Firing Line With William F. Buckley: U.S. Senator Charles Percy- ‘A Foreign Policy For The GOP (1967)’

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– U.S. Senator Charles Percy (Republican, Illinois) on Firing Line With William F. Buckley, in 1967.

Source:The FreeState

“Guest: Charles Percy. For more information about this program, see:Hoover Institution.

For more information about the Firing Line broadcast records at the Hoover Institution Archives, see:OAC

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley

“September 11, 1967: Senator Percy is a bit given to the stump-speech mode (“I truly believe that we will fight Communism just as effectively, if not more so, [by not] fighting it just in Havana and in Hanoi. We have to fight Communism in Watts; we have to fight it in Newark, and we have to fight it in Harlem; and we have to fight it by building a better America there, and not giving any chance for a Communist society to point to the hypocrisy of America and say that the American dream is only available to some people”), but we do come down to earth periodically, with concrete observations about, e.g., Yugoslavia, Poland, and Red China.”

From the Hoover Institution

This photo is also from the Firing Line With William F. Buckley interview of U.S. Senator Charles Percy (Republican, Illinois) from 1967. But the video from which the photo is from is not currently available online right now.

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– U.S. Senator Charles Percy (Republican, Illinois) on Firing Line With William F. Buckley, in 1967.

When this show aired, this was before even President Richard Nixon was President. In 1967 Progressive Democrat Lyndon was still President. Had Senator Barry Goldwater defeated President Johnson in 1964, the Republican Party probably would’ve had a consistent message when it came to foreign policy.

But pre-1969, the Republican Party was completely out-of-power in the Federal Government and had fairly small minorities in Congress (House and Senate) so what Bill Buckley was trying to do here with this interview with Senator Chuck Percy (Republican, Illinois) was to try to get an idea where the Republican Party at that point stood when it came to foreign affairs and national security. Which is a tough task for anyone, especially a junior senator which is what Senator Percy was at this point, even a junior senator an U.S. Military veteran like Senator Percy.

What Senator Percy seems to be arguing here is that for America to have credibility abroad and be taken seriously abroad and be a true beacon of freedom (that Conservatives seem to want us to be) that we need to be strong as home as well. That the best way to fight communism and Communists at home, is to have to strongest society and freedom for as many Americans as possible at home. Which is why he was talking about poverty in Los Angeles and other places in America.

Senator was arguing that the best argument for Communists, is all the poverty and lack of individual freedom for so many Americans at home. Which I believe is a very solid Progressive Republican argument.