Did Fred Rogers really secure $10M in funding with a six-minute speech?

[Machine_Elf]

Fred Rogers testified before congress in 1969 in support of federal funding for PBS. The legend is that his testimony prevented $20M in funding from being sliced in half, effectively securing $10M with a six-minute speech delivered to the notoriously gruff Senator John Pastore.

The video evidence would seem to support that: Here’s the entirety of Rogers’ testimony.

But did Rogers really go it alone? Was his voice, by itself, enough to convince Pastore to loosen the federal purse strings? Or did other people also testify persuasively for federal funding of public television before Rogers took the floor?

[Iggy]

Not sure what other testimony may have been presented, but Fred Rogers’ speech was clearly the tipping point. He was addressing a proposal to cut Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding from $20 million to $10 million.

…Over the course of Rogers’ passionate yet respectful testimony, Senator Pastore’s gruff demeanor slowly softened. The chairman even said that, though he was “supposed to be a pretty tough guy,” Rogers’ fervent plea had given him “goosebumps.” Pastore effused: “I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s wonderful,” and, after a slight pause, he made his conclusion clear: “Looks like you just earned the twenty million dollars.”

[Kent_Clark]

No doubt there was intense lobbying and behind the scenes activity going on, but for sure, Mr. Rogers was the “closer.”

[Omar_Little]

In today’s $'s that $10 million in 1969 is about $65 million. Still not really that impressive. There are people across board rooms across the globe, that secure funding for much larger projects with less than 6 minute speeches on a regular basis.

[handsomeharry]

The ‘secure funding’ sounds a bit misleading. As kunilou points out, there was a lot of lobbying going on. For 65 mil? You bet. Back then, PBS, or whoever, wasn’t the automatic cash cow that it is today, but, it was certainly close. They money may have been a done deal, but, Rogers didn’t know; so, he unleashed his best. It may have been a tearjerker, but, the Senator, ol’ softie that he was, was looking at how it would play to his constituency. That, and whatever deals had been made previously, exchanges of influence, gifts, etc…, was what *secured *the funding.
IOW, the speech was icing on the cake, not the cake.

[Captain_Amazing]

The thing is, which people miss when they see the clip, is that Pastore supported funding PBS going into the hearings. Pastore was one of the major backers of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, and the reason the Pastore was holding the hearings was because he was trying to gain support to restore the funding for PBS that Nixon wanted to cut in his budget. So, Rogers didn’t win Pastore over…Pastore didn’t have to be won over.

[Indistinguishable]

@Captain_Amazing

The thing is, which people miss when they see the clip, is that Pastore supported funding PBS going into the hearings. Pastore was one of the major backers of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, and the reason the Pastore was holding the hearings was because he was trying to gain support to restore the funding for PBS that Nixon wanted to cut in his budget. So, Rogers didn’t win Pastore over…Pastore didn’t have to be won over.

That makes a ton of sense! Do you have any easily-referred-to cites, not because I disbelieve you (quite the opposite!), but so I can demonstrate this fact in the future whenever this comes up?

[Captain_Amazing]

They’re hard to find. I know that Pastore was the Senate floor manager of the CPB bill, that he was at the signing, and one of the people greeted in President Johnson’s remarks, and that he was praised by Senator Pell for it in the Congressional Record later that year, etc. But it’s hard to find any one cite.

[Machine_Elf]

@Omar_Little

In today’s $'s that $10 million in 1969 is about $65 million. Still not really that impressive. There are people across board rooms across the globe, that secure funding for much larger projects with less than 6 minute speeches on a regular basis.

I don’t doubt that there are (and were) seasoned businessmen with rock-solid reputations who are well-known and trusted by their investors, who regularly extract millions of dollars in funding for business ventures through casual lunchtime pitches lasting just a couple of minutes. But here we’re talking about a guy who didn’t regularly pursue that sort of funding - someone who at first glance appeared to be a low-budget puppeteer, someone who spoke so slowly and blandly that at first you might wonder if maybe he’s mentally deficient. Not intending to disparage him - he’s one of my childhood heroes - I just think that for him, at that time, to get that much money with a short impassioned plea, is quite a bit more impressive than, say, Elon Musk or Bill Gates getting people to invest in their latest projects.

handsome harry and Captain Amazing, thanks for the insight. That’s exactly the sort of “more to the story” that I suspected there might be.

[Zakalwe]

@Omar_Little

In today’s $'s that $10 million in 1969 is about $65 million. Still not really that impressive. There are people across board rooms across the globe, that secure funding for much larger projects with less than 6 minute speeches on a regular basis.

How many of those guys are saying “give me $65M that I’m going to spend on what I want and never pay you back.”? You can’t compare a business deal to a request for grant funding.