KUP'S SHOW - 1962 - 1975 (Syndicated) 1975 - 1986 (PBS)
Chicago newspaper columnist Irv Kupcinet was first seen on local Chicago television and like David Susskind in New York (Open End), he hosted a talk show in 1958 that was open-ended. The program was trimmed to an hour when it went into national syndication in 1962. In 1975 the show was picked up by PBS and lasted for an additional 11 years.
Host: Irv Kupcinet.
Irv Kupcinet interviews Dr. F.J. Hacker advisor to the Munich German Police Chief Dr. Manfred Schreiber, at the time of the 1972 Olympic mass murder of eleven Jews on the Olympic team, in a 23 hour drama occurring on September 5th, eleven days before.
Second guest is Daniel Ellsberg, an American political activist and U.S. military analyst, who while employed by the RAND CORP., he precipitated an national political controversy
in 1971 when he released the PENTAGON PAPERS, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Viet Nam war to the New York Times.
Ellsberg poses the question to Irv Kupcinet, "Does the President of the United States have an unlimited power and the right to lie to the American public?" Ellsberg states that at present loyalty to the American public should include revelation of such lies perpetuated by our President in relationship to the Viet Nam war. "Under President Nixon our country is on the verge of becoming a monarchy."
Third guest is Clifford Irving who completed the book, "The Autobiography of Howard Hughes.," which turned out to be a hoax.
The book, about to be published in 1972 by McGraw-Hill, was never published after Howard Hughes denounced Irving and threatened to sue the publisher. Irving and his collaborators then confessed to the book as being a hoax. Clifford Irving was sentenced to 2 & 1/2 years in jail of which he served 17 months.
This interview was conducted just before he began serving his time in prison. Among many anecdotes revealed was his acknowledgement of failing a lie detector test just before appearing with Mike Wallace for an interview contentious with lies.