RealNew seven-part interview of Gore Vidal.

PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR: Was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the closing curtain of World War II, or the opening act of the Cold War?

GORE VIDAL: Probably the opening act of the Cold War. It was also the end of the American republic. Every single important military commander on the American side pleaded with the new president, our great Augustus, Franklyn Roosevelt, had died in I think it was April of '45 and was succeeded by a no-brainer called Harry Truman, who didn't know what he was doing.


This seven-part interview is classic Gore Vidal. Whether you agree with Vidal or not, as Martin Amis said: "Even his blind spots are illuminating."

Gore Vidal on the Cold War
Part one of a seven-part interview with Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal on "The Emperor"
"He smiled benignly at the oil wells"

Gore Vidal on liberty
The people who wrote the constitution hated democracy

Gore Vidal on US media and society
We're not the United States of Amnesia — We're the United States of Alzheimer's

Gore Vidal on the Democrats and religion
How different would a Democratic Party administration be?

Gore Vidal on the future
"We've got to get back the pillars of the Constitution"

Gore Vidal on the media
Have TV journalists learned anything from the last several years?