FIRING LINE: JIMMY HOFFA (TV)
Summary
One in this talk/interview series hosted by William F. Buckley, Jr. This episode, filmed before a live audience at the University of Detroit, features a conversation with union leader James R. Hoffa regarding his views on the prison system and the role of unions in America. Buckley opens the program with an overview of Hoffa's career, after which the two discuss the following subjects, among others: conditions in prisons that degrade rather than rehabilitate prisoners; the responsibility of the media to examine prison conditions and advocate reforms; allocations of funds in the prison industry; the reforms spurred by the Attica riots; the debate concerning the origins of notorious prisoner George Jackson's gun; corruption among prison guards; Hoffa's ongoing legal defense; President Richard Nixon's role in Hoffa's parole from prison; opposing views of states' Òright to workÓ legislation; the implications of national union membership statistics; the exclusion of labor unions from anti-monopoly laws; the power of unions to control a given industry and determine its wage rates and the composition of its workforce. Next, three University of Detroit professors direct questions at Hoffa: Professor Joel Forkosch brings up the current movement to organize prisoners into unions and asks whether there should be limits on which prisoners are given leadership positions. Then, in response to Professor Lillian Bauder's question concerning sexual and racial tensions in prison, Hoffa proposes the classification and segregation of prisoners by race, sexuality, and crime as a way of decreasing conflict. Finally, Professor Gilbert Donohue and Hoffa discuss the horrible conditions in Wayne County Jail, as well as the possible results of segregating the prison population. (Network affiliation varies; this program was also syndicated from 1966 to 1971 and from 1975 to 1977.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Mr. and Mrs. Theodore R. Stanley.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: October 4, 1972
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:08334
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Trade-unions - United States; Prisons - United States
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1971-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Warren Steibel … Producer, Director
- Paul Sweeney … Associate Producer
- Agatha S. Dowd … Researcher
- William F. Buckley, Jr. … Host, Interviewer
- Lillian Bauder … Interviewer
- Gilbert Donohue … Interviewer
- Joel Forkosch … Interviewer
- Hoffa, James R. "Jimmy" … Guest
- Richard M. Nixon