By Virginia Dean, Standard Correspondent
Not surprisingly, America nearly fifty years ago was not what it is now, having suffered political turbulence, civil unrest, violent urban riots, the Vietnam War, and two infamous assassinations.
What two better intellectual representatives than author and commentator William F. Buckley and writer/essayist Gore Vidal to reflect that restless era through verbal sparring over political ideologies during the August Republican and Democratic conventions?
Now, in a recently-released documentary, “Best of Enemies,” viewers are able to witness these explosive exchanges between conservative Buckley and leftist Vidal and hopefully appreciate not only the political and moral sensibilities of the time but also the trickled down effect that this live and unscripted bantering has had on televised public discourse.
This weekend, the sixth Annual Woodstock Vermont Film Series at the Billings Farm & Museum will feature the award-winning film, directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon, on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 3 and 5 p.m.
Special guest Barrie Dunsmore, who covered foreign affairs for ABC News for 30 years, will introduce the film. In 1968, Dunsmore was Mediterranean Bureau Chief of ABC News based in Rome.
“As the network’s representative in Rome, I was to be the de-facto liaison between Vidal and ABC News,” Dunsmore said. “I was involved in the discussions of what was expected in these debates.”
Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, the encounter between the two politically disparate intellectuals allegedly generated impressive media coverage and high Neilsen ratings for the news station at the time. The goal was apparently not accidental, as ABC had been plummeting in the ratings race.
Buckley, then a high-profile figure due to his magazine, National Review, and his TV talk show, “Firing Line,” was enlisted to speak on behalf of the right wing. Vidal, a noted author, playwright and political commentator, represented the left. The result was an oral boxing match complete with jabs and counterpunches.
Vidal and Buckley were to be given fifteen minutes each night for ten nights. Vidal also agreed to do occasional commentaries for the ABC Evening News in the weeks leading up to the conventions. Dunsmore was to be his producer and editor.
As ABC’s senior foreign correspondent from 1984-91, Dunsmore focused on events in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as the Iron Curtain began to fall. After retirement in 1995, he became a Fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Dunsmore has also conducted an extensive study of the potential consequences of live television coverage of war. The Next War-Live was published by Harvard in 1996.
In 1995, the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University Awarded Dunsmore its Edward Weintal Prize, “in recognition of distinguished reporting on foreign policy and diplomacy.” He now lives in Charlotte, Vermont with his wife, attorney Whitney Taylor. He writes a Sunday column for the Rutland Herald / Montpelier Times Argus and does bi-weekly commentaries for Vermont Public Radio.
Ticket prices include members: adults 16 and up: $9 per film. Children 3-15: $5 per film. Nonmembers: Adults 16 and up: $11 per film. Children: ages 3-15: $6 per film. For a complete list of screenings and ticket information: www.billingsfarm.org/filmfest or 802 457-2355.
This article first appeared in the December 3, 2015 edition of the Vermont Standard.