FIRING LINE: KISSINGER'S YEARS OF RENEWAL (TV)
Summary
One in this talk/interview series hosted by William F. Buckley, Jr. Buckley's guest for this episode is Henry Kissinger, former right-hand man and secretary of state to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Buckley opens the interview by giving a very brief overview of Kissinger's life and achievements, referring to him as the "primary conceptualist of our foreign policy ... during those hectic years from 1974 through 1976." Buckley explains that Kissinger is with him to talk about the statesman's recently published memoirs, "Years of Renewal," and he informs Kissinger that he really only has two main questions for him. First, he inquires how the book handles Nixon and the controversial oval-office audiotapes. Kissinger answers at length, defending Nixon and insisting that Nixon will go down in history as "one of the seminal Presidents in the design and execution of foreign policy." Kissinger also reveals that the book includes an analysis of Nixon's many neuroses and eccentric character traits. The second question Buckley asks -- about post-Vietnam policies -- gets derailed; Kissinger is sidetracked talking about the early days of dealing with the Communists in regard to missile defense systems.
(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: May 16, 1999
- RUNNING TIME: 0:27:47
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:60624
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: U S - Politics and government; Presidents; Watergate; U S - Foreign policy
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1971-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Warren Steibel … Producer, Director
- Mark Nix … Producer, Director
- George Kahookele … Associate Producer, Direction (Misc.), Assistant Director
- Muriel Oxenberg Murphy … Associate Producer
- Dorothy McCartney … Researcher
- John Virtes … Researcher
- William F. Buckley, Jr. … Host
- Gerald Ford
- Richard Nixon