Vintage Interviews With Notable People
What has happened to the idea that the American people are the ones in charge of their own country?
According to longtime cable news personality Lou Dobbs, American populism has been replaced by a network of elites in government and business.
Dobbs wrote about it in his 2007 book Independents Day. I met him that November, just about a year before the 2008 election – and Dobbs spared neither side his criticism.
So here now, from 2007, Lou Dobbs.
Lou Dobbs died this past July. He was 78.
The journalist who founded C-SPAN in the 1970s retired last month after leading the network for 47 years.
To many viewers, Brian Lamb was C-SPAN. His quiet and intelligent demeanor helped set the tone for the cable outlet dedicated to bringing the workings of the federal government into American homes.
And for 15 years, from 1989 to 2004, Brian Lamb was also host of the popular weekly C-SPAN show “Booknotes.”
Each show featured a prominent writer of nonfiction, and each was allowed on the show only once, meaning Lamb tapered 800 shows with 800 authors.
About halfway through the show’s run, Lamb and his staff collected highlights from many of those interviews in a book called – appropriately enough – Booknotes.
That’s when I had the chance to spend a few minutes with him.
So here now, from 1997. Brian Lamb.
Brian Lamb will be 83 next month. He lives in Virginia. .
A number of countries require national service from their young men, and Israel from its young women as well
What should the US?
Require national service? No. But more than 30 years ago, a conservative commentator suggested national service as a means of letting America’s young people express their gratitude for the civil liberties we enjoy.
In a book length essay called Gratitude, William F Buckley junior argued for voluntary national service
Buckley founded National Review in 1955, an act many believe launched the modern conservative movement.
And for 33 years TV audiences watched him on “Firing Line. “
By today’s measure, however, Buckley’s views may be seen as less rigidly conservative
I spoke with him in 1990 when his book Gratitude was published.
So here now, from 1990, William F. Buckley Jr.
William F Buckley Jr died in 2008. He was 82.
We’re all familiar with the old saw that “opposites attract.” But how opposite is too opposite?
At first glance it might have seemed that William Cohen and Janet Langhart were just too opposite to succeed as a couple
Cohen was white, Jewish, Republican.
Langhart was black, Christian, and Democrat.
But when journalist Langhart interviewed Senator Cohen, something sparked. And in 1996, they were married. The following year President Bill Clinton appointed Cohen his Defense Secretary.
The Cohens’ marriage has been sustained by a mutual empathy, as both have
faced racial or religious discrimination each has experienced since childhood.
In 2007 William Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen co-wrote a book called Love in Black And White. That’s when I had the chance to sit down for a few minutes with both of them to talk about it.
So here now from 2007, William Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen.
William Cohen is now 82. Janet Langhart is also 82. They celebrated their 28th anniversary last February.
Yesterday would have been Anthony Bourdain’s 68th birthday. Instead June 25 is now observed as “Anthony Bourdain Day” in honor of the beloved celebrity chef.
Bourdain was executive chef at New York’s Les Halles restaurant, but his popularity exploded with his first book Kitchen Confidential.
Then came the Food Network TV show, then more TV on The Travel Channel and CNN.
Yet somehow he had resisted the idea of publishing a cookbook until 2004They finally came out with Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook
Somehow in the 20 years since I did this interview I had forgotten how witty and charming Anthony Bourdain could be
So come back with me now to 2004, and my conversation with Anthony Bourdain.
Anthony Bourdain took his own life on June 8, 2018 while on location in France for his TV show “Parts Unknown.”
After 41 year0s as host of TV’s “Wheel of Fortune,” Pat Sajak has retired.
But co-star Vanna White hasn’t. She’s been turning the letters since 1982. It wasn’t long after joining the show that Vanna was as well-known as Pat.
I met her in 1987 when she wrote a memoir called Vanna Speaks, a reference to the fact that, in those years, she never said anything on the show.
I spoke with her at the noisy convention of the American Booksellers Association – an event that, it turns out, Vanna had a history with, as you’ll hear shortly.
So, here now, from 1987, Vanna White.
Vanna White is 67 now. She is signed to remain on the show through 2026.
In the late 1960s and early ‘70s television audiences ate up what they were served by a unique cooking show host who called himself The Galloping Gourmet.
London-born Graham Kerr began his culinary training at the age of 14. After a decade in hospitality Kerr made his TV debut in 1959 in New Zealand. A promoter soon put him on television in Australia, too, And in 1968 “The Galloping Gourmet” was launched in North America.
Kerr’s producer was his wife Treena, whom he married in 1955. They had known each other since age 11.
In their later years, Graham and Treena Kerr embraced a simpler, less materialistic life. Adhering to their closely-held Christian beliefs the couple lived a life of healthy self-denial.
And in 2006 they published a book called Recipe For Life. And true to their more modest lifestyle, they invited me to do the interview from their motorhome parked in a campground not far from Baltimore.
So here now, from that sunny fall day in 2006, the Kerrs:
Graham Kerr is 90 now, and lives in Washington State. Treena died at age 81 in 2015, just a few days before the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary.
The liberal media hates Christianity. How many times have you heard commentators on the right saying that or something similar?
But is it true? Is there a war on Christianity? And is that war led by the liberal media?
Well-known columnist and commentator SE Cupp says, yes. At least she said that in 2010 when she wrote a book called Losing Our Religion – and I think a distance of 14 years hasn’t really blunted the arguments she makes, whether you agree with her or not.
So here now from 2010 SE Cupp.
Who doesn’t love going to the zoo? The chance to see wild and exotic animals up close is an experience that all ages enjoy.
But the modern zoo bears little resemblance to those you, or your parents, may remember. The cramped dirty cages that characterized the zoos of a prior era have now been replaced by more open settings that may mimic an animal’s natural habitat.
One of the principal architects of that transformation was longtime Columbus Zoo director Jack Hanna. He took over an aging and decrepit facility and turned it into a showplace, attracting thousands of visitors.
And Hanna himself became a celebrity. During the 1980s and ’90s he was on television all over the place. And he always brought an exotic animal with him.
I met him in 1989 when he wrote his memoir, called Monkeys On The Interstate.
And what animal did he bring with him the day I interviewed him? You’ll hear a Madagascar hissing cockroach.
So here now, from 1989, Jack Hanna.
Jack Hanna is 77 now, and lives with his wife in Montana. A couple of years ago he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
I suppose there are many reasons someone might be an atheist. For famed magician Penn Jillette, one half of the Penn & Teller duo, his atheism results from what he frames as a vigorous intellectual exercise.
As a youth, Jillette read his Bible, but rejected it as illogical and flawed..
Jillette does not revel in his atheism, however, wearing it instead as one aspect of a multi-faceted personality.
His 2011 book was called God, No! He and I had a chat about it, so here now, from 2011, Penn Jillette.
Penn Jillette will be 69 in a couple of weeks. Penn & Teller remain a popular headline act in Las Vegas.