Archie's Adventure in Education

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Edith (Jean Stapleton): I'll never forget the first time I made pot roast for your father. Only he wasn't your father then; we was just keeping company. I invited him to my house for dinner, and I made him pot roast. And that was the first time he ever called me "dingbat."

Gloria (Sally Struthers): Well that's awful, even if he didn't like your cooking.

Edith: Oh, no, he loved it.

Michael (Rob Reiner): Then why'd he call you "dingbat?"

Edith: Well in them days, Archie was too shy to call me "sweetheart" or "darling" so he called me his "little dingbat." And you know what? Ever since then, no matter how mad he says "dingbat," I always hear a little "sweetheart" in it.

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There have been times when I have taught college–level courses that I have had students who would be classified as nontraditional students — typically people who left school at some point and then returned after several years to pursue their degrees. I have long admired the courage it takes to do something like that. It can't be easy to be in class with colleagues — or even a teacher — young enough to be one's children.

They say one is never too old to learn, though, and Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) proved it 45 years ago tonight on All in the Family — even if he did it for the wrong reasons — in the episode "Archie Learns His Lesson."

Archie was angling for a dispatcher's job, but he had a problem. The job required a high school diploma, and Archie had to drop out of school to help support his family. So Archie went to school at night to earn his GED.

He didn't want Mike (Rob Reiner) and Gloria (Sally Struthers) to know, though, so he swore Edith (Jean Stapleton) to secrecy. And Edith did a pretty good job of keeping the secret until Archie blew his own cover. He told Mike and Gloria that he was going bowling, then left without his bowling ball.

Mike and Gloria were very supportive of Archie when they found out, and Mike and Archie started studying together at the dining room table — leading to some of the series' most entertaining dialogue between the two.

At one memorable point, Mike told Archie, who was studying for an American history test, what manifest destiny meant. That sparked a debate of sorts between the liberal Mike and the conservative Archie, which by itself wasn't especially memorable, although it was hilarious in the context of history and politics. Then Edith helped Archie study by asking him questions.

Before they began, Mike asked if he could listen in because "I love science fiction." Archie wouldn't go for that and shooed Mike away from the table.

But Mike listened from the sofa and finally could take no more when the subject of the American government's treatment of Indians came up. Archie's logic was too much for him.

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But Mike's reaction was nothing compared to Gloria's when she found her father writing the answers to the history questions on little pieces of paper.

She observed that they looked like crib notes.

"Bingo!" Archie replied. He said he would keep them in his breast pocket in case he needed them.

"Daddy!" exclaimed a shocked Gloria. "That's cheating!"

Archie explained the difference.

"Cheating is when you're supposed to give something to somebody else, and you don't give it. I'm taking a test. I'm supposed to give 'em the right answers. That's what I'm gonna give 'em!"

"But, Daddy, you're cheating yourself," Gloria insisted.

"No," Archie said. "I get a diploma out of it."

Gloria wouldn't give up. "You're not being honest with yourself."

"I certainly am," Archie replied. "I sat down and I asked myself a question. 'Can you pass this exam without them little pieces of paper?' And I gave myself an honest answer: 'No.'"

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That sent Gloria screaming from the table.

Mike, who had been upstairs, came into the room as Gloria was screaming. "Been talking to your father?" he asked.

Gloria's point was rendered moot, though, when it turned out that Edith had glued Archie's notes to a board so he could study them on the subway. She was pleased with herself, but Archie was sure he was going to fail.

As it turned out, though, Archie did just fine. He was notified by mail that he had passed his test, and his family congratulated him on his achievement.

But a buddy of Archie's called with news. As Archie explained it to the family, instead of studying history, he should have studied the theory of relativity. The dispatcher's job had gone to the boss' nephew.

"And here I am," Archie said, "stuck with a high school diploma."

The Never-Ending War With Evil

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"No more talk. You can't talk to bullets."

Paul (Gregory Sierra)

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It is probably difficult for modern audiences to appreciate, but All in the Family really was a groundbreaking TV series. Probably more than any other — certainly more than any series that preceded it and almost as certainly more than any series since.

The program made viewers uncomfortable by forcing them to think about things many probably preferred to ignore. But after targeting subjects — like racial inequality and women's rights — that can seem obvious from the perspective of four decades after the fact, the series' writers turned their attention to other, lesser–known battles being waged with evil — and, in the process, opened many eyes.

Such was the case with the episode that first aired 45 years ago tonight, "Archie Is Branded."

Early one Sunday morning, Archie (Carroll O'Connor) found a swastika painted on the front door. His first instinct was to blame it on juvenile pranksters in the neighborhood — but then the family found a note on the front porch that suggested that whoever had painted the swastika was not a juvenile from the neighborhood and intended to return.

Swastikas certainly aren't unknown today, and they were recognized even more widely 45 years ago when the World War II generation probably outnumbered any other. Swastikas were symbols of hatred and death, and Archie's generation knew it. Archie had participated in the war with the Nazis. Mike (Rob Reiner) and Gloria (Sally Struthers) had studied the war and the Nazis in school. The Bunkers knew swastikas meant nothing good, and their imaginations began to run wild.

A special–delivery package came, and the Bunkers believed they heard a ticking sound coming from it so they put it in the kitchen sink, started the water and then ran from the house. When they returned, they still heard the ticking sound. Turned out it was coming from a pocket of the apron Edith (Jean Stapleton) wore. She had been timing a cake she was baking.

Archie then looked at the package, which was submerged in water in the sink. The package was from Edith's Cousin Amelia. Her husband was giving up smoking, and he was sending his cigars to Archie.

Archie looked forlornly at the soggy package.

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About that time a fellow named Paul (Gregory Sierra) came knocking at the door.

Paul was a member of an organization called the Hebrew Defense Association (inspired by the Jewish Defense League), which was dedicated to fighting anti–Semitism. It turned out that the Bunkers had been targeted by a neo–Nazi group that believed Archie was a Jewish activist who lived nearby.

But while Archie and Paul knew that the swastika had been intended for someone else, the neo–Nazis still believed Archie was the target so Paul stayed with the Bunkers to protect them from what might come, and as they waited they talked about the war that was being waged around the world — openly in most places but seemingly with little attention being paid to it in the United States.

The episode was uncharacteristically dramatic for the series, and the ending pulled no punches as Paul died when his car exploded in the street in front of the Bunkers' house. Viewers didn't see it, but they heard it.

It was a jarring moment for TV viewers. In the years ahead, they would grow accustomed to sitcom episodes that turned serious — MASH, for one, was good at that — but it was new to viewers in 1973.

Even though the story was fictional, it was a real eye–opener for Americans who thought Nazism had been dispensed with when World War II ended. One such American clearly was Archie, who tried to cover the swastika until the police could get there by hanging an American flag over it.

If that had worked, Archie could have put the matter completely out of his mind until the police arrived. "This put the kibosh on the Nazis once before," Archie said as he unfurled the flag. "It's gonna do it again."

But Archie hung the flag incorrectly, and a Boy Scout — played by Stapleton's 11–year–old son — offered to hang it correctly. In the process of doing so, the swastika was revealed.

It is not that easy to deal with evil.

To be sure, some Americans kept an eye on developments beyond America's borders, and they knew there was religious persecution everywhere. American Jews, many of whom had escaped the concentration camps, knew Nazis weren't gone, just in hiding.

But those Americans were the exceptions in the early 1970s. Most Americans lived in blissful ignorance in 1973, aware of little beyond the country's borders except the war in Vietnam that consumed so much blood and treasure.

What they saw on their TV screens on this night in 1973 shocked them.

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Some viewers no doubt sided with Archie. He liked the charismatic Paul and his extreme methods, but Mike the pacifist was alarmed, and many viewers certainly sided with him.

This episode was sure to ignite many debates at the time, forcing viewers to acknowledge beliefs — and fears — they may not have known they held.

But that was what All in the Family did best.

A Hot Timepiece

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Archie (Carroll O'Connor): This here tells me that it's morning in China. So right at this moment, 800 million Chinks are sitting down to breakfast.

Mike (Rob Reiner): Archie, in the first place they are called Chinese.

Archie: That's what I said, Chinks.

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Everyone likes a bargain, and Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) was no exception.

And he rarely asked questions, especially if he was getting a really good bargain, such as the one he thought he was getting in the episode of All in the Family that first aired on this night in 1973, "The Hot Watch."

In that episode, Archie bought a watch from an acquaintance. The watch supposedly was worth $300, but Archie's acquaintance sold it to him for $25.

If Archie ever got a top–of–the–line commodity for a fraction of its price, Mike (Rob Reiner) became suspicious, and he was suspicious this time. He wouldn't accept Archie's suggestion that he had been at the right place at the right time — particularly when he learned that the person with whom Archie had made the transaction was a fellow from the docks, New York's "notorious grab bag" where valuable items disappeared only to reappear on the black market.

His suspicion grew deeper when Archie told him that the fellow who sold him the watch had been in jail once (and claimed to have been framed).

What Archie had, Mike told him, was a stolen watch.

To say Archie was skeptical would be an understatement, but seeds of doubt took root, especially when his watch started making a funny noise and then stopped working altogether when Archie did nothing more than hit the bottom of a ketchup bottle.

Archie decided to take the watch to a jeweler to be repaired, but he was dissuaded from doing that when Mike pointed out that the jeweler would compare the serial number on the watch to the list of serial numbers from stolen watches. If the number was on the list, Archie could be facing prison time.

So Archie needed to find someone who would fix watches "with no questions asked."

While he was trying to find such a person, Edith (Jean Stapleton) went ahead and took it to a neighborhood jeweler. Archie wasn't convinced that this jeweler would be as cooperative as Archie needed him to be, but he was reassured when the jeweler came by and told him the watch could be fixed for $21. He said nothing about it being stolen.

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That was because no one would want to steal it. It was a fake. Archie thought it was an expensive Omega watch, but it was actually an Onega — with an N. The jeweler said it was only worth $8.

In one of the most entertaining exchanges of the series, Archie complained that being the victim of a racket cost him the equivalent of two weeks' take–home pay.

Mike pointed out that he was only out $17. He had spent $25 on an $8 watch.

But Archie was adamant that he had lost the equivalent of $300. He insisted that he was right.

"You want to be right?" Mike asked. "I'll show you how you can be right. You spend the $21 and get the watch fixed. You've already spent $25 so for a $46 investment, you've got your $300 watch back."

And that made sense to mathematically challenged Archie — at first. But then Edith reminded Archie that the watch was only worth $8.

Truly in the Eyes of the Beholder

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Forty–five years ago All in the Family was in the midst of its second straight season as the top–ranked TV series in the United States. It would remain on top of the ratings for three more years.

The episode that aired on this night 45 years ago, "Class Reunion," was the first in a string of episodes that may well have played significant roles in cementing the show's standing.

After initially declining, Edith (Jean Stapleton) was making plans to attend her 30th high school reunion. Her cousin Amelia (Rae Allen) persuaded her with the news that the class heartthrob, Buck Evans (Bernie Kuby), was going to be there. Archie (Carroll O'Connor) had no interest in the reunion — until he heard Edith and Amelia reminiscing about Buck. He had been a track star, and all the girls had been wild about his physique and his golden hair waving in the breeze.

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I guess there is at least one of those in every class — there certainly was one in mine — and the viewers learned that Edith had been one of Buck's admirers in school.

Curiosity — and a touch of jealousy — got the better of Archie, who was suddenly concerned about letting his wife go out alone after dark, and he gallantly offered to escort her to the reunion.

Buck hadn't arrived yet when the Bunkers made their appearance, leaving Archie to mingle with the other attendees. Obviously no one knew who Archie was — but everyone knew who Buck Evans was.

Funny thing was, though, that no one recognized Buck when he got there, probably because he no longer had a svelte figure, and he was bald.

Archie couldn't believe his eyes when he met Buck. He bore no resemblance to the stories Archie had heard, and Archie demanded to know the reason for the radical change.

Now, anyone who has ever attended a 30–year high school reunion can tell you that people change. The only reunion I have ever attended was my fifth–year reunion, and there were already changes in my classmates at that time.

But change is not always radical. In Buck's case, it was. He was not athletic. It was hard to picture him running on a track.

Buck confessed to Archie that he had married a gourmet cook. "Looks like she's in there with you," Archie replied.

Archie went to get Edith, who had been leading her classmates in some old cheers, and told her there was someone she would be happy to see — but he mentioned no names. He was anticipating her disappointment when she saw Buck again.

But it was Archie who was disappointed. Edith knew precisely who it was and broke into a big Edith grin.

Buck asked the question that was surely on Archie's mind as well. "How'd you recognize me?"

Edith said it was his eyes. "I'd know them anywhere."

There was never a more sincere soul on television than Edith Bunker.

Hello, Denial, My Old Friend

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No one likes getting older, and most of us cling to denial and try to resist the inevitable as long as we can.

It is a losing proposition, of course.

I suppose there are some who shrug and accept the incessant march of time. They are probably the happiest of people, the ones who are more contented with the way things are than those who strive (or appear) to be forever young.

The latter takes a lot more effort. Besides, it is a fight that, ultimately, no one can win.

They say ignorance is bliss, and maybe that is true. In the long run, though, it really doesn't matter how one approaches aging. Time will always have its way. The sooner you reconcile yourself to that fact, the happier you will be.

That may have been at the heart of Archie's problem in the episode of All in the Family that aired on this night in 1973, "Oh Say Can You See." Archie (Carroll O'Connor) was resisting that aging thing. He clearly needed glasses, and his memory wasn't what it once was.

When Archie tried to read the paper and kept holding it farther and farther away, Mike (Rob Reiner) came up from behind and said, "Gettin' to be 'bout time to have your arms lengthened, huh, Arch?"

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The conversation around the Bunker dinner table that evening wasn't settling too well with Archie. It was all about the aging issues he was trying to avoid so he made a beeline for the neighborhood bar — where he bumped into an old classmate (Larry Storch).

This classmate looked a lot younger. In fact, the bartender observed that Archie looked at least 10 years older. Maybe 15.

The whole age discussion led to some delightful dialogue exchanges — and not just at the neighborhood bar, either.

For example, when Mike talked about Madison Avenue selling people on a "phony youth culture," Gloria (Sally Struthers) observed that women were having all parts of their bodies lifted surgically to maintain their youthful appearances.

"Just last week in the paper," Gloria remarked, "a woman had her bottom lifted."

An incredulous Edith (Jean Stapleton) asked, "Wouldn't that make her too tall to sit down?"

Kudos to the writers — and now, back to the bar.

Archie bumped into his old friend again; this time he was meeting a young lady named Tina (Arlene Golonka) at the bar, and when Archie wanted to know his friend's secret for staying young, he told Archie that it was all about thinking young. That included acting young — pursuing much younger women.

Archie said he had heard that his friend was married, and his friend acknowledged that he was still married. He also contended that his extramarital flings were a favor to his wife because they kept him young for her. He found that incredibly amusing. Archie did not. But his friend did say some things that Archie found valuable.

He told Archie that he should be called Brad when Tina arrived. His real name was Bill, but Brad sounded younger. "Bill ain't got no pizzazz," he explained. "When people call you Brad, you feel like a Brad."

When Tina arrived and Archie's friend started to introduce them, Archie told Tina that his name was Greg.

Archie seemed impressed by — and a bit jealous of — Bill's success with young ladies until he had the opportunity to speak with Tina one on one, and he learned that the rendezvous was a business arrangement. Tina was a call girl. In those days I guess the popular term was escort.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Does your mother know what you're doing?" Archie asked Tina.

"Yes, she does," Tina replied. "Does your mother know what you're doing?"

It was a real eye opener for Archie, and it made him appreciate what he had.

Bowling for the Cannonballers

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All in the Family poked fun at all kinds of stereotypes — and in the process contributed to the tearing down of some of the walls that divided us in the 1970s.

Sadly much of the TV series' groundbreaking humor would not be tolerated today.

The episode that first aired on this night in 1972, "Archie and the Bowling Team," challenged existing racial and gender roles in its unique way.

Archie (Carroll O'Connor) came home in an unusually good mood. It seemed a member of a prestigious local bowling team — the Cannonballers — had died, opening a spot for which Archie was a finalist. He and two other contenders would compete that night, and their scores would be among the considerations.

Archie had been waiting six years for this opportunity. With the support of a Cannonballer who was known for tearing doors off their hinges when he didn't get his way, Archie figured he couldn't lose.

But while it helped to be a good bowler, as Archie explained to his son–in–law (Rob Reiner), it was also important to be a "special kind of guy."

Mike protested that it was discrimination to "keep a guy out because of what he is."

Archie disagreed. "They don't keep nobody out because of what he is," he insisted. "They keep a guy out maybe because of what he ain't — like if he ain't a good bowler, he ain't gettin' in ... and if he ain't white and Protestant."

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At the tryout, Archie knew he bowled better than the first finalist, but the other finalist got off to such a good start that Archie couldn't stand to watch. He arranged for someone to call him with the final result, and he went home.

When the call came through, Archie learned that he and the other finalist had finished with the same score. Archie figured that meant he was in. The other finalist was black.

But he learned differently when his door–trashing buddy came by. The other finalist had been taken. The Cannonballers were under pressure from the other teams in the league to integrate. If Archie had outscored him, the team could have taken Archie, but since they tied, the team had to take the other bowler.

"The world's changin'," he told Archie. He needn't have said that. Archie knew already, and he didn't like it. "Every time it does it kicks me in the butt," he lamented.

This episode is an important reminder of just how much things have changed.

Half a Lottery Ticket Is Better Than None

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In the episode of All in the Family that first aired on this night in 1972, "Edith's Winning Ticket," it seemed like an ordinary weekend in the Bunker household.

Mike (Rob Reiner) and Gloria (Sally Struthers) were on their way to an art museum; as long as they were going out, Edith (Jean Stapleton) asked them to mail a letter and Archie (Carroll O'Connor) wanted them to exchange some new shoes that didn't fit right.

This was one part of the story that struck me as odd. Archie must have tried on the shoes before buying them. Shouldn't he have known they didn't fit well? However contrived, though, it served a purpose for the story. To make the exchange they would need the receipt so Edith started going through her purse.

She eventually found the receipt — as well as some old lottery tickets that had been long forgotten. Archie chastised her for spending money on lottery tickets.

Meanwhile, Gloria had been reading the print on the tickets and discovered they were good for a year after purchase; then Gloria called the store where the tickets had been purchased to inquire about the winning numbers for that day. Turned out one of the tickets was a winner — of $500.

Archie was elated — until Edith told him the ticket didn't belong to them.

And she proceeded — in her unique way — to explain that 10 months earlier she had bought the tickets at the request of Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford). Both Edith and Louise had forgotten about the tickets.

Archie focused on how to keep from losing anything — until he realized that Mrs. Jefferson had never paid for the lottery tickets. As long as no money had changed hands, Archie reasoned, the tickets belonged to the Bunkers — regardless of Edith's reason for buying them.

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But Edith was just as insistent that the tickets belonged to Mrs. Jefferson. When Louise came over, accompanied by her brother–in–law, Edith took Louise aside and gave her the ticket.

Louise wanted to split the prize money, but Edith wouldn't hear of it. She wouldn't have bought the tickets if Louise hadn't asked her to do so, Edith said, so Louise could reimburse her for the tickets, but the prize was hers.

Back in the Bunkers' living room, Archie and Louise's brother–in–law were arguing about the ticket.

While Archie's back was turned, Louise flashed the lottery ticket for her brother–in–law to see, and they both left the Bunkers' household. Archie, still thinking the ticket was in Edith's possession, grabbed his coat and told Edith they needed to get to the lottery office to cash in the ticket before it closed.

Before Edith could say anything, the doorbell rang. Archie opened the door to find Louise's brother–in–law standing there. He told Archie that he was willing to split the prize with him. Archie refused. The brother–in–law broke into a big grin and bolted.

Archie was amused — until he learned that the Jeffersons now had the ticket.

He should have remembered the old proverb that half a loaf is better than none.

Sentiment Has No Cash Value

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Mike (Rob Reiner): Doubleheader today, huh, Arch?

Archie (Carroll O'Connor): What do you mean?

Mike: You're gonna cheat the insurance company and Ma.

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One of my favorite movie lines comes from a relatively unknown 1950s Christmas comedy, "We're No Angels," in which Basil Rathbone's character remarked, "Sentiment has no cash value."

That could have been Archie Bunker's mantra in the episode of TV's All in the Family that premiered on this night in 1972 — "The Locket."

Well, it could have been his mantra throughout the entire series — but especially in this episode. Archie had little regard for sentiment — except his own.

Edith (Jean Stapleton) couldn't find an antique necklace she had inherited from her grandmother, and Archie (Carroll O'Connor) had no interest in the matter until he learned how much the necklace was worth — enough to buy a new color TV.

Color TVs were real status symbols in 1972. Many folks still had black–and–white TV sets in their homes, and the one the Bunkers had in their home may have been a black–and–white. Most blue–collar households had black–and–white TVs in those days. When a household acquired a color TV, it was an event.

Archie hadn't been thinking of buying a color TV until that moment when two things happened at once — one was the disappearance of Edith's antique locket and the other was the fact that the picture tube was missing from the Bunkers' TV set. Edith told Archie that the repairman told her a new one would cost $75 — a considerable sum in 1972.

As Archie was complaining about his day, Edith commiserated and told Archie about her missing locket. When Archie dismissed the locket as being worthless — he called it a "hunk of junk" — Edith protested that a local jeweler had offered her $150 for it. Archie's eyes lit up, and he concluded they could get $300 from the insurance company when sentimental value was factored in.

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Money could never replace the locket, Edith insisted, and Archie replied that it wasn't going to be replaced by money. It would be replaced by a brand–new color TV.

So Archie paid a visit to his insurance agent to report the loss and learned that he was only covered if the locket was stolen — and he made up a story about the locket being taken by "the neighborhood mugger."

There were too many gaps in Archie's account, though, so the insurance company arranged to send someone out to the Bunkers' home to get some additional details.

In the meantime, Edith returned to the house with good news. Her locket had been found. It turned out that the locket really had been stolen, and she had been called to the police station to identify it. The police were holding it as evidence for the trial of the thief, then it would be returned to her.

All the activity had kept Edith from doing her shopping so she left to do it then. Better late than never.

Archie, still unaware of Edith's news, returned home to accept delivery of a new color TV. He was positively elated. But his elation soon dissolved into desperation and despair when he learned that Edith's locket had been found, and he was determined to keep Edith away from the house while the insurance agent was there.

So he sent Gloria (Sally Struthers) out to run up and down the street and try to divert Edith when she came into view. Naturally it didn't work, and Edith showed up shortly after the insurance agent did. Archie thought all was lost.

But then Edith told the insurance agent that her locket had been stolen and she described the man who stole it. She even provided his name. Archie was delighted and encouraged Edith not to push her luck. She insisted that she wasn't lying.

Then she proved it.

When the insurance agent produced a document for her to sign stating that the locket had been stolen and she didn't know where it was, she balked.

"But I do know where the locket is," she said, and out came the whole story about her locket. The agent was delighted, having saved the company $300. Edith was delighted that the locket had been found.

And Archie was left with the bill for a new TV. It is safe to say he wasn't delighted.

An Unpopular Idea

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In October 1972 All in the Family was in its second full season and in the midst of what would be a five–year reign at the top of the national TV ratings.

Everyone, it seemed, was watching, and it gave the writers a bully pulpit any president would envy. They responded with a series of episodes that continually broke new ground in American comedy.

The episode that aired on this night in 1972, "The Bunkers and the Swingers," dealt with the subject of wife swapping — a topic that was rarely mentioned on TV at that time.

Lee Kalcheim, Michael Ross and Bernie West won a Primetime Emmy for their writing in this episode, which gave a different spin on freedom of speech and protecting the expression of unpopular ideas (or, in this case, lifestyles).

Edith (Jean Stapleton) had found a magazine on the subway and had been drawn to the recipe section — not noticing that the magazine was about the wife swapping lifestyle. Next to the recipes she found a "swap section" — classified ads seeking couples for rendezvous although they appeared to be worded as ambiguously as possible. The ad that drew Edith's attention spoke of a couple seeking another couple to "swap good times."

Edith responded, and the wheels were in motion for the couple (played by Rue McClanahan and Vincent Gardenia) to pay the Bunkers a visit.

But Edith shared the information with Gloria (Sally Struthers), who immediately realized that the couple's intentions were not what Edith thought they were, and she shared the information with Mike (Rob Reiner), insisting that he had to do something. He resisted.

"How am I going to explain wife swapping to your mother?" he asked.

"Just tell her in plain, simple English," Gloria replied.

"Well, you tell her in that English!" Mike said.

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Mike and Gloria had tickets to see the ballet so they couldn't stay to explain things to Edith. But Mike sent a telegram to the couple telling them to cancel their plans to visit.

He didn't realize that the couple was already en route to the Bunkers' and arrived only minutes after Mike and Gloria left.

Archie wasn't sure what to make of them, but he warmed up to them when they gave him a box of prime cigars. And Edith was given perfume — Chanel No. 5.

"That's their highest number," she told Archie.

Turned out the guests were trophy winners in an annual dance contest, and they used that as a way to break the ice with the Bunkers.

But the Bunkers eventually learned the couple's true nature, and Archie was livid. He told them they were communists.

McClanahan's character tried to explain to Edith. Their marriage "didn't seem to matter anymore," she said. "We were drowning. Swinging saved us!"

Edith replied, "I think I would rather have drowned."

The couple left, a somewhat tragic figure even though Gardenia's character said a familiar line to students of history. It would do today's students well to remember it.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

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Forty–five years after Gardenia spoke that line on All in the Family, it is a timely reminder of the way that unpopular ideas are being stifled on America's college campuses. The story was a reminder of why we have freedom of speech in this country. Popular ideas don't need protection. Unpopular ideas do.

Well, McClanahan and Gardenia's figures were tragic in this episode, but their futures weren't. Both had bright futures in the All in the Family universe. McClanahan went on to co–star on Maude, which was the first All in the Family spinoff, before becoming a regular on The Golden Girls.

Gardenia — in a different role — was the Bunkers' neighbor for a couple of seasons, but his primary vocation was in the movies. He was even nominated for an Oscar at the same time he was playing Frank Lorenzo in 1973.

The Moral Conscience of All in the Family

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People often forget how groundbreaking All in the Family was. And much of it was because of Edith (Jean Stapleton). She was never the dingbat Archie said she was. She was, in fact, the conscience of the show.

A couple of days ago I wrote about how the sitcom addressed sexism — at a time when it wasn't really a topic of conversation. We live in a time when a woman has been nominated for president and three women sit on the Supreme Court; the subject matter of that episode probably seems quaint to many people who weren't around when All in the Family was on the air.

Ironically Edith wasn't the conscience of that program, but the theme of the series evolved so that, five years later, Edith was the moral influence on the family.

Forty years ago today, All in the Family took on homosexuality, another topic that wasn't popular in the 1970s — and, in its typical fashion, did so in an unexpected way.

As the episode "Cousin Liz" began, Archie (Carroll O'Connor) and Edith had traveled to New Jersey for the funeral of one of Edith's cousins, Liz, who had died unexpectedly. As the Bunkers prepared in their motel room to go to the service, Edith lamented the fact that Liz had never married and Archie revealed that he had once had a crush on Liz.

"What did you do about it?" Edith asked.

"I kissed her," Archie replied.

"Was that all?" Edith asked.

"She wouldn't do nothin' else," Archie said.

No one — Archie, Edith, the audience — realized how much that said about who Liz really was.

Homosexuality simply wasn't brought up in those days. Roommates of the same sex were presumed to be in a platonic relationship, perhaps sharing a place to live to save on expenses; at least that is how it was always presented on TV. In Liz's case, she had been living with a woman (Veronica Cartwright) for a couple of decades, but everyone in the All in the Family universe assumed that, being low–paid teachers, they did so to save money.

Well, that may have been part of it, but in truth they were lesbians. The fact that they kept the true nature of their relationship secret is entirely consistent with the way things were in those days. Even Edith didn't know about her cousin's sexual orientation.

But she was about to find out.

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As Liz's closest living relative, Edith stood to inherit a valuable tea service that had been in the family for years and had been in Liz's possession when she died. So she brought it up with Liz's roommate at a post–funeral reception.

But Liz's roommate asked Edith if she could keep it, explaining that she and Liz had shared tea in the afternoons after school. It was a time they eagerly anticipated each day, a time that was set aside just for them.

When Edith pressed her on the matter, Cartwright tried to explain that she and Liz had been lovers, telling Edith that their relationship was "like a marriage."

That was hard for Edith to understand. Her concept of marriage was a traditional one, but her faith in love transcended that.

Edith had many memorable moments during the series' run, but some of her finest were in the episode that aired on this night in 1977.

She told Cartwright that she was sorry she knew the truth — not because she didn't approve but because Cartwright had lost the love of her life, and that grieved a kind soul like Edith's. And she told Cartwright she could keep the tea service because she really was Liz's next of kin — a status that has only been legally recognized in the United States in recent years.

But Archie would be a problem. Once he knew the value of the tea service, he had to have it — or, at least, had to have the money it would bring.

When Edith told him the truth about Liz's relationship, he threatened legal action, which would have meant the end of Cartwright's teaching career. That didn't bother Archie.

"Who the hell wants people like that teachin' our kids?" he bellowed. "I'm sure God don't! God's sittin' in judgment ..."

"Well, sure he is," Edith replied, "but he's God. You ain't!"

(I've always thought that is pretty good advice for anyone who presumes to speak for God on anything. And, in my experience, far too many do presume to speak for God.)

Then she shamed Archie for considering what amounted to blackmail, saying "I can't believe you'd do anything that mean."

Edith's assumption of the role of the family's moral conscience had been in progress for quite awhile, but I think it reached a turning point with this episode. Within the next few episodes, Archie — who had been a bigot's bigot from the start — moved so far to the center that he was taking on the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan. That was almost certainly the result of Edith's influence.

But the story of Archie's confrontation with the KKK is a story for another day.

Ask Me No Questions

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Archie (Carroll O'Connor): Don't bother the U.S.A. government with the Constitution.

Mike (Rob Reiner): Why? Afraid they're gonna read it?

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In my experience, most people will express a fierce sense of loyalty to at least one person — a spouse, a parent, a sibling, a friend — but that sense of loyalty often disappears when the chips are down.

It's one of the basic instincts of human nature, I suppose — to look out for No. 1 — and that is precisely what Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) did in the episode of All in the Family that first aired on this night in 1972, "Archie and the FBI." But it backfired on him.

The episode began as a quiet evening around the Bunker household. Gloria (Sally Struthers) was helping Mike (Rob Reiner) with his Spanish exercises — I presumed he was taking Spanish in college although I don't recall whether that was ever mentioned. Not that that was important. I don't think Spanish was ever mentioned again — or that any Spanish words were used in the episode.

Archie was observing — and cracking jokes — when there came a knock at the door.

It was an investigator asking questions about a friend, co–worker and neighbor from across the street.

And the flag–waving Archie, overtaken by panic–induced paranoia, gave the investigator answers that sounded like he hardly knew the man — when, in fact, Mike and Gloria kept saying that the neighbor was one of Archie's best friends.

Archie assumed the investigator was from the FBI — I suppose it was a natural assumption as the man told Archie he was from the government — but the questions he asked were not the sort of questions one would expect in a legitimate investigation. He wanted to know what sort of books Archie's friend read, what his drinking habits were, the organizations to which he belonged, that kind of thing.

That made Archie understandably nervous — and more inclined to distance himself from his friend, who just happened to be in the kitchen while Archie spoke with the investigator. Edith (Jean Stapleton) summoned Archie to the kitchen, where the friend insisted on being told what was being said (and asked) about him.

Archie soothed his friend with a promise that everything he said was positive and assured him that they were "best buddies." Archie's friend didn't seem to be convinced, but he left. After the investigator (who had a creepy, kind of robotic smile that he flashed frequently) finished interviewing Archie, he left, too.

Not long after, Archie got a phone call from another neighbor, who said the investigator was at his house asking questions.

Archie asked the neighbor why the investigator was asking questions about the other neighbor — and was told that the investigator was asking questions about Archie.

That was the first half of the show.

When All in the Family returned from its commercial break, paranoia had Archie fully in its grip. He was convinced that he was suspected of being a subversive so he flew his American flag at night. Then Mike planted the idea in Archie's mind that the house might be bugged — so Archie went around peeking under cushions and talking into objects.

Lionel (Mike Evans) came over after the investigator finished asking questions at his house. When Archie asked him what Lionel's family had said, Lionel replied, "We know what you are, and we told him."

Then the first neighbor — the one about whom the investigator interrogated Archie — came by in his American Legion uniform, which he claimed to be wearing for bugle practice, and the two argued about which of them was a subversive.

The friendship was careening off the cliff when the phone rang. It was Archie's shop steward with the information that the investigation was not being conducted by the FBI. It was the Air Force, and the investigation was connected to a defense contract that had been completed months earlier.

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When that had been brought to the FBI's attention, the investigation had been dropped.

Edith was elated. That meant the two could go back to being friends again.

Not so fast.

It isn't always easy to go back to the way things were when other things have happened — and when the episode ended, it was unclear whether Archie and his friend would be able to patch things up.

"All that best buddies stuff," Archie said, "it's all for kids anyhow."

Change of Life

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"After 23 years of stifles, the dingbat turns on me."

Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor)

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Sometimes I can't help but marvel at the frankness of the modern culture.

For example, when I was growing up, certain things still were not said in public — and rarely in private. Sex — the act itself or anything that was exclusively masculine or especially feminine — was seldom brought up in the movies — and never on television. In person–to–person interaction, sex and bodily functions were topics only with one's closest peers.

These days I keep up with my goddaughter on Facebook. I love her dearly, but I am often astonished by the language she so casually uses in her conversations with her friends and family. Words that, when I was younger, I would have been embarrassed to use even with my best friends — and never around my parents or anyone from their generation. It's a different world, I remind myself. There were walls in those days. Many walls.

But All in the Family started breaking down those walls in the early 1970s.

Women like my goddaughter probably will never know the debt they owe to women like Jean Stapleton, who played Edith on All in the Family and was at the center of an episode that aired on this night in 1972 — "Edith's Problem" — that focused on one of those gender–oriented topics of which people never spoke at the time.

Menopause.

I've seen many women in my life who were pioneers in their fields. I've even had the honor of knowing a few personally. And perhaps they all would have been pioneers eventually even without the inspirational women who went ahead and did the heavy lifting. But it would have taken them longer.

Jean Stapleton was one of those trailblazers. As Edith Bunker, she was able to articulate things in a way that women of her generation could understand — and her relationship with her daughter Gloria (Sally Struthers) allowed her to reach across the aisle.

It was a unique position, and Edith always used it well. The early '70s was a tumultuous time in America, and Edith led both the acceptance of the new ways and the assault on the old.

And so much of it came down to what people thought — and that meant language. George Carlin observed that we do think in language, and the language that we use (or don't use) says a lot.

Menopause was not a word that was used very much in those days, at least not openly. It isn't an obscene word. It describes a condition that most people in those days preferred to ignore, perhaps because it was associated with aging — and no one likes to get old.

But in "Edith's Problem," viewers learned that menopause could happen to a woman any time after she turns 40. And that certainly isn't old.

Gloria told Edith that, and Edith articulated the frustration that many women must have felt over the years. She was incredulous that her daughter had to be the one to tell her what was happening.

"When I was a young girl," Edith lamented, "I didn't know what every young girl should know. Now I'm going to be an old lady, and I don't know what every old lady should know!"

On this night in 1972, however, Edith was completely bewildered by what was happening around her and within her.

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So was Archie (Carroll O'Connor) who was bending over backward trying to be nice. Edith, though, took it the wrong way.

"He ain't talking to me," she told Gloria. "He's talking to some old lady."

Archie was trying to be patient and understanding, but he was pushed beyond his breaking point when Edith announced that she didn't want to go to Disney World, which had been their original destination. Instead, she wanted to visit her cousin and her cousin's family in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Archie went ballistic. "The only way you're going to get me to go to Scranton is if some screwball hijacks the airplane," he told her. "I know all about your woman's troubles there, Edith, but when I had the hernia that time I didn't make you wear the truss."

And then he delivered what may have been Archie's best lines of the series. "If you're going to have a change of life, you've got to do it right now. I'm going to give you just 30 seconds. Now come on, change!"

What I found refreshing about this episode was its realistic treatment of its subject. TV programs have long been criticized for making problems appear to be more easily resolved than they really are, but this episode ended with no real resolution — a concession, perhaps, to the reality that menopause cannot be dispensed with overnight like a 24–hour virus. It takes a lot of work, and some couples can't give it that kind of commitment.

The only thing that was clear when "Edith's Problem" ended was that more work remained to be done.

Healing the Wounds of War

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If a TV show makes it to its seventh season, it is likely to be running out of material.

But the writers for All in the Family were still hitting the ball out of the park in the show's seventh season as the Christmas episode that aired on this night in 1976, "The Draft Dodger," clearly demonstrated. It may have been the most poignant episode of that groundbreaking series.

In 1976, America's recently concluded involvement in the Vietnam War was an open wound for many Americans. It had been a divisive war, sparking much social upheaval, and it was no less so once America's participation had ended. My memory is that, more than a year later, people were still being judged by others according to their positions on the war.

On this night 40 years ago, Christmas Night 1976, the Bunkers (Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) were hosting Christmas dinner for the Stivics (Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers), Teresa (the Bunkers' boarder played by Liz Torres), Archie's buddy Pinky (character actor Eugene Roche) who was a Gold Star father, and David (Renny Temple), a friend of Mike's who, unknown to most of the people at the table on that occasion, fled to Canada to avoid the draft.

David's presence was unexpected. He just showed up on the Bunkers' doorstep. It hadn't been his original destination. He had intended to see his father, but his father wasn't ready to face his son so David went to see his old friend. It was in their conversation that the audience learned he was a draft dodger.

David agreed to join the family for Christmas dinner after being assured by both Mike and Gloria that they would not spill the beans. That was easier said than done when Archie met David and asked him questions about where he lived and why he was spending Christmas with them instead of his own family.

Gloria ran interference for David, but their objective was helped considerably when the doorbell rang, and the audience learned that it was Pinky. Before opening the door, Archie cautioned everyone that if Pinky started talking about Stevie, that was his only son who had been killed in the war.

Pinky was still in shock over that, and Archie told his family that if Pinky started talking about his son, they should steer the conversation in another direction.

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During Christmas dinner Archie asked David if he had any Christmas memories to share. David's reply contradicted information Archie had been given earlier, and that led to the revelation that David was a draft dodger.

Archie found that very disturbing, and that sparked an argument between the conservative Archie and the liberal Mike, who asked Archie when he was going to admit that the war had been wrong. Archie replied that he wasn't talking about the war. He was talking about doing one's duty to one's country. That was a position with which many viewers no doubt sympathized in 1976.

Many other people in America sympathized with David. They believed the war was wrong and refused to participate in it. David wasn't the only young American who fled to Canada. There were tens of thousands of others. The conflict created a huge rip in the fabric of America.

Pinky asked Archie if he wanted to know what Pinky thought, and Archie responded enthusiastically, certain that Pinky would take his side.

But Pinky surprised Archie, everyone else at the table and the audience when he observed that both his son and David did what they thought they had to do. The difference, he said, was that his son wasn't alive to share Christmas dinner with them, and David was. If his son could be there, Pinky mused, he would want to sit down to dinner with David.

"And that's what I want to do," he said, turning to David and extending his hand as the audience burst into spontaneous, heartfelt applause. "Merry Christmas, David," Pinky said.

"Merry Christmas, sir," David replied.

Even today the memory of that moment has great emotional power. I have seen reruns of that episode from time to time. I have watched it with people who supported the war and people who opposed it. And what I have seen convinced me that, while they disagree on most things, nearly all Americans prefer peace to conflict, whether it is between nations or between people.

Given the choice and the opportunity to act on that choice, most people prefer whatever promotes healing and harmony, not whatever sows discord.

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On this night 40 years ago, All in the Family took a giant step toward healing the wounds of war.

The Spirit of the Season

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"All over the world they celebrate the birth of that baby, and everybody gets time off from work. Now if that ain't proof that he's the son of God, then nothing is."

Archie (Carroll O'Connor)

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The episode of All in the Family that first aired on this night in 1971 — "Christmas Day at the Bunkers'" — was a reminder of the true spirit of the season.

Simply put, Archie made a mistake at the plant where he worked. He sent a work order to London, England instead of London, Ontario, and his Christmas bonus was withheld as a fine. Without it, he was unable to spend a lot on Christmas presents, and he was too embarrassed to admit why he didn't have the money.

Mike (Rob Reiner) and Gloria (Sally Struthers) made jokes about Archie's Christmas gift — a box of his and hers handkerchiefs — which did nothing to improve his mood. He just got more irritable as various household service providers, such as the mailman, hinted at wanting a holiday bonus from Archie.

Things didn't improve when the Jeffersons came over for dinner, and Henry Jefferson (Mel Stewart) was dressed as Santa Claus.

A black Santa didn't exactly go over well with Archie. In fact, it reopened an old argument between Archie and Henry. The original argument had been over whether Jesus had been white or black.

"Jesus was white, and so is Santa Claus," Archie told Henry.

"Yeah, well, when I was a kid," Henry said, "the man filling my stocking was black."

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It was Edith (Jean Stapleton) whose charitable spirit sought to soothe Archie. She told him she loved her "Hers" handkerchiefs.

"How did you ever get them to split a box?" she asked in complete innocence.

But Edith was not stupid. It was Edith who put two and two together and figured out why Archie didn't get a Christmas bonus. She understood — and it really didn't matter to Edith. She was one of those people who would say that if she was able to spend the holiday with those she loved, that was what mattered.

Sometimes Edith's good nature annoyed Archie — but on this night it was precisely what he needed. It gave him the courage to observe, at the end, that "I guess this ain't such a bad Christmas, after all."

God bless us every one.

We Are Family

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If you're old enough to remember TV from the '80s — or simply if you watch syndicated programs today — you may recognize Bea Arthur as one of the stars of The Golden Girls.

But Arthur first became known to American TV audiences 45 years ago today with an appearance as Edith Bunker's (Jean Stapleton) Cousin Maude on All in the Family. After establishing her character in two appearances on All in the Family, Arthur was cast as the star of her own series, aptly titled Maude, and a star was born. It was on this night in 1971 that she made the first of those appearances.

In the story, Edith (Jean Stapleton) had been running herself ragged trying to care for the rest of the family. Archie (Carroll O'Connor), Gloria (Sally Struthers) and Mike (Rob Reiner) were suffering from some kind of flu, and Edith called on her cousin Maude to come help her. As Maude frequently said of her cousin, "That sweet Edith, I'd die for her," and Maude didn't hesitate to answer Edith's call.

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Edith and Maude were more than cousins. They were close, apparently had been close since at least their teen years. They both recalled when Archie and Edith met at a neighborhood ice cream parlor — but they remembered that event differently. For Edith, it was a sentimental journey. For Maude, it was a painful memory. She believed Edith had married beneath her.

Archie and Maude didn't get along. Well, that's putting it mildly.

Maude was everything Archie was not. She was progressive, a Democrat, a supporter of things like women's liberation, abortion, civil rights, racial equality and gender equality. She idolized Franklin D. Roosevelt; Archie's favorite president was Richard Nixon (he took his lumps for that a few years later when Watergate was constantly in the news and then Nixon resigned; a few years after that, he foreshadowed the future by insisting that he would vote for Ronald Reagan for president the next time around). It was a classic confrontation between liberal and conservative, the immovable object vs. the irresistible force.

No doubt there were many households that had similar divisions in their families in the just–concluded election season.

They Say Every Vote Counts

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"Salvatore, Feldman, O'Reilly, Nelson. That's an Italian, a Jew, an Irishman and a regular American there. What I call a balanced ticket."

Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor)

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As we approach the finish line for Election 2016, it is appropriate to observe the 45th anniversary of the All in the Family episode "The Election Story," that first aired on this night in 1971.

The episode was about a local election, and, as it is in this year's presidential election, one of the candidates was a woman. Mike (Rob Reiner) was supporting her and Archie (Carroll O'Connor) was opposed, setting up inevitable fireworks.

The big story in those days was the fact that the voting age had been lowered from 21 to 18 with the approval of the 26th Amendment earlier that year. Now an election in an odd–numbered year like 1971 would be considered an off–year election, and they certainly are rare, but some places do have them — and they have them in New York. In fact, a mayoral election was being held the day of the terrorist attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in 2001.

Did they have off–year elections in New York in 1971? I don't know, but in order to use the lower voting age angle in an episode, it was necessary to have one in the plot, whether one was scheduled or not.

And I guess the temptation to use it as a plot angle in an episode of All in the Family was simply too great.

If you think this year's campaign has had sexist overtones, go back and watch this episode of All in the Family. Sexism was much more blatant in the '70s than it is today. By comparison sexism is more of an implied — rather than overt — thing today.

When Archie learned that the candidate (played by actress Barbara Cason, who appeared in two other All in the Family episodes) Mike and Gloria were supporting was going to come by, he said he wanted her to "turn around on her broomstick and fly the hell out of here." Imagine, if you will, the reaction such a remark would receive today, whether in a TV show or on the stump.

When she arrived, Archie called her the "queen of the liberals."

Near the end of their conversation, Archie told the candidate that instead of running for office she should be running for a husband "because from where I sit you've got some running to do."

Now Archie was never what could be called politically correct — but many of the things he said in the '70s simply would not make it on the air today — even though many of George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" have become almost commonplace on television.

Resolve that one if you can.

Archie remarked that "Women and politics is like oil and gasoline. They don't mix." That would be a pretty volatile comment today.

Times certainly have changed. Women had been allowed to vote for half a century when this episode was made, but women running for office was still somewhat rare. Women being elected to office was rarer still.

In those days presumptive presidential nominees would dangle the names of women as possible running mates strictly to draw the attention of female voters. It was window dressing, nothing more. It wasn't until Walter Mondale in 1984 that a woman was actually nominated to run for vice president.

And it wasn't until this year, 45 years after All in the Family's "The Election Story," that a major political party nominated a woman for president.

The idea of a female nominee for president was likely little more than a fantasy in 1971. Only about a dozen or so women probably held seats in Congress at the time — and Congress seemed to produce most of the plausible candidates for president in those days.

Of course, a person's gender does not automatically make that person a good choice for public office. There are other factors that must be considered. Sometimes the female candidate is the better choice; sometimes the male candidate is the better choice. And sometimes the race is between two female candidates, just as for decades most campaigns featured two male candidates, which renders the whole subject of gender politics null and void — at least as far as that race is concerned.

As I say Congress tended to produce the front–runners for presidential nominations in the 1960s and 1970s. State governors have become more popular choices for the presidency in the last 40 years (even though no sitting governor has been nominated for president since George W. Bush in 2000). There were no female governors in 1971; there are six today.

So, yes, American politics has changed considerably since 1971 — even though there are those who continue to wage a battle against sexism, whether real or perceived.

One thing that hasn't changed is human nature. In this episode, it turned out that Archie wasn't planning to vote. Gloria (Sally Struthers) confirmed that for her astonished husband.

Archie insisted that he saved his vote for "the biggies" — "I don't waste it on these little meatball elections around here," he told Mike and Gloria.

He claimed that he "cherished" his vote — but most of the people I have known who would not exercise their right to vote were just plain apathetic. Not voting was not an act of patriotism for them. It was an act generally born of selfishness.

Apathy is a real problem in American politics, but it is a part of human nature — an unattractive part, to be sure, but a part nonetheless. And, to an extent, it is understandable. If polls suggest that a candidate is headed for a big victory, some voters may be discouraged from voting, figuring they can put the time to better use. People are so pressed for time these days.

Early voting has all but eliminated that concern in two–thirds of the states in the 21st century. It was not an option in 1971. Apathy needs a different excuse.

Anyway ...

Few things chase away apathy better than a desire to defeat a candidate, and Archie was filled with that desire after he met the candidate. So he and Edith (Jean Stapleton) headed off for the polls on Election Day — only to be told by Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford), who was working the polls, that his name wasn't on the list of registered voters.

Archie couldn't believe it. He had lived in that neighborhood his whole life. In fact, he told Louise, he voted for Nixon for president. Louise said he must still be on the list because Nixon had been elected just three years earlier.

Then Edith interjected. The election that Nixon won was in 1968. Archie didn't vote in that election. He voted for Nixon against John F. Kennedy in 1960.

Louise was astonished that Archie hadn't voted in 11 years. Archie insisted he'd been busy. "Something was always coming up," Edith said. "One time he had a bad toe spasm."

Archie was not permitted to vote. He had been inactive too long, but he tried to talk Edith into voting his way since he couldn't vote. Whether she would or not was left undetermined when she went into the polling booth.

Later, when Mike and Gloria tried to get Archie to switch the TV channel to election coverage, he tried to discourage them by telling them their candidate couldn't win. Mike said turnout had been heavy. "She might squeak through," he told Archie.

"Yeah, how would you feel if Claire won by only one vote?" Gloria asked.

"Or two," Edith piped up.

And everyone knew how she had voted.

I guess the moral of the story was that there are some things that are too important to be left to someone else. Voting is one of them.

Remembering When Mike Met Archie

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"Edith, I'm always nice. Go let the jerk in."

Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor)

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Like most sitcoms — well, most TV programs, regardless of genre — All in the Family seemed to run out of gas near the end of its run.

But on this day in 1971, it was still a new program, a social phenomenon. Developer Norman Lear had tapped into something new. Sitcoms weren't going to be just silly anymore — at least not for awhile. There would be a purpose behind the humor.

In the case of All in the Family, it was an opportunity to examine the warts of American society through a humorous lens. Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) and his son–in–law Michael Stivic (Rob Reiner) represented the extremes of the political and social spectrums of the day, and their arguments followed the logic of both sides, thereby shining a spotlight on the weaknesses — as well as the strengths — of both.

It really was fair and balanced. Lear is politically progressive, but his stories often lent credence to positions he did not hold.

All in the Family aired some of its best episodes in the 1971–72 season. In the episode that aired 45 years ago tonight, "Flashback: Mike Meets Archie," the audience got the chance to see how Mike and Archie met through a TV flashback. The Bunkers and Stivics were observing Mike and Gloria's first anniversary as a married couple — "It's like celebrating the 365th day of a toothache," Archie said. He compared it to other events like Pearl Harbor and the crash of the Hindenburg.

Mike was bringing home Chinese takeout food for dinner.

But Archie refused to eat with chopsticks as Mike and Gloria had requested so Edith (Jean Stapleton) went to the kitchen to get a fork for Archie. While she was gone, Mike and Archie got into one of their typical arguments over Archie's language. Archie, you see, used the slang word Chink instead of Chinese. Mike said Archie was "putting away" people with roots in Asia, a region that was not confined to China. Archue was pigeonholing people with roots in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Mike said.

Archie protested that he never called those people Chinks. Edith, who had returned to the room, observed in her truthful way, "No. He calls them Gooks."

Such a program almost certainly wouldn't last today. Few people at the time thought it would last. But it did, and it made a huge difference in the way Americans spoke about each other and looked at each other.

I've always felt that it survived largely because it pointed out failings without making it personal, without putting people on the defensive. If they recognized themselves or others in the stories, that was OK, but the point of the humor was not to make anyone feel foolish. It was to make people see the foolishness in some attitudes, not in some people.

Anyway, the episode that aired 45 years ago tonight answered a lot of unasked questions about Archie's relationship with Mike.

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It was the first time Archie called Mike a meathead — and a Polack. Viewers were used to both, but they didn't know how or why Archie started calling Mike those words — until this night in 1971.

And Mike left the house while Archie was reciting, then singing "God Bless America."

But I guess the moral of the story was that love will find a way. Mike went to a pay phone and kept calling the house. Archie answered each time and said it was a wrong number. Gloria tried to intercept one of the calls, but when she finally did so, it turned out the call was for Archie.

A discouraged Gloria sought comfort from her mother. "How could everything go so wrong?" Gloria asked through her tears.

"Easy," Edith replied, adding, "but life goes in circles, and when things get wrong enough, then they start getting right again."

Gloria said she didn't believe that. Edith said she was still basting the duck because if she was right, Mike would be back. And about that time the doorbell rang.

It was Mike, of course.

And he had dinner with the Bunkers — and, of course, Mike and Gloria eventually got married.

And viewers gained some insight into Mike's relationship with Archie.