For seven decades, the American public television programme The Open Mind has quietly championed depth, civility and political conversation that does not insult the intelligence. As it approaches its 70th anniversary next month, the show stands as the polar opposite of Donald Trump and his Maga revolution.
In December 1973, The Open Mind devoted a special edition to what historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr termed the “imperial presidency”. The discussion proved timely amid the Opec oil crisis, the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon’s attempts to evade accountability. Today, with oil prices spiking again, the Epstein scandal reverberating and a new imperial president in the White House, the show faces both a challenge and an opportunity.
The Open Mind is the longest-running series in US public media history, predating even PBS and NPR. Only five existing TV news reports have a longer run. Its formula of sarcasm-free, reflective discourse has remained remarkably unchanged. Current host Alexander Heffner, only the second in the show’s history, attributes its endurance to a combination of its original mission and prescience in grasping modern trends early, from civil rights to pandemic preparedness to populism.
The show was founded by Heffner’s grandfather, Richard Heffner, who hosted for almost six decades until his death in 2013. It launched on 7 May 1956 with a discussion on the powers and problems of the presidency, during Dwight Eisenhower’s re-election bid. Among its milestones was the first broadcast interview with Martin Luther King in February 1957.
In an era of fast-moving media and 30-second TikTok videos, The Open Mind’s fusion of “low-snark and high substance” endures as a calm, contemplative antidote to the shrill and impulsive communication style of Donald Trump.
