Mike Wallace Interview Subjects - Harry Ransom Center

Name Date Interviewed Significance Death Date
Mortimer Adler 9/7/58
Steve Allen 7/7/57
Eddie Arcaro 9/8/57
Harry Ashmore 6/29/58
Diana Barrymore 7/14/57
Carmen Basilio 10/26/57
Earl Browder 6/2/57
Pearl S. Buck 2/8/58
Bennett Cerf 11/30/57
James McBride Dabbs 8/31/58
Dagmar 8/11/57
Mortimer Adler, president of the Institute for Philosophical Research, former professor of
the philosophy of law at the University of Chicago, and author of The Idea of Freedom,
talks to Wallace about conceptions of freedom, capitalism, socialism, and the American
Steve Allen, comedian, musician, and television personality, talks to Wallace about his
rivalry with Ed Sullivan, his television show, and awards.
Eddie Arcaro, the most celebrated jockey in America, winner of 5 Kentucky Derbys and 22
million dollars in purses over a 25-year career, talks with Wallace about horse racing,
gambling, drugging of horses, and the pressure to win.
Harry Ashmore, executive editor of the Arkansas Gazette in Little Rock and winner of the
Pulitzer Prize for his forceful editorials denouncing the racist mobs during the
desegregation conflict in Little Rock's high school, talks to Wallace about the integrity of
journalists, the influence of advertisers and the government on the press, techniques of
interviewing, and the desegregation of Little Rock High School.
Diana Barrymore, daughter of actor John Barrymore, talks to Wallace about her own
acting career, her alcoholism, her failed marriages, and her recent autobiography, Too
Carmen Basilio, middle weight boxing champion of the world, had recently won his crown
after a savage fight with Sugar Ray Robinson. Basilio talks to Wallace about Robinson,
whether boxing should be outlawed due to its brutality, and organized crime's influence on
Earl Browder, former head of the Communist Party in the United States, talks to Wallace
about Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, the cold war, and American communism.
Pearl Buck, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning novelist, talks to Wallace about American
women, marriage, career versus family, and the difference between men and women.
Bennett Cerf, president of Random House publishers and long-time panelist on the game
show What's My Line, talks to Wallace about what is wrong with television, reading, and
James McBride Dabbs, South Carolinian, plantation owner, elder in the Presbyterian
Church, president of the Southern Regional Council, and author of The Southern Heritage,
talks to Wallace about the psychological burden of the Southerner, segregation, school
integration, and the consequences of the Civil War.
Dagmar, statuesque comedienne, one of the first major female stars on television, famous
for her "dumb blonde" persona, talks to Wallace about her career, psychoanalysis,
tranquilizers, and television.
2001
2000
1997
1998
1960
Age 80
1973
1973
1971
1970
2001

Salvador Dali 4/19/58
Diana Dors 11/9/57
Kirk Douglas 11/2/57
William O. Douglas 5/11/58
James Eastland 7/28/57
Cyrus Eaton 5/17/57
Abba Eban 4/12/58
Eldon Lee Edwards 5/5/57
Gov. Orval Faubus 9/15/57
Bob Feller 8/4/57
Eric Fromm 5/25/58
Salvador Dali, the surrealist painter, talks to Wallace about genius, the subconscious,
weakness, old age and luxury, death, religion, and dreams.
Diana Dors, England's answer to Brigit Bardot and Marilyn Monroe, talks to Wallace about
England's attitude toward sex, publicity stunts, the entertainment business, and the price
Kirk Douglas, a film star who had recently completed two films, Paths of Glory and The
Vikings, talks to Wallace about acting, fame, the charge that Hollywood films misrepresent
America abroad, Nazis, Communists, and European versus American women.
William Douglas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, talks with
Wallace about freedom of expression and the freedom to exchange ideas. In Douglas's
book, The Right of the People, he wrote, "In recent years, as we have denounced the loss
of liberties abroad we have witnessed its decline here in America."
Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, who has been called "The Voice of the White
South," talks to Wallace about segregation, slavery, the Soviet Union, voting rights laws,
Cyrus Eaton, a successful Cleveland industrialist and businessman and outspoken critic of
the United States’ foreign and military policies, talks to Wallace about how American’s
freedoms are being destroyed by the Cold War.
As Israel celebrates its tenth anniversary, Abba Eban, Israel's ambassador to the United
States, talks to Wallace about Arab nations, the Arab refugee problem, Egypt's President
Nasser, Jews in America, and the charge that Israel threatens world peace with a policy of
Eldon Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, talks to Wallace about the South's
attitude toward the KKK, the Klan's membership, segregation, the NAACP, communism,
and J. Edgar Hoover.
Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, talks to Wallace from the Governor's mansion in
Little Rock during his standoff with the Federal Government over the integration of Little
Rock Central High School. Faubus had called in the National Guard to bar the African-
American students from the school and had met the day before this interview with
President Eisenhower in an effort to resolve the conflict.
Bob Feller, one of the great baseball pitchers of all time, talks to Wallace about ballplayers'
salaries, the reserve clause, rich ball clubs, Pay TV, beer companies as sponsors, bean
balls, gambling, and Joe DiMaggio versus Ted Williams.
Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and social critic, talks to Wallace about society, materialism,
relationships, government, religion, and happiness.
1989
1984
Age 91
1980
1986
1979
2002
1980
1994
Age 90
1980

John Gates 1/18/58
Oscar Hammerstein 3/15/58
David Hawkins 6/23/57
Ben Hecht 2/15/58
Robert Hutchins 7/20/58
Aldous Huxley 5/18/58
George Jessel 9/14/57
John Gates, editor of the Communist Daily Worker and a leader in the Communist Party in
the United States for 27 years, talks to Wallace about why he quit the Communist Party.
One of the most successful and controversial figures in show business and Broadway
lyricist for such classics as Oklahoma!, The King and I, and South Pacific, Oscar
Hammerstein II talks to Wallace about sentimentality, racism, religion, and politics.
David Hawkins of Oklahoma City was the youngest of 20 prisoners to defect during the
Korean War. Hawkins talks about his defection and why he eventually returned to the
United States.
Novelist, playwright, and noted Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht talks to Wallace about
working in Hollywood, selling out, growing old, religion, and politics.
Dr. Robert Hutchins, former dean of the Yale Law School, former president of the
University of Chicago, and president of the Fund for the Republic, talks to Wallace about
freedom, illusion as an enemy of freedom, government, civil rights, and education.
Aldous Huxley, social critic and author of Brave New World, talks to Wallace about threats
to freedom in the United States, overpopulation, bureaucracy, propaganda, drugs,
George Jessel, veteran comedian, talks to Wallace about television, Jimmie Hoffa and the
Teamsters Union, fame, Jewish performers, relationships, and his desire to be named
Age 95
1960
Not
Ascertained
1964
1977
1963
1981
Charles "Commando"
Kelly
6/30/57
Chuck "Commando" Kelly, recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War II,
talks to Wallace about his financial troubles, unemployment, the Korean War, and nuclear
weapons.
1985
Gen. Kenney 10/12/57
Major Donald Keyhoe 3/8/57
Henry Kissinger 7/13/58
Francis Lally 6/22/58
Retired Air Force General George Kenney talks to Wallace about the Soviet Earth
Satellite, Sputnik, which had recently launched, and why he believed it would bring the
nation very close to a third world war.
Former Marine Air Corps Major Donald Keyhoe, now director of the National Investigations
Committee on Aerial Phenomena, has been investigating the existence of UFO’s,
Unidentified Flying Objects. Keyhoe talks to Wallace about the United States military,
reports of UFO sightings, the various theories explaining UFO’s, government cover-ups
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Associate Director of the Center for International Affairs at Harvard
University, talks to Wallace about the United States' foreign and military policies, limited
nuclear war, the Soviet Union, Algeria, the Middle East, and Republicans, including
Monsignor Francis Lally, editor of one of the most influential Catholic newspapers in
America, the Boston Pilot, talks to Wallace about a lack of understanding between
Catholics and non-Catholics, the separation between church and state, dissent, diversity,
1977
1988
Age 85
Not
Ascertained

Dr. Ralph Lapp 6/9/57
Dr. Ralph Lapp, a nuclear physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb and who gave
up research to write and lecture against further nuclear testing, talks to Wallace about the
Atomic Energy Commission, cancer, the social responsibility of scientists, the Manhattan
project, Hiroshima, and religion.
2004
Arthur Larson 9/14/58
Fulton Lewis 2/1/58
Elsa Maxwell 11/16/57
Mary McBride 6/16/57
Glen McCarthy 7/21/57
Sen. Wayne Morse 5/26/57
Arthur Larson, who resigned from the Eisenhower administration after having served as
Undersecretary of Labor, Head of the United States Information Agency, and Special
Assistant to the president, talks to Wallace about Eisenhower, the administration's social
philosophy, politics, and the American way of life.
Fulton Lewis, Jr., conservative newspaper and radio commentator, talks to Wallace about
the right wing in America, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, General Douglas
MacArthur, Francisco Franco, Adlai Stevenson, Joseph McCarthy, Eisenhower
Elsa Maxwell, syndicated gossip columnist and professional party hostess, talks to
Wallace about Elvis Presley, Nikita Kruschev, Jane Mansfield, alcohol, society, immorality,
The Duchess of Windsor, Cleveland Amory, and Greta Garbo.
Mary Margaret McBride, the "First Lady of Radio," pioneered radio journalism with more
than 30,000 interviews over more than 20 years. She talks to Wallace about career versus
family, motherhood, religion, television, and bikini bathing suits.
Glen McCarthy, the legendary Texas oil millionaire, talks to Wallace about money,
gambling, fighting, and the Hollywood film Giant, which some say is the story of his life.
Senator Wayne Morse, Republican turned Democrat from Oregon, talks to Wallace about
his criticisms of the Eisenhower Administration, Barry Goldwater, Raymond Moley, Richard
Nixon, Arthur Miller, and Joseph McCarthy.
1993
1966
1963
1976
1988
1974
M. Muggeridge 10/19/57
Malcolm Muggeridge, former editor of Punch Magazine and one of England's leading
intellectuals, talks to Wallace about his article in The Saturday Evening Post in which he
created an international furor by criticizing Queen Elizabeth.
1990
Nobel Prize Winners 1/11/58
In this special telecast from the American Nobel Anniversary Committee Dinner and Forum
at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, Dr. Linus Pauling, Pearl S. Buck, Clarence Pickett, and
Sir John Boyd Orr talk about peace in a world threatened by war.
Pauling-1994
Buck- 1973
Pickett- 1965 Orr-
1971
Reinhold Niebuhr 4/27/58
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, vice president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, on leave
to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and one of the most important and
challenging religious thinkers in the world, talks to Wallace about the separation between
church and state, Catholicism, Protestantism, anti-Semitism, communism, and nuclear
1971

Fred Otash 8/25/57
Drew Pearson 12/7/57
Fred Otash, a private investigator in Hollywood, California, talks to Wallace about his work
for Confidential Magazine, morality, informers, and invasion of privacy.
Drew Pearson, syndicated columnist, talks to Wallace about Sputnik, a third world war,
Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, and about being called a vicious liar by prominent
politicians.
1992
1969
Charles Percy 7/6/58
Tony Perkins 3/22/58
Walter Reuther 1/25/58
Eleanor Roosevelt 11/23/57
Leonard Ross 12/21/57
Lillian Roth 4/5/58
Lily St. Cyr 10/5/57
Margaret Sanger 9/21/57
Jean Seberg 1/4/58
Alexander Seversky 12/28/57
Charles Percy, president of Bell & Howell, talks to Wallace about the role of government in
the economic system, about private enterprise's involvement in public services, tax reform,
and the soviet economic system.
Tony Perkins, the young Hollywood star, talks to Wallace about unflattering news stories,
Hollywood, Manhattan, loneliness, religion, freedom, and the beat generation
Walter Reuther, president of the United Auto Workers, talks to Wallace about his plan for
profit sharing for auto workers, which was being attacked as a "giant step toward
Eleanor Roosevelt, former first lady, talks to Wallace about Dwight Eisenhower, Richard
Nixon, Republicans, Democrats, the Soviet Union, Westbrook Pegler, her son's
relationship with Dominican leader Rafael Trujillo, race, and garlic pills.
Leonard Ross, a 12-year-old California school boy who won a total of $164,000 on the
game shows The Big Surprise and The Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar Challenge, talks to
Wallace about the effects of quiz shows on children, school, politics, eggheads, spanking,
Lillian Roth, the singer whose brutally frank autobiography I'll Cry Tomorrow was made
into an Academy Award-winning film with Susan Hayward, talks to Wallace about her
battle with alcoholism, religion, psychoanalysis, Alcoholics Anonymous, and her new book,
Lili St. Cyr, America's leading strip teaser, talks to Wallace about her attitude towards the
men who come see her perform, her attitude towards her profession, show business, and
Margaret Sanger, the leader of the birth control movement in America, talks to Wallace
about why she became an advocate for birth control, over-population, the Catholic Church,
Film star Jean Seberg, whose first film, Saint Joan, was panned by the critics, talks to
Wallace about her new film, Bonjour Tristesse, critics, acting in Hollywood, and private life.
Alexander de Seversky, Russian-born World War I flying ace who served as a consultant
to the U.S. government and helped revolutionize aerial warfare in World War II, talks to
Wallace about the United States military, the Soviet military, and the possibility of nuclear
Age 89
1992
1970
1962
Not
Ascertained
1980
1999
1966
1979
1974

Adlai Stevenson 6/1/58
Gloria Swanson 4/28/57
Peter Ustinov 3/29/58
Rudy Valle 2/22/58
Sylvester Weaver 6/8/58
Sen. Edward Weeks 8/24/58
Edward B. Williams 12/14/57
Frank Lloyd Wright 9/1/1957 and 9/28/1957
Henry Wriston 8/17/58
Philip Wylie 5/12/57
Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois and twice the Democratic candidate for the
presidency of the United States, talks to Wallace about American politics, the difficulty in
persuading good people to become involved in politics, diversity, elections, and the need
for the average citizen to be involved in government.
Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's most spectacular stars, talks to Wallace about why
she is not making films, sex appeal, Hollywood in the 1920s, marriage, plastic surgery, and
cancer cures.
Peter Ustinov, actor, playwright, director, and novelist, talks to Wallace about a variety of
subjects including the monarchy versus the presidency, death, education, sex, money,
Rudy Vallee, the American singer, bandleader, and actor, first of the great "crooners," and
arguably the first mass media pop star, talks to Wallace about his career, his opinions
about his fans, Hollywood, his friends, and his reputation for stinginess.
Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, former president of the National Broadcasting Company, creator
of such television programs as Wide Wide World, Today, and Tonight, talks to Wallace
about television, management, advertising, and the social function of television.
Edward Weeks, editor of the monthly magazine The Atlantic, talks to Wallace about
"bigness," mass culture, tastemakers, advertising, and media.
Edward Bennett Williams, a high-profile defense lawyer whose clients have included
gambling czar Frank Costello, union boss Jimmy Hoffa, and Senator Joseph McCarthy,
talks to Wallace about the United States justice system, civil liberties, the FBI, and the
This interview was recorded in two parts. Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the greatest
architects of the 20th century, talks to Wallace about religion, war, mercy killing, art, critics,
his mile-high skyscraper, America's youth, sex, morality, politics, nature, and death.
Dr. Henry Wriston, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former president of
Brown University, talks to Wallace about the Middle East crisis, United States foreign
policy, and the threat of nuclear war.
The novelist, satirist, and social critic Philip Wylie talks to Wallace about moms and
"Momism," women and marriage, religion, intellectualism, and psychoanalysis.
1965
1983
2004
1986
2002
1966
1988
1959
1978
1971