When Gore Vidal was coming up, there were three major channels, and he could count on a big audience when he debated someone like William F. Buckley on TV.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I came to know Gore Vidal in the mid-1980s, when I was living in southern Italy, virtually a neighbour, and our friendship lasted until his death in 2012. Needless to say, he was a complicated and often combative man.
Gore Vidal has been a friend of mine for years, and he's one of the greatest writers in American history.
William F. Buckley was a man who had a great capacity for fun and for amusing himself by amazing others.
I read Noam Chomsky. I like some of Gore Vidal's stuff.
I used to read Gore Vidal books and think I was cool.
The whole book experience was a look into another world, the world of Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer.
I've lost count of the times I've been asked to 'be' Malcolm Tucker: to go on a political program on television, presumably in order to be the character and give opinions as him.
A generation ago, or two, when there were three channels, plus PBS, and when you needed - when you needed 15 million people to make a living, the media could focus on the broad country. And most people had no choice about getting political information. It was there at 6:30 whether you wanted it or not.
John Glenn craved the publicity. I think even John would admit that. When he went into politics, that became pretty obvious! He knew how to do public relations.
I'm not Gore Vidal or William Buckley.