On February 18th, 1965, the University of Cambridge hosted one of the most legendary debates in history. Author James Baldwin and conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr took to the floor to discuss whether the American Dream was achievable only at the expense of black Americans.

To find out more about this debate, often overshadowed by other significant civil rights events of the same era, Don speaks to Nicholas Buccola. Nick is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and author of ‘The Fire is Upon Us’.

Produced and edited by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

Audio from the debate republished with the permission of The Cambridge Union (https://www.cus.org).

Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for $1 per month for 3 months with code AMERICANHISTORY sign up at https://historyhit/subscription/ 

You can take part in our listener survey here.