When you first meet him, Professor Richard Heffner is one of the friendliest and approachable people. So when he started to lay out his incredible career, I was amazed that he could stay so humble. Professor Heffner has interviewed some of the most influential people in history. His show The Open Mind has been running for over 40 years. He’s interviewed Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Malcolm X and countless more. He covered topics like civil and gay rights at a time when even talking about those topics were taboo. Let’s get to know more about Professor Richard Heffner and his amazing career.
Q. Let’s just start from the beginning. How did you first get into media: radio, television, and things like that?
A. I had a student, Mary Churchill, whose father was the Chief of Surgery at Mass General Hospital up at Harvard. Mary’s parents asked if my wife and I would have dinner with them when they came down one evening and in the process he said, “Well young man, what do you want to do next?” And I said, “I want to see if you can’t teach via the new electronic media.”
Q. Let’s talk more about your show, The Open Mind, how did that come about?
A. Talk is cheap and they weren’t willing to put money into it so I came up with the idea. There wasn’t much talk on television at that time. There was Face the Nation and Meet the Press, which were news programs. But I wanted to do a program which we open-mindedly discussed the issues of the day: racism, anti-Semitism, homosexuality, problem subjects. May 7, 1956 we went on the air.
Q. Do any particular interviews or particular episodes stand out in your mind as highlights of your career?
A. Oh sure! I think the one I love the most is the one with Martin Luther King in 1957. A number of foundations a few years ago made it possible for me to rescue as many of the programs I could. In the beginning, broadcasters didn’t save television. It was too expensive. So I have very few from the very beginning. But one that I’m very pleased I have is the one with Martin Luther King.
Q. You’ve covered a lot of difficult topics: things like civil rights, gay and lesbian rights and things like that. Have you ever come across a producer or director that has said, “maybe this too touchy a subject at this time”?
A. In my lifetime, there was no censorship; even when they [CBS and NBC] were under great pressure.
Q. So since you’ve been at the forefront of television and media since the beginning, what do you think of the way media and television are progressing now?
A. I don’t know if I’d use the word progressing. Look, umm, the fact is I don’t end up watching much television. Now is that because there are still a few books around that I still want to read and I don’t have the time, partially. But I’m sure partially, it’s because I’m not particularly impressed by much of the entertainment. I’m very pleased when I watch channel thirteen. I started channel thirteen. I was its first general manager and put it on the air in 1961. And when I watch most of it, I’m really enormously proud. When I watch entertainment television, I’m appalled at this crap and corruption.
Professor Heffner resides in New York. He splits his time teaching at Rutgers and producing his show. The Open Mind still airs new episodes on channel thirteen every week.