Jack Anderson had, as Mr. Buckley puts it, "persuaded President Ford to sit down for a half hour to discuss, in connection with the forthcoming bicentennial, the strengths of America." President Ford agreed; a pleasant though not earth-shattering conversation ensued; but when Mr. Anderson took his film to first one network and then another, each refused it. Whereupon Mr. Buckley offered Firing Line as a venue for viewing the film and discussing "the implications of [the] experience. The President of the United States talks for one half hour about his feelings about America and his hopes for it, and the poor man can't get on TV. Permit me to express the doubt (a) that it would have happened to President Kennedy, or (b) that President Kennedy would have tolerated its happening to him." (This show's title refers to Press Secretary Ron Nessen's charge that Mr. Anderson had "conned" the President by implying that he had a firm deal with a network, which Mr. Anderson categorically denies. WFB: "So therefore he had no reason to be surprised?" JA: "He couldn't have been surprised.")
- Hoover ID: Program S0194
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