Biography of Milton Friedman Coming to PBS

On November 16, 2006, the great economist Milton Friedman died at the age of 94. On January 29, 2007, PBS will telecast a 90 minute biography of Milton and Rose Friedman called The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman. The biography’s executive producers include Bob Chitester, the same small-town TV executive who organized the PBS TV Series Free to Choose, whose transcripts Friedman later converted into a book bearing the same title.
Chitester descibes his interactions with Friedman over a 30+ year span:
“He was a famous Nobel Prize winning economist. I was a bearded, leather jacketed small town TV executive, yet he treated me as competent and honorable, as he did everyone he met, until you proved otherwise.
Over the intervening years I invited hundreds of people to join me for a “private dinner with Milton and Rose.” Most were, or soon became, great admirers of his quickness of mind and insatiable curiosity. They were charmed by his warmth and generosity, learned much about logic and careful thinking and departed wondering how anyone could dislike or disagree with this “truth seeker.”
To me Milton’s most admirable characteristic was his ability to disagree without being disagreeable; to have close friendships with people who aggressively challenged his ideas. His admonition was to never question the motive of an intellectual opponent — a lesson I struggle to embrace.”
Chitester remarking on Friedman’s death:
“With his death, people striving to make their lives better lost a champion and freedom lost one of its most effective and valiant advocates, while I lost a teacher /mentor of incomparable value. I once told Milton it would take me a lifetime to repay his appreciation of the work we did together. I count on the memories of his faultless advice, fatherly concern and that twinkle in his eyes to help me achieve that goal.”
May our next crop of United States Congressmen not forget his legacy.