Love or hate public television and radio, this footage of Fred Rogers, a k a “Mister Rogers,” testifying at a Senate hearing in 1969 to defend the $20 million budget for the newly formed Corporation for Public Broadcasting is utterly stirring.

“We deal with such things as the inner drama of childhood.” he says in that familiar and comforting clipped drawl. He goes on:

“We don’t have to bop somebody over the head to make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut or the feelings about brothers and sisters and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively.”

Like Obi-Wan Kenobi using the Force on an unsuspecting storm trooper, Rogers wins over Senator John Pastore of Rhode Island, the chairman of the hearings, who visibly shifts from grumpy skeptic to eager friend.

For more of Mister Rogers’ subtle powers watch his acceptance speech for a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 Daytime Emmy Awards, wherein he commands the audience to sit in silence for 10 seconds!