Series
Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.
Episode Number
S0697
Episode
Gary Mcgivern, Governor Cuomo, and the Politics of Crime
Producing Organization
Southern Educational Communications Association
South Carolina Educational Television Network
Contributing Organization
Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University (Stanford, California)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/514-6h4cn6zp9r
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Description
Episode Description
In 1968 three prisoners were being transported in the back seat of a police car. An attempt was made to overpower the policemen in the front seat; when it was all over, one of the policemen and one of the prisoners was dead. The other two prisoners, Gary McGivem and Charles Culhane, were eventually convicted of felony murder. A few months before this show, Governor Cuomo had recommended clemency for McGivern, setting off a firestorm (George Bush, speaking to the New York Conservative Party dinner, said that one difference between Mario Cuomo and Ronald Reagan is that the latter did not recommend clemency for "cop-killers"). Our guests on this absorbing show are well acquainted with the case: Mr. Kavanaugh was the prosecutor; Mr. Tigar handled McGivern and Culhane's appeal. MK: "When I look at this case as a professional prosecutor, the first thing I'm looking for ... is why would Joe Singer be lying? To believe [the defendants], Singer would have to be lying." WFB: "... Why would Singer lie, then?" MT: "Because his role in this episode ... was one of total incompetence. This is an inadequately trained, marginally intelligent officer with very little experience who, according to evidence, has reacted in a situation that left his partner dead." WFB: "He panicked?" MT: "He panicked." Currently there is only a digitized transcript available for this episode.
Series Description
The television series Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr. was a venue for debate and discussion on political, social, and philosophical issues with experts of the day. Firing Line broadcasts from 1966 through March 1971 were produced and syndicated by WOR-TV, a commercial station in New York, but some of them were also broadcast on noncommercial television stations. Starting in April 1971, Firing Line broadcasts were produced by the Southern Educational Communications Association, an arm of South Carolina Educational Television. Hoover Institution Library & Archives' Firing Line collection guide can be found at: https://www.hoover.org/library-archives/collections/firing-line.
Date
1986-06-25
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Talk Show
Topics
Public Affairs
Subjects
United States; Political aspects; New York (State); McGivern, Gary; Clemency; Cuomo, Mario Matthew
Rights
Copyright held by Stanford University. This copy is provided for educational and research purposes only. No publication, further reproduction, or reuse of copies, beyond fair use, may be made without the express written permission of the Hoover Institution Library & Archives on behalf of Stanford University.
Media type
Moving Image
Embed Code
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Credits
Guest: Tigar, Michael
Guest: Kavanaugh, Michael
Host: Buckley, William F., Jr.
Producing Organization: Southern Educational Communications Association
Producing Organization: South Carolina Educational Television Network
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Stanford University
Identifier: 80040.939 (Hoover Institution)
Generation: Proxy
Duration: 1:00:00
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Citations
Chicago: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0697; Gary Mcgivern, Governor Cuomo, and the Politics of Crime,” 1986-06-25, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 7, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-6h4cn6zp9r.
MLA: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0697; Gary Mcgivern, Governor Cuomo, and the Politics of Crime.” 1986-06-25. Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 7, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-6h4cn6zp9r>.
APA: Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0697; Gary Mcgivern, Governor Cuomo, and the Politics of Crime. Boston, MA: Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-6h4cn6zp9r