Chris Keyser’s Gift for Rhetoric on Display in WGA Strike: ‘He’s Our Churchill’
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Chris Keyser, a tuxedoed 23-year-old, stood at a lectern at the Oxford Union to defend the moral superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union.
It was 1984. Keyser, now a leader of the Writers Guild of America strike, was then a Harvard Law student. He was also a seasoned debater, often taking the conservative side.
In the context of Oxford in the early 1980s, that meant arguing that American influence on the world was not entirely malign. “America is not a lie,” Keyser said, quoting Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington. “It is a disappointment.
But it is a disappointment because it is also a hope.” The debate was broadcast on the PBS show “Great Confrontations at the Oxford Union.” As Keyser took his seat to thundering applause, the commentator intoned: “That kind of emotional finale has gone well for Mr.
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