NET Journal; H. L. Hunt: The Richest and the Rightest

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This record is featured in “On the Right: NET and Modern Conservatism.” This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
NET Journal
Episode Number
190
Episode Number
149
Episode
H. L. Hunt: The Richest and the Rightest
Producing Organization
KUHT-TV (Television station : Houston, Tex.)
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
University of Houston (Houston, Texas)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/512-j96057dt9d
NOLA Code
NJHL
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Description
Episode Description
Haroldson LaFayette Hunt is the American success, a grandfatherly Horatio Alger with a Dallas drawl. He was born in Illinois, son of a Confederate war veteran. Later he drifted west, worked at odd jobs, began speculating in cotton farmland, went broke, then arrived in the Southwest in time for the oil boom. There, after several failures, a single well in the East Texas oil fields became the basis of his success. Now, almost forty years later, he is perhaps Americas richest man. His business interests extend from food products to football, and from property to propaganda. It is in the latter area that he has earned his second reputation as the rightest man in America. He has backed a number of self-announced right-wing political causes, and he uses the media to make known his views (on liberty, freedom, piety, Americanism, and the constant threat of Communism). Such programs as Facts Forum, Life Line, and Answers for Americans all bear the HL Hunt sponsored trademark from sponsors message to political analysis. The views of HL Hunt? He has seldom voiced them publicly despite his fervor and his interest in the mass media. However, in a rare interview with James Fleming for KUHT, Houston, HL Hunt expresses himself candidly on his wealth, his politics, and his view of history in the following manner: About the John Birch Society he says, I am quite generally in favor of anyone that is fighting Communism and as they have weaknesses, as they do things that I dont approve of, why then I still dont want to be critical of them. About President Johnson he says, since he has been elected he has been dominated by the Negro contingent and labor and just three or four important minorities. About the mass media he says, the line should be drawn between people that love liberty and are for the freedom system and the society which has made America great and the newspapers, radio, TV stations, networks are largely in the hands of, well say, the enemy of that system. About the Warren Commission he says, it was set up three days after the Daily Worker called for it to be set up. So that is a very unfavorable start for it. About the presidency he says, he (Calvin Coolidge) turned in the last successful administration and then when asked why I say that, there was no subversive build-up during (his) seven years in office. Also appearing on the program are Dr. Franklin Littell, president of Iowa Wesleyan College and chairman of the Institute of American Democracy, and Charles Baker, executive director of IAD an organization devoted to opposing extremism of the right and left, according to the program. Mr. Baker discusses a derogatory advertisement placed in a Dallas newspaper on the day of President Kennedys visit. One of the persons paying for the publication of this ad was a member of Mr. Hunts family (This ad) helped contribute to the atmosphere in which we have unsavory developments instead of healthy debate and healthy disagreement. The same member of the family also owns a portion of Robert Welch, Incorporated, which published American Opinion, the John Birch Society magazine. Says Dr. Littell: Mr. Hunt, if he didnt have so much money, would be a rather eccentric old gentleman. The thing that makes him so dangerous really is the kind of persons he supports, the kinds of organizations who are much more extreme, much more dangerous than his opinions would ever be. NET Journal H. L. Hunt - The Richest and Rightest was produced for National Educational Television by KUHT, Houston. It runs approximately an hour and was originally recorded on videotape. It aired as NET Journal episode 149 on August 21, 1967 and as NET Journal episode 190 on June 3, 1968 (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1968-06-03
Broadcast Date
1967-08-21
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Talk Show
Topics
Biography
Politics and Government
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:58:25
Embed Code
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Credits
Director: Bauer, James L.
Interviewee: Hunt, H. L.
Interviewee: Baker, Charles
Interviewee: Littell, Franklin
Producer: Weston, William
Producing Organization: KUHT-TV (Television station : Houston, Tex.)
Reporter: Fleming, James
Writer: Lodge, Arthur
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2441102-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 1 inch videotape: SMPTE Type C
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Duration: 0:57:51
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2441102-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Color: B&W
Duration: 0:57:51
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2441102-3 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: U-matic
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Duration: 0:57:51
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2441102-5 (MAVIS Item ID)
Generation: Copy: Access
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2441102-4 (MAVIS Item ID)
Generation: Master
University of Houston
Identifier: ID 1997-006, AV Shelving (University of Houston)
Format: 16mm film
Duration: 0:57:25
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Citations
Chicago: “NET Journal; H. L. Hunt: The Richest and the Rightest,” 1968-06-03, Library of Congress, University of Houston, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 21, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-j96057dt9d.
MLA: “NET Journal; H. L. Hunt: The Richest and the Rightest.” 1968-06-03. Library of Congress, University of Houston, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 21, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-j96057dt9d>.
APA: NET Journal; H. L. Hunt: The Richest and the Rightest. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, University of Houston, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-j96057dt9d