Yes, I think now would be a good time for that.
- Turn the phones on. - Mr. Friendly wants the phones on.
It's the junior senator calling collect.
It's Reed Harris thanking us for putting him on the best-seller list.
I don't know if you have seen what I saw.
But I want to associate myself and this program...
...with what Ed Murrow has just said.
And say I've never been prouder of CBS.
Mr. Stevenson had charged that the senator made demagoguery and deceit...
- Congratulations. - Great show.
Feel like a Scotch?
I think everybody could use a Scotch.
- It's 3:30, early editions are out. - Not worried.
No, of course not. Shirley, honey...
...would you go and get the early editions?
- All of them? - Just get O'Brian.
- Hey, watch my drink. - Yep.
- Okay, here we go. - Here they are.
- At last. - The Times.
- Good. Who wrote it? - Jack Gould.
"Edward R. Murrow's television program on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy...
...was an exciting and provocative examination of the man and his methods.
It was crusading journalism of high responsibility and courage.
For TV so often plagued by timidity and hesitation...
...the program was a milestone that reflected enlightened citizenship.
The program..."Hold on.*"The program was no less an indictment of those who wish...
...the problems posed by the senator's tactics would just go and leave them alone.
That was Mr. Murrow's and television's triumph and a very great one."
- Yes. - Hear, hear.
- He hated it. - Yeah, what's his beef?
Send the Times a bottle of Scotch.
I did. How do you think we go that review?
- How's the Post? - It's pretty good.
- What about O'Brian? - The same.
Go on, go on. Read O'Brian.
- I don't have it. - Got it.
Here.
- Here we go. - Shirley, that...
"We can't say we were surprised...
...at Murrow's hate-McCarthy telecast last evening...
...when his explosively one-sided propaganda...
...edited with deviously clever selectivity...
...from McCarthy's march against Communism was finished last evening.
By equally Machiavellian coincidence, the following telecast...
...featured Murrow's PM protégé Hollenbeck.
In an obviously gloating mood, Hollenbeck...
...hoped viewers had witnessed his patron's triumph from and for the left."
And so on. Yeah, so on, so on, so on.
- It's okay. Go ahead, finish it. - No, that's it.
- That's it, that's... - Shirley, please. Finish it.
"The Columbia Broadcasting System has been in a lengthy...
...clean-house-of-lefties mood.
The worst offenders on lesser levels have been pushed out of the company.
Don Hollenbeck, a graduate of the demised pinko-publication PM...
...attacked conservative papers with sly and slanted propaganda.
He then proceeded through an equally...
...tilted review of the day's events with McCarthy...
...dominating his words, actions, attitudes..."
So on and so on.
- It's O'Brian. - Yeah, he didn't get the Scotch, that's all.
- Is that grammatically correct? - I'll have that cigarette, Ed.
Thanks, Shirley.
Thank you. Joe. Shirley.
For the legwork.
It doesn't matter.
To Jack Gould.
To Jack, to Jack, to Jack Gould.
- To Jack Gould. - I love Jack Gould.
- A scholar and gentleman. - A real writer.
- May he rest in peace. - What?
- Hello, Jimmy. - Fred, congratulations.
Thank you.
- I got a hangover you wouldn't believe. - All the ad guys on the third floor watched.
- Good review in the Times. - Switchboard lit up.
We're putting out a release that said calls came in 15-to-1 in favor.
- Really? Fifteen-to-1? - We got calls from everywhere.
- East Coast or the West Coast? - Yeah, Kansas City, Cincinnati...
Mr. Paley.
- Morning, Fred. - Morning, Mr. Paley.
- How's your wife? - She's fine. Getting ready to move.
- Really? Where to? - Riverdale.
- We found a nice house there. - It's nice there.
Yes, sir.
- Excuse me. - Fred.
McCarthy wants William Buckley to do his rebuttal.
I said no.
Yes, sir.
Hey. Johnny. Radulovich has been reinstated.
- What? - Radulovich...
- Radulovich has been reinstated. - Where did you hear this?
- Where's Ed? - He's in the bullpen, why?
Got some good news, got some very good news.
Special announcement from the secretary of the Air Force. Fellas. Listen up. Everyone.
"I have decided that it is consistent with the interests of the national security...
...to retain Lieutenant Radulovich in the United States Air Force. Stop.
He is not, in my opinion, a security risk. Full stop."
There you go. Harold E. Talbott, secretary for the Air Force.
- Make a copy of that for me? - I will do, Fred.
- Let's get back to work. - Good job, Don.
- This means something. - Good news, huh?
- This absolutely means something. - Absolutely. I mean, this is the start of...
Palmer?
The CBS lawyers wanna talk to you.
- When? - Tomorrow.
I don't want you to get paranoid, they're talking to everybody.
Any ideas?
Just tell them what you know.
- Now, is that testimony true? - No, sir, it is not.
Not at any time have I been a member of a Communist party...
...and I have never seen a Communist card.
- You've never seen a card? - Right.
Have you ever attended any meetings?
No, sir, I've never attended any meetings.
Have you ever subscribed to the Daily Worker?
No, I didn't subscribe to the Daily Worker, and I wouldn't pay for it.
Well, Mrs. Markward who was working for the FBI...
...who joined the Communist party under orders from the FBI...
...has testified that while she never met you personally...
...at a Communist meeting, that your name was on the list...
...of Communists who were paying dues.
Can you shed any light upon that?
No, sir, I don't even know what the dues are, or where they were paid.
Do I understand you have never paid any money...
...to the Communist party?
- Is that correct? - That's right.
- You've never paid any dues to anyone... - Thank you, Leo. Thank you very much.
Good work, Joe. Charlie.
Now, what is the show? Is it defending Annie Lee Moss as not being a Communist?
Or is it her constitutional rights?
We're better sticking up for the constitutional issues.
The woman is not a Communist spy.
Joe McCarthy said that they have a spy in the Pentagon...
...that spy has gotten into the code room, and that spy is Annie Lee Moss.
New York Times reports, "McCarthy asserts he has new Red-link to Army."
Quote, "Senator McCarthy charged today that the Army employs a woman...
...in its code room who was and still may be an active Communist." Unquote.
Front page of the New York Times.
No sooner is he done chastising the other committee members...
...for wanting to push into the afternoon, then what?
Seven questions in, he ducks out, leaves his hatchet man.
- He leaves. - It's all over the headlines.
Eddie, get me copies from any newspaper that printed anything about that.
- Absolutely. - The Cincinnati Inquirer.
- Chicago. All across the country. - Get a stack for the show.
Couple other pieces we should include. There's three Annie Lee Mosses in the book.
There are two Robert Halls. One's colored, one's white.
Charlie said we have some footage of the empty chair. That says it all.
That's a great shot.
Start with McCarthy leaving after seven questions...
...and then we'll cut to the shot of the chair.
- All right, so to that end... - Excuse me. Fellas.
Mr. Murrow, McCarthy wants April sixth.
Thank you, Natalie.
If Charlie shoots it we see it first. We should ask. Offer.
- It's a long shot. - What the hell can McCarthy possibly do?
Is he gonna debate himself? We used his words.
How can he? We used the original transcripts.
Johnny. Johnny, we know what it's going to be.
He's going to come after me. There's nothing more he can do.
He's gonna bet that a senator trumps a newsman.
- He'll lose. - Not if we're playing bridge.
- I'm sorry, guys. Didn't mean to interrupt. - Hey, Don.
- It's getting fun now. - Ed, you have a minute?
- Yes, Don. I'll be right there. - All right, boys.
- Playtime's over. - We have four days...
...to do a 28-minute show.
- Sorry. - Oh, that's all right, Ed.
- Hi, Mary. - Mr. Hollenbeck. Mr. Murrow.
- Could you give us a moment, please? - Certainly.
Thank you, dear. Thank you.
I have to ask you something, Ed. It's about O'Brian.
- O'Brian doesn't matter. - He's killing me.
- It doesn't amount to a lot. - It's not just him.
- Let that guy have it. - We're not going after O'Brian.
I will not take on McCarthy and Hearst. I can't defeat them both.
Just don't read the papers.
Or don't read O'Brian, anyway.
Okay.
I guess not.
I'm sorry, Don.
- Although Miss Moss offered to testify... - Senator Mundt, South Dakota.
Senator McCarthy suggested that she was too sick. She agreed...
Mr. Cohn wanted to know about Mrs. Moss's connection very much with...
Do you swear to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?
May we get your full name for the record, please?
Annie Lee Moss.
- M-O-S-S? - That's right.
Mrs. Moss, let me say for the record...
...and for your information and for the information of your counsel...
...that you are not here because you are considered important...
...in the Communist apparatus.
We have the testimony that you are a... Have been a Communist.
We are rather curious, however, to know that...
How you suddenly were shifted from...
...a worker in a cafeteria to the code room.
In other words I am today much more interested...
...in the handling of your case...
...by your superiors than in your own personal activities.
However, the council will question you about your own activities also.
- Mr. Chairman? - We will not hear from counsel.
You've been told what the rule is.
If you have anything to say, say it through your client.
Did you begin work at the General Accounting office in 1945?
Yes, sir.
And prior to that time had you been a cafeteria worker?
- Yes, I had. - I see.
While in the Pentagon since 1950...
...have you had any connection with coded messages?
Have you ever handled coded messages?
- No more than to transmit them. - Pardon me?
No more than to transmit the message.
Then to transmit them? Did you transmit codes?
Receive or to transmit messages was all I had to do.
And in the courtroom, I've never been into a courtroom in my life.
Do you know the type of classification?
Do you know if they were secret, top-secret, confidential?
- No, sir. - In other words, you wouldn't know the...
- The degree of classification? - No, sir.
I see.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to excuse myself. I've got...
...a rather important appointment tonight which I've got to work on right now...
...and I wonder if, Senator Mundt, you would take over as chairman.
- Mr. Chairman? - Mr. Cohn?
I have no further questions of this witness at this time.
I can say, we have the testimony of Mrs. Markward...
...the undercover agent for the FBI...
...stating that Annie Lee Moss was a member...
...a dues-paying member of the Communist party.
The Northeast Club of the Communist party.
We have corroboration of that testimony by another witness who was called...
...and gave a sworn statement to the effect that she also knew Mrs. Moss...
...as a member of the Communist party.
She's already lost her job, she's been suspended because of this action.
I'm not defending her. If she's a Communist, I want her exposed.
But to make these statements as, "We've got corroborating evidence...
...that she is a Communist."
Under these circumstances I think she's entitled...
...to have it produced here in her presence...
...and let the public know about it and let her know about it.
I don't like to try people by hearsay evidence.
I like to get the witnesses here and try them...
...by testimony under oath.
The chair will rule that the comment of Mr. Cohn be stricken from the record.
I didn't ask that. I didn't ask that, Mr. Chairman.
Whether we should try to produce a witness in public...
...because the FBI may have her undercover. We don't want to...
You can't strike these statements made by counsel here...
...as to evidence that we are having and withholding.
You cannot strike that from the press...
...nor from the public mind once it's planted there.
That's the... That is the evil of it.
Well, I don't think it's fair to a witness...
...to a citizen of this country, to bring them up here...
...cross-examine them and when they get through, say:
"We've got something, the FBI's got something that condemns you."
- The chair agrees... - It is not sworn testimony...
...it's convicting people by rumor and hearsay and innuendo.
You will notice that neither Senator McClellan or Senator Symington...
...nor this reporter, know or claim that Mrs. Moss was or is a Communist.
Their claim was simply that she had the right to meet her accusers face to face.
One month ago tonight, we presented a report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.
We labeled it as controversial.
Most of that report consisted of words and pictures of the senator.
At that time we said...
...if the senator believes we have done violence to his words or pictures...
...if he desires to speak, to answer himself...
...an opportunity would be afforded him on this program.
The senator sought the opportunity, asked for a delay of three weeks...
...because he said he was very busy, and he wished adequate time to prepare his reply.
We agreed.
We placed no restrictions on the manner or method of the presentation of his reply.
And we suggested that we would not take time to comment on this particular program.
Here now is Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, junior senator from Wisconsin.
Good evening. Mr. Edward R. Murrow...
...educational director of the Columbia Broadcasting System...
...devoted his program to an attack...
...on the work of the United States Senate investigating committee...
...and on me personally as its chairman.
Now, over the past four years he has made repeated attacks...
...upon me and those fighting Communists.
And, of course, neither Joe McCarthy nor Edward R. Murrow...
...is of any great importance as individuals.
We are only important in our relation to the great struggle...
...to preserve our American liberties.
Now, ordinarily... Ordinarily I would not take time out...
...from the important work at hand to answer Murrow.
However, in this case I feel justified in doing so because Murrow is the symbol...
...the leader and the cleverest of the jackal pack...
...which is always found at the throat...
...of anyone who dares to expose individual Communists and traitors.
And I am compelled by the fact...
...to say to you that Mr. Edward R. Murrow...
...as far back as 20 years ago...
...was engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.
For example, the Institute of International Education...
...of which he was the acting director...
...was chosen to act as a representative by a Soviet agency...
...to do a job which would normally be done by the Russian Secret Police.
Now, Mr. Murrow by his own admission was a member of the IWW...
...that's the Industrial Workers of the World...
...a terrorist organization cited as subversive...
...by an Attorney General of the United States.
Now, Mr. Murrow said on this program, and I quote:
"The actions of the junior senator from Wisconsin...
...have given considerable comfort to the enemy."
That is the language of our statute of treason, rather strong language.
If I am giving comfort to our enemies...
...I ought not to be in the Senate.
If on the other hand Mr. Murrow...
...is giving comfort to our enemies...
...he ought not to be brought into the homes...
...of millions of Americans by the Columbia Broadcasting System.
And I want to assure you...
...that I will not be deterred...
...by the attacks of the Murrows...
...the Lattimores, the Fosters...
...the Daily Worker or the Communist party itself.
And I make no claim to leadership.
In complete humility...
...I do ask you and every American...
...who loves this country...
...to join with me.
Everyone talks about the weather.
Wherever you look on America's modern farms...
...aluminum is on the job...
...helping the farmer do something about the weather.
Aluminum for the farm is one more example of how Alcoa, since 1888...
...has continued to pioneer new uses for this vital metal.
New uses of aluminum that mean better farms and better farming.
The aluminum from the nation's first and leading producer:
Alcoa. Aluminum Company of America.
Last week Senator McCarthy appeared on this program...
...to correct any errors he may have thought we made in our report of March ninth.
Since he made no reference to any statements of fact that we made...
...we must conclude that he found no errors of fact.
He proved again that anyone who exposes him...
...anyone who does not share his hysterical disregard for decency and human dignity...
...and the rights guaranteed by the Constitution...
...must be either a Communist or a fellow traveler.
I fully expected this treatment.
The senator added this reporter's name to a long list of individuals and institutions...
...he has accused of serving the Communist cause.
His proposition is very simple:
Anyone who criticizes or opposes Senator McCarthy's methods...
...must be a Communist.
And if that be true, there are an awful lot of Communists in this country.
For the record let's consider briefly some of the senator's charges.
He claimed but offered no proof...
...that I had been a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
That is false.
I was never a member of the IWW, never applied for membership.
The senator charged that Professor Harold Laski...
...a British scholar and politician, dedicated a book to me.
That's true.
He is dead.
He was a socialist, I am not.
He was one of those civilized individuals...
...who did not insist upon agreement with his political principles...
...as a precondition for conversation or friendship.
I do not agree with his political ideas.
Laski, as he makes clear in the introduction...
...dedicated the book to me, not because of political agreement...
...but because he held my wartime broadcasts from London in high regard.
And the dedication so reads.
I believed 20 years ago and I believe today...
...that mature Americans can engage in conversation and controversy...
...the clash of ideas...
...with Communists anywhere in the world...
...without becoming contaminated or converted.
I believe that our faith, our conviction...
...our determination are stronger than theirs...
...and that we can compete, and successfully...
...not only in the area of bombs...
...but in the area of ideas.
I have worked with CBS for more than 19 years.
The company has subscribed fully to my integrity and responsibility...
...as a broadcaster and as a loyal American.
I require no lectures from the junior senator from Wisconsin...
...as to the dangers or terrors of Communism.
Having searched my conscience and my files...
...I cannot contend that I have always been right or wise...
...but I have attempted to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it...
...even though, as in this case, I had been warned in advance...
...that I would be subjected to the attentions of Senator McCarthy.
We shall hope to deal with matters of more vital interest to the country next week.
Good night, and good luck.
"In the last analysis the senator was perched on the television high-dive...
...and all prepared to make a resounding splash.
He jumped beautifully, but he neglected to check first where he was going to land.
It must have been a shock to find that Mr. Murrow...
...had drained the water out of the pool."
- Is that the Times? Gould? - Yeah, it's Jack Gould at the Times.
He's a hell of a writer.
You should hire him away from the Times.
If we can afford him.
Senate's investigating McCarthy.
What?
The Army's charging that McCarthy and Cohn exercised undue pressure...
...to get preferential treatment for Schine.
I saw Crichton down at the Sun.
- He's unimpeachable. - Second source?
No, but it's coming out on the wire in two hours.
Who's heading up the investigation?
- It's not gonna be McCarthy. - Are you...? Really?
- What happened? What's going on? - Call the Post for a second source.
The Senate's investigating McCarthy.
There is an added bit of comedy to this story.
The committee can't convene for several days...
...because Senator McCarthy has a case of laryngitis.
And he must recover in the desert air of Arizona.
Oh, how mysterious.
But Stevens is going after him...
...and it looks like Joe Welch. - Yeah.
- They'll allow each side to call witnesses... - Great, I'm on that.
- and be privy to testimony.
Hey, Fred, we still have a meeting when I get back.
We're gonna go talk to Thompson.
No, thanks, Jack. Bye.
Well, Freddy, we're a hit. Right up there with Howdy Doody, huh.
Can I have an outside line, please?
- Outside line, please. - Yes, 74, 76...
"The fact of newscaster Don Hollenbeck's suicide yesterday...
...does not remove from the record...
...that peculiar history of the leftist slanting of the news...
...indulged consistently by the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Hollenbeck was what most astute students of CBS's...
...strange and questionable new methods...
...considered typical of its newscasters.
By Jack O'Brian."
Oh, yeah. I like it like that.
One of the best programs I ever heard was called CBS Views the Press.
A great many people liked it, some didn't...
...but no one ever called it anything but honest.
It was the work of an honest reporter.
Don Hollenbeck.
He also worked occasionally on See it Now.
He did the 11 P.M.. news over some of these stations.
He had been sick lately and he died this morning.
The police said it was suicide. Gas.
Not much of an obit.
But at least we got our facts straight. And it was brief.
And that's all Don Hollenbeck would have asked.
Good night, and good luck.
Gotta be in Philadelphia this morning.
What time is your train?
Eight.
Charlie going with you?
Here's a thought.
What if we're wrong?
We're not wrong.
We're not gonna look back and...
...say we protected the wrong side?
Protected them from what?
In the name of what? What would we be preserving?
An argument could be made for the greater good.
Not once you give it all away. It's no good then.
It's just a thought.
- May we not drop this? - Let me finish.
We know he was in the Lawyers Guild. And Mr. Cohn nods his head at me.
I did you, I think, no personal injury, Mr. Cohn.
- I meant to do you no personal injury. - No.
And if I did, I beg your pardon.
Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator.
You've done enough.
Have you no sense of decency, sir?
At long last have you left no sense of decency?
This, I know this hurts you, Mr. Welch.
- Senator, I think it hurts you too, sir. - I'd like to finish this.
Have you some private reservation...
...when you take the oath that you will tell the whole truth...
...that lets you be the judge of what you will testify to?
The answer is there's no reservation about telling the whole truth.
Thank you, sir.
Then tell us...
...who delivered... - I don't mean...
...the documents to you? ...this new fashion...
...is not chic.
I think it's just not good for me.
Not for you.
Milko, anything you care to say on that subject?
I think, no comment.
- It's gotta be there. - If you can't find it, I can't write about it.
- Check again. - Charlie said he dropped it off.
- Charlie said he dropped it... - Shirley, can I see you a minute?
- I gotta call you back. - Joe.
You too.
Close the door. Come in.
Have a seat.
How are you?
- I'm fine, thank you. - Swell. Yeah.
You both are aware that there's a policy here at CBS...
...that no two employees can be married.
I wanna ask you both a question, but I don't want you to answer it.
I want you to just consider it.
I know you two are married.
Everyone knows.
That's not my question.
In the next few weeks I have to lay off a couple of people.
We're making some significant cuts across the board.
I wanted you to know that because you could save someone else being fired.
I'm asking you to consider making this decision a little easier.
I don't need an answer now.
Just...
...think about it.
Okay.
- Well, Joe. - Well?
- We're sure gonna miss you around here. - Yeah, I'll pack my things.
- I think it's for the best. - Well, we'll find out.
Mrs. Wershba.
Everybody knew.
- Natalie, did he say what it was about? - No, Mr. Murrow.
Just that he wanted to talk to you in his office.
The problem isn't simply that you've lost your sponsor.
- With Alcoa See It Now still loses money. - Mr. Paley...
...the fee is $50,000, last week's episode we did for less than $50,000...
You're speaking beyond your competence.
We'll find another sponsor. We can find someone who wants...
Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar Question brings in over 80,000 in sponsors...
...and it costs one third of what you do.
Ed, I've got Tuesday night programming that's number one.
People want to enjoy themselves. They don't want a civics lesson.
- What do you want? - I don't want a constant stomachache...
...every time you take on a controversial subject.
I'm afraid that's the price you have to be willing to pay.
Let's walk very carefully through these next few moments.
The content of what we're doing is more important...
...than what some guy in Cincinnati... - What you're doing, not me.
Not Frank Stanton. You.
CBS News, See It Now, all belong to you, Bill.
You wouldn't know it.
What is it you want? Credit?
I never censored a single program.
I hold on to affiliates who wanted entertainment from us.
I fight to keep the license...
...with the very same politicians that you were bringing down...
...and I never...
...never said no to you. Never.
I would argue that we have done very well by one another.
I would argue that this network...
...is defined by what the news department has accomplished.
And I would also argue that never saying no is not the same as not censoring.
Really? You should teach journalism.
You and Mr. Friendly.
Let me ask you this.
Why didn't you correct McCarthy...
...when he said that Alger Hiss was convicted of treason?
He was only convicted of perjury.
You corrected everything else.
Did you not want the appearance of defending a known Communist?
I would argue that everyone censors, including you.
What do you want to do, Bill?
I'm taking your program from a half an hour to an hour.
And it won't be a weekly program, and it won't be Tuesday nights.
When would it be?
Sunday afternoons.
How many episodes?
Five.
Why don't you just fire me, Bill?
I don't think it's what either of us wants.
You owe me five shows.
- You won't like the subject matter. - Probably not.
Fred, I'll need you for a moment.
- Thank you, Mary. - Goodbye, Mr. Friendly.
He wants me to lay a few people off.
I'm sure he does.
Let's do our first show about the downfall of television.
Senate's gonna vote to censure McCarthy tomorrow.
- Probably. - And then what happens?
- He sits in the back row. - Right.
They keep him in the Senate. They don't kick him out.
No, he stays.
Well, we might as well go down swinging.
Did you know the most trusted man in America is Milton Berle?
- See? You should have worn a dress. - They're more sophisticated.
- How does a Scotch sound? - Scotch sounds good.
- Why are we proud? - You know Joe and Shirley are married?
- Sure. - Did everyone know?
- Pretty much. - We are proud...
...because from the beginning of this nation...
...man can walk upright.
No matter who he is or who she is.
He can walk upright and meet his friend or his enemy.
And he does not fear that because that enemy...
...may be a position in great power...
...that he...
...can be suddenly thrown in jail...
...to rot there without charges and with no recourse to justice.
We have the Habeas Corpus Act and we respect it.
I began by saying that our history will be what we make it.
If we go on as we are...
...history will take its revenge...
...and retribution will not limp in catching up with us.
Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.
Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night...
...a time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan...
...is given over to a clinical survey on the state of American education.
And a week or two later...
...a time normally used by Steve Allen...
...is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East.
Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged?
Would the shareholders rise up in their wrath and complain?
Would anything happen other than a few million people...
...would have received some illumination on subjects...
...that may well determine the future of this country...
...and therefore the future of the corporations?
To those who say, "People won't look, they won't be interested...
...they're too complacent, indifferent and insulated"...
...I can only reply...
...there is in one reporter's opinion...
...considerable evidence against that contention.
But even if they are right, what have they got to lose?
Because if they are right...
...and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate...
...then the tube is flickering now...
...and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.
This instrument can teach.
It can illuminate, and, yes, it can even inspire.
But it can do so only to the extent...
...that humans are determined to use it towards those ends.
Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.
Good night...
...and good luck.