Just got a DVD that I'm enjoying a lot. Back in the late sixties and early-to-mid seventies, my father was a big fan of a man named Lou Gordon — a Detroit-based newspaper columnist who hosted a weekly syndicated hour of political talk. The show was not widely seen — in Los Angeles, it ran in a late slot on a remote UHF channel — but it often made news and was extremely interesting.
Gordon was an unabashed Liberal but he was reasonable and respected by folks of other stripes. Everyone, sooner or later, turned up in his guest chair — from George Wallace to Jimmy Carter (and his brother Billy) to Ralph Nader and Bob Hope. Hope, in fact, appeared several times to explain his political worldview and to engage, as all guests did, in debate with Lou. My father thought Lou Gordon was the smartest man on television and even though I was rather Conservative back then — yes, I know; hard to believe — I always found Gordon interesting and hard to deny. There were a number of reasons why my politics migrated from their right-wing vantage point, and watching The Lou Gordon Program was a biggie.
He was a smart interviewer of a kind we don't see these days. Actually, I don't think today's interviewers have much opportunity to be all that smart. Interviews are short and the good interviewees rarely go on with anyone who's likely to challenge them. Gordon held long, penetrating chats and he challenged everyone, even guests who seemed to be on his side. Often, they said things they probably regretted. It was on Lou Gordon's show that George Romney, who was at the time a strong candidate for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination, announced that he had changed his mind about supporting U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and that his previous stance was the result of "…the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." The remark, widely reported, ended Romney's presidential chances. An excerpt from that show is included in the video link below.
The Lou Gordon Program was on from 1965 until the host's passing in 1977. When he died, Tom Snyder hosted a 90-minute retrospective filled with clips. Gordon's family has recently made a copy of that broadcast available on DVD (ordering info on this page) and that's the DVD I've been enjoying today. It's a great portrait of the arguments that framed the eras of Vietnam and Watergate and I'm glad I have it. Here's five minutes from it…