Wish These Days Were Back!
I just recently got to watch this. It's excellent. I only wish it (the program)were longer.
Wilson?!
In one sense, any Firing Line interview from the 1960's is worth owning as history if nothing else. If I recall correctly, this aired after the 1966 election and they discussed nearly the exact same stuff Republicans are discussing today following the 2008 election. It's interesting to hear how little has changed.
I was rather floored, however, to hear Goldwater speak fondly of Woodrow Wilson. Was this is a function of the time and a yearning for authoritarian rule? Or is there something I really don't understand about Goldwater? Buckley doesn't explore this point, but I was surprised to hear it.
In the end, I enjoyed the program and I'm glad I bought it however there isn't much here that'll likely lead me to watch it a second time. Interesting, but not riveting.
Buckley and Goldwater in 1966
In 1966 William F. Buckley's show "Firing Line" was just beginning its long run. One of the show's first guests was Barry Goldwater, who had lost the prior presidential election. In this episode the two discuss the future of conservatism after Goldwater's defeat and the passage of the liberal legislation of the mid-Sixties.
Goldwater was prescient on Medicare and on the ultimate ideological homogenization of the two major political parties. Buckley and Goldwater also examined the concentration of power in the presidency, mused on the likelihood of defeating an incumbent president and of a GOP win in 1968, and discussed the possible roles of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon in the Republican Party. The two also discussed foreign policy, touching on Vietnam, China, and Communism.
Some of the topics in this episode of "Firing Line" are dated, but others are timeless, including the discussion of some of the challenges conservatives seemingly face in any era...
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