On May 1st, 1969, Fred Rogers of ‘Mr. Rogers Neighborhood’ testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications. Nixon was attempting to slash a grant for Public Television, originally proposed by Lyndon Johnson. The Subcommittee chair was the gruff and tough Senator John Pastore and he was not likely to be moved.
What transpired was not only an eloquent speech about children needing to see a better alternative to violence and war, but that a little hope and optimism (or the audacity to have it) can go a long way. I think the dialogue still rings true.
Enjoy.
Mr. Rogers: (referring to his written statement) Senator Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about ten minutes to read, so I’ll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust. And, I trust what you have said, that you will read this. It’s very important to me. I care deeply about children. My first children’s…..
Senator Pastore: (with his usual gruff interrupting style) Will it make you happy if you read it?
Mr. Rogers: I’d just like to talk about it, if it’s alright.
Senator Pastore: Alright Sir.
Mr. Rogers: My first children’s program was on WQED fifteen years ago, and its budget was thirty dollars. Now, with the help of the Sears Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television as well as all the affiliated stations, each station pays to show our program. It’s a unique kind of funding in educational television. With this help, now our program has a budget of six thousand dollars. It may sound like quite a difference, but six thousand dollars pays for less than two minutes of cartoons. Two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. I’m very much concerned, as I know you are, about what’s being delivered to our children in this country, and I’ve worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. We deal with such things as the inner drama of childhood. We don’t have to bop somebody over the head to make him…. To make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut or the feelings about brothers and sisters and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively.
Senator Pastore: How long of a program is it?
Mr. Rogers: It’s a half hour everyday. Most channels schedule it in the noontime as well as in the evening. Um, WETA here ha scheduled it in the late afternoon.
Senator Pastore: Can we get a copy of this so we can see it? Maybe not today, but I’d like to see the program.
Mr. Rogers: I’d like very much for you to see it.
Senator Pastore: I’d like to see the program itself or any one of them, ya see?
Mr. Rogers: We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network, and then when the money ran out, people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the floor and said, ‘We’ve got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care.’ And this is what…. This is what I give. I give an expression of care everyday to each child to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, ‘You’ve made this day a special day by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.’ And I feel that if we, in Public Television, can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I think that it’s much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger, much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I’m constantly concerned with what our children are seeing, and for fifteen years I have tried, in this country and in Canada, to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care.
Senator Pastore: Do you narrate it?
Mr. Rogers: I’m the host, yes, and I do all the puppets and I write all the music, and I write all the scripts.
Senator Pastore: Well, I’m supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I’ve had goose-bumps for the last two days.
(Gallery laughs)
Mr. Rogers: Well, I’m grateful, not only for you goose-bumps, but for your interest in our kind of communication. Could I tell you the words of one the songs which I feel is very important?
Senator Pastore: Yes.
Mr. Rogers: This has to do with that good feeling of control which I feel that children need to know is there. And, it starts out, ‘What do you do with the mad that you feel?’ and that first line came straight from a child. I work with children doing puppets and very personal communication with small groups. ‘What do you do with the Mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite? When the whole world seems oh so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right? What do you do? Do you punch a bag? Do you pound some clay or dough? Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? It’s great to be able to stop when you’ve planned a thing that’s wrong and be able to do something else instead and think this song. I can stop when I want to, can stop when I wish, can stop, stop, stop anytime. And, what a good feeling to feel like this, and know that the feeling is really mine. Know that there’s something deep inside that helps us become what we can. For, a girl can be someday a Lady, and a boy can be someday a Man.
Senator Pastore: I think it’s fantastic…. I think it’s wonderful. Looks like you just earned the twenty million.
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