1969: Mister Roger's senate hearing (HD)

[0:00] All right, Rogers, you've got the floor. [0:15] Senator Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about 10 minutes to read, so I'll not do that. [0:31] One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust what you have said that you will read this. [0:43] It's very important to me. I care deeply about children. [0:48] My first children's program was on WQED 15 years ago, and its budget was $30. [1:05] Now, with the help of the Sears Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television, as well as all of the affiliated stations, [1:17] each station pays to show our program. It's a unique kind of funding in educational television. [1:27] With this help, now our program has a budget of $6,000. [1:32] It may sound like quite a difference, but $6,000 pays for less than two minutes of cartoons, [1:43] two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. [1:49] I'm very much concerned, as I know you are, about what's being delivered to our children in this country. [1:58] And I've worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. [2:07] We deal with such things as the inner drama of childhood. [2:13] We don't have to bop somebody over the head to make him, to make drama on the screen. [2:23] We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, [2:30] and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. [2:35] And we speak to it constructively. [2:38] How long of a program is it? [2:39] It's a half hour every day. Most channels schedule it in the noontime as well as in the evening. [2:49] W.E.T.A. here has scheduled it in the late afternoon. [2:54] Could we get a copy of this so that we can see it? [2:58] Maybe not today, but I'd like to see the program. [3:01] I'd like very much for you to see it. [3:02] I'd like to see the program itself, or any one of them, you see. [3:05] We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network. [3:12] And then when the money ran out, people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the fore [3:19] and said, we've got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care. [3:24] And this is what I give. [3:28] I give an expression of care every day to each child to help him realize that he is unique. [3:35] I end the program by saying, you've made this day a special day by just your being you. [3:44] There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are. [3:50] And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, [4:02] we will have done a great service for mental health. [4:06] Oh, I think that it's much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger. [4:16] Much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. [4:21] I'm constantly concerned about what our children are seeing. [4:26] And for 15 years, I have tried in this country and Canada to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care. [4:34] Do you narrate it? [4:37] I'm the host, yes. [4:40] And I do all the puppets and I write all the music and I write all the script. [4:44] Well, I'm supposed to be a pretty tough guy and this is the first time I've had goosebumps for the last two days. [4:49] Well, I'm grateful not only for your goosebumps, but for your interest in our kind of communication. [4:59] Could I tell you the words of one of the songs which I feel is very important? [5:04] Yes. [5:04] This has to do with that good feeling of control, which I feel that the children need to know is there. [5:14] And it starts out, what do you do with the mad that you feel? [5:18] And that first line came straight from a child. [5:20] I work with children doing puppets in very personal communication with small groups. [5:27] What do you do with the mad that you feel when you feel so mad you could bite? [5:33] When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong and nothing you do seems very right, what do you do? [5:41] Do you punch a bag? [5:43] Do you pound some clay or some dough? [5:47] Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? [5:52] It's great to be able to stop when you've planned a thing that's wrong and be able to do something else instead and think this song. [6:03] I can stop when I want to, can stop when I wish, can stop, stop, stop any time. [6:10] And what a good feeling to feel like this and know that the feeling is really mine. [6:17] Know that there's something deep inside that helps us become what we can. [6:23] For a girl can be someday a lady and a boy can be someday a man. [6:30] I think it's wonderful. I think it's wonderful. [6:35] Looks like you just earned the $20 million. [6:39] Thank you. [6:42] Eleven years of leadership, President de Gaulle stepped down from office. [6:51] Eleven years in which he took his country from the doldrums to a seeming prosperity, [6:56] but which in recent times slipped back into a nation of unrest. [6:59] His country has turned its back on him. [7:01] Monsieur Pompidou is tipped as a likely successor for the presidency, [7:04] and that probably won't be decided until June 1st. [7:08] The defeat of President de Gaulle was a shock. [7:10] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reforms. [7:14] But everyone knew it was meant as a vote of confidence in the general. [7:17] He lost and quit. [7:19] There could be troubled times ahead. [7:21] A lot depends on who becomes the next president. [7:23] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:24] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:25] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:26] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:27] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:28] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:29] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:30] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:31] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:32] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:33] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:34] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:35] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:36] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:37] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:38] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform. [7:39] The referendum vote was for or against constitutional reform.