadcast and coming away thinking all he did was embarrass himself.

@bloosart 26 күн бұрын

Is there anything more soothing than Buckley's forced accent of elitism?

@jasonhurd4379 11 күн бұрын

Buckley's accent is even more astonishing when one considers that English was his third language, not his first.

@larryparis925 2 ай бұрын

Groucho was a fine entertainer and commentator, particularly in the era he grew up and performed in. Not perfect, but well-worth watching. Buckley, on the other hand, was a F***ING bore. Groucho had much higher standards than that jerk.

@777jones 2 ай бұрын

Well said. Groucho was electrifying. Norman Mailer is an annoying pest and Buckley strikes a pose without really putting it to use.

@2nostromo 2 ай бұрын

If you find WFB boring there is no hope for you.

@larryparis925 2 ай бұрын

@@2nostromo On the contrary, I am optimistic and hopeful for a progressive future. Sorry for your loss.

@WillhelmBuddesweir 2 ай бұрын

@@larryparis925 How much more progressive? Most of the West has been extremely progressive these last few decades, some more than others. And at this point in time, things are clearly regressing. What are you hoping for exactly, in your own words?

@larryparis925 2 ай бұрын

@@2nostromoWell, so much the worse for you. But thank you for your irrelevant comment.

@WilliamByronIs 2 ай бұрын

Buckley was the proto Tucker Carlson- at least Buckley had served in the military, I suppose- and Norman Mailer continues to show how out of touch the literary intellectual sect has always been with his pretentious wording. Great footage though, I'm appreciative.

@isaacslomski-pritz3116 2 ай бұрын

Would Tucker Carlson have had Noam Chomsky and Allen Ginsberg on his show?

@darbyheavey406 2 ай бұрын

Tucker not in the same zip code as Buckley.

@jec1ny 2 ай бұрын

Tucker Carlson is a clown and demagogue for hire. Buckley, was the real deal. Agree with him or not, he was a very serious intellectual and a man who always showed great civility towards those with whom he disagreed, provided he saw them as basically honorable people. He was also extremely well grounded in facts and never trafficked in loony conspiracy theories. Nor would he have given the time of day to a conman like Donald Trump. Buckley was at the forefront of the move to purge the lunatic right from the ranks of the GOP in the late 50s and early 1960s. He was a savage critic of groups like the John Birch Society (the MAGA of that era).

@shiloh6915 2 ай бұрын

Tucker and Buckley were both former CIA

@roughhabit9085 2 ай бұрын

They are identical, except that Buckley had charm , wit , and a lot more intelligence.