Mr. Rogers defends PBS in congress, 1969

President Nixon wanted to halve funding for PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Here is one Fred McFeely Rogers, making a better case. [CBP]

Previously: Mister Rogers -- Podcast appreciation
Mr. McFeely's purple panda terrifies children

• [niktemadur]

  A true classic by a true hero, a masterful performance.
  Every few months I feel the urge to watch this piece of footage again, and get shivers again.

• [Donald Petersen]

  Now, I love my sex-n-violence as much as the next Yank, but Fred Rogers was a national treasure, and never in my life did I ever hear such an ostensibly square plea for decency and compassion and valuing ourselves and each other, that could straighten the shoulders and moisten the eyes of the most hardcase Hell’s Angel, as that man delivered earnestly and sincerely into the camera all the afternoons of my young life.

  My two-year-old son and I have been watching some old episodes on Amazon Prime lately, in the predawn hours before his sister and mother wake, and I thought they’d be difficult to sit through.  Man, they hold up beautifully, and even the limited patience of a 31-month-old boy in the 21st century is not taxed by the gentle voice, cadence, and language of that man.

  Plus, the interactions between King Friday XIII and the Trolley crack my kid up.

  I wish somebody had cloned Mr Rogers and handed him a megaphone, or at least I wish more people had paid attention to him.  Today’s world is at least as bad as he’d feared it might end up, and yet immeasurably better for him having been in it.

  • [taintofevil]

    It’s good to know about the Amazon Prime episodes.  Mister Rogers isn’t very well represented in torrents.  Mister Rogers and early Sesame Street have held up really well.

• [Judas Peckerwood]

  What a truly awesome human being. Mr Rogers was one of those very few people in the world who are completely snark-proof.

• [Dynamic Footwear Distribution]

  what a beautiful and impassioned speech.  Seems he was as a genuine a person on stage as he was off-stage.  I was deeply moved.

• [Kenneth Nelson]

  There’s no snark possible. The man is the only pure entertainer that ever existed.

  • [robcat2075]

    I believe the snark for this one is:

    “These aren’t the budget cuts you’re looking for…”

• [Snig]

  One of my favorite stories is about his car getting stolen.  It was reported in the media, and the car was returned, with an apology from the thieves.  

  • [Gideon Jones]

    I don’t even care whether that’s true, it’s just nice to think about.

• [Phlip]

  Epic Fred!

• [Ari B.]

  I’m always moved whenever I hear this speech.

• [Gary Bridges]

  Contrast to Fox News condemning Fred Rogers for ruining America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29lmR_357rA

  • [devophill]

     Like I needed a reason to despise Fox News more. What generation are they referring to when they say “ruined a generation of kids”, anyway? Wikipedia says those two guys were born in 1976, which means they grew up with Mr. Rogers just like I did.  At least, they could have. I suspect they didn’t. They could’ve used more “ruining”, I think.

  • [Snig]

     Chased down the story.  There was, as you might expect,  never any “Experts” behind the “Experts Say”.  It was one finance professor, Don Chance, who made the statement as part of a “kids these days” rant.  No research.  He later made this full retraction about Mr. Rogers:
    “The reference to Mr. Rogers was just a metaphor. I have no professional qualifications to evaluate the real problems or propose solutions. Mr. Rogers was a great American. I watched him with my children and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again if I had young children.”

    Part of the surreality of that clip is the same no talent bozos routinely condemn “elitism” when it shows up in a political foe. 

• [musesum]

  I was 11 when Mr. Rogers started up on PBS. So, a bit too old. But, I was fascinated; the whole show just sincerely put forth the fundamentals. It filled a vacuum.

  I’ve had many heroes growing up. Really didn’t think of Mr. Rodgers as one, back then; no leaping over tall buildings. But, looking back, it’s pretty clear that he’s the one that mattered.

• [Kristen DeAngelis]

  Thank you for this! Closing in on my fourth decade this made me remember how much I loved Mr. Rogers, and how much his love was real and meant to me. (That might be the beers talking, but I don’t think that’s the whole story :) I should remember to introduce Mr. Rogers to my baby when she’s a bit older. 

• [Barry Convex]

  Yeah, I heard this on Bullseye last week, too.

  • [David Hall]

    Jesse Thorn is another in the League of Extraordinarily Nice Gentlemen.

    He’s doing a great job of building his “network” (Maximumfun.org) in his image.  Some of the shows may go blue at times (thankfully!)  but they’re all so positive and nice at the core.

• [silkox]

  Sen. Pastore deserves some props, too.

• [benher]

  Public television? What will this hippie want next, health care?!

• [Christopher]

  Once when I was in college a friend of mine found a Mr. Rogers album in a used music store. He bought it and a group of us gathered to listen to it, thinking we’d have a good laugh and make a bunch of sarcastic jokes about it. And then as soon as his voice came on we all just sat quietly and listened. Looking back I actually think it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t bring ourselves to talk openly about how much Mr. Rogers meant to us even though we’d just been listening to him talk not only about how it’s okay to share your feelings, but it’s important to do so. I think we all recognized how simple and yet deeply profound the lessons Mr. Rogers taught us were, but at the time we couldn’t bring ourselves to live those lessons.

  Needless to say I think the world would be a very different, not to mention better, place if we could live the lessons of Mr. Rogers.

• [booomer]

  I guess what stands out most to me, is the senator’s receptiveness to Mr. Rogers’ ideas. Somehow I can’t imagine this speech getting through to today’s senators. Especially those senators on the right. It’d be labeled “too socialist” and the whole discussion would be derailed as they argued the true meaning of socialism, and what it means to be a patriotic US citizen.
  Or maybe they’ve always been nattering nabobs of negativism.

• [yri]

  I was talking with a member of a famous juggling troupe who appeared on Mr. Rogers’ show, and it was from him that I learned Fred’s persona wasn’t an act. He (the juggler) shared how Rogers had told him, in an off camera moment, “I’m so proud of you!”

  Somehow, that he said this not to some child prodigy guest-star but to a professional adult entertainer is just so endearing to me that I still get teary-eyed every time I think about it.

• [Andrew Singleton]

  What i find most amusing is the hearing was originally supposed to cut the budget. It then gets increased.

• [Paul Bryden]

  Someday in the future, genetic engineering will result in a human strain of DNA that will enable us as a species to treat each other with compassion, and find the true power in humour. The basis for the DNA strain will undoubtedly be Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, true heroes to humanity. 

• [Pasketti]

  His Emmy acceptance speech is also worth watching.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Upm9LnuCBUM

  • [silkox]

     Holy cow, his Emmy acceptance speech is amazing!

    • [Donald Petersen]

      Wow.  And no orchestra would dare play that man off the stage before he was good and finished.

• [puzzlingevidence]

  I really love this clip!

  If you can dig it up, I’d recommend the documentary “Fred Rogers – America’s Favourite Neighbour.” Have tissues handy. I followed it up with some Bob Ross for the most gentle Sunday afternoon I think I’ve ever had.

  There’s a great clip where he makes Joan Rivers cry.