I first became aware of Tom Sowell in the seventies on Buckley’s program “Firing Line.” He sounded as brilliant then as he does now. As far as I know, other than FOX or C-Span, it might be the only time I’ve seen him on any tv show. He’s never been interviewed on “Sixty Minutes” or other similar network shows as far as I know. I could be wrong.
” I first became aware of Tom Sowell in the seventies on Buckley’s program “Firing Line.” “
Same here. Buckley had many good folks on that show.
It’s true that Sowell is very rarely on TV. However, the last time I saw him, on C-Span, Brian Lamb established for the record that he had asked Sowell to appear there many times, and that Sowell very rarely accepted. And he asked Sowell why that was. Sowell replied that he thought he was better at writing than at articulating his thoughts on live TV.Another factor is that Sowell hates to travel. He once declined an award on the basis that he didn’t want to travel to Washington to accept it. The man who told Sowell of the award replied by saying that Sowell should know two things:
Sowell said later that he had learned what he would do if he were a millionaire - buy a private jet.
- the award came with a $250,000 prize, and,
- Sowell would be transported to and from Washington via private jet.
There have been occasions, few but plural, when Sowell has been a guest on the EIB when Walter E Williams was guest-hosting. And it has to be said that on one such occasion I thought that Sowell vindicated his claim that he was not as good speaking live as in his writing - in the sense that he was overenthusiastic about a (very middling at best, IMHO) idea proposed by a caller.