Young Research & Publishing Inc.

Investment Research Since 1978

Disclosure – Please click here to read the full disclosure.

  • About Us
    • Contributors
    • Archives
    • Dick Young’s Safe America
    • The Final Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
    • Dick Young’s Research Key: Anecdotal Evidence Gathering
    • Crisis at Vanguard
  • Investment Analysis
    • Bonds
    • Currencies and Gold
    • Dividend Investing
    • ETFs & Funds
    • Investment Strategy
    • Retirement Investing
    • Stocks
    • The Efficient Frontier
  • Investment Counsel
  • Retirement Compounders®
  • Free Email Signup

The Man Behind Milton Friedman’s Classic Free to Choose TV Series

November 30, 2020 By E.J. Smith

By AndriiKoval @ Shutterstock.com

Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose TV series is, perhaps, the best explanation of the value of free and open economies. Friedman explains the concept of open markets and freedom in a way that every man and woman can relate to. But behind Friedman’s appearance was a brave TV station manager from Eire, PA named Bob Chitester.

Chitester put Friedman on the air and caused a phenomenon. William McGurn tells the story in The Wall Street Journal:

In the era of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, champions of the free-market capitalism may feel beleaguered. Those of a certain age thought they’d won the argument against socialism along with the Cold War. Bob Chitester, a veteran of the earlier struggle, offers some perspective on its outcome.

Mr. Chitester is the man who made Milton Friedman a star. Friedman, who died in 2006, had already won the 1976 Nobel Prize for economics. But a balding, 5-foot-3 University of Chicago professor was an unlikely candidate for television celebrity. Even when he agreed to film the series that became “Free to Choose,” he thought of it only as a way to sell books.

But Mr. Chitester, 83, says television has its own power, and Friedman was a natural at using it. “It wasn’t so much that he was attracted to TV,” Mr. Chitester says. “He was attracted to people. And what he began to see was that TV had the potential to reach a lot of people.”

Their collaboration began in 1977, when the two men were introduced by W. Allen Wallis, a free-market economist who served as chancellor of New York’s University of Rochester and chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. At the time Mr. Chitester managed public TV and radio stations in Erie, Pa. After PBS released “The Age of Uncertainty,” presented by the left-liberal economist John Kenneth Gailbraith, Mr. Chitester wanted to produce a rejoinder from a classically liberal perspective.

Mr. Chitester was probably the only PBS or NPR station manager who didn’t believe public radio and television should receive subsidies from American taxpayers. But he had a skill in short supply among the pro-capitalist intellectual class: He knew how to popularize free-market ideas, which many thought couldn’t be done on television.

He confesses that he isn’t sure he’d even heard of Friedman when Wallis put the two in touch. But Mr. Chitester says he devoured Friedman’s 1962 book, “Capitalism and Freedom,” and went to meet Milton and his wife, fellow economist and collaborator, Rose, at their San Francisco apartment.

An hour into the conversation, Mr. Chitester brought up a section in the book where Friedman talks about the responsibility of business—also the theme of Friedman’s famous 1970 New York Times essay, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” Mr. Chitester described his dilemma: “I said to Milton, based on your philosophy, I shouldn’t be asking companies for money, and if they take your advice, they’re not going to give me any.”

“Bob, don’t worry about it,” Friedman reassured him. “Businessmen don’t like me anyway.” The economist elaborated. “He said private owners—those who own their own companies—they will be sympathetic. But corporations and publicly held companies will play the political game.” In other word, they’d be shy about supporting such a project lest it hurt them when seeking government funding.

The series premiered in January 1980, featuring 10 hourlong episodes with titles such as “Who Protects the Workers” to “How to Cure Inflation.” Viewers were fascinated by this professor who explained capitalism in down-to-earth terms and showed how its principles relate to ordinary life.

Mr. Chitester says his “absolute favorite” moment in the series is at the end of episode five, “Created Equal.” Friedman is at Monticello, talking about the challenge of judging Thomas Jefferson, a man who wrote one of history’s greatest documents for liberty even as he owned slaves.

“Milton concluded the episode with the following quote: The society that puts equality before freedom will get little of either. The society that puts freedom before equality will get a great measure of both.”

“Free to Choose” drew an average three million viewers an episode and was later broadcast all over the world. The companion book, reworked from the transcripts by Milton and Rose, was eventually translated into 17 languages and became the bestseller for nonfiction in the U.S. that year.

Mr. Chitester found Milton Friedman more receptive to the idea of a TV series than Rose, who thought television was a waste of time. Milton had appeared on Dinah Shore’s talk show alongside journalist Shana Alexander and comedian Phyllis Diller. These were the Jimmy Carter years, and Shore asked him how an average investor could protect his money in a time of rising inflation. Friedman’s advice was succinct: “Spend it.” He later told Mr. Chitester that appearance brought him more mail than he’d ever received.

“Free to Choose” made Friedman an even bigger hit. “By the fifth program Milton could see what was going on,” Mr. Chitester says. “He told me, ‘Bob, people are calling me from all over the world asking me to invest their money.’ ” The Friedmans had to change their phone number and relist it under Rose’s maiden name.

One key to the appeal of the series is that it features Milton speaking on location all across the world to make his points—whether talking to an Indian carpet weaver or in West Berlin to contrast the freedom and prosperity there with the squalor on the communist side of the wall. That “helped motivate Milton,” Mr. Chitester says, because he thrived on human engagement. Even more remarkable, Mr. Chitester confirms everything was completely unscripted.

It helped that Friedman was quick on his feet: “With regard to the extemporaneous, he was considered one of the most effective and daunting debaters within the economic community. No one wanted to debate Milton face-to-face.”

If You’re Serious, Sign Up for My Email. But Only If You’re Serious.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

You Might Also Like:

  • Your Retirement Life: The World’s Largest Man
  • Why Your Retirement Survival is No Easy Task
  • Retirees Still Cannot Afford a Walloping
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
E.J. Smith
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris.

Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com

Click here to sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Latest posts by E.J. Smith (see all)
  • Investing Mistakes to Avoid: #10 Picked Off First - June 9, 2023
  • Remember When You Were A Kid and Money Was Free? - June 8, 2023
  • Forbes Global 2000: The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall? - June 8, 2023

Search Young Research

Most Popular

  • Starving for Fixed Income? I Can Help
  • June Is Retirement Compounders Month
  • ALLIGATOR MARKET: Calm Surface Hides Danger Below
  • Vanguard Wellesley (VWINX) vs. Wellington (VWELX): Which Fund is Best?
  • CBDCs Not “Just Another Form of Money”
  • What's Hiding In the London Metals Exchange Warehouses?
  • End of ESG?
  • China Increases Its Gold Reserves for Seventh Month Straight
  • Successful Investing Is a Mindset
  • Young’s Retirement Compounders

Don’t Miss

Default Risk Among the Many Concerns with Annuities

Risk and Reward: An Efficient Frontier

How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth

Cryptocosm and Life After Google

Warning: Avoid Mutual Fund Year End Distributions

Is Gold a Good Long-term Investment?

How to Invest in Gold

Vanguard Wellington (VWELX): The Original Balanced Fund

What is the Best Gold ETF for Investing and Trading?

Procter & Gamble (PG) Stock: The Only True Dividend King

The Dividend King of the North

You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life

The Importance of a Balanced Portfolio

Invest with Peace of Mind and Comfort

What Kind of Life Are You Investing For?

RSS The Latest at Richardcyoung.com

  • Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
  • Investing Mistakes to Avoid: #10 Picked Off First
  • Carlson Urges America: “Cling to Your Taboos!”
  • TRUMP INDICTED: President Releases Video Defending Innocence
  • Oh Canada: Wildfires at a Blistering Pace
  • RAGE Gauge June: Remember When You Were A Kid and Money Was Free?
  • What Do You Know About Vanguard’s Wellesley Income Fund?
  • CRUMBLING EMPIRE: Major Hotel Flees San Francisco as City Suffers
  • MUSIC IN DANGER: Is This the Worst Use for AI?
  • Crushing the Heretics

RSS The Latest at Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Investing Mistakes to Avoid: #10 Picked Off First
  • HOUSING CRISIS: California Could Face Mortgage Default Tsunami
  • Why Is Biden Sacrificing Mining Dominance to the Chinese?
  • RAGE Gauge June: Remember When You Were A Kid and Money Was Free?
  • Your Retirement Life: Striped Bass Fishing off Block Island
  • Artificial Intelligence or Four-Year Olds?
  • Forbes Global 2000: The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall?
  • Starving for Fixed Income? I Can Help
  • SUPER STATE RISING? This State Is Doing All the Right Things
  • End of ESG?

About Us

  • About Young Research
  • Archives
  • Contributors

Our Partners

  • Richard C. Young & Co.
  • Richardcyoung.com

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions

 

Loading Comments...
 

    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.