The Constitution: That Delicate Balance

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The Constitution: That Delicate Balance is a television series broadcast originally broadcast in the USA in 1984 on The Learning Channel. Produced by Columbia University as part of its Media & Society Seminars program, the series was filmed in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1982-83 as a series of seminars with a group of around 15-20 politicians, journalists, educators and others, including the former President Gerald Ford and the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who also participated in related discussion with the series host Fred Friendly (these discussions took place in Independence Hall).

Contents

Others participants included (titles are as at time of broadcast):

The filmed material was then edited into hour-long episodes relating to a particular topic. Each episode started with Friendly introducing an issue such as Executive Privilege or The War Powers Act, and went to a seminar discussing the topic. The episode usually finished with Friendly discussing the issue with former Justice Potter Stewart.

Episodes

(episodes titles are not given in credits; titles listed here are as spoken in introduction)

"The 1787 Constitutional Convention"

Although not formally part of the series, a related 2-hour program (also hosted by Friendly), was made in 1987 for the 200th-anniversary of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

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