Prescient Pacifist Looms Large
Although I had missed this episode initially, by reputation, deservedly so, I had to re-visit this beloved, wise pacifist Norman Thomas and have a good listen. I was rewarded. Had this nation listened to Mr. Thomas and paused bombing long enough back in 1965, we would have ended the Vietnam "conflict" long before it became the commercial war that was lost. Unlike other shows, Mr. Buckley uncharacteristically misbehaved throughout this discussion with ad hominem attacks upon the alleged reputation of this war dissident that he graciously absorbed and quickly rebutted, to again and again, get Mr. Buckley back to the point of discussion: why the war cannot be won. Mr. Thomas survives the hawkish Buckley sniping with grace and charm, although Mr. Buckley thinks otherwise in his closing remarks. This is one encounter that Mr. Buckley did not learn from, nor did our country. There is something to say about the manliness of listening that only the old warriors like Norman Thomas embodied so...
Buckley at His Best
During the brief moments when Norman Thomas is not pontificating whimsical platitudes Buckley elucidates the utter puerility involved in the argumentation of Thomas. For some reason Thomas has beguiled himself into believing that voting for totalitarianism is somehow equivalent to self-determinism (even though such a premise is antithetical to itself). Of course by the end Thomas was just as befuddled as in the beginning having grasped very little of what Buckley had said.
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