The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (PBS) - 1992-03-16 - 2 of 2

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] It must it come from the top? Is it

[0:01] possible to come from the bottom?

[0:04] >> Well, I do think you see a lot of that

[0:06] coming from the bottom. I think

[0:07] ultimately people get fed up. Ultimately

[0:10] people begin to recognize what's going

[0:12] on. I think some of the distrust now,

[0:15] some of the reaction against the

[0:17] incumbents that's represented by the the

[0:20] low rates that Congress and the

[0:22] president gets in the public at large.

[0:25] um some of the results last year in in

[0:27] some of the some of the elections and

[0:29] especially the the movement now toward

[0:32] term limits which again Jerry Brown is

[0:34] supporting. Uh those are all indications

[0:37] that uh ultimately the public does

[0:40] react. It just takes a long time.

[0:42] >> The public right now is going through a

[0:44] tremendous uh depression about the

[0:47] future of the economy. Do you see this

[0:48] lifting anytime soon?

[0:50] >> I think I think that is happening to

[0:52] some extent. I I I don't put much

[0:55] credence in these measures of consumer

[0:58] confidence. That can change very

[0:59] quickly. Uh I I I think that is going to

[1:03] turn around. That's a fairly short-term

[1:05] phenomena. And I think ultimately we

[1:07] have to depend on the public. There's no

[1:08] other way. We're not going to do this

[1:09] from the top down. It has to be the

[1:11] people somehow get riled up and turn the

[1:14] rascals out. And that's one reason I'm

[1:17] in favor of the term limit proposals.

[1:19] It's not so much per se that the term

[1:21] limits are desirable, but it rather it

[1:23] now seems to be the avenue that is

[1:26] exciting the public in this respect.

[1:29] >> Well, Professor Buchanan, thank you for

[1:31] joining us.

[1:32] >> Thank you very much.

[1:43] Finally tonight, SAS Roger Rosenblad,

[1:45] editor at large of Life magazine, has

[1:48] some thoughts about real life drama.

[1:50] >> Don't move affirm your testimony. Roger,

[1:52] giving this call to be the truth and

[1:54] truth nothing but the truth.

[1:55] >> Yes, I do.

[1:56] >> If jury trials are among the more

[1:58] satisfying of public events, they are

[2:01] also among the more exasperating and

[2:03] mysterious. These days, there are more

[2:05] than enough trials to affect both

[2:07] reactions. The Mike Tyson trial, that

[2:10] was a sensation, affecting both

[2:12] sensations of satisfaction and mystery.

[2:15] The John Gotti trial or trials filling

[2:18] the popular imagination with questions

[2:20] and answers simultaneously.

[2:22] Ditto for the trial of Jeffrey Dalmouth

[2:25] and the dark secret of his gruesome

[2:27] crime.

[2:29] The Kennedy Smith trial, too. Even

[2:31] watching that one play out on TV did not

[2:34] answer all the questions one would have

[2:35] wanted answered.

[2:36] >> The bra was in very good condition. I

[2:38] didn't note any defects or tears or any

[2:41] stains of any sort.

[2:43] >> Experts were called forward to rank the

[2:45] performances of the defense and

[2:47] prosecution as if the trial were a

[2:49] sports event, though not a game. Yet,

[2:51] when all was said and done, not all was

[2:53] said, not all was done.

[2:56] >> The verdict was done. That constitutes

[2:59] the satisfying part of jury trials. They

[3:01] are orderly structured context in which

[3:04] certain matters are settled according to

[3:06] definite terms. Neatness in an unneat

[3:09] world, guilty or not guilty. A case of

[3:13] disruption or chaos in our midst may be

[3:15] officially closed. Thus, the great

[3:18] appeal of the jury trials and drama.

[3:20] Witness for the prosecution.

[3:23] The Paradine case. The Winslow boy. The

[3:26] Winsslow boy. A fine example of writing

[3:28] a wrong cleanly.

[3:30] >> The Winslow boy was wrongly accused of

[3:32] stealing in school and was expelled.

[3:35] >> Plenty of time to break open the locker

[3:37] and write all its contents.

[3:38] >> I didn't do that.

[3:39] >> Plenty of time to forge your name on a

[3:41] postal order. A name that you had

[3:42] already practiced forging.

[3:44] >> I didn't.

[3:45] >> His father fought to reinstate the boy's

[3:47] honor. He fought in court, of course,

[3:50] where modern morality plays are put on

[3:52] the boards, where things is settled,

[3:55] where truth asserts itself over lies.

[3:59] But then there is this other element of

[4:01] the unsettled. The perplexity and doubt

[4:04] affected by a different set of truths.

[4:06] Dalmer was found guilty. Okay, that's

[4:09] that. Tyson was found guilty. Close the

[4:12] book.

[4:14] But who is Jeffrey Dalmer? Who is Mike

[4:17] Tyson? Nothing in the orderliness of the

[4:20] trial tells anything about the minds of

[4:22] those paraded so nakedly before us. The

[4:25] system is not constructed to reveal

[4:27] their minds, only their actions. Yet,

[4:30] the more they show, the more

[4:32] frustrations they engender.

[4:34] >> Look to Court TV to be there in the

[4:37] courtroom live.

[4:38] With the advent of vehicles like Court

[4:40] TV, we are entering an era in which

[4:43] trials by jury will increasingly become

[4:45] public dramas, public morality plays.

[4:49] They will more likely a bet rather than

[4:51] replace fictional representations like

[4:53] TV's LA law.

[4:55] >> Tell us why you did buy it, Mr.

[4:56] Appleton.

[5:00] >> Glenn was in horrible agony. But in some

[5:03] ways they will be less satisfying than

[5:05] fiction because fiction can go into the

[5:07] mind and the legal system cannot.

[5:10] >> Remember the old Terry Mason shows with

[5:12] every guilty party expressing his or her

[5:14] confession, motive and character in a

[5:17] single end of the trial explosion.

[5:20] >> You wanted to destroy my reputation,

[5:22] destroy me.

[5:23] >> And so you stole from Daniel Redmond's

[5:25] chambers a container of pills he picked

[5:27] up for his secretary. Yes, I knew what

[5:29] those kills would do to a man who drank

[5:31] as much as Weston.

[5:33] >> No such revelations on court TV. We will

[5:36] watch the accused tit before us more and

[5:39] more while we understand less and less

[5:43] or remember inherit the wind

[5:45] >> about the scoped monkey trial, the

[5:47] evolution trial in Tennessee.

[5:49] >> Would you would you ban Capernacus from

[5:51] the classroom along with Charles Darwin?

[5:54] Would you pass a law throwing out all

[5:56] scientific knowledge since Joshua?

[5:59] Revelations.

[6:00] >> In the movie, Spencer Tracy played

[6:02] Clarence Darrow, who defended the

[6:03] evolution teacher. Frederick March

[6:05] played William Jennings Bryant, who

[6:07] prosecuted the teacher and stood up for

[6:09] creationism, in which he wholeheartedly

[6:12] believed.

[6:13] >> I believe in a God who can make a whale

[6:14] and who can make a man and make both do

[6:17] what he pleases.

[6:19] Jean Kelly played HL Mein, the reporter

[6:21] at the trial, who was on Darrow's side,

[6:24] the side of right clear reason.

[6:27] >> That side lost the verdict, but won the

[6:29] case intellectually. And William

[6:31] Jennings Bryant was so overcome with

[6:33] confusion, he had a stroke in the movie.

[6:36] The Mein character gloated to Daryl that

[6:38] Daryl had made mincemeat of that Bible

[6:41] beating bastard.

[6:43] Whereupon Daryl shouted,

[6:44] >> "My God,

[6:46] >> what could you possibly know about a man

[6:48] like that?"

[6:49] >> What happened here today?

[6:50] >> The answer was nothing.

[6:52] >> It is always nothing.

[6:55] >> I'm Roger Rosenl.

[7:04] Again, the main stories of this Monday.

[7:06] Democratic candidates traded insults one

[7:09] day ahead of the Illinois and Michigan

[7:11] primaries. The US Attorney's Office in

[7:13] Washington said it it had begun a

[7:16] criminal investigation of the bank that

[7:18] served members of the House of

[7:19] Representatives and white South Africans

[7:22] prepared to vote in a referendum on

[7:24] whether to dismantle a partake. Good

[7:27] night, Jim.

[7:28] >> Good night, Judy. We'll see you tomorrow

[7:29] night with a Gergen and Shields preview

[7:31] of the Michigan and Illinois primaries,

[7:33] among other things. I'm Jim Lara. Thank

[7:36] you and good night.

[7:38] Part of helping the world live and

[7:40] communicate better is keeping it