Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0029; The Edgar Smith Story: Part I
- Episode Number
- S0029
- Episode
- The Edgar Smith Story: Part I
- 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/514-901zc7sg76
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- Description
- Episode Description
- And it seemed a story with a happy ending indeed. Edgar Smith had been convicted 14 years earlier of the murder of a 15-year-old girl and sentenced to death; twice he came within hours of being executed but was rescued by resourceful lawyers. He was, WFB tells us, "in the death house longer than anyone in the history of the United States," and during that time he taught himself law and wrote a book, Brief against Death, which convinced many people, including Mr. Buckley and the Washington lawyer Steve Umin, that he was in fact innocent. An hour and a half before this taping, Mr. Smith was discharged from the death house at Trenton, N.J., after pleading guilty to a lesser charge (only because, he claims, of the extraordinary difficulties a new jury trial at this remove of time would pose). He speaks movingly about his time in prison, how he was convicted in the first place, and where he goes from here ("At the present time, I'm trying to believe the fact that I'm not still in the death house. It's very difficult").
- 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
- 1971-12-06
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Talk Show
- Topics
- Public Affairs
- Subjects
- United States; New Jersey; Capital punishment; Smith, Edgar, 1934-; Trials (Murder)
- 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
- Credits
-
-
Guest: Smith, Edgar
Host: Buckley, William F., Jr.
Producing Organization: Southern Educational Communications Association
Producing Organization: South Carolina Educational Television Network
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Stanford University
Identifier: 80040.273 (Hoover Institution)
Generation: Proxy
Duration: 1:00:00
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0029; The Edgar Smith Story: Part I,” 1971-12-06, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 24, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-901zc7sg76.
- MLA: “Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0029; The Edgar Smith Story: Part I.” 1971-12-06. Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 24, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-514-901zc7sg76>.
- APA: Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.; S0029; The Edgar Smith Story: Part I. 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-514-901zc7sg76