Hes authored books. Im incompetent to properly introduce bill moyers s thermply not enough time. Before a studio audience a man known for his modesty and his reluctance to talk about himself, agreed to sit down with me for a conversation i shall never forget. Ladies and gentlemen, mr. Bill moyers. upbeat music audience applause it started in marshall, texas but it started beforeu were a. Th sog unusual occurred in marshall that taught you about this america. You were the son of one of the poorest people in town anywhere else, in any other time you wouldnt have had much of a shot. How did it happen that a poor y got the shotou got . I was the beneficiary of affirmative action for poor, white southern boys. If you studied hard, worked hard, particularly men in met peon the town who would say, r hes a cots help him. Hes a poor boy lets help him. So the rodeo club gave me a sclarship, the City Commission let me come in in and sitin on their me. I was just constantly touched by people older than i am who saw something in me that i didnt see in myself. Ep so they justmoving me from one opportunity to another. But you know in those days the gap of income inequality was not so great. One of my best friends was anne blalock, who was the daughter oe ric. Hobut we went to the same , we went to the same parties, we went to the same dances. And i never felt uncomfortable in the presence of the kids in town whose parents were really the more fortunate ones. And thats changed in thisy to a very disturbing extent. Theres very little conversation, theres very little intercourse, theres very little communication, ry little participation between the poorest people, un poorest kids in our y, in our cities, and those who are well off. But i, it never occurred to me, that i wasnt as good as anne, or it didnt occur to her that i was not h equal in our relationship, and so that little town si said to me, you ify, you matter. It doesnt matter that your dad is poor. So those benefits in this small town mb were available to anious young man who was white. You are 14 years old, youre in marshall, texas, and theres a political rally, and for the first time in your life you s in person Lyndon Baines johnson, the senator of the state of texas. What did you think when you first saw him . O i was bowlr by the helicopter. audience laughs i was on the town square and the helicopter landed. He traveled the state, this is the 1948 election, whveh he was beaten by 8 contested and i have n down in the valley of texas. But he was campaignihard i, so who didnt want to see a helicopter in 48 the first year that helicopters were used in campaigns . Toso i went down to th square and when he got off the helicopter took his big stetson and tossed it into the crowd. W i later learned that he did that at every stop and he had somebody on his staff who went and got the stetson and returned it to the helicopter at the next stop so he could toss it again. I mean i learned a lot about politics in that very moment. That realization that this was part the game. This was just not that he had an Endless Supply of stetsons in the helicopter, but i remember that he spoke must have been 1,000, 2,000 people, at courthouse square. Big man, boisterous, stentorian in his tall, di comm presence, and i remember being stunned by the power of his persona. Di something yot see again, really, until the campaign of 64 when he was running for president for the first time in his own right. So you, north texas, university of texas austin, southwest theological seminary, woulcommitted toinburgh and end becoming a preacher, preaching in two churches upon aduation. But in there somewhere is a letter that you sent to lbj suggesting that the young voice wasnt being heard as much, and maybe you knew something. And he was struck by that apparently, c because led you. I had been at North Texas State College in upstate texas and i would go stop at the Student Union from time to time and watch the mccarthy hearing. Some of you dont remember the mccarthy hearings but the extremist Joseph Mccarthy a senator from wisconsin on anticommunist crusade had go beyond the limits of reasonable dialogue and reasonable politics and the senate had called him to question was about to censor hi and the senate had and sitting in the Student Union watching those hearings i became vy engaged. Dont ask me exactly why it was, as i say, i was 20 im 82 now that was a long time ago. But i felt maybe i wanted to be a political journalist. I planned to be a journalist i was working my way through the colleges on the publicity staff of the college covering the sports from the college and writing newsletters. O i went to ice on a saturday afternoon wrote a letter to, i had never met senator johnson except to see him from the helicopter. Ot and i a letter saying, id like to learn about politics and youre in a campaign down here where youre trying to reach young people and i think ive got something for you and youve got something for me. The letter got to his desk, he always nted to have bright, young men around him. Me John Connally begovernor ans were young men on his staff at one time in his career. And i went to washington and spent the summer ff in fact when i gothe trolley that brought me over to the capitol where his Senate Majority office was he was getting onto the trolley, t and k my hand and said, come on, he didnt even have a warm greeting he just took me down a long corridor in the basement of the capitol opened the door and took me down to an addressograph machine, re an aograph machine was like a sewing machine, you would hit the pedal and a metal plate would come through, the stamp would come down, and print the address on the envelope. Oc inbetween eight oat night, and seven the next morning, 00addressed by foot 27envelopes. I hadnt even unpack bag ane to the room where i was staying, and that impresd him. So then he moved me over to his own office to answer his own correspondence and there i was at 20 totally inexperienced in this, writing his letters to eenhower, writing his letters to the secretary of state, writing his letters to his contrand we bonded. As, o i was going backthis smale at the end of the summer, and Lyndon Johnson at his desk saidouyou know, i think yot to transfer to the university of texas. Thats where he lidd and thats where he a television station and i said, mr. Leader i dont have any money, im going to get maied, and ive got a j in north texas innt denton, he said, ill give you a job [don] ktbc . [bill] ktbc the Radio Station which somehow mysteriously was the only station in the country that could broadcast l three networks. audience laughs i nder how that happened. They had a monopoly, the favorable gods were looking down, a i got a job with him he had promised mely, tthat he would pay me a hundred dollars a week that was astonishing in 54. It was more than my father had ever made in his life as i said earlier and i went down and he worked me 40 hours a week but we bought the first mobile unit in texas. And i used to tool around town study, cc coveringents and murders and the state senate the state legislature and that was probably the biggest crime scene in austin. audience laughs bua anyway that fall i had ep, profound experience i still have a hard time describing it. I ancided that politics wasnt, and journalism wasnt fy going to saty instincts and my intuitions, or even be a healthy place to work. So i decided to go and teach at a religious institution, id get my phd first, so i went to the seminary four years and ecwas graduating in lateber of 59, i judith amy wife, were packing our boxes to move back to austin where i had been accepted to do my phd in American Civilization and had a teacr ng assistantship at bayiversity which is a Baptist School in waco halfway between dallas and austin. And the phone rang, it was two days after christmas, and it was Lyndon Johnson, i hadnt talked to him in two and a half years. He said, bill how are you doing . Im fin mr. Leader. What are you doing, he said. Im packing to go back to austin. Angohe said, no, no, im g to make a run for it, i dont think ill get it but i need you back. I hung up and i said, im g judith pack for washington, not for austin. And we went up, on the way she said, what did he offer to pay you . I anid, i have no idea he didnt mention it. audience laughs and so i spent that year back in his offic traveling with him, spending every night in some hotel, around the country, seeing all of the politicians, meeting them, watching whatappened. They were heavy drinkers in those days, and after all day of campaigning theyd come to the hotel and they would drink until 1 30, 2 30, 3 30 in the morning d and i stay up until it was over. Of course i learned a lot, but gradually, th led me in the direction of washington for my career. When he didnt get the nomination he did get picked to be nie Vice President ial r mate. I started to go back to texas then, and he said, no stay through the election then you can go. And so i did aduring the n i was the liaison on the Vice President s plane the swoose named after the plane had been on in the pacific, briefly during world war ii, and the caroline which was John Kennedys plane. And i got to know thirish mafia, to be frank and others have written this, i wansthe only person on js team who could talk boston and interpret ston to austin. audience laughs and i became in their eyes somewhat valuable. So when the election came and we won, barely, as you know, john kennedy came down to the lbj ranch and im sure that lbj set him up for this, but john kennedy was leaving and he turned on the porch of the lbj ranch ni saw me l in the corner, came over and said, i hear youre not coming with us. I said, ato, im going to teac Baptist School and ill get my phd. And he said, dont you know harvard was founded a bptist preacher . He said, we need you in washington, so i went. And just a few months into working in the Vice President s office, boring job, he was bored out of his mind, it was a nonjob at that time, spand i had written ch for lbj, he said, i dont have a speech, im going to speak at this university give me a speech. So i sat down on my little portable typewriter and wrote a speech proposing a youth corps, where did i get the id . From Hubert Humphrey in minnesota he had been advocating a youth corps a peace corps, kennedy of course picked it but so did we. And after the election i realized as kennedy announced that he was going to start the peace corps, thats what i wanted to do so i began what became a strenuous and almost futile effort to rest myself free of the Vice President s office. And i was one of the founding organizers of the peace corps, became its first Deputy Director and i had the three best years of my life. You know it was a new effort to send young people unwho were not in militaryorm op shape the identity of america in the world and to give them a sense of the world that they would bring back. I come to minnesota, and ievery time i go to theme Hubert Humphrey institute, i gave the keynote speech at the Humphrey Institute when they opened it. People come up to me, my age and younger, and they say, we were in the peace corps, it was a defining moment of my life. It was mine, i couldnt have been happier. And one day in early october of 63 i got a call fromnny odonnl who was then John Kennedys most powerful assistant, bill we want you to go to austin, the president is going to go down there. We sent an osalian, advance man fromn, whom i knew, jerry bruno, we sent him down there, and he just cant, they cant understand each other. Our efforts, weve got to raise money. Weve got to speak in houston, nd ouve got to go down there and hold hands. So i did, i went down and i was Holding Hands with the governor and the labor people, and the liberals and the conservatives until the president got out of town. Sitting at the Forty Acres Club at the university of texas having lunch t with the chairman state Democratic Committee and the most promising young member of the state senate, ben barnes the maitre d came over to me and said, mr. Moyers youve got a call, so i went and tooit. It was bill paine the secret Service Agent assigned to me in dallas and he said, bill, the president s been shot. Immediately went back and told my colleagues and went right out to the airport, on the way, ben barnes arranged for a little aircraf to carry me to dallas, halfway between austin and dallas, robert trout on cbs said, in a haunting voice, the president is dead. I landed at love field, started to town, to the hospital, Parkland Hospital and got a dispatchers call saying, the president , Lyndon Johnson now, was on air force one at love field, right where we had landed. Went back, went up to air force one, the secret service stopped me, kn he didn me, and i wrote a note what did it say . Its in the library. Mr. President , dont ask me why inttively i started calling him mr. President. Mr. President im here ifm you need me, bill moyers. A few minutes later the secret Service Agent came back and callede up the steps and there i was on air force one. [don] what was going through your mind . No awesome, my god, look at this, it was very practical, how do i help him . Whats he going to do now . cause he had siver expected to be pnt, wasnt ready for it, wasnt really prepared for it. I was a practical guy. I mean in the campaign of 60, organizing the peace corps, those were administrative and managerial jobs. And i had never even been in the white house and i was standing at the back of that plane, saying, how can i be helpful . And when he went back into the bedroom of air force one security had closed all the portholes, but he had opened fie one in that inner , inner bedroom, inner sanctum and he was lookingut. Quietly, very calmly, and i said, mr. President what are you inking . And he said, are the missiles flying . Ds here were in the of a cold war, the cuban missile crisis was not long behind us, and i realized then that he had things on his mind on he had never had is mind before. And i just started filling in with the small details. Calling the speaker of the house, just futional things, and i was good at that, d one reason he came to trust me was because i had that sense of doing the details and not being conspicuous about it. But there were no great and noble,r fearful thoughts in mind on that plane coming back. Hi, everybody. Am myis don shelby. Im the person whos sitting nexto bill moyers in the program that youre watching. And it has been the highligh of my life. When i was first asked to host the program and to ask the questions of bill moyers, i knew that he was not going t be as forthcoming because hes a very modest person, he esnt like to talk about himself. In fact, in the first break that we took, he leaned over and apologized to me and said, im sorry im talking so much. No, thats cool, you can talk as much as you want to. This show that youre watching was for me a labor of love, the opportunity to interview him and spend some time with him and be able to ask h about those incredible times during the Johnson Administration when he was present for the creation of what we now call history. Er which isctly fitting for journalists because its always been said that journalistswr e the first draft of history but much of what he has seen and covered and reporteds come itself history and the way he has written it, and the way he has spoken it to us great journalism that is of the produced. Im so glad that youre watching this program, and supporting this television station. What an absolute privilege it is to be watching this superb program with you thisin ev it is truly remarkable to hearoy bills tell us about his Life Experiences. Imagine, he is the only oneat still living from lane on the day that kennedy died. W. Hi, im margaret prestrud and im a member of Public Television, and im asking you to give your support this nderful program. , around this when you do do it with a gift of 84 or 7 a month, we will be happy to gift you the wonderfulw program thre enjoying. As don mentioned, its not just the program th were seeing, that theres almost an extra hour, as well, because we just were not able to fit it all into this program. It is truly a special recollection from bill moyers. With a gift 156 or 1 a month ft to you will be the program weve been enjoying as well as a companion bo to bill moyers journal. This is 524 pages, it is 43 interviews, every interview has a personal introduction by bill moyers setting the stage,u telling w it was that day in the studio. T its jfascinating read. With a gift of 252 or 21 a month as a sustaining member, we will send you the power of myth, where bill moyers and joph campbell talked about mythology and how its. Impacts our li it is just fabulous series. Not only is it the d. V. D. But it also includes a viewers guide and extra footage that was not in the original that you can enjoy. These are all our way of saying thank you when you call and make that pledge of support. Why dont you do it right now . Call the number onhe bottom of your screen or go online to show your support for this very special program on your Public Television station. When bill moyers left the l. B. J. White house, he spent some time working on oer projects and then he ended up at wnet in new york city. His first touch with public broadcasting, and then, from there, he stard to work with nbc and then with cbs, he jumped into Eric Sevareids shoes as a commentator on the cbs evening news and then he wentack to wnet, in commercial television, hed didnt have the ability to expand thought. Just talking to other people, gtting them expound, lett them talk, can we keep up withan the kind of rd that he set . The only way we can do that is if we somehow pull ourselves together and make money l available for yoal Public Television station. That is the only way were going to continue to get thatna kind of josm coverage. It means here you can trust what you get. You keep great conversations coming with your financial contribution to this station today. Make a monthly sustaining gift of 7 or a onetime donation of 84 and well thank you with a d. V. D. F this program, which includes nearly an hour of additional conversation, plus questions and answers with bill moyers. In with a monthly susg gift of 13, or a donation of 156 right now, youll enjoy the program d. V. D. , us the book bill moyers journal, the conversation continues. With 43 indepth interews from his popular tv series. Enjoy the 25th Anniversary Edition of the seminal series, the power of myth with Joseph Campbell with your gift of 252 or a sustaining contribution of 21 per month. The threed. V. D. Set includes w footage not seen in th original release, and an interview with film makerge geucas. Youll also receive the d. V. D. Of todays program. Please call and give to this station right now. Thank you for your support. I you knois the job of pbs and your local station to inspire, to entertain, to illuminate, to uplift everyone in your family, everyone in your comnity to do a little bit more, to do a little bit better because the great issuesy of there put right in front of you. And you have the opportunity too make dec, and then it makes democracy work and its one of the tenets of bill in peril, unless we do act,cy unless we do make these decisis on our own. You want the education. You want the inspiration. You want those things in your life and theyre not available elsewhere. You can watch all thcable, all the commercial channels you want to and you wont get what you get on your station. So i hope you will join us in supporting this stion. Mesticalln the white house, lbj pledged to carry out john f. Kennedys mission. And time magazinlled you thn in charge of everything. audience laughs but the vietnam war interfered, and got in the way of these great hopes and dreams. Did you resent the war in that way, did you resent the war as a man of the cloth . Did you resent the war as a public poli . Wh those first two year i was in charge of the Domestic Program i didnt think about the war. As we look back and as documents are realed it turns out that many decisions were made in 64 and early 65 ba the president , mcnamd bundy. And as the war began to escalate it was very troubling. I wish that i had been a moral prophet, and had said, this is gonna end in disaster. Gi it was t it was one of those tragedies of history which Lyndon Johnson is responsible for t that chang course of our society. Frustrated the Great Society programs, snuffed them out in the cradle. Ve i mean constituency that we had practically fo the Great Society program for remaking the institutions of america, schools, roads and all of that was a victim of the vietnam war. Many times i left in january of 67 because i felt what i cared about was no longer being nurtured, no longer being funded, and there was no longer a priority oLyndon Johnson. He had to be, when youre in a war, t you hafight it, and so i left. My influence was limited then, humbled, because the president , i waan advocate of stopping the bombing of the north. And i used to go to meetings in the cabinet room and id come in and the present said, here comes ban the bomb bill. And they began to see mehat way and therefore believed that i was skewed. Keno less light than dorins goodwin said that, moyers should write the book, because alof those blanks even in caros work can be filled in by bill moyers. And when i read why you wont write a bo about lbj i was touched professionally and personally id for why you you wont d. Would you tell people why you wont . Thcae were so many reasons t be sure im remembering the one that you are referring to. Re there any reasons, many reasons. First of all, i didnt want to be i spent hours, hours the with the man alone,ence. On the campaign trail, in those first 12 months of our time in the whihouse, d that anything he said to me, whether he was drunk or sober would become public. Anpesecondly i lived the ence but i dont remember it that well. Becausngthere were so many tcoming at me. I was telling my really good friends re this morning that when i left the white house i put all my files in 100 boxes we moved them to the Brookings Institute and then on up to new york when i was p. Lisher of the newspap i never opened them after 25 years took them to our new home in new jersey neput em in the attic, r opened them. I hadnt opened them for 50 years, so last year when we decided to sl our house, i had to get all of those boxes out including the carcasses of mice and the shells of creatures of all kind and i opened them. And the first box i opened was the first three weeks in the white house, d all we could do, i didnt even have an assistant that i had known s thow we were thrust into the hurricane. Five of us, six of us, the president , mrs. Johnson, jack valenti, me, horace busby and a couple of others. And there were all thkennedy people but they were so grief stricken and so shattered that we felt as if we were alone on the island, and the island was in the midst of this great tsunami. And so i just put my files and all my correspondence, cables and all that in the files, here i was 29 years old and there were cables coming in from the uprising in nigeria, and the civil war in cypress, oi and the tuof the British Government which was in trouble, and the information about the movement of chinese troo towards the border of korea, and right on down the line there was one issue after another. And what did we know about them . What did i know about them . Ha been at the peace corps. Even Lyndon Johnson who had been in many of those meetings k with presidenedy, what did he know about them . And suddenly decisions were being made abouwaissues for which thervery little time to collect the edence. You know Lyndon Johnson kept saying to me, in all those years, a man is no better, a mans judgement is no better than his information. And i really believed that, and that has guided me in my journalism career the last 44 years. My opinion isnt worth a pigs ass in if you dont mind my sso, unless i can back it up with evidence. You said in a couplef places, in some of the books that you have written more than a dozen books. And the thousands of hours of television that you produced. I found three references to theord atonement. E whu talked about a personal need to atone. When you said to William Sloane coffin in one of the velast convers you had with reverend coffin. To begin tthaccount for inlad essencsins of the past. Enough y and he said , bill we have a lot to atone for. Has your journalism career, and i will make it easier for you if you want to answer it this way, because it has with me, been an atonement a sense a redemption . I dont look at it that way, and i never have. But let me say in the crucible of power you make a lot of mistakes. Some of them come from character, some of them come from a paucity of information, f and someem come from haste, but you make a lot of mistakes. You dont see there are consequences until you are out of the battle, till the war is over. And you can read wt the other side sai the other troops on thehe other side of the trenchesver. Vior the files in north namese records or inthat you misjudgedryyou dow it or made a mistake, president s oe staff assistants to esident you make a lot of mistakes. And if you let the mistak eat away at you they will destroy you. But you learn certain things, that is youre happier if you are trying to report the truth than if you are trying to conceal it. You have more fun, you feel better at night. If youre trying to find the truth instead of trying to cover it up. I whecame press secretary against my will by the way, the president went through two or three press secretaries. He said, i want you to be press secretary, i said, mr. President i dont want to do it, thank you anyway. The second time didnt do it. The third time i said, yes, because id still have my shoulder out of joint here. And that afternoon i flew home to see my wife who was in dallas visitinger parents. And as we went to bed that evening, she had on her red and white silk pajamas. I said, you know this is the beginning of the end. And she said, why . Youre trying to hidp the president get his across,. Youre serving his interests rightly. But if youre trying tohe help the press understand. Why hes making those decisions, or what they mean, ere were moments that grew in intensity and paranoia, in which he thought was ses more than i was serving him. But at some point you came to the conclusion standing at the lectern in the white house that you wanted to be on that side. Yes i remember it clearly. It was in the briefing room, o ice was the briefing room. By the way there were only about 40 or 50 accredited he reporters inwhite house the. There are now 1,100, so i had a small office, and wed brief the press there laughs . I knew we had carefully arranged for the president to go to Bethesda Hospital and have a surgery, gallbladder surgery. Et but i couldnthat out until after three oclock. Because the first line that would have gone out or from the press they would have rushed out and said, johnson to go for surgery. And we agreed we called the fed, ofwe called the secretaryhe tre, oh no it could bring the market down if you do it before three oclock. It could bring a government down. And johnson said, it could bring my government down. Ca so wulated a carefully, thought out strategy, ul and i not answer a questions that subject until 3 01. Well Merriman Smith who was the dean of the white house correspondents his wife had a really close friend who was a nurse at Bethesda Hospital. And merriman came in and said, bill i know the president s going toethesda but i have to have it confirmed. In tho days Pierre Salinger who had been kennedys press secretary,ed. Had urged me to learn to smoke cigars, i never smoked. He said because youre going to be asked very tough questions re and yooing to need 30 seconds to think of the answer. And if youre smoking a cigar you can light it up and youve got 30 seconds to compose your answer. audience laughs so i was hooked i smoked a cigar on my sons front porch this afternoon, i got used to them. And anyway, so i ease up lighting my cigar and he said, let me light it. He smoke cigarettes, so i walked around him and locked my door from the inside, took the key and put it in my pocket. From my office to the lobby where the press phones were and he said, damnit i know it g im gonout and write it. So he opened the door, he couldnt get it open. We were seven minutes till three and he couldnt, and he started chasing me around the room. No, im serious, behindhe desk. He started coming at me, you son of a bitch, he said, i know you got, us just nod, confirm it some way. I otherwi going to take your no answer as a confirmation. So finally he calmed down a little bit and at three oclock i pushed the button to the outside the press came back em and i made the annout. Then they started asking all these questions and then and tre as i lighted a cigar, again, ir i want to be on tside asking t, than on my side not answering them. Th i wan lets leavside asking t, white house and lbj and now youre a journalist. 1970 you go channel 13 wnet, and begin doing a weekly show and get television in your blood, but when you decided to hava conversation with Joseph Campbell can you imagine but when you decided what it would have been like to walk into some ace like cbs and say, i got an idea two guys whsitting down facingen like each other talking for a series of six long shows about mythology. Ey ould have told you, you were crazy. They would have called bellevue hospital. audience laughs i wish i ctsld claim exclusive ri to the idea, but i had colleagues who talked about Joseph Campbell and i had read a the hero witousand faces when i was at the university of texas and didnt understand it, but i had read it and remembered it. And then i read that he had been advising george lucas on the star wars film. So i called him up and he said, of courseitd love to sit and talkyou. Cbs wouldnt consider it, my friends at pbs, they saw the value of it and they put up a good bit of the money that i had to raise to do it. And we did 20 someodd hours over two summers 85 and 86 at George Lucass skywalker ranch. So myths are stories of the search en by men and wthrough thes for meaning, for significance, to make life signify, to touch the eternal, to understand the mysteous, to find t who we are. People say that what were all seeking ni is a m for life. I dont think thats what were really seeking. I think what were seeking is an experience of being alive so that the Life Experiences that we have on the purely physical plane will have residences within that are those our own innermost being and reality. And so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. Thats what its all finally about, and thats what these clues help us to find within oursees. The reaction initially from the station was, what . Two guys sitting there, two white guys, sitting there og ing about myth and we had no promotion and it went out and within the next seven days after it first aired, after the first episodaired, stations were getting calls from people, what is this . Put it back on, and they began to run it itd it grew and it grew the most, its what i will be remembered for tr ucing this great teacher to a mass audience. Because itinas repeated over and at became for years the best fundraiser for public broadcasting. I believe theres no better production value than the power of the human face. En you let people look at your face, and your emotions, and your eyes, and the intensity in your participation in this conversation theres no way i could create that with tecology. When you tell somebody, i love you, if youre rtunate you tell the when you tell when youre this close to them. If you ask them to marry you, youre looking right into their eyes. There is no power greater than the human face for the purpose of television, and television makes us intimatstrangers. And so being able to sit like this and talk is probably the most personal experience we have outside of sex. And since thats limited for many people, conversation is absolutely the way we entertain ourselves. audience laughs let me tell you a story. A year after that seri aired, i was walking out of a restaurant, la caravelle restaurant, on 8th avenue, between 55th and 56th. I was walking down the street and a young, African American woman was coming this way. And as you know, television smakes us intimate strang and you think you know everybody you see on television. And i think some intuitive reason that i know the people who are watching, ive never lost that sense of the people on the other side of the camera. So our eyes connected and we walked on, strangers. Tu but ed and she turned and she said, mr. Moyers . And i said, yes, she said, do you have a minute . I said, sure said, i came to new york to be an actress and ive had a really difficult time. I had some good auditions he but none of were satisfactory. My boyfriend and living togethr he just suddenly left i havent seen him. I mean life just sort of come to an end for me. So one night i came home, and i went to my apartment, she pointed right across the street to small Apartment Building and she said, i went up and i turned on e burner, i pulled down the window, i went over and poured a big glass of bourbon, and i know you like bourbon. I and she saidaid down on the couch and i was really ready to go, she said, when i had left that morning, i had left my Television Set on, and i heard these two guys talking about th myths, anmeaning of life, and all of this and i heard one of them y, oodo you think people areng for the meaning of life . and the other one said, no, no, no, ihink theyre looking for the experience of being alive, and she said, you know something snapped in me, vo and then i heard e of the announcer say, come back next ek, audience laughs for the second edition of bill moyers and Joseph Campbell on the power of myth. and that postponed her suicide. She got up and said, ipouredt i turned the burnertponed off, i opened the window, and i watched every one of those episodes. What i decided is i donttandi, need to be an actress, but i need to experience the possibility f life every day. Now those stories are common for people who watched that series, and i cant explain it adequately, even ts ay, but this medium e power to touch, and move, inform, and connect people, and thats wha,i discovered in doing and why ive done it for 44 years. And why ive done a thousand or more hours of television because Public Affairs is more than the news of the day, ru its the of poetry, which is a greater truth that you can get from any politician. William Carlos Williams said, people are dying for a lack of the news they dont get on the evening news. It can take people far away, it can connect people who dont know eachs. Other, intg i mean the marriage of the image and the word the most powthful combination of telling and experience sharing weve ever had. Ot itshe cuneiform tablet, itch not the printed word ws wonderful, but its a marriage of the two om and hat coupling comes something creative. D en its done this way, it is the most important and valuable contribution to our understanding each other that man has ever invented. A moment in time when heack to mentioned that woman that he just bumped into on the streets, who had in her mind the idea that she was going to end her life and he heard her say, once i saw this show, the power of the myth with Joseph Campbell, ihanged my mind. And i hope that youre thinking about doing the 21 a month donation because if you do, you get the power of myth, and do you know that this is still, after all of these years, 25 years, that this is still theed most requef the d. V. D. S published by pbs and madeub available to thec. More people still seek that. You can have that in your home. We have only pbs to thank for that. Ur yoocal station. [music] you keep great conversations coming with your financialis contribution to tation today. Us make a monthlyining gift of 7 or a onetime donation of 84 and well thank you with a d. V. D. Of this program, which includes nearly an hour of additional conveation, plus questions and answers with bill moyers. With a monthly sustaining gift of 13, or a donation of 156 right now, will a enjoy the program d. D. Plus the book bill moyers journal, the convsation continues. With 43 indepth interviews from his popular tv series. Enjoy the 25thnniversary edition of the seminal series, the power of mythwith Joseph Campbell. With your gift of 252, or a sustaining contribution of 21 per month. The threed. V. D. Set includes new footage not se in the original release, and an interview with filmmaker george lucas. Youll also receive the d. V. D. Of todays program. Please call and give to this station right now. Thank you for your support. Os if you listen to whath campbell said, that people are searching for an experience of living, an experience for living. It changed the lives of so many people when they first heard that, and then when bill talked about that a persons judgment is only as good as his or her information, that is an important thing to remember in this day and age. So i hope that you will support this local television station. I hope that you will support pbs so that we continue to reporting analysis andindepth mindchanging opinionchanging and altering information that it has always given you. Ustaining membership is an easy, convenient and affordae love. Support the programs you sustaining members make an ongoing monthly contributi from either their credit card or checking account. Just choe the monthly amount you would like to give, then go online or call and well get it set up for you. Your donation will happen automatically each month so your support will always be current. If you want to change your sustaining membership, just contact us. Monthly contributions begin as low as 5 per month. Go online or call to start your sustaining membership right now. And the time to do that is right now, by making your phone call and giving a financial contribution to help keep this station strong. When you make that phone call, with a gift of 7 a month as a sustaining member, you can have this wonrful d. V. D. To enjoy in your home, to share with others, perhaps, to listen to more in depth and, remember, theres d. V. D. Extras cluded with that, an additional 49 minutes that were not going to be seeing. With a gift of 49 a month, youll get the d. V. D. But well send you bill moyers journal, the conversation continues. This is a companion book to that Iconic Program that h did here on pbs and it includes so many incredible interviews. You have robert bly talking aboupoetry, Shelby Steele on race, there are so manyew indepth interin here, in fact, its 43 interviews, what a wonderl way to really enjoy bill moyers with this book and this d. V. D. Or, with a gift of 21 a month, the powerth. Now enjoyable would it be for you to have this in your home to listen to this conversation that has had such an impact for so many years. Po the ant thing, though, is for you to figure out what works for you and your family to supporthis station and call the number on your screen right now. And i hope you remember that this is a fundraiser. This moment in time when the conversation with bill moyers is sort of series and were talking about serious issues but i want you to know that all you have to do is look back on your own experience in your life and the importance of pbs and the ows it has brought you, and the joy that it has brought you, the information that it has brought to you, and the way that it has helped your children, the shows that have been so important to them from sesame street all the way to this program today. So, remember that this local station is your lifeline to incredibly important s information, ait is worth you keep great convonss. Coming with your financial contribution to this station today. Make a monthly sustaining gift of 7 or a onetime donation of 84 and well thank you with a d. V. D. Of this program which includes nearly an hour of questions and answers illplus moyers. With a monthly sustaining gift a of 13, onation of 156 right now, youl enjoy the program d. V. D. Plus the book bill moyers journal, the conversation continues. With 43 indepth interviews from his pular tv series. A enjoy the 25iversary edition of the seminal series the power of myth with Joseph Campbell. With your gift of 252 or a sustaining contribution of 21 per month. Nc the threed. V. D. Setdes new footage not seen in the original release, and anak interview with fil george lucas. Youll also receive the d. V. D. Todays program. Please call and give to this station right now. Thank you for your support. Your contribution in any amount would be appreciated. We know what theconomy is like, we know that some people are doing better, some people w not l. Those people who are doing better, maybe its time to look deep into your hearts and soul and say, should i bear the weight of the time i spent in front of the television withth television station pbs show that im watching or should i let someone else pay for it . Well, i think the real answer to that is, no, i probably should pay my fair share. Thats all thats being asked. And to pay to the degree that you can afford. I heard one time someone say that you should give until it hurts. I think better way to say that is to give until it makes you feel great. And if you believe that this station and pbs has been important to you and will be important in the future, the only way that it can be important in the future is if there is funding. With all the news out there today, it is very difficult to separate fact from fiction. But here you can trust what you get from your station. Please give and give generously. want to read you a quote which you know and many people inlyur audience will probnow the first half, this is a quote from thomas fferson. Whenever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their government. Is now thats what sually quoted. But actually that quotation goes on, and jefferson continues, t t whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied upon gh to see them to. Is america wl informed . And can americans be relied upon to set the wrongs to right . At times, at times, generalizations are generally wrong, and i would not say the erican people are not informed, many are not, they dont want to be informed. So they move through life with a limited supply of what it takes to think critically, but many others are, its like journalism. I dont speak of the media anymore because oreilly in the media and bill moyers is in the media and we are different journalists. But no, i think today, with the complexity of the issues, although in those days they were complex issues of forming a government and there was no rapid communication. I dont think people are as informed as we need fdemocracy to fn for government to be held accountable for huge economic institutions to be checked with balance. The whole secret of democracy is not that people are virtuous or not, its that some are virtuous sometimes an theyre not virtuous other times, and some are not virtuous and then they are. What we need ichecks and s its the balance of power, when both parties are trying to do the right thing, or ones trying to do the wrong thing and the Others Holding it account. So i dont think the American People are as a whole, are as informed as we need for democracy to work and its very difficult today ve most people spend all day making a living, holding two jobs, raising a family, trying to help in their church, trying to work as volunteers at the Public Television station theyre busy. Thats why the acuntability of politician is so important becausesion theyre a professional people designed to solve the problems but democracy it creates for itself and were not doing that right now. On youre house iire, don, our home here on earth is on fire. Our economy is not performing for millions of americans our highway system is coming apart. We should be able to solve those problems, by depending upon the politicians and bureaucrs who we elect are employed to take those prlems that none of us alone can solve and were not, this country is unraveling, and we need not only more information we need more time to active citizens. Change does come but it never comes swiftly, and it usually comes from the bottom up. E and the people out there on the front line trying t fight climate change, antrying to take on ththe climate deniers,e trying to solve the problems of ournner cities, thank god for them all of that. Bu theyre up against almost insurmountable odds truth telling media wed be in a lot better shape. You know theres great line in the pl truth telling media wed bnight and day by tom stoppard, where the photographer in that play says, people do terrible things to each other, but its worse when they do it in the dark. And were settling into a dark period in american life, during which everybodys happy because were amusing ourselves to death. We watch how many hours, i go on the subway in new york city and every week they put new posters up there are new cabtelevi, and new plays on broadway and all of that. And theres so much too and the web is constantly consuming obsessively consuming people. Theres so much to entertain us that as my friend the late neil postman who taught communications or at newuniversity said in his famous book, amusing ourselves to death, we will probably die laughing because ofhe little we know. It comes down to this issue it seems to me, bill, that its the difference between providing people what they need to know versus what they want to know. And the invention of, the survey, where we have asked the public what would you like to see on the news . As pposed to, damnit, this is what youre getting. Because this is what you need to know ti in order to be a n and cast a reasonable informed opinion vote. We dont, or they, dont do it anymore. Because ratings, circulation, are more important. Theres a prophet in treating viewers as consumers instead of citizens in the great gift of Public Television and public radio is that we still somehow with the help of people like this its been able to hold to the idea of the American People as a community of citizensnot consumers. audience applause i ayears ago, dontf ca professor of english a great cultural critic at yale, a man named cleanth brooks. And he talked about the bastard muses and thers. Were three bastard mu propaganda, which pleads for a particular point of view sometimes unscrupulously at the expense of the total truth. Sentimentality, which works to create an emotional response in excess of and unwarranted by the occasion. And pornography, which focuses on one powerful drive at the expense of the whole personality. In that little intervii did, i dont know a long time ago, comes to my mind almost every time i try to watch the news on corporate news, an because it is prop, largely, d ntimentality, largely, rnography, in the terms of itmatwisted view of the being is and they have also d the heart out of what it means to be a citizen. And journalism is a fallen profession, al st like the first profession it is said, but it is still our only hope when both parties when i was in politics i believe it w the responsibility of one party to tell the truth about the other party, Neither Party does that today. I would call Joseph Heller a curmudgeon i suppose and in your interview with him he says these rt of frightening things, heres what he said in the interview with you, democracy we celebrate is full of illusions to such as partici democracy, he called voting, a ritual and a delusion that comforts us, indispensable to our contentment but absolutely useless in application. Do you agree . Not with you absolutely, but i do believe that voting is easy and democracys hard. Democracy, so it happens, between elections in our local communities in our state house and elsewhcie and it requires partion people who go to school board meetings, foand struggle, and arguewhat t. So i dont agree wholly with him. I dont believe in pure democracy, t i dolieve you can put an issue out there and enough people will be able to be well informed and act on it you have to read the sentimen of the public and this is the terrible consequence of too much money in politics. Representativevernment is d but necessary form of democracy. Pr we send our entatives to the state house here sh or to gton to make the best informed judgments they can for their constituents. Theyre never going totisfy as but maybe sometimes they dont even satisfy ti most of the coents but we hire them to make good judgments. Today most politicians, there are exceptions fortunately, but most politicians are more responsive on to thes than they are to the voters. So that a representative decracy is skewed, corrupted, by the fact that money is the determinant of the outcomes of politics. And thats why whats happened to Representative Government n d a democracy in which people feel a sense as with Public Television t thyre well considered in the programs weve put on and the policies we adopt in politics and we dont have that the. I mean we have a dysfunctional government in washington today. By the way, i do have a reverence for the constitution us bethey attempted to try to create a government of, by, and for the people, even though they discovered that was a very difficult thing. But they had this builtin conflict, that i didnt realize when i was growing u i mean the man who wrote, all men are created equal, with his hand on that pen that wre the same hand that ed the breasts and thighs of his slave, sally hemings. Fferent time, differentrality, e reconcile writing these noble words, all men are created equal, when he bedded a young woman over whom he had total domination and she had to do what he wanted her to do . They had these children together, how do you reconcile those opposites in your mind . I dont know but it is that conflict in the intelligence and Decision Making of the people in power that we have to constantly question. And ew i have a different f the constitution i mean i didnt even know when i was growing up that it protected slavery, andwere slave owners. Unders slavery is woven like a dark thread through our history and our Founding Fathers were culpable. And the point of it is that change has to come from People Like Us who dont take for granted or take with finality what those in power tell us and who fight for the justice and thbertyy that is mentioned in the declaration. To me the declaration is the much greater, more powful, of the instruments of our government. So when you keep revising, the older you get, you keep revising what you kw. Thats why living to an old age if youre lucky lt to have your his a wonderful, internal, an perpetual university. Final question, to you mr. Moyers and that is, would you repeat for them a story that Joseph Campbell said to you at the conclusion of all of the interviews when it was finally done. When he asked whether you intended to stay in this line of work . Yeah we had been together those two summers in and i was leto come back, it wasnt the last time i saw him because when i got back to new york and started editing i remembered i had looked at all the footage and i hadnt asked himbout god. So i called him at his home in hawaii and i said, joe i didnt ask you about god. Wouso he did, but new york lets when i was leaving, when i was leaving skywalker ranch for the last time he walked with me out to our car. And he said, are you going to stay in this . I had not been certa not been fixed in my trajectory. Are you going to stay in this work . ,d i said, yes, i think and he said, if you want to change the world change the metaphor. C nge the story. As Joseph Campbell would say metapher, instead of metaphor, the heroes journey is one as he describes it as, the person man or woman who goes out to an unknown place, faces dangers and terrors and drama, returns with the prize after the fight and tells the story and from the story we then the heroes of it can begin our own heroes journey. Bill moyers i speak for a lot of people, but this is very personal, you are the metaphor. You are the heroes journey, and i thank you so much for being a part of this evening. Well thank you. aience applause iortant information that you receive on this television station can be entertaining. It has been entertaining. Its entertaining to your children, its entertayoing to some of the great dramas, masterpiece theater, all of that is entertainment. But when it comes to Public Affairs journalism, this is the place you turn when you want to create for yourself an infoed partnership. Now, as a person whos worked almost a half of a century in commercial television, i can tell you this, that it is ala poty contest. Theyre seeking people who will watch them and in order to doat commercial television gives people what they want to eyknow as opposed to what need to know. That was part of the conversation with bill moyers. But at the same time, i need to tell you that that is not a question that your station is asking. Ki it is not the question whether it is popular, it is requesng whether you need the information it is about to provide. You see whats on your screen r 7, thats 84 a year, this d. V. D. , which is the d. V. Of the program that youre watching right now, but i need to hasten to add for youhat there is almost an hour additional information. Wealked so much that we simply couldnt get it all into this one program but wput it on the d. V. D. So youll get to hear bill moyers continue tolk bout things youre not seeing on this program. Plus, we had a studio audience and they asked questions of bill moyers which he ansrs in his in imitable way. So please think about this 7 a month and make sure this is in your house. You know how you make sure that iin your house, how you make sure Public Television is ntribution. Se, you give a this is what its about, you come together with others in our community that keep this station strong. When you give a gift of 7 as sustaining member with anil ongoing pledge, webe happy to share with you this Wonderful Program with all that extra material that we a not able to enjoy. Nth, this is very special because not only will you get that d. V. D. Of this fascinating conversation but you will also get his companion book to hisbi program, moyers journal. Every interview has a personal introduction from bill moyers, setting the scene for you, as it is. You will enjoy having it in your home. Now, with a gift of 21 a month, our gift to you is wonderful iconic series, thepo r of myth. This is a sixhour seminal series that weve talked so much about with Joseph Campbell. Not only is it that but theres extras, too. Theres a 28minute interview with george lucas and there is also a 12page viewer guide t that goes along wit. Whats up to you right now, anthough, is to decide you to support this wonderful station by calling the number saying you want to be part ofnd wonderful television. I hope youre thinking right now about the importance of urthis station to you and family, what it means, what it has meant over the period ofil time of your fs growth, what its meant to you personally and whether you want to be personally involved inti supp the kind of programming that you have come to expect from this ation. I hope youre thinking about that and i want you to know that there is not a great deal left in this program, and we would like to ask you to support this station so that we can continue with this. I hope that you would support with money this station int order to make sure tnd of programming continues on pbs. Ho you will think very, very hard right now about gettinup, picking up the phone or going to the website and making your donation right now. To become a member of something that is already a part of your community. Sustaining membership is an easy, convenient and aordable way to support the programs you love. Sustning members make an ongoing Monthly Contribution from either their credit card or ccking account. Just choose the monthly amount you would like to give. O then go onlicall and well get it set up for you. Ur donation will happen automatically each month so your support will always be current. Current. If you want to change your sustaining membership, just contact us. Monthly contributions begin as low as 5 per month. Go online or call to start your sustaining membership right now. Music on you keep great conversa coming with your financial contribution to this stationto y. Make a monthly sustaining gift of 7 or a onetime donation of 84 and well thank you with a d. V. D. Of this proam, which includes nearly an hour ofti adal conversation, plus questions and answers with bill yers. With a monthly sustaining gift of 13, or a donation of 156 right now, youll enjoy the program d. V. D. Plus the bookye bill journal, the conversation continues. With 43 indepth ierviews from his popular tv series. Enjoy the 25th anniversary he power of myth with joseph, campbell. With you are gift of 252, or a sustaining contribution of 21 per month. V. The three set includes new footage not seen in the r originease, and an interview with filmmaker george lucas. Youll also receive the d. V. D. Of todays program. Please call and ve to this station right now. Station right now. Thank you for your support. He if you think aboutuel of your automobile, whether youre using some kind of petroleum or using the energye sun or using battery power, or a combination thereof, it is how i much power you can po a vehicle that tells you how good that performance is ing to be. Thats kind of a long way of saying that it is your contribution that powers yourst ion, that powers pbs. The more power you put into it, the greater the perfornce youre going to get out of it. So if then that pbs is doing so if you think that pbs is doing a pretty good job right now, just think what it would do if it had the resources, fit had the participation of every member in the community who relies on what goes on on pbs and on your station. Think about how much it has meant to you over the years, how much it means now. Support your Public Television station. You know what, you can ght now for programs liken this and all of the other programs that you enjoy, howal you do it isthe number on the bottom of your screen or you go online, whatever worksan for yoyour familys budget. Perhaps you would like tot support with a g 7 a month as a sustaining member and get the d. V. D. Of the Wonderful Program that were enjoying. Or the gift of 13 a md not only get that d. V. D. But also get the bill moye journal, the companion book to that with 43 interviews. Or maybe 21 a month would work for you and your familys budget and you would like to have the power ofyth to enjoy along with the program that we watching, conversation with bill moyers. These are all suggested levels. Whats really important is you choose an amount that works for you and your family and call the number on the bottom of your screen or go online right now to show your support. Whether your favorite programs are the costume dramas that you love so much, you like downton abbey, victoria, you m li selfridge, you like these programs or you like the science programs, you like nova, or maybe you like frontline, the question is, are you one of those people who fit in the category at the end or the ginning of each program that says, this program is made possible by the following foundations d viewers like you. When you watch these programs,he are you one ofiewers they are talking about . Did you make a contribution . Are you shirttailing on someone elses contribution . Are you confusing pbs and this station with commercial television, that all you have to do is sit through some commercials . You dont see commerals on these stations. You will not see that on pbs. What you will e is content like no other content youll receive. Nowhere, not on cable television, not on commercial television. Its time, as we end the end of this program, it is time to make the decision to donate now so that at the end of the ogram has been made available by people like you you are onep of thople. He want to thank everyone whos called tonight. Appreciate that phone call so very much. But if you havent called, theres still time for you, bu now is the time to make the decision to go from being a viewer to being a contributor, toeing somebody who makes programs like this possible. Think about all the programs that you and your family enjoy in your home. Na them off to yourself. I bet this is a lot, isnt there . Think about the value that that brings to you, think how much you enjoy turning on this statn and being enlightened, learning something you didntor know bor maybe watching a childs face as they are introduced to a concept they have never heard before, the delightful giggles as they learn something brandnew. Thats all here and its all possible because of you. Yoare the power in Public Television so wont you make that donation right now . Cawont you make that phon . Become a supporting member today. Do make tion to this station and to pbs, it counts. It does make a difference. The level that we can supply great information, great public information, great Public Policy information, great drama episodes, all of the great science and wildlife shows, that makes a difference based on your donation. 7 a month, you can get this conversation with bill moyers, which youve been watching she t but i waremind you that it contains almost an hour of additional programming, additional conversation with bill moyers. St were in an integ, interesting period in our history and it is time tolo devep an informed opinion. Hes had 83 years to develop that opinion and weve been the beneficiaries of that, in his search for truth, objective truth. Not faith and belief but truth. To find something that is undeniable. If two plus two is four, thats a fact. It wouldnt be five or seven, based on what the political whims or what someone believes. It would be for. Thats the kind of reporting that you get here. And you will hear him here, youll hear him here before you hear h anywhere else feel so were asking you to think and think seriously about supporting this station. S make sure that tnd of programming continues throughout, for yo children and for your grandchildren. audience applause upbeat music wo explore new ds and new ideas through programs like this, made available for everyone through contributions to your pbs ation from viewers like you. Thank you. Watching pbs steves orvieto, umbrias grand hill town, sits majestically, high above the valley floor on a big chunkfa a soft and easytocut volcanic stone. A handy funicular shuttles visitors from orvietos tra station and big free parkandride lot on the valley floor up to the town. More and more european towns t are dealing with theffic and parking congestion by making life frustrating and expensive for anyone who insists on driving into the old center. Publnsit is designed to reward those who park outside of town. The top, a bus connects with the funicular and drops people al right at the cathedrquare. Pedestrianfriendly lanes make exploring the town a joy. Inviting shops show off orvietos famous and colorful ceramics. The cathedral or duomo, as they say in italian gets mvevote for italys est facade. This gleaming mass of mosaics and sculpture is a circa1330 class in world history, back when no one dared question intelligent design. Things sta with creation. Eve is tempted by satan disguised as a snake, and so on, right up to judgment day. Inside, the striped nave appears longer than it is. Thats because the architect designed the nave wider at the back and narrower at the altar. Windowhinsliced alabaster bathe the interior in a soft light. Adjacent the altar, the of st. Brizio is orvietos one mustsee artistic sight. It features luca signorellis frescoes of the apocalypse. The vivid scenes depict events at the end of the world, but they also reflect the turbulent political and religious atmosphere of italy in the late 1400s. The nearby city of florence had become a theocracy run by the austere and charismatic monk savonarola. His ultraconservative teachiias polarized chri, bringing tension to the church. In the sermon of the antichrist, a crowd gathers around a man preaching from a pedestal. Its the antichrist, representing savonarola, who comes posing as jesus to mislead the faithful. This befuddled antichrist forgets his lines midspeech, but the devil is on hand to whisper what to say next. His words soutwickedness throughe world, from a corrupt woman taking money to evil figures running rampant to mass executions. Then, on judgment day, trumpeting angels blow a wakeup call, and skeletons of the dead climb dreamily out of the earth to be clothed in new bodies. Across the chapel, the saved gather happily in heaven, en. Ying a holy string quart facing them, the damned experience the horrible mosh pit of hell. Devils torment sinners in graphic detail, while winged demons control the airspace overhead. A demon turns to tell his frightened passenger exactly what hes got planned for her. Signorellis ability to tell stories through human actions and gestures, rather thaols, inspired his younger contemporary, michelangelo, who megnculously studied ellis work. ] [projector typing [typewriter ding] narrator on story is brought to you in part by the Alice Kleberg reynolds foundation, a texas family providing innovative funding since 1979