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Is America a Terrible Letdown?
Collection StructureFiring Line broadcast records > Episode guide > Is America a Terrible Letdown?
Item Title Is America a Terrible Letdown?
Guest McCarthy, Mary (1912-1989)
Host Buckley, William F., Jr. (1925-2008)
Date CreatedJune 30, 1971
Description

"I should like to begin," says WFB, "by asking Miss McCarthy wherein America especially let her down." MM: "Oh, I didn't know this was the question we were going to discuss." WFB: "Are you prepared?" MM: "Well, I dislike self-pity. So that I would never speak in terms of 'America let me down.' Let itself down." WFB: "Well, then--let other people down." MM: "Yes, well,... it seems to me that there's been a great change in America, oh, starting sometime after the Second World War. That the quality of people in politics ... deteriorated; that when you see, nowadays, some leftover from, let's say, the Roosevelt Administration, it's, you know, it's like seeing some old cathedral pine standing there... I think that capitalism is the most successful deteriorator of society that's been known yet. I've never been in Russia but I have been in Poland ... and what strikes you about those countries, is, you know, how refreshing they are because they're so backward and reminds me very much ... of my childhood.... I think any logical conservative like you, Mr. Buckley would have to be anti-capitalist. If you're not anti-capitalist, I don't believe you're a conservative."

Language(s)
Country of Origin
Place RecordedNew York City, New York, United States
DimensionsDuration: 60 minutes
FormatText
Medium television programs
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Color
color
Soundtrack
sound
Hoover IDProgram S0012
Record Number80040.251
NotesVideo not currently available for purchase.
RightsCopyright held by Stanford University. This copy is provided for educational and research purposes only. No publication, further reproduction, or reuse of copies, beyond fair use, may be made without the express written permission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on behalf of Stanford University.
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