1968 Buckley - Vidal Debate

from ABC News, August 28, 1968.

"Vidal: It's like living under a Soviet Regime..."

"Buckley:...don't infer a case of implicit totalitarianism of the American System."

Part 1 of 5

During the Republican and Democratic Conventions, ABC news thought it would be more interesting to have a debate between two leading intellects, one representing the right wing and one representing the left. They contracted William F. Buckley Jr.and Gore Vidal. ABC got more than they bargained for, especially on August 28, when the two men nearly came to blows after they presented opposing arguments about the right to assemble as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

RETURN to 1968