John O’Neill vs. John Kerry on the Dick Cavett show, June 1971

I saw it on C-SPAN Sunday night. Remarkable. An artifact of modern American history, with O’Neill and Kerry, each highly articulate, each with a strong Massachusetts accent (in fact, with each of them sounding like—and O’Neill actually looking like—the young John F. Kennedy, though in very different ways), appearing as quintessential representatives of the “two Americas” that were separating out from each other even back then. There’s so much to say about it, but for now I’ll just say this. John Kerry was even more insufferably superior in 1971 than he is now.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, the program is available for viewing.

(Note: I couldn’t have been more wrong about O’Neill’s accent. He apparently has lived in Texas his whole life.)

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 16, 2004 01:58 AM | Send